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A critical three-year period between the ages of 11 and 14 has been identified as the time when talented, low-income children fall behind their wealthier peers in school, according to new research.
The study followed high-ability children aged five, from the lowest and highest income groups, and found that they progressed at similar rates through the early years of secondary school.
But as the two groups sat down GCSEs or equivalent exams at age 16, those in the wealthier group were much more likely to get top grades than those in the low-income group and were more likely to take A-levels.
The researchers found that after the early middle school years, low-income people were more likely to have contact with the police, lower self-esteem, and negative attitudes toward education.
“Failure to fully capitalize on the early potential of this group is likely to be a key reason why the UK is failing to become a more socially flexible society,” concluded the study by University of London (UCL) scientists.
Professor John Jerrim, lead author of the study, said: “Unfortunately, between the ages of 11 and 14, things seem to start to go wrong for the most able children from low-income families.
“These are the children who are in the best position to continue to achieve well in school, break through the glass ceiling and increase diversity in professional workplaces.” But if many cannot achieve excellent grades in school, how will we become a more socially mobile society?’
The experts said working paper by Jerim, with Maria Carvajal, was evidence of the “insidious and cumulative impact” of family income disparities and the lack of support for adolescents.
Iram Siraj, professor of child development and education at Oxford University, said: “Youth services and falling funding from the third sector and local authorities, combined with rising poverty, are harming our children.”
Steve Strand, professor of education at Oxford, said the research identified “the important role of peer groups during adolescence”, including in relation to bad behaviour, poorer mental health and lower self-esteem.
“To me, this shows the vital importance of community and neighborhood level policy and the support and services that have been deprived of our poorest communities through decades of local government cuts,” he said.
learning, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, followed the outcomes of 389 “highly able” five-year-olds from the poorest 25% of UK families throughout their primary and secondary education. He then looked at the same results for 1,392 highly able five-year-olds from the richest 25% of families, using data for both groups of Millennium Cohort Study children born from 2000 to 2002
It found “a clear, rapid decline in the outcomes of high-ability, low-income children” between the ages of 11 and 14, which coincided with other emerging differences, including “significantly” poorer behavior and mental well-being and a greater likelihood to have been stopped, cautioned or arrested by the police by the age of 17 compared to their high-income peers.
Just 40% of low-income children got A grades or better in exams at age 16, compared with 65% in the high-income group. The gap in exam results has contributed to fewer children in the low-income group taking A-levels.
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