Featured in this report: Education
The Department for Education defines pupils as being disadvantaged if they are or have been eligible for means-tested free school meals or if they are or have been looked after by a local authority. Of the 7.0 million children aged 4–16 who are educated in publicly funded schools, 2.0 million (29%) come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Such pupils tend to perform poorly in public examinations relative to other pupils. As poor academic performance is associated with lower wages and higher unemployment in adulthood, this ‘attainment gap’ is a key mechanism for transmitting poverty from one generation to the next.
The Department for Education aims to improve the quality of education for all. However, it also aims to raise disadvantaged pupils’ attainment and reduce the gap between them and others. In 2011, the Department announced new funding for schools, the Pupil Premium, which specifically aims to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children.
This report evaluates the Department for Education's implementation of the pupil premium policy to date and how well schools use the funding.
