The number of school children completing their courses without having acquired basic capabilities stands at a worrying eighteen percent (18%).
According to Anne Longfield, England’s children’s commissioner, this trend is being witnessed by the time they attain the age of eighteen (18). It has been stipulated that nearly one (1) in five (5) school children left school in 2018 without being accredited five (5) good GCSEs scores.
School children under special education hardest hit
The figures presented illustrate that school children in the special education category recorded worrying results. For instance, nearly half of them (45%) were not able to get to level 2 attainment necessitated in compulsory education completion.
On the other hand, school children enrolled under the free school meals (FSM) program also depicted poor performance.
Notably, one (1) in three (3) of them had not attained any considerable substantive qualifications by the time they left school.
Longfield weighed in by asserting that these figures were a disgrace. As a result, she called on the government to come up with amicable solutions to avert this crisis.
Longfield noted that significant efforts were being incorporated into the education sector as millions of school children depicted rising standards.
Nevertheless, the other end of the spectrum was being ignored because the number of school children leaving without nothing to show was rising at an alarming rate.
Concerns about school children living in deprived areas
Longfield also aired her concerns about the attainment levels of school children dwelling in England’s most deprived regions. Their progress had stalled as a reverse trajectory was being witnessed in their achievement levels.
This trend is being witnessed despite school children being subjected to more extended periods in the education sector than previously observed.
In 2018, almost ninety-nine thousand (98,799) school children in England left without attaining basic qualifications. Longfield stipulated that low attainment levels are elevating this figure by the most disadvantaged school children.
These concerns are being raised at a time when statistics show that twenty-five percent (25%) of England teachers work for at least sixty (60) hours weekly. This makes them overworked as compared to their counterparts across the globe.
