Pupils' results reflect ethnic and social inequalities

12.00.00am GMT Thu 27th Mar 2008

Official Figures have revealed that Welsh children's level of achievement in school at all levels is directly affected by their ethnic and social background.

At Key Stages 1, 2, 3 and 4 pupils from Chinese and white ethnic backgrounds performed above the national average between 2005-2007, with pupils from mixed backgrounds only dropping behind the national average at KS4 in this period. While at all 4 levels pupils from Asian backgrounds were below average and pupils from Black ethnic backgrounds were well below the average.

Between 2005-2007 school children eligible for free school meals performed below average at Key stages 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Kirsty Williams AM, Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Education, has condemned the findings as "evidence of the lifelong inequality embedded in Wales following years of the Labour Government's misrule and low-mobility culture".

Kirsty said: "These figures show that from the minute a child starts school their social and ethnic background determines their level of achievement, this is social injustice at its worst.

"Every child should have the same start to life and the right to the same level of education and achievement; yet the trend of these statistics shows that 54.3% of children from a White background will get more than 5 A*-C grades at GCSE level compared to just 38.3 of children from a black ethnic background.

"The existing methods for distributing deprivation related funding are opaque and inconsistent what we need is a Pupil Premium system that would attach extra funding to children from disadvantaged backgrounds and ensure they get the extra support they need.

"We not only need to properly fund pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds through a pupil premium but we need to strengthen the links between home and school, recognising that children's early development depends critically on the relationship between school and family."

Notes:

Statistics taken from:

Academic Achievement by Pupil Characteristics, 2005-2007

http://new.wales.gov.uk/statsdocs/schools/sb16-2008.pdf?lang=en

Academic Achievement and Entitlement to Free School Meals, 2007

http://new.wales.gov.uk/docrepos/40382/40382313/statistics/schools/schools2008/sb13-2008.pdf?lang=en