Only 40 per cent of disadvantaged pupils identified as high-achieving at the start of secondary school go on to achieve top GCSE grades, compared with 62 per cent of their more affluent peers, new research has found.
Research by UCL Institute of Education Professor John Jerrim and Dr Maria Palma Carvajal, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found that academic gaps begin to emerge between high achieving advantaged and disadvantaged pupils between the ages of 11 and 14.
Analysis of ONS and Department for Education data found that high achieving disadvantaged pupils are 26 percentage points less likely to achieve an A or A* in maths, and 21 percentage points less likely to achieve an A or A* in English, compared to their high-income peers.
In maths, only 9 per cent of high-achieving disadvantaged pupils go on to receive at least a B at A-level.
Changes between ages 11 to 14
Researchers said this dip in academic performance was due to multiple factors, including perceptions of the value of school, lower levels of happiness and higher likelihood of absence or exclusions.
From as early as age 7, high-achieving disadvantaged children are more likely to express negative views about the value of school and the importance of working hard. At age 14, they are 11 percentage point less likely to say that working hard is very important.
At age 14, disadvantaged high achievers report lower levels of happiness, emotional wellbeing and self-esteem than their peers.
The report also found that New Labour’s gifted and talented programme, introduced in 2006 and canned in 2010, “primarily benefitted students from more advantaged socio-economic homes”, as they were six percentage points more likely to be identified for the scheme, even after accounting for prior academic performance.
More monitoring needed
Researchers said government should look at ways to improve identification and tracking of high-achieving disadvantaged pupils, focusing on key transition points.
This “would help ensure there is a rapid response when there are early signs of them disengaging with school and falling behind their peers academically”, the report said.
Schools should focus on engagement and enrichment opportunities particularly on age 11 and 14, when academic gaps begin to emerge.
The government should also fund evaluations and reviews to identify interventions, and introduce a more inclusive, better-targeted version of the gifted and talented programme.
Jerrim said: “These pupils demonstrate strong academic potential early in life, but our findings show that this advantage is not sustained over time.
“The gaps that open up during secondary school suggest that ability alone is not enough to overcome the effects of socio-economic disadvantage.”
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