Royal Borough education gap among highest in England

The education gap between the most deprived and least deprived in the Royal Borough is one of largest in the country, according to a national study.

A research report carried out by the Social Mobility Commission was published in September showing how the area a person grows up in and conditions they are raised in affects how much they earn as an adult.

Using newly-acquired data of all state-educated males in England born between 1986 and 1988, the study found a large pay gap between those who were disadvantaged and those from affluent families, even in areas of high social mobility.

According to the data, the education gap between the most and least deprived males in the Royal Borough is between 51 and 57 per cent, placing it among the top 10 local authorities in England.

Other local authorities in the top 10 include Oxford, South Bucks and Wycombe.

The report also called on local and regional leaders to ‘enhance and expand their understanding of what is going on in their locality.’

Reacting to the report, Cllr Amy Tisi (Lib Dem, Clewer East), who is a teacher in her day job, said: “If you have a family that’s worried about rent, about being evicted or about domestic violence, when there’s all these other things going on a child isn’t going to be able to make the best of the education offered to them.

“There’s a huge social side and we have realised during COVID what a huge impact schools have on that side of things, because when schools were closed all these things that schools did as well as teaching weren’t happening.

“I don’t know exactly how we’ll solve these issues but in a post-COVID world we might look at it a little more because it’s glaringly obvious that the gap is widening.”

The Royal Borough has been approached for comment.

To view the full report, titled The Long Shadow Of Deprivation: Differences in Opportunities Across England visit www.gov.uk/government/ publications/the-long-shadow-of-deprivation-differences-in-opportunities