PARENTING REALLY MATTERS!

Looking carefully at how we address the huge inequalities in this country constantly means that we return to the key role of parents and carers.

The Sutton Trust's latest report 'What Prospects for Mobility in the UK?' found that, in England, children, with highly-educated parents, at the start of their educational journey at five were ranked in the 67th percentile on average, compared with children with low-educated parents who were ranked in the 29th percentile.  Previous research published by the Trust showed that children from low income homes are over a year behind children from high income homes at five years old; the start of schooling in the UK.

Key findings from the research were:

Finding 1: Gaps in school readiness in England between less advantaged children and their more advantaged counterparts are larger than those in similar nations such as Canada and Australia, but smaller than those in the United States.

Finding 2: Formal preschool education can have lasting effects in reducing the educational and economic disparities between high and low income children 




Finding 3: Disparities in early child outcomes persist into adolescence, with comparatively large attainment gaps observed in England.


Finding 4: Unlike other countries, the achievement gap between less advantaged English children and their more advantaged counterparts widens between the ages of eleven (the end of primary school) and sixteen (end of compulsory secondary school). 

So much more to do!

Chris