Disadvantaged white children are the group that falls furthest behind after primary school, according to a study.
The research shows that high‑achieving pupils from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are much less likely to achieve strong GCSE and A‑level results than their more advantaged peers who are at a similar level in primary school.
Researchers John Jerrim, professor of education and social statistics at UCL Institute of Education, and Maria Palma Carvajal, postdoctoral investigator at the UCL Centre for Quantitative Social Sciences, focused on children who were high academic achievers at the end of primary, comparing outcomes between those from disadvantaged and advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.
The study defines high achievers as being in the top 25 per cent nationally in key stage 2 reading and maths. Across all three cohorts in the study, disadvantaged high achievers scored lower on average at GCSE, and they were less likely to take, complete or attain strong grades at A level.
Professor Jerrim and Ms Carvajal also found that ethnic minority high achievers from disadvantaged backgrounds often performed better than their white disadvantaged peers at GCSE.
‘Wake-up call for policymakers’
Asian and Black disadvantaged students tend to achieve higher GCSE point scores than their white peers from similar backgrounds, according to the study. The research shows that the biggest drop in attainment between age 11 and 16 is seen among white disadvantaged students.
The researchers also found that across all cohorts, disadvantaged high achievers are much more ethnically diverse than advantaged high achievers. In one cohort, only 55 per cent of disadvantaged high achievers were white, compared with 86 per cent of advantaged high achievers.
Professor Jerrim said: “These results show that early promise is not enough. Many high-achieving pupils from poor homes - particularly white boys and girls - are losing ground during secondary school and are not getting the same opportunities to convert early ability into long-term success.
“If even our most academically able disadvantaged pupils are finding the system difficult to navigate, this should be a wake-up call for policymakers.”
The findings follow recent Vlog analysis highlighting that white working‑class girls are underperforming academically and are often overlooked in policy discussions.
The latest shows poor outcomes for disadvantaged white boys and girls.
Only 17 per cent of white British students from disadvantaged backgrounds achieve a grade 5 in both English and maths.
White British girls from disadvantaged backgrounds slightly outperform their male peers, with 21 per cent of them achieving a strong pass in English and maths, compared with just 13 per cent of boys.
Both boys and girls from the same background also have negative Progress 8 scores, with boys having the lowest score of any large demographic group.
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