Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are more than twice as likely as their wealthier peers to not be in sustained work or education five years after their GCSEs, research suggests.
The so-called destinations gap grows significantly in the years after students sit those exams, education charity Teach First said.
Its analysis comes a day ahead of students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland receiving their GCSE results – with grades expected to fall as the system transitions back towards a pre-pandemic environment following two years of teacher assessment in place of exams.
Teach First said that Department for Education (DfE) data – which is for England only – showed that a year after taking GCSEs, almost 12% of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are not in any form of sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination, compared with almost 4% of non-disadvantaged pupils.
After three years this eight percentage point difference rises to 14 percentage points, and at the five-year mark is up to 19 percentage points, the charity said.
Almost a third (33%) of disadvantaged pupils are not in any form of sustained education, apprenticeship or employment five years after GCSEs, compared with 14% of their non-disadvantaged peers, Teach First said.
The charity said data for the same academic year (2019/20) also showed that little over a quarter (27%) of disadvantaged pupils go on to higher education, meaning they are more likely to end up out of sustained work or education altogether than they are to reach higher education.
By contrast, those from non-disadvantaged backgrounds are more than three times as likely to go to university (46%) than they are to end up out of sustained work or education, Teach First said.
It said its analysis of DfE data also showed that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds were almost twice as likely to drop out of their A-level course than their non-disadvantaged peers – at 13% compared with 7% – arguing the destinations gap is largely driven by higher drop-out rates for disadvantaged pupils in education after they finish GCSEs.
The charity has called for pupil premium funding – which aims to improve education outcomes for disadvantaged pupils up to the age of 16 in schools in England – to be introduced for 16 to 19-year-old pupils.
Such funding for older pupils would improve both the attainment and retention of disadvantaged young people in Key Stage 5 and help close the destinations gap, Teach First said.
It cannot be right that you’re significantly less likely to have the same employment or education opportunities simply because your family has less money— Russell Hobby, Teach First
Russell Hobby, the charity’s chief executive, said it “cannot be right” that some pupils are significantly less likely to have the same employment or education opportunities due to their family not being wealthy.
He said: “The destinations gap is a priority for the future of our young people – and the prosperity of our country.
“It cannot be right that you’re significantly less likely to have the same employment or education opportunities simply because your family has less money.
“We urge the new prime minister to tackle inequality in education – to ensure every child is given a fighting chance of a bright future. It’s not just a matter of fairness – our country’s long-term prosperity depends on the skills of the next generation of young people.”
Raza Ali, headteacher of The Chalk Hills Academy, part of the Shared Learning Trust in Luton, said: “While we’re doing everything we can to help our pupils succeed in their GCSEs, we need more support.
“Schools that serve disadvantaged communities need more funding to fully recover from the pandemic and get through the current cost-of-living crisis.
“Due to inflation, we can’t afford to increase our teachers’ pay and provide all our GCSE level pupils with laptops for revision. We need to give our young people the best chance of succeeding in the future. If we don’t tackle this issue now, it’ll be our society that suffers in the future.”
A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said: “Recent figures show that the proportion of 16–18-year-olds not in education, employment or training remains one of the lowest on record.
“Pupil Premium funding is increasing to more than £2.6 billion in 2022-23, whilst an additional £1 billion is allowing us to extend the Recovery Premium for the next two academic years – funding which schools can use to offer targeted academic and emotional support to disadvantaged pupils.
“Alongside this, we’re continuing to work with employers to offer more apprenticeship opportunities, rolling out new T-level qualifications and have launched a campaign Get The Jump to promote the full range of exciting opportunities available to young people.”
