GSCEs: the North-South divide

Today’s GCSE results for hundreds of thousands of teenagers across the country reveal a stark divide between the southeast and the rest of England, a divide which has been deepened by the pandemic.

This year’s cohort are the first in three years to take formal exams – a welcome step back towards post-lockdown normality. 

And for many, the outcome was a relief: while the overall pass rate has fallen slightly since last year’s teacher-assessed grades, it is significantly higher compared to the last time students sat exams in 2019. The proportion of top grades followed this same pattern. This is likely due to the extra help – such as the inclusion of formulae sheets – given to pupils this year to make up for the huge disruption to their education over lockdown. 

However, when grades are compared across the country, it’s not such a sunny picture. 

In London, almost a third of GCSEs — 32.6 per cent — were marked at grades A or above, compared to just 22.4% in the north east of England and in Yorkshire and the Humber.

This attainment gap predated Covid. But it had been narrowing every year up until the pandemic. Now, the trend appears to be regressing. 

Thanks to local lockdowns, schools in the North and Midlands have suffered a disproportionate learning loss. These results show the direct impact of the pandemic policies on school closures. 

It’s a theme picked up on by leadership hopeful, Rishi Sunak, in his interesting interview with the Spectator, in which he speaks candidly about the government’s failure to recognise the wider impacts of lockdowns. As well as highlighting the problems of surgery backlogs and neglect of cancer patients, he points to the damaging effect of children missing out on school learning. 

Whether this was Sunak’s attempt to shed himself of some personal responsibility by implying he would have handled things differently, we don’t know. What we do know is that, whether it’s Sunak or Truss who makes it to No 10, they will need to show they are serious about tackling these disparities. 

As Will Quince, the schools minister, said today after the results, investment in early days education is essential. 

Both the Department for Education in England and Sunak have been keen to draw attention to the government’s £5 billion Covid schools catch-up fund, which includes cash for the tutoring of more disadvantaged pupils. 

However, Sir Kevan Collins, the education catch-up Tsar, resigned when this package was announced last June, claiming that the government’s figure fell woefully short of what was needed to fund a proper schools recovery plan. Collins had recommended £15 billion. 

Tackling the North-South education gap will be crucial for our next leader if they want to stay true to the 2019 Tory manifesto, and its pledge to level up the country.