A decade of tinkering with education has failed to improve GCSE marks of working-class kids, says shock study
A DECADE of tinkering with education has failed to improve the GCSE marks of working-class kids, says a shock study.
Those in long-term poverty score 1.6 grades lower than their richer classmates on average.
That is the same as in 2011 — before Michael Gove’s academy and free-school revolution.
They were meant to turbocharge social mobility in classrooms.
The gap was bigger for A-levels, with poorer kids 3.1 grades behind, compared with 2.9 in 2019.
And worryingly, more children are now falling into long-term poverty.
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Paul Whiteman, of union NAHT, said children were the victims of over a decade of underfunding.
Emily Hunt, who helped pen the Education Policy Institute report, urged the Government to do more.
The Department for Education said £2.6billion in pupil premiums will help the disadvantaged.