‘Pay teachers more at deprived schools’

Nicola Woolcock covers the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Social Mobility’s report, for which the Sutton Trust provides the Secretariat, in an article for the Times.

Teachers should be paid more in schools with lots of poor children, MPs say as they warn that the attainment gap for five-year-olds will take 40 years to close.

A report by the all-party parliamentary group on social mobility criticises government austerity for depriving schools and children’s centres of funding. It identifies social mobility “coldspots” that could fall further behind the rest of the country. These include parts of Somerset, Norfolk and Blackpool.

The report, which is published today, blames deep social divisions on the emergence of large areas of low educational attainment. Exam results remain low, which has serious repercussions for those living there.

The MPs want the “pupil premium” extra funding for children from poor backgrounds to be turned into a social mobility premium that schools can spend on extra support or pay for teachers in deprived areas.

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The group calls for a focus on providing high-quality early years provision for the most disadvantaged children, and ring-fenced funding for children’s centres, many of which have closed.

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Get the full story (£) or read the APPG research.