London pupils lagging behind international peers

Pupils at London schools are being outperformed by their peers in many countries around the world, according to new research from University College London’s (UCL) Institute of Education.

Despite London schools often leading the way in pupil performance in the UK, the new research suggests that 15 year-olds in the nation’s capital are months, and sometimes years, behind their international counterparts.

The study examined 15 year-olds educated in both private and state schools and found that they were approximately six months behind pupils in Asia and wealthy parts of North America and Europe, with pupils in Shanghai being as much as three years further ahead in maths.

The study used data from tests administered through the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) programme for international student assessment (Pisa), comparing the performance of over 1,000 pupils across 42 London schools.

Only 10 per cent of London pupils could match the maths skills of the average Shanghai 15 year-old, with pupils in Hong Kong, Maastricht, Helsinki, Milan, the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria, the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, and the US states of Massachusetts and Connecticut consistently outperforming London pupils in maths, science and reading.

Dr John Jerrim, lead author of the study, said: "London schools have been rightly lauded in recent years for improving performance, particularly among pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. However, London's comparatively poor Pisa results seem to stem from certain groups performing worse than expected, including girls, ethnic minorities and young people from lower socio-economic groups.

"However, it is important to remember that this is just one assessment, and is a single piece in a much bigger jigsaw. London's success in GCSE examinations is still a cause for celebration, though clearly much more also needs to be done to ensure children in our capital city are able to compete with the best in the world."

Munira Mirza, deputy mayor for Education and Culture, said: “Whilst young Londoners get the best results in the country at GCSE, this research highlights the challenges still faced by London’s disadvantaged students in achieving as well as their peers. The different assessment style of Pisa appears to have the biggest impact on the performance of disadvantaged and ethnic minority students, and seems to explain the weaker results in London in comparison to the rest of the UK.

“It is critically important that there is no complacency or reduction of support for London schools, and since these results were recorded, the Mayor and the government have developed a pan-London programme to maintain the focus on improvement. We will be investigating these initial findings further and continuing to work with London’s schools and teachers to enable all young Londoners to achieve.”