Conservative Party: Labour let down the poorest pupils

The Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, has today responded to a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development which delivered a damning verdict on Labour's record in helping children from deprived backgrounds achieve at school.

The OECD study shows the proportion of children in 65 nations and regions who manage to 'overcome their socio-economic background'.

It found:

• The UK is well below the OECD average for helping poorer students achieve at school.
• The UK is ranked only 28th out of 35 developed nations. Out of all 65 participants in the study, the UK ranks 39th.
• Countries including Estonia, Mexico and Tunisia achieve better results for poor students than the UK.

Nick Gibb MP commented: "This is damning evidence of Labour's failure to improve our schools.

"By the time they left office, poor children in the UK were less likely to progress than poor children in Mexico, Estonia and Latvia.

"The result is one of the most segregated schools systems in the world, with the attainment gap between the wealthiest and most disadvantaged wider than in almost any other developed nation.

"That's why our measures to drive up standards and increase opportunities for the poorest are so badly needed."

The Coalition Government is initiating a number of measures to help the poorest pupils and to raise standards across the board. These include the introduction of £2.5 billion pupil premium and an announcement yesterday by Education Secretary, Michael Gove, that the worst-performing 200 primary schools would become academies in 2012/13.