New research published today by the Sutton Trust reveals the extent to which the talent of high-potential disadvantaged young people is being wasted due to inequalities in society and education.
Social Mobility: The Next Generation is the most comprehensive study to date on social mobility and wasted potential. It looks at a group of almost 2,500 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who showed high academic potential at the end of primary school. It explores the progress of this group during secondary school in comparison to their non-disadvantaged peers with the same grades.
The research finds that in 2021, 62% of better-off high-potential pupils got five or more 7-9s at GCSE, while for high-potential pupils who were disadvantaged, it was less than 40%. Between 2017 and 2021, over 28,000 young people who would be expected to achieve top grades at GCSE based on the potential they showed at primary school, did not do so due to the disadvantage they faced.
While inequality impacts on academic attainment from an early age, these gaps accelerate during secondary school. The research shows that by the time disadvantaged pupils with high potential take their GCSEs, they have fallen behind similarly talented classmates by three quarters of a grade per subject, and by a whole grade per subject compared to the most affluent. They are almost twice as likely to drop out of the group of children who are in the top third of attainment.
