Revised data published by the Department for Education reveals an increasing performance gap in England at key stage 4.
Whilst overall attainment in English and Maths GCSE increased by 0.6% in 2023/2024, the data highlights a widening gap between the most and least disadvantaged pupils.
The disadvantage gap, which calculates the performance gap between disadvantaged pupils and all other students, was 27.3% in the last academic year, part of a five year trend of increasing attainment disparity.
Additionally, the average Attainment 8 gap, a measure of a student’s average performance across eight GCSE subjects, widened from 13.6 points in 2018/2019 to 15.4 points in the most recent year.
On a local level, Kingston upon Thames saw the highest Attainment 8 score and highest English Baccalaureate Average Point Score (EBacc APS Score) across the country, 59.1 and 5.49 points respectively. Conversely, Knowsley registered the lowest score in the country for both measures, 33.8 and 2.87 points respectively.
Kingston upon Thames also registered the highest percentage of pupils achieving grades 5 or above in English and Maths GCSEs (70.4%) and of pupils achieving grades 5 or above in the English Baccalaureate (40.7%). The Isles of Scilly (100%), Richmond (98.7%) and Redbridge (98.4%) registered the highest rates of pupils achieving any passes at GCSE or equivalent. Blackpool saw the lowest percentage of pupils achieving 5 or above in EBacc (5.3%) and Knowsley the lowest percentage of students passing GCSEs (91.8%).
Data viewpoints
Commenting on the initial data release, Carl Cullinane, director of research and policy at the Sutton Trust, has said: “It’s appalling to see the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their better-off peers remains wide. This gap had already been at its widest point since 2011, meaning an entire decade was lost for improving the life changes of young people from low-income households. This amounts to nothing less than a ticking time bomb for equality of opportunity and social mobility.”
“The Government has said little about its plans to close the attainment gap. We need to see a clear national strategy for tackling this issue. Since 2017, school funding has been too heavily weighted towards better-off areas. This must be reversed so schools with the highest needs receive the funding they require.”
About the map
The map below shows Key Stage 4 performance scores and attainment percentages in England per area for the academic year 2023/2024. To explore detailed figures for your area, double-click on the map or click here to view the full-page version.
