Access to Education

Educational inequalities start early in life, and are magnified throughout childhood. Children aged three and four from poorer backgrounds spend less time in education than those from higher income families, though research evidence indicates that these children stand to gain the most from high quality pre-school learning. During compulsory schooling, educational inequalities become more pronounced. Schools with the highest concentration of poor children (measured by the proportion eligible for free school meals) see worse results at Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 than schools with fewer poor children. Poorer children obtain considerably lower GCSE grades than those from richer backgrounds. Some of these educational gaps arise because of differences in ability and motivation between children, or are simply the product of varying educational choices. But financial barriers also play a role. House prices are higher in the catchment areas of the highest performing schools, whilst the cost of private schooling and tuition can also be prohibitive. Educational choices after 16 have been the subject of an ongoing policy experiment over the last four years. The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) pilots aimed to increase after-16 education participation amongst children from low income families by offering £30 or £40 a week to encourage children from poorer backgrounds to stay in school. Evaluation results show that more young people have been induced both to stay on, and to remain, at school or college. These increases in participation, though substantial, will not be sufficient to remove the socio-economic gap in participation entirely. The financial returns to obtaining qualifications are substantial: this means that the economic effects of educational choices made early persist throughout the child’s entire life and are perpetuated across generations.