We have today released our first Annual Report into the state of English education. The report charts progress towards a series of world-class benchmarks in Early Years, Primary and Secondary education.
You can download the full report here:
Key findings
- Attainment is improving, but over 60 per cent of secondary and over 40 per cent of primary pupils are still failing to achieve a world-class benchmark.
- As a result of the new, more challenging, GCSE examinations in 2017, we expect the number of pupils achieving a ‘good pass’ in English and Maths to drop very significantly.
- There is a North/South divide at secondary school, with 44 per cent of pupils reaching a world class benchmark in London, compared with only a third in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber.
- The gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers remains significant, with 4 out of 5 disadvantaged pupils failing to achieve a world-class standard at secondary and more than half not reaching our primary benchmark.
- The relative performance of White British pupils falls as they progress through school. In the Early Years, White British children are among the highest achievers but, by the time they finish secondary school, they fall ten places in the rankings to just below average.
- Pupils for whom English is an additional language (EAL) make significant strides throughout school.
Following the launch of the Report, Executive Chairman of CentreForum, David Laws, said:
“A good education, especially in the Early Years and at primary, can be the single most transformative factor in the life chances of young people, particularly for the most disadvantaged.
“Today’s report demonstrates that, while we are seeing some signs of improvement, there is still a long way to go before the education system performs at a world-class standard. This is especially the case outside of London and for disadvantaged pupils.”
Executive Director and Head of Research at CentreForum, Natalie Perera, also said:
“Our report highlights that over 60 per cent of secondary and over 40 per cent of primary pupils are still failing to achieve a world-class benchmark that would put England on par with leading education systems such as Finland and Canada.”
“While the gap between the most disadvantaged pupils and the rest is generally closing, we still find that, by the end of secondary school, disadvantaged pupils are, on average, almost 2 academic years behind their peers.”
“Over the coming year, CentreForum will be expanding its research into the deep-rooted and complex challenges that our education system must address if it is going to perform at a world-class benchmark.”
Great job in highlighting significant issues in education. Will you be investigating the education systems of the leading countries in this area? It would be beneficial for government to understand what works well and what we could emulate, whilst also taking account of how we include children with SEN. It appears every time the government want to tighten up the curriculum/exams they exclude large numbers of SEN children from being able to show their potential, which also has a knock on effect into FE and employment. Do your figures in this report account for children with SEN separately? They don’t need the exams made easier just more accessible to them. Investigating creative ways of being able to show knowledge would be a significant move toward an even more inclusive exam system.
I’ve spent over 40 years as a teacher, researcher & learning analyst, I discovered about 30 years ago that exams are a very limited measure of what really matters in life. 10 years ago the extensive international research (including OECD) supported my findings in emphasising that it is the development of skills (about 8) that really determines the life chances of most people in the 21st century. Finland actually achieves success in these tables because it has focused on developing the 8 skills in children for several decades rather than just academia and exams as in the UK.
Couldn’t agree more Keef. I’m up to 37 years and my experience echoes that of yours
Hi Keef. Where can I find out more about these 8 skills? I have done a quick search and found lots of reference to literacy and numeracy skills but not 8 specific skills per se. Would be really interested to find out more.
That’s really interesting. Do you know what the 8 factors are, I’d be interested to know, thanks.
Hi. Very interested in your research and your reference to the way the curriculum is configured in Finland – the 8 skills etc. Do you have any links to either that you could share? Thanks
The report looks useful but it’s narrowly focused because it only looks at achievement up to age 16. 88% of 16 year olds stay in full-time education and another 8% are in part-time education or training.
A report which properly covers “Education in England” needs to look at 16-18 education (including the performance of school sixth forms, 20% of whose pupils leave after a year), higher education, workplace training and adult education.
The National Pupil Database is a fantastic data resource but there is a danger of falling into the trap in which only what can be measured gets managed.
Julian Gravatt, Association of Colleges
Attainment is only one factor, but a key one. Great schools ensure attainment and progress, but also develop the whole child. See Wymondham College, one of the top 20 schools on attainment, who combine academic standards with a whole host of wider opportunities for students, more than 60 different activities every week. It is ethos and commitment to overcoming barriers that really counts. I bet the top 20 listed schools all share high aspirations, strong leadership and development of the whole child.
Finland achieves well in Pisa, perhaps, because the methodology was developed by a Finn! In terms of economic well being, well with the decline in Nokia Finland has declined too.
I will read carefully but I am wondering if there is any analysis of the perfomance of pupils in selective schools and the impact of selective schools when considering the performance (north-south) of primary schools and secondary schools.
It seems more than lackadaisical to have missed the growing gender divide in education. Did the researchers at Centre Forum flunk basic stats?
As pointed out by Mary Curnock Cook, Chief Executive of UCAS, Jan 2014:
“This analysis shows a remarkably persistent growth in demand for higher education from all demographic backgrounds and for institutions across the spectrum in the UK.
“Amid encouraging patterns of demand from mature and disadvantaged students, there remains a stubborn gap between male and female applicants which, on current trends, could eclipse the gap between rich and poor within a decade.
“Young men are becoming a disadvantaged group in terms of going to university and this underperformance needs urgent focus across the education sector.”
By Aug 2015 she was saying far more:
32,000 young men missing from university.
University gender gap growing warns admissions chief
A gender gap has emerged in higher education, with girls dominating admissions to leading universities
“My concern is in five or ten years’ time young men will be the new disadvantaged group. I remain astounded that there is not more political and societal focus on this.”
Maybe next year hey?
Great to see white Irish doing so well (at least the ones who aren’t travellers).
For casual readers like me, defining terms is really helpful. FSM isn’t defined. Indeed the Wikipedia disambiguation page has over 20 possibilities , none about free meals! (Though if you really DID mean the Flying Spaghetti Monster, your results have a whole new meaning)
Might a jargon-busting glossary appear in next years’ report?
Also: I appreciate this is a statistical study. It would none the less have been interesting to have some discussion of factors the authors consider important within the study remit which are hard to capture statistically
Another vital point is the mistaken assumptions that the school system as it is at the moment or a change in system structure ( i.e. academisation ) can by itself be a key mechanism for improvement.
In 2013 RISE (Research and Information on State Education) published a report based on a review of large amounts of research. It concluded that when comparing pupil performance between schools, about 80% of the difference between good and bad achievement was due to factors OUTSIDE the school.
This implies the need for much more of a close relationship between schools, their communities and local authorities in order to provide families and individuals with the support they need to enable them to take advantage of the educational opportunities that are available.
My own experience as a teacher also tells me that we need to allow far more opportunities for practical approaches to learning and reverse the present pre-occupation with theoretical, examinable learning.