EEF CEO Professor Becky Francis comments on widening of KS2 attainment gap

EEF comment on KS2 attainment data

Commenting on DfE Key Stage 2 statistics showing a widening of the attainment gap, Professor Becky Francis, CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:

“Children who took their Key Stage 2 assessments last year have faced disruption throughout their entire school life. So while it is good to see that the percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, overall today’s data reflects the challenging circumstances in which they’ve started their education journey.

“What is most concerning is the confirmation that children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds have been most impacted by the pandemic.

“The government has set ambitious targets to raise standards by 2030. But to achieve this, tackling education inequality – and the factors behind it – has to be a top priority for the new education secretary.

“Widening wealth inequality and the cost-of-living crisis will only make this harder, given the incredibly strong relationship between family income and education attainment.

“As school energy and food costs increase, it is vital that school leaders are not forced to direct resources away from the things which the evidence shows are likely to make the biggest difference to the attainment gap.”