Schoolchildren from deprived backgrounds are more likely to underachieve in the UK than other developed nations, according to the Sutton Trust.?Photo: GETTY IMAGESResearch shows that the education gap between disadvantaged and “privileged” pupils is wider in the UK than elsewhere in the developed world.
Data suggests that children from low-income homes are more than a year behind richer classmates as they start school aged five.
The disclosure – in a study by the Sutton Trust charity – comes just days after Ofsted warned that deprivation continued to be a “significant factor influencing the quality of schools” in England.
In a blow to Labour’s education legacy, the watchdog said that schools serving the poorest 20 per cent of pupils were four times more likely to be “inadequate” than those for the wealthiest 20 per cent.
Sir Peter Lampl, the Sutton Trust chairman, said the problem was likely to get worse in coming years as children from wealthier backgrounds continue to pull ahead.
This comes despite a range of Coalition policies designed to tackle the problem, including the introduction of the “pupil premium” to reward schools taking large numbers of deprived children.
"These latest international comparisons confirm that the education gaps at every stage between disadvantaged children and privileged children are greater in the UK than in other developed countries,” said Sir Peter.
"In this country, unlike others, the educational achievement gap widens after age 11. As education is becoming increasingly important in determining prospects in adult life, these findings do not bode well for future social mobility in the UK.”
The study compares data from the UK and England with nine other countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada and Germany. It uses a series of indicators to assess children’s education and family background.
One dataset shows children’s average vocabulary scores at the age of five – when pupils start compulsory education – and ranks them from one to 100. Children with highly educated parents in the UK – those with at least a degree – were ranked in the 67 percentile on average, while those whose mothers and fathers left school with few qualifications were placed in the 29th percentile.
The 38 percentage point gap was “significantly larger” in the UK than in all countries other than the United States, where it extended to 46 points, it was disclosed.
The study also cites previous research by the Sutton Trust which showed children from “low income homes are over a year behind children from high income homes at the start of schooling in the UK”.
In a further move, researchers analysed the difference in academic standards achieved by pupils between the age of 11 and 16.
It found that gaps in achievement in the UK became “substantially bigger” at 16 compared with 11, although it found “no evidence of this… in other countries”.
The study said the differences were driven by the “social stratification that exists” in secondary education, adding: “The widening of the education gap in pupil performance after primary school appears to be related to the sorting of children into secondary schools. Better educated parents have their children in better quality schools.”
The conclusions come as a new education think-tank is launed on Monday in an attempt to promote fresh debate on the education system.
The Education Foundation – funded by a number of academics and head teachers – will seek to "inform the debate through a range of research and practical projects".
Ty Goddard, former chairman for education in the London Borough of Lambeth, and a Government advisor, said: “There’s much to celebrate when it comes to education in the UK. Millions of learners do well at school and in further and higher education, preparing for a changing world.
"But as last week’s Ofsted annual report showed, some do not, despite the resources available."
