Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are more than twice as likely as their wealthier peers to not be in sustained work or education five years after their GCSEs, research suggests.
The so-called destinations gap grows significantly in the years after students sit those exams, education charity Teach First said.
Its analysis comes a day ahead of students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland receiving their GCSE results – with grades expected to fall as the system transitions back towards a pre-pandemic environment following two years of teacher assessment in place of exams.
Teach First said that Department for Education (DfE) data – which is for England only – showed that a year after taking GCSEs, almost 12% of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are not in any form of sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination, compared with almost 4% of non-disadvantaged pupils.
