According to emerging data, a worrying number of school children are leaving primary school and beginning their first steps into secondary education without having met the required level of academic achievement.
Findings, taken from analysis conducted by the CentreForum and Education DataLab, indicate that a whopping 43% of primary school pupils have not achieved a grade 4B or higher in reading, writing or arithmetic at the culmination of Key Stage 2.
The findings were not unique to primary-level children, with the report indicating that 44% of secondary school students are not obtaining five A* to C grade GCSEs.
While the level of attainment has risen over the past decade, researchers suggest that the implementation of a new system should be of the utmost priority.
“Our analysis shows that attainment has risen and the disadvantaged gap - notably at the end of primary education - has fallen over the last decade. This is good news, but the report shows that there is no cause for complacency,” said David Laws, executive chairman of CentreForum.
Expressing concern over the recent figures, he continued: “Almost 45 per cent of children continue to fail to reach national benchmark standards, which are already lower than the standards reached in the best performing countries.”
Commenting on the fact there exists proof that disadvantaged children are currently closing the gap on their more privileged peers, he said: “We can also see from this report that while the disadvantaged gap has declined at each Key Stage, the gap still increases during a child's time in education.”
Reflecting on the importance of the findings, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education said: "We welcome this report, which shows the stark choice we face in education today - either we prepare today's young people to compete with the best in the world or we don't.”
The implementation of a new GCSE grading system which will see students assessed on a scale ranging from high of 1 to low of 9 is due to be introduced in 2017.
