Schools & Achievement

Attaining GCSEs and A Levels provides substantial economic advantages for individuals in the UK. Gaps in educational outcomes and related levels of income and employment opportunities are strongly related to inequalities of family income and levels of deprivation. We see that disadvantaged pupils achieve less well than their advantaged peers. (Source: Annual Report 2024: Disadvantage – Education Policy Institute). These qualifications are foundational for accessing further education, skilled employment, and higher lifetime earnings. GCSEs, particularly in English and Maths, are often minimum requirements for entry-level jobs and apprenticeships. Achieving five 9 to 5 GCSEs, including English and Maths, adds tens of thousands of pounds on average to lifetime earnings (Source: Skills and UK productivity research report). This is due to improved employability and access to better-paying roles. A Levels further enhance economic prospects. Individuals who attain at least two A Levels can expect a further significant uplift in lifetime earnings, bringing the total benefit of school success to around £140,000 (Source: Skills and UK productivity research report). These qualifications are key pathways to university and higher-level vocational training, which are strongly correlated with higher salaries.

Employment rates also rise with qualification level. In 2022, the employment rate for people with Level 2 qualifications (5+ GCSEs at grades 4–9) was 70%, compared to just 43% for those with no qualifications. For Level 3 (2+ A Levels), the rate was 81%. (Source: K4D_HDR_The_Contribution_of_Education_to_Economic_Growth_Final.pdf)

Beyond individual gains, these qualifications contribute to national productivity. A more educated workforce drives innovation and efficiency. Research shows that improvements in skills and qualifications significantly boost UK productivity growth (Source: The contribution of education to economic growth – GOV.UK).

Moreover, GCSEs and A Levels improve job mobility and resilience. Individuals with these qualifications are better equipped to adapt to economic changes and are less likely to experience long-term unemployment (Source: The contribution of education to economic growth – GOV.UK).

In summary, GCSEs and A Levels are not merely academic milestones – they are economic assets. They enhance individual earning potential, increase employment stability, and contribute to broader economic prosperity. Poor-quality jobs, characterised by insecurity, low pay, and lack of support, can negatively impact mental health and wellbeing. (Source: Health equity strategies, reports and tools – GOV.UK)

Many challenges remain for authorities: reduction in public spending; support for good mental health for pupils; and creation and embedding of resources to support and develop speech, language and communication at the earliest possible stage. There is continuing work to ensure the curriculum is robust and supports a strong learning journey from reception to key stage 5. In the UK today, 31% of our children – 4.5 million – are trapped in poverty. This is broadly reflected in Lincolnshire. That means nine pupils in an average class of 30 have been disadvantaged from an early age.

Wealth is a significant predictor of how well children get on in school. By GCSE level, poorer pupils’ attainment is on average 19 months behind their wealthier peers. We also know that some children are more likely to be affected by poverty than others, such as those with SEND (Source: Child poverty | National Education Union).

• NICE Guideline: Social, emotional and mental wellbeing in primary and secondary education [NG223] Guidance for those with responsibility for social and emotional wellbeing of young people in education. It focusses on interventions to support all young people aged 11-19.
• UK Poverty 2025: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK | Joseph Rowntree Foundation This Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2025 report is a roundup document bringing together research examining the costs, causes and effects of child poverty.
• Closing the attainment gap This research from the Education Endowment Foundation shows gaps begins in early years and are evident at age 5, when children begin school.  The gap subsequently grows wider at every following stage of education.
• Inequalities in quality of education by income deprivation.

This Health Foundation research shows more deprived areas have a higher proportion of schools rated ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Requires Improvement’ by Ofsted. In primary schools the disparity is clear but in secondary schools, the disparity is more pronounced:

• Around a third of schools in the most deprived areas are rated ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Requires Improvement’.
• A much smaller percentage of schools in the least deprived areas fall into these categories.
• Conversely, approximately three times more secondary schools in the least deprived areas are rated ‘Outstanding’, compared to those in the most deprived areas.
• Disadvantaged pupils (e.g. those on free school meals) are 6 times more likely to be permanently excluded and 4 times more likely to be suspended.
• Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) but without an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) are particularly vulnerable to exclusion.

This national trend is reflected in Lincolnshire’s own data.

Increased Earnings Inequality

A major study in the Oxford University Press using household panel data found that individuals who grew up in areas with selective schooling systems (like grammar schools) experience significantly more unequal wage distributions in adulthood. Specifically: (Source: Burgess, Dickinson & Macmillan, 2020)

• The 90–10 earnings gap (difference between top and bottom earners) is 24% larger in selective areas.
• Even after controlling for background and location, 19% of the conditional earnings gap is attributable to the schooling system.
• Those at the top of the earnings distribution benefit more, while those at the bottom earn less compared to their counterparts from comprehensive systems.

Outcomes for children in Lincolnshire have improved over time – mirroring a rising national trend. The percentage of pupils in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) (up to age 5) reaching expected levels of development has caught up with the percentage of their peers, regionally and nationally. However, the attainment gap begins early on in primary phase and continues throughout the school years and beyond. Lincolnshire remains in the lower half of our league tables with our Statistical Neighbours and Nationally at Primary phase but is at the top regionally at secondary phase on average. However, over recent years we can see that the gap is narrowing with our neighbours over time.

Closing the attainment gap is a national challenge. However, under-performance in certain schools, districts and regions is masked when looking at higher level UK measures. There is often a wide range of performance across and within districts (Source: Key stage 4 performance, Academic year 2023/24 – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK). There is a persistent and clear correlation between levels of deprivation and achievement at all key stages (Source: EPI-Local-Disadvantage-Gaps-in-England-FINAL-1.pdf).

Data clearly show disadvantaged pupils, including Children in Care (CIC) and Care Leavers, do less well than their peers, and that schools with the highest proportions of disadvantaged pupils have lower performance outcomes as well as worse outcomes in Ofsted inspections (Source: DfE).

Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) pupils and CIC have some of the lowest attainment of any pupil group. Many SEND pupils and CIC live within disadvantaged families. The potential cycle of under-performance will have a negative impact on this protected and vulnerable group. Closing the gap in educational outcomes – which began before birth – to achieve real socio-economic uplift for our most deprived communities is unlikely.

As the result of work with the education sector, pupil outcomes across Lincolnshire may remain stable overall but we aspire to attain outcomes at least in line with comparable local authorities. However, challenges remain to break the cycle of under-performance, poor outcomes, and low economic productivity which exist in already disadvantaged communities.

Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) maintains strong links and regular communication with the Department for Education (DfE) and the Office of the Regional Director, sharing intelligence to influence the structural pattern of schools and academies in the county.

The LCC education team works to a nationally agreed model of school improvement whereby schools, as a sector, should lead their own improvement. LCC work closely with sector partners such as the Lincolnshire Education Group (LEG) and Teaching School Hub (TSH), to create and broker identified and essential professional development and resources for the sector. The Locality Education professionals provide direct advice and support for schools, as well as facilitating and signposting school leaders to expert support from elsewhere. Funding opportunities are explored to enable activity that will benefit communities and is based upon research and evidence of best practice.

LCC operates a ‘sector-led model’ for school improvement, following the establishment of central government policy in 2011. This policy journey is to be completed with the ‘Reforming how local authority school improvement functions are funded’, setting out a clear expectation that all school improvement activity should be funded through de-delegated funding agreed by the local Schools Forum and/or directly from council corporate funding.

LEG is a group of representatives from LCC, The Diocese of Lincoln Education Team, The Teaching School Hub and school and academy leaders. Its role is to steer, challenge, commission and advance sector led improvement to meet the observed needs of children in Lincolnshire and reduce inequalities.

Alongside other DfE funded Hubs, at local level, Teaching School Hubs now support schools to improve. LCC works with partners, such as Designated National Specialist Centres, Local Curriculum Hubs, designated Teaching School Hubs, and LCC statutory service partners, to create localised projects addressing specific needs of  school communities to address inequalities and support children to have the best start in life. This is prominent for Key stages 1 and 2 to overcome barriers that impact on standards. Examples include support for curriculum review; support and training to improve quality of teaching and learning within Maths and English with a focus on outcomes for vulnerable learners; and development of leadership at all levels.

LCC provides a Virtual School for Children in Care (CIC). The Virtual School supports the education of CIC and care leavers. The Virtual School’s Headteacher has a strategic role in monitoring and managing educational attainment of CIC at KS2 and KS4. This is achieved by monitoring in-year attainment and assisting schools to devise effective learning recovery plans.

Responses to Ofsted’s Parent View, show most parents are happy with their child/children’s primary school or maintained nursery. However, where data are available for the secondary phase, this drops on average. Satisfaction levels pertaining to primary schools are broadly in line or above national averages. However, they are lower for secondary schools.

Challenges in the education sector continue over time. In particular:

• Transfer and transition from pre-school/nursery (EYFS) to schools; and transfer between primary and secondary phase. Particularly in the areas of early speech and language and communication. This can be shown by the current offer from the E.A.D. Teaching School Hub.
• Professional development to support secondary academies. There is too little effective CPD or resource available to develop a challenging and robust curriculum, built firmly with continuity, from the end of primary education and that meets the needs of all children – particularly for pupils registered as SEND (in mainstream settings), or for disadvantaged or vulnerable groups.
• Unmet pupil needs in many schools, and gaps in provision in all districts, particularly (but not exclusive to) secondary schools – due to the lack of capacity of Single Academy Trusts (SATs) or smaller schools, to invest in a sufficiently wide range of resources and strategies to meet all pupils needs well. In small primary schools and SATs, leaders have fewer central systems, fewer resources and fewer professional development structures to call upon. This is substantiated in Statistics: GCSEs (key stage 4) – GOV.UK and National data, Data set from Key stage 4 performance – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK.

Education does not have a direct role to play in health outcomes per se or the key ‘shifts’ in NHS provision introduced in the wake of the Darzi “Independent Investigation of the NHS”, from the Department of Health and Social Care that underpins the 10-year plan for health reform. However, schools and settings often at the core of communities, play a key role in signposting to services and to offer locations from which community and health services can operate.

We understand that many factors – often associated with deprivation and weak community services – which are outside of the school gates, have a large effect on pupil outcomes and vice versa. Therefore, the LCC Education Team leads place-based projects to integrate services and provision with education at the centre, so that both educational and social outcomes are improved. Examples are the Gainsborough and Skegness Aspiration Projects.

We have identified that leadership development, raising aspiration and lack of development in early language and communication are key issues and we are developing strategies and resources with our strategic partners to support educational settings to address this. We are also maintaining our focus on supporting families through our place-based projects.

There is a comprehensive offer of resources and professional development from the Teaching School Hub (and other Hubs) to help leaders and teachers to build a stronger, more effective curriculum. This will ensure a robust pathway for the progression of learning for all children.

The LCC Education Team continues to offer an essential service to our schools, particularly to maintained schools: to offer school improvement advice; and to signpost to- and broker support-within our sector led system.