The Chartered College of Teaching has today (26th August) commented on Education Policy Institute’s new report: Education in England: Annual Report 2020.

The report looks at the state of education in England, including the attainment gap. Findings include:

• The attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has stopped closing for the first time in a decade
• Disadvantaged pupils in England are 18.1 months of learning behind their peers by the time they finish their GCSEs
• The gap at primary school increased for the first time since 2007
• The stalling of the gap occurred even before the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the education system.

Professor Dame Alison Peacock, Chief Executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, said:

“The lack of equity within our society has been starkly brought into view as we have collectively tried to respond to lockdown. The harsh impact of COVID-19 particularly for those in areas of disadvantage has been all too visible. Often these areas map directly on to those where teachers and their schools are working against the odds to support their students. Even before the pandemic, teachers were telling us about the increasing role they were being asked to play in supporting families with financial worries, housing issues, safeguarding and domestic violence. For many schools where workloads are high and resources stretched, staff feel ill-equipped to deal with these issues.

Every student deserves the best possible education and opportunities regardless of their background.  Appropriate support needs to be available to ensure that teachers can focus on teaching, safe in the knowledge that the government will work with the wider profession and other agencies to tackle these inequalities.” 

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