General Election 2024: What will it take to close the attainment gap?

The attainment gap is the difference in education outcomes between poorer students and their better-off peers. The gap had been gradually decreasing throughout the early 2010s, before progress stalled in the years before COVID. Following the pandemic, the gap has widened considerably, with 10 years of progress now wiped out. Since then, the cost of living crisis and a surge in mental health problems among children and young people have contributed to growing absences from school, which are likely to further widen the gap between poorer pupils and their peers. This webinar focused on the trends in and drivers of the attainment gap and the role of policymakers and schools in tackling it.

Agenda

	Welcome and introduction from Eleanor Busby, Education Correspondent at PA Media
	The Sutton Trust research and recommendations by Carl Cullinane, Director of Research & Policy
	Insight into the attainment gap, Sir Kevan Collins, former Education Recovery Commissioner
	The impact of food poverty on children and their education by Dr Hannah Brinsden, Head of Policy and Advocacy at The Food Foundation
	Insight from NASUWT from Darren Northcott, National Officer for Education at NASUWT
	Q&A hosted by Eleanor Busby

Speakers

Eleanor Busby

Carl Cullinane

Sir Kevan Collins

Dr Hannah Brinsden

Darren Northcott

For more information or any questions about the webinar, please contact Sophie Garner ([email protected]).