Address educational disadvantage in the North, IPPR urges

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has called on the government to address educational disadvantage in the North, claiming this should be at the heart of efforts to create a Northern Powerhouse.

The report from IPPR found that secondary schools in the north receive on average £1,300 less per pupil than schools in London. It claims that secondary school attainment should be a cause for concern as this where ‘educational inequalities widen sharply’.

The IPPR highlights that educational inequality is not just an issue for satellite and coastal towns, with schools in major northern cities including Liverpool and Leeds struggling to raise the attainment gap.

It also argues that a strict focus on failing schools is also not enough, as even outstanding schools have attainment gaps.

The IPPR has called on the government to use its forthcoming review of the national funding formula to weight funding more heavily towards areas of the country which have high levels of disadvantage and which struggle to recruit teachers.

It also suggests finding new ways to target teaching and leadership support in these areas, possibly through professional development programmes or introducing student loan write offs.