Research shows that children from low-income families in England are falling further behind their peers in maths than they were before the pandemic.
The gap in mathematics attainment among disadvantaged primary school students has widened from an average of 6.9 months to 8.7 months, according to a study by think tank Education Policy Institute (EPI) and software company Renaissance Learning.
A study of elementary and middle school assessments for grades 3 through 9 found that math achievement was also declining on average across students. Research shows that this problem equates to an average learning loss of four months in secondary schools and two months in primary schools.
The study was conducted by comparing the Renaissance Star Reading and Star Maths assessments from 2017-18 and 2022-23. This is further evidence of the severe impact of coronavirus on vulnerable children, whose support has already been cut due to austerity.
Geoff Barton, executive director of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “Schools have moved heaven and earth to support children to recover the learning lost during the pandemic, and this results in As you can see, this was not easy.” This may be because when it comes to mathematics, missing important elements of calculation at an early stage makes later progress much more difficult.
“This analysis makes it even more frustrating that not only has the government failed to provide sufficient investment in education recovery in the first place, but it has also backed away from the National Tutoring Programme, which was the government’s flagship recovery program…disappointing Remarkably, the government has taken the decision that this is a case of mission accomplished, even when it is clear that this is not the case at all. ”
The study also looked at the number of pupils who are eligible for free school meals for at least 80% of their time at school, and these pupils are classified as ‘permanently disadvantaged’. The proportion of elementary school students in this category increased from 8.9% before the pandemic to 13.3% in 2022-2023.
John Andrews, head of analysis and director of school performance and systems at EPI, said: “This latest analysis shows that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the performance of disadvantaged students has exacerbated already deep inequalities. “This sheds further light on the disproportionate impact that this has had.” These inequalities should be a major concern for policy makers and education providers.
“The fact that students who experience persistent disadvantage achieve much lower outcomes is a reminder of the importance of tackling child poverty as the root cause of achievement gaps.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We know the pandemic has had a significant impact on education worldwide, which is why since 2020 we have committed £5 billion to education recovery efforts, including the National Tutoring Programme. I have prepared it,” he said.
“We continue to see the success of our reforms. The UK is ranked 11th in the world for maths, up from just 27th in 2009, and in May we ranked 4th in the world for primary school children in reading. , making him the greatest reader in the Western world.”
