Disadvantaged pupils are defined as those who qualify for free schools meals.
Scott Halligan, Head of Education at the Christian charity Transforming Lives for Good told Premier: “That shouldn’t be the case, some of the most recent research says it’s over a third [of a grade difference] worse per subject…that’s a drastic difference.”
He said “It’s a huge gap you’ve got to plug.”
“Tragically the gap seems to be much smaller in primary schools…so it’s something that gets exacerbated in the secondary school years.”
Speaking of what might cause the gap in grades, he said: “There’s all sorts of factors really…not least of all budget cuts, meaning that schools have particularly low staffing ratios. So it’s not unusual to see 30-34 students in a class” and therefore pupils who need more help may not get it.
Scott Halligan criticised the view that blames the difference on pupils living in varyingly welathy areas of the country.
He argued: “Research suggests that if you take out the different school factors and you compare the achievements of children in the same school it would be as small as 0.02 per cent of the difference, so it’s clearly not a geographical thing, it’s a wide-spread issue across the board.”
He advised Christian teachers to be: “Recognising that every young person is made in God’s image and that we want all young people to have opportunities and to be…
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