The ‘disadvantage gap’ refers to the socio-economic gap in society in the UK. According to the Child Poverty Action Group, ‘4.2 million children were living in poverty in 2021-22’, or 9 children out of a classroom of 30. (1) In the areas that Right to Succeed work in, there are many social issues linked with […]

The ‘disadvantage gap’ refers to the socio-economic gap in society in the UK. According to the Child Poverty Action Group, ‘4.2 million children were living in poverty in 2021-22’, or 9 children out of a classroom of 30. (1)

We also work in Northwood, where over half (52%) of children and young people are living in poorer households, over three times the national average. Also, youth unemployment is higher than the national average and rising. There are high SEND levels and lower literacy levels than national averages in Northwood.

‘Of the 4.6 million children in English primary schools, just under 1.5 million are diagnosed with SEND, but we must consider the children in our classrooms who are struggling with suspected but undiagnosed needs and the impact of this on their mental health and that of their families. Support for these families is notionally reported to be sparse and, now that school budgets for next year have been drastically cut, reduced staffing ratios are likely to exacerbate this issue even further.’ (2)

According to the University of Manchester, solutions to the disadvantage gap involve having ‘broader policies on poverty/inequality’ and ‘changing fundamental things in schools to equalise opportunity’, (3) such as the curriculum.

In our programme in North Birkenhead, the literacy gap decreased for children with SEN in 2022/23. Our data showed pupils with Special Educational Needs (+2.8 Standard Age Score) made more progress in their reading ability than pupils without SEN (+1.6 Standard Age Score), which means that the attainment gap between SEN and SEN pupils dropped (-1.2 Standard Age Score).

Across all of our programmes in 2022/23, the disadvantage gap had decreased in literacy. The average score for children who are eligible for Free School Meals increased slightly more than children who are not eligible for Free School Meals (+0.6 vs +0.3). This meant that the disadvantage gap decreased slightly to the previous year (5.2 to 4.9 Standard Age Score gap).

To read further about our programmes *link*

1. https://cpag.org.uk/child-poverty/child-poverty-facts-and-figures 
2. https://www.hope.ac.uk/news/allnews/expert-comment-is-the-uk-education-system-failing-our-children.html
3. https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=42624#:~:text=The%20project%20takes%20vital%20disadvantage,and%20to%20assist%20schools%20in