Differential attainment at school

Publication Summary

This chapter looks in more detail at some of the patterns of attainment in Chapter 3, such as by sex and area of residence. While these patterns change over time, all of them give further clues as to why the patterns themselves exist. As such, this chapter looks at some of the evidence on what were ‘moral panics’ at the time, such as the failure of pupils in Wales and the increasing under-achievement of boys and of parts of the United Kingdom. It also suggests that using the more sensitive measure of the duration of poverty (years with free school meals, or FSM) has much to recommend it. Using the number of years a student has been eligible for FSM, and how segregated a school system is by poverty and other indicators of disadvantage, it is possible to explain substantive differences such as the apparently superior attainment of schools in the South of England compared to the North.