Attainment gap wider than pre-pandemic, study finds

Research has found that while many infant school-aged children have caught up after the health crisis, the disadvantage gap is “wider than before the pandemic and shows no sign of reducing”.

Separate research has also raised concerns about babies born during the pandemic falling behind with their social skills and fears for their safety amid increased risk of neglect and abuse.

The school-age research found that for year 2 pupils the gap between the richest and poorest is six months in their reading progress, and five months for maths.

The gap is wider for year 3 pupils where children from richer families are nine months ahead of their less affluent peers for reading. The gap is eight months in maths for this year.

This is wider than before the pandemic and has remained at a similar level since spring 2021, warns the research.

It indicates that overall while six- and seven-year-old pupils in year 2, had caught up in maths they are still three months behind in their reading compared with expected levels.

An increasing proportion of very low attainers among infant-age pupils has also emerged.

In year 2 the proportion of struggling pupils in reading has tripled from 2.6 per cent before the pandemic to 9.1 per cent in spring this year. 

In year 3 the proportion has more than doubled, from 2.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent.

The findings have emerged in National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) analysis published by the Education Endowment Foundation. The research is tracking the progress of 6,000 pupils who were in in reception and year 1 in March 2020 until the spring term of 2022.

Today we published findings from a longer-term @TheNFER study on the impact of the pandemic on younger pupils’ attainment.

Read more: https://t.co/R0CyjfEYMM

1/4 pic.twitter.com/ZJmBl4XqXR

— EEF (@EducEndowFoundn) November 24, 2022

“It is clear that disadvantaged pupils have been the worst affected by the disruption caused by the pandemic.

“Specific targeted approaches are needed in order to close this gap quickly as allowing this gap to persist will have a large impact on these pupils’ educational outcomes and life-chances,” states the report.

It says that “catch up support seems to be having an effect on pupil attainment”, but that this needs to be focus more on “very low attaining pupils and closing the disadvantage gap”.

“It is essential that schools are both adequately funded and supported to ensure that the required long-term support can be delivered,” adds the report.

Among primary school head teachers surveyed as part of the report, two thirds said they were redeploying staff to support social skills and wellbeing of pupils and 63 per cent are running small-group wellbeing sessions.

The government is being called on by the EEF to ensure that pupil premium funding is protected and increases with inflation, as more children become eligible for additional support the funding can provide amid the cost-of-living crisis.

“The research gives us clear evidence that the efforts of schools and teachers across the country in supporting their pupils learning are paying off,” said EEF chief executive Becky Francis.

“It is encouraging to see that, on average, younger pupils are making good progress.  

“However, the findings add to a heavy body of evidence telling us that socio-economic inequality in education – already entrenched before the pandemic – has grown. Schools are doing – and have done - a lot to mitigate against this, but it would be naïve of us not to recognise that factors outside of the school gate – such as widening poverty - also play a significant part in the widening attainment gap.  

“Tackling education inequality – and the factors behind it - is the biggest challenge our education system faces. But doing so must be a top priority for this government. At the very least, pupil premium funding levels should be protected, ideally increasing in real terms for every eligible pupil.” 

Early years concerns

Meanwhile, separate analysis has found that babies born during the Covid-19 health crisis are falling behind with their social skills due to the impact of the pandemic.

The report, released by the First 1001 Days Movement and Institute of Health Visiting (IHV), is calling for government action to reverse this decline.

Among early years professionals it surveyed, almost all said the pandemic has an ongoing negative impact on the personal and social skills of children.

A similar proportion have the same concerns around babies’ communication, speech and language skills as well as their emotional wellbeing and development.

Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists chief executive Kamini Gadhok said that the pandemic “has had a profound effect on children’s development, particularly their speech, language and communication”.

“Without these fundamental skills, research shows that children with poor language at age five are 11 times less likely to achieve the expected standard in maths and six times less likely to reach the expected standard in English at age 11.”

This First 100 Days and IHV report also raises concerns about the safety of children.

More than four in 10 said that “many” babies they work with are currently impacted by an increased exposure to domestic conflict, child abuse and neglect. This is higher than at the start of the pandemic, with 29 per cent raising the same fears in summer 2020.

In addition, four in 10 said babies they work with are impacted by loss of family income and heightened risk of food poverty.

Our new #CastingLongShadows report shows more children are falling behind, inequalities are widening, & services are in crisis. We call on all UK governments to listen & act now to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on our youngest children’s lives. https://t.co/eyVQqSjuSP pic.twitter.com/a7OVjNtUE6

— First 1001 Days (@first1001days) November 23, 2022

“The pandemic and its impacts are not over,” said Keith Reed, chief executive of Parent-Infant Foundation and secretariat of First 1001 Days.

“It is having a lasting effect on many thousands of babies’ and children’s wellbeing and development, and on the ability of services to meet their needs.”

He called for better integration of early years support and a cabinet member in government “who can coordinate across departments to make this happen”.

Latest early years foundation stage figures show that less than half of children eligible for free school meals are at a “good level of development”, compared with 68.8 per cent of their peers.

A DfE spokesperson said the figures are the first results under changes it has made to the early years framework, to bolster its focus on outcomes in languages, literacy and maths.

“We know the pandemic brought particular challenges for the youngest children, which is why we are also investing in targeted support of up to £180m over the next three years to focus on improving children’s development,” the spokesperson added.