Children from Poorer Homes Left Behind

Research carried out for the Campaign to End Child Poverty shows that children who live in poverty or come from poorer homes are likely to struggle at school. The research shows less privileged children can fall behind other children by as much as two years by the age of 14.

The achievement gap has started to show even before children start at school, with children already up to nine months behind in their development.

The report entitled Chicken and egg: child poverty and educational inequalities looks at the cycle of poverty where children born to poorer families find it difficult to catch up with their peers and therefore repeat the cycle when they become parents.

It is claimed that £4bn is required as investment by 2020 in order to close the gap in achievement.

The report states: "As childhood progresses, so the gap widens, as pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds are the least likely to progress from weak performance in primary school to stronger performance in secondary schools."

"And these differences persist into higher education and the transition to the labour market."

The report goes on to suggest that the education gap is one of the main reasons why generations of a family find it so hard to break out of poverty. Current schooling does little to break this cycle.

"The gap in educational chances comes full circle when disadvantaged children fail to get qualifications, face poor job prospects as adults and then are unable to give their own children a good start in life," it says.

The author of the report Donald Hirsch describes it as "amazing" the way the gap in achievement got wider and wider as children got older.

Further claims include that far from reducing the differences between children from different social backgrounds, the education system allows it to grow. It also identifies the gap widening significantly in the first three years of secondary school.

The report ends by calling for poverty to be tackled alongside the education gap.

"Unless both are done simultaneously, children growing up with unequal chances will become the next generation of parents without the resources to give their own children a good chance - and this "chicken and egg" cycle will continue."

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