Educational inequalities in England have barely improved in the past two decades and are likely to worsen following the pandemic, according to a new study showing that attainment gaps at school lead to inequalities in later life.
Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think-tank, published on Tuesday found England to be an international outlier because of flatlining skills in literacy and numeracy. In virtually all OECD counties, literacy and numeracy were substantially better among those aged 16 to 24 than those aged 55 to 65, but in England they were roughly the same.
At the same time, stark differences between rich and poor persist. Less than half of children on free school meals left primary school with a good level of attainment in 2019, compared with 70 per cent of their better-off peers, the research found.