A-Level results gap shows desperate need to level up in Yorkshire - The Yorkshire Post says

That is why new analysis of this summer’s A-Level results showing that the educational attainment gap between disadvantaged and more well off pupils is growing faster in Yorkshire than anywhere else in the country should alarm everyone.

Research by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) found that the gap has narrowed the most in London, followed closely by the West Midlands, while it has widened the most in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan must look at why this is the case. These figures show that we as a country are failing future generations in our region.

And this is the generation that will pick up the burden of debt off the back of the pandemic and war in Ukraine. It needs to be equipped to be able to do that while not suffering from a fall in living standards.

As former Education Secretary Justine Greening writes in today’s newspaper “There’s nothing preordained about the future. It’s the choices that we make today that shape what happens tomorrow.”

That is why it is incumbent on politicians to not fail young people in this region from disadvantaged backgrounds. And it is why the levelling up agenda is so important.

The more skilled people in the region, the more tax receipts the Treasury will receive, the more attractive the region becomes to foreign investors. This then leads to even greater opportunities for young people who come through the education system.

The Chancellor’s extra funding for schools in Thursday’s Autumn Statement was welcome but it is clear that much more needs to be done to give every child the opportunity to realise their potential. Not least in this region.