Disadvantaged pupils ‘worst affected’ by post-pandemic GCSE mark down
Joe Lepper
Thursday, August 24, 2023
Education sector leaders have raised concerns that pupils from disadvantaged communities are among the worst affected by a failure to consider the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on GCSE grading.
As with A-levels results earlier this month, this week’s GCSE results are lower than over the last three years.
This year is the first in a two-year plan by the government to return to pre-pandemic grading arrangements. Overall GCSE results are similar to 2019, with a fifth of pupils achieving grade 7 and above and around a third failing to achieve grade 4 and above.
“However, we would caution against direct comparisons between this year’s grades and those in 2019 because of the disproportionate impact of the pandemic and subsequent cost-of-living crisis on young people from disadvantaged backgrounds,” said Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Geoff Barton.
“It is likely that the outcomes for many of these young people will be affected by these factors and this may also impact on the results of schools which serve disadvantaged communities.”
He added that the government “has failed to grasp the gravity” of problems facing disadvantaged pupils and criticised ministers for not investing “sufficiently in education recovery”.
Education Endowment Foundation chief executive Becky Francis is concerned that disadvantaged pupils will be worst affected by an increase in resits in maths and English GCSEs.
This year’s results show that the number of pupils achieving a pass in these subjects is just 68.2 per cent, a five-percentage point fall from last year.
“This means there’ll be more young people required to carry on studying for these qualifications in an already stretched post-16 sector. As things stand, many are unlikely to achieve a pass even through resits, she warned.
“This has serious implications for individual students’ life chances. It is likely that those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds will be most affected, so the attainment gap must be carefully monitored, and support targeted towards pupils in greatest need of it.”
Regional disparities in the grades are a particular concern for Peter Lampl, chair of the Sutton Trust, especially for regions with a high number of areas of disadvantage.
“Despite a noticeable improvement in the North East compared to 2019, it is still the region with the lowest proportion of top grades and London continues to outperform the rest of the country,” he warned.
Take a look at GCSE outcomes for this summer across all subjects and ages for grade 4/C and above in this infographic.
— Ofqual (@ofqual) August 24, 2023
You can explore the results data yourself on the Ofqual Analytics website ⬇️ https://t.co/YbsQeFtmAB #ResultsDay2023 @educationgovuk @JCQcic pic.twitter.com/RvEJaYBLZV
The NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union has also raised concerns about a lack of investment in education catch up and its impact on disadvantaged pupils.
“Teachers have continued to pull out all the stops for their pupils, but have been left to do their best without the necessary levels of investment in education recovery and catch-up support,” said its general secretary Patrick Roach.
“Ministers must take responsibility for their decisions which have contributed to a widening in the attainment gap between the most disadvantaged pupils and their peers.”
Elsewhere, National Education Union joint general secretary Kevin Courtney added: “The government acts as if the pandemic has had no after-effects. In fact, the damage it has done to students’ learning and well-being is enduring. Government decisions about grading boundaries have not done enough to take this this into account.”
Ofqual chief regulator Jo Saxton has defended this year’s return to pre pandemic grading saying that “students have been at the forefront of our thinking at all times”.
Anita Grover, chief executive of the charity Auditory Verbal UK, wants to see further government investment in improving support for deaf children, to close a seven-year attainment gap of "an entire GSCE grade less" than their hearing classmates.
"With early and effective support, all deaf children can reach their potential, but we need urgent government investment and action so all deaf children can get the vital support they need,” Grover said.
