In this blog series we will consider the relative GCSE English and maths attainment of pupils with additional needs during the Covid-19 pandemic – those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an Additional Language (EAL) – and in particular, we will make comparisons between pupils with similar additional needs but differing ethnic backgrounds.
Our focus on additional needs is motivated by the increased GCSE attainment gaps experienced by pupils with EAL or SEND in 2020, and our analysis by ethnicity reveals further variation in outcomes within these groups.
In later blogs in this series, we will extend our analysis to show how attainment differed or was similar for pupils of different ethnicities whose schools made additional provision for additional needs, and those whose schools did not offer that provision.
The types of provision for SEND we will consider are whether the school had a SEN Resourced Provision, or a SEN Unit; and whether or not the school was among those with the most teaching assistants (in the top quartile for the ratio of teaching assistants to teachers).
For EAL, we will consider whether the school was in the top quartile with the most teachers of Black and Minority Ethnicity, alongside the teaching assistants measure.
