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Is selection and school choice hindering our work to close the education gap between rich and poor?

Government policy Narrowing the Gap
Countries which are successful in closing the poverty gap in educational outcomes tend to avoid selection by ability and segregation between schools. They also have a significant focus on attracting, supporting and retaining high-quality teachers.

These are findings from a research analysis published last week by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) and Professors John Jerrim and Toby Greany from the UCL Institute of Education (IoE).

The report looks at the attainment gap and the performance of disadvantaged pupils in England as compared to other countries. It converts the latest results from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) into GCSE grades in order to make the comparisons.

For maths, the report finds that the average maths GCSE grade of disadvantaged pupils in England is around 3.8. This ranks England in the lower half of the OECD countries – 25 out of 44.

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