Children with a SEND or who come from poorer backgrounds are already experiencing inequalities from the early years of primary school, creating a “lasting impact on their education and outcomes”, a report has found.
The government-funded study, Five to 12: Year 1, found disadvantage across many areas, which influenced later outcomes, including longstanding health conditions.
Pupils with a SEND were found to get less sleep, and did not always have regular bedtimes, or to exercise regularly.
Both they, and youngsters from poor backgrounds, also had under-developed motor skills.
They were also less likely to achieve academic benchmarks, and the standards reached by their peers, with their teachers having lower expectations of them.
Georgia Gould, the schools minister, said: “Disadvantaged children are already falling behind by year 1, potentially having a lasting impact on their education and outcomes.
“That’s why we’re acting early, getting children ready to succeed in school through Best Start Family Hubs, free school meals for hundreds of thousands more children, specialist SEND support and raising standards through our RISE teams.”
Family life
The research is being conducted by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and supported by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) and the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), and follows a cohort of primary pupils through the current decade.
It is seeking to understand how social inequalities impact education and wellbeing.
The first report, based on pupils who were in year 1 in 2023-24, found family circumstances “differed markedly by disadvantage”.
For example, while 78% of children overall lived with two parents, 59% of those eligible for free school meals lived in a lone-parent household.
These findings may prompt consideration of teachers’ early expectations and grouping practices
Participation in home learning activities also different. While 83% of families took part in home learning activities at least a few times a week, this fell among FSM-eligible families, families with lower levels of parental education and for children with SEND.
Cognitive development was also “strongly linked to socio-economic circumstances”.
“Verbal skills, non-verbal reasoning and working memory were all associated with parental education and socio-economic status, while children with SEN scored lower on average,” the report said.
The study also tracks whether pupils have SEND, an EHCP and sets these against their characteristics and family circumstances.
It found that families with lower incomes and with lower levels of parental education are more likely to be identified as having SEND.
The study also looked at use of digital devices, school behaviour and experience of bullying and teachers’ expectations of the pupils.
Behaviour and expectations
If found that pupils from poorer households and who have a SEND were more likely to display disruptive and bullying behaviour but were also more likely to experience bullying themselves.
They also had worse relationships with their teachers and were more likely to require interventions, such as tutoring or one-to-one support.
Children from lower-income household and with lower parental education were “less likely to be predicted by teachers to achieve the expected standards at the end of primary school and are less likely to be in higher attainment groups”.
The report said: “These disparities are wider still for cohort children with SEN. While developmental disparities exist before children even start primary education, these findings may also prompt consideration of the influence of teachers’ early expectations and grouping practices on children’s future outcomes.”
