Exams

‘Remarkable’ improvement in ethnic minorities’ GCSEs, but some fall further behind

But researchers warn educational success has 'not yet translated' in earnings

But researchers warn educational success has 'not yet translated' in earnings

Most large minority ethnic groups are as likely to obtain good English and maths GCSEs as white British students, a new report says.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies says the rate of change in education performance for some ethnic groups has “been remarkable”.

However, despite the gap narrowing previously, Black Caribbean pupils have fallen further behind since 2013.

Researchers also warned that success in education had “not yet translated” into better or equal success in earnings.

The IfS looked at the percentage point difference in GCSE attainment relative to white British pupils.

The share of white British pupils achieving a grade 4 or above (or previous benchmark standards) increased from 42 per cent in 2004 to 65 per cent in 2019.

The IfS said Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black Afraican pupils were 10 percentage points behind white British pupils in 2004.

But in recent years this gap has closed and in some cases been reversed. Bangladeshi students are now 5 percentage points more likely to achieve top grades compared to white counterparts.

Indian and Chinese students have 15 percentage point and 25 percentage point advantages respectively, which is similar to scores in the mid-2000s.

After a “notable reduction” in an 18 percentage point gap between 2004 and 2013, the gap for Black Caribbean attainment has now increased again to around 16 points.

GCSEs

The IfS said the driver of the trends will “vary”, but changes in “underlying socio-economic profiles” may have a role to play.

This could include how many pupils are eligible for free school meals, where they live in the country or exclusion rates.

The think tank also found a greater proportion of students from all large minority groups attended university than white pupils.

In 2019, Pakistani students were 19 percentage points, Bangladeshi students 27 percentage points, and Black African students 29 percentage points more likely to attend some form of higher education than were white British students.

However, for all three of these groups, the proportion of students attending the most competitive universities was “substantially lower” than among white British students.

Students from all minority ethnic groups were also less likely to complete their degree or obtain good grades at university than their white counterparts.

The report also looked at pay, and found ethnic inequalities in pay were “persistent”, but varied hugely between groups.

Median weekly earnings for Black Caribbean men were 13 per cent below white British men in 2019. Pakistani and Bangladeshi men were paid 22 per cent and 42 per cent less respectively.

But average earnings among Indian men were 13 per cent higher than white British men.

The IfS also found that poverty rates among minority ethnic groups remained “substantially elevated” compared to the white population.

In 2018–19, non-white children accounted for a fifth of children overall but nearly a third of children in poverty. Two-thirds of Bangladeshi children and nearly half of Black Caribbean children lived in households in poverty, after accounting for housing costs.

Professor Imran Rasul, from the IfS, said there needed to be a greater understanding about “what causes differences within and between ethnic minorities in the education and justice systems and in the labour market”.

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