School absences directly linked to disadvantage gap

A new report by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) looks into what causes the disadvantage gap and urges the government to address the underlying causes of school absences. High levels of absence are identified as a key factor in the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers.

The report, titled Breaking Down the Gap, has found that pupil absence is a key, and growing, cause of the disadvantage gap. If disadvantaged pupils had the same level of absence as their peers in 2023, the attainment gap at age 11 (of 10.1 months) would have been almost one month smaller and the gap at age 16 (of 18.6 months) would have been over four months smaller.

The report attributes the growth in the disadvantage gap at age 16 by 0.5 months since 2019 (to 18.6 months in 2023) entirely to higher levels of absence for disadvantaged pupils.

At each key stage, the report finds that more than half of the gap is explained by the size of the gap in earlier phases. Therefore, analysis shows that by age seven, nearly 60 per cent of the gap at age 11 has already developed. Addressing inequalities early on, then, is key to preventing the disadvantage gap from increasing further.

Disadvantaged pupils fall even further behind when they attend schools and colleges with lower-attaining intakes, which adds over one month to the GCSE gap in 2023, and a third of a grade to the 16-19 gap.

Children with special educational needs face an ever-widening attainment gap, with students on SEN support in reception year falling 0.7 months behind their peers between 2019 and 2023.

The report did find that the gender gap for GCSE students has narrowed during this period as boys’ results improve, but this also reflects the slower progress of girls during secondary education.

The 16-19 disadvantage gap hasn’t had much change since 2019 but disadvantaged students have become less likely to continue education after the end of key stage four.

The report thus calls upon the government to priorities early intervention to improve school readiness and reduce gaps throughout schooling through increasing the early years pupils premium to match the pupil premium in later years.

As part of the wider SEND reforms, the report recommends that the government should prioritise training in child development and different types of SEND, making it a mandatory part of initial teacher training and career development. 

Other recommended improvements include a new absence strategy in schools to address its root causes and includes improved SEND identification, and the introduction of a student premium in the 16-19 phase, is similar to the pupil premium at key stage four.