Education

For the school year 2015/16, the difference between the proportion of disadvantaged pupils and the proportion all other pupils attaining an A* – C in maths and English GCSE at 16 (the attainment gap) in Inner London is almost half (16 percentage points) of the attainment gap in the rest of England (30 percentage points). Outer London has a larger attainment gap than Inner London (23 percentage points) but is still significantly smaller than the rest of England.

The shrinking of the attainment gap in London is a key factor in the ‘London effect’ whereby London pupils outperform their counterparts in the rest of England.

The size of a borough’s attainment gap is generally driven by poor attainment by disadvantaged pupils rather than high attainment by non-disadvantaged pupils.* Most of the boroughs with the biggest attainment gaps between di…

This graph shows that pupils in London of every ethnicity have better attainment than their counterparts in the rest of England, as do pupils who speak English as a second language, and pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN).

At 39%, Black pupils have the highest proportion of pupils not achieving A* – C in English and maths GCSEs in London, followed by White and Mixed (34%) ethnicities. 

Pupils who do not speak English as their first language have similar attainment as those who do. This is particularly important to attainment levels in London, where 40% (and 51% in Inner London) of pupils do not speak English as a first language. In the rest of England, only 10% of pupils do not speak English as a first language.

In 22 London boroughs, pupils who do not speak English as a first language are more likely to achieve GCSEs than those who…

Educational attainment improved more in London than in the rest of England in the early part of the last decade, but since 2012/13, improvements have stalled in many areas. The exception is Level 3 attainment in Inner London, where the proportion of 19-year-olds lacking these qualifications has continued to decline steadily.

 In 2016, 19-year-olds in the rest of England were more likely to lack Level 3 qualifications than those in London. 34% of 19-year-olds in Outer London lacked Level 3 qualifications (AS and A-Level qualifications)*, compared with 35% in Inner London and 44% in the rest of England.

The proportion of 19-year-olds lacking Level 2 (GCSE-level qualifications)** is similar in London and the rest of England. 14% of 19-year-olds in Inner London and 12% in Outer London lacked Level 2 qualifications compared with 15% in the rest…

For 19-year-olds in London in 2016, there was a 15 percentage point difference (attainment gap) between the proportion of pupils who had been eligible for free school meals (at age 15) and the proportion of all other students attaining Level 3 qualifications.* For the rest of England, the attainment gap was almost twice as big – 28 percentage points. 

The attainment gap has fallen in London (from 19.5% in 2006 to 15% in 2016) over the past decade, while in the rest of England it has not changed significantly. 

 As discussed in 10.2, the shrinking of the attainment gap is seen as a key factor in the ‘London effect’.

* In the London Poverty Profile 2015, this indicator used ‘proportion lacking five A* – C GCSEs including maths and English’ which cannot be used this year (see footnote 4). This year’s graph shows the attainment gap (in percenta…

In every London borough, the majority of 19-year-olds have Level 3 qualifications. Barking & Dagenham has the highest proportion of 19-year-olds lacking Level 3 qualifications at 46%, followed by Havering at 44%.

There is huge variation across boroughs with a 21 percentage point gap between the worst performing borough – Barking & Dagenham, and the best performing boroughs – Redbridge, Kensington & Chelsea and Harrow (in all three, only 25% of 19-year-olds lack Level 3 qualifications).

The pattern of qualifications by borough looks similar to 2014, with boroughs in the Outer West & Northwest and Inner West generally performing better on this measure than Outer East & Northeast. In previous editions of this report, Greenwich has been the worst performer, with 48% lacking a Level 3 qualification in 2014. It is now 41%, an…

This graph shows that London pupils who entered an A-level or equivalent in 2014/15 were more likely to go on to higher education in 2015/16 (58% in Outer London, 57% in Inner London) than their counterparts in the rest of England (47%).

In the rest of England, pupils who undertake A-levels are more likely to move directly into employment at age 19 (24%), than in Outer London (16%) or Inner London (12%). This group of young people is a relatively small proportion of total youth employment at age 19 – 83,000 of the 360,000 employed 19-year-olds. The majority of 19-year-olds in the labour market probably did not take A-levels.*

Young people in London are less likely to undertake apprenticeships after A-levels (4% in Inner & Outer London) than the rest of England (8%). The government hopes the apprenticeship levy**, which came into effect…

Both disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students from London have higher rates of attending higher education institutions (HEIs) than pupils in the rest of England. Disadvantaged students in Inner London actually have the highest rate of attending HEIs – 59%. This will be important to monitor over time, as abolition of maintenance grants (2016) may lead to a decline in disadvantaged students attending HEIs.

This general pattern extends to the top third of HEIs (excluding the Russell Group), with higher proportions of both disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils from London attending these universities than their counterparts in the rest of England. 

However, despite educational attainment gains in London for disadvantaged students, this is not translating through to improved representation of poorer students in elite Russell Group univ…

The two worst performing boroughs for 19-year-olds lacking Level 3 qualifications – Havering and Barking & Dagenham – are also the worst performing boroughs for older adults lacking Level 3 qualifications (52% and 48% respectively).

However, in some boroughs, the proportion of 25 to 49-year-olds without a Level 3 qualification is significantly lower than among 19-year-olds. In Lewisham, 37% of 19-year-olds lack these qualifications, compared with only 26% of 25 to 49-year-olds. Some variation by borough is probably due to the age profile of the borough, as older people (40 and over) are more likely to lack qualifications than younger adults. It may also indicate an educational attainment gap between local school leavers and incoming young professionals. 

There is little change in the pattern from the previous edition of this report, al…

This graph shows the proportion of the working-age population who are in employment, or unemployed and lacking but wanting work, by educational attainment.* Those who are lacking but wanting work are economically inactive and not available to work for various reasons (such as being a student or ill). They are not counted as unemployed.

In 2016 the employment rate for each group had increased compared with 2011. Among workers with a degree or equivalent, the employment rate was 86% in 2016 compared with 83% in 2011. For those with no or unknown qualifications the employment rate was less than half of this in 2016 at 40% and 38% in 2011.

The employment rate increased the most for those with A-levels or equivalent and those with other qualifications. For workers with A-levels or equivalent the employment rate increased by 6 percentage points …