Schools and colleges in England are to be measured the result of the poorest pupils under what is being called a ‘disadvantage league table’, Schools Week reports.
The Department for Education has released a new report, showing that only 4.9 percent of pupils eligible for free school meals in England, achieves three A grades or above at A-Level. This is compared with 11 percent of their wealthier peers, revealing a 6.1 percent attainment gap.
Free school meals are the metric used to identify children who come from disadvantaged households.
The move comes amid concerns that social mobility is stagnating in the UK with controversial measures such as the expansion of grammar schools proposed to address the problem
The government’s report serves as an ‘ad-hoc notice’ to schools and also confirms the government will include a new disadvantage headline measure for 2017 league tables (to be first published in January 2018).
It will show how students who qualify for free school meals compare to their peers regarding their A-Level performance.
Published this week, the report also matched A-level performance to other pupil characteristics. It found pupils with special educational needs are more likely to achieve three As if they have a statement (8.2 per cent), compared to students without a statement (6.4 per cent).
Pupils with English as an additional language were less likely to achieve three As or better (9.2 per cent), compared to 10.8 per cent of pupils with English as their first language.
Data on the attainment of 16-19 year olds, measured against social factors such as ethnicity and wealth have been published since 2010, but it is the first time the government has introduced the performance of poorer pupils as a key performance indicator for schools.