Barnet (Parliament Politics Magazine) – A Barnet report reveals a gap in educational achievement between black pupils and their peers, raising concerns over racial disparities in the education system.
Black students, especially Black Caribbean students, were found to be underperforming compared to other ethnic groups in the borough at key stages two and four.
But on Tuesday, the 18th, Neil Marlow, the chief executive and director of education and learning for the Barnet Council, told a children and education overview and inspection subcommittee that Barnet students were “achieving higher” than black students nationwide.
Although Marlow stated that this data point was a “priority” for the borough, he was happy to note that, in comparison to other ethnic groups in the area, this group had seen “greater” improvements year over year.
The borough’s educational system had both strengths and places for improvement, according to a report on educational standards for 2023–2024.
96% of Barnet’s schools have been rated as excellent or outstanding by Ofsted, while the attendance rate is “comparatively strong” at 94.2%, which is slightly higher than the national and London standards of 93.9% and 93.07%, respectively.
Barnet has a lower exclusion rate than the national and London norms at both the primary and secondary levels.
Although Barnet’s educational system has many positive aspects, including high overall attainment and robust SEN support, closing the achievement gap for Black students is still a major obstacle.
In order to close this gap and guarantee more fair educational outcomes for every student, the council is putting strategies into place.
But according to Marlow, there were “concerns about attendance” at special schools and kid referral units. It was not as high as elementary and secondary attendance levels, despite an improvement in 2024.
Sue Baker, a committee member, inquired about student accomplishments by ethnicity and if the council could provide information on “gender and achievement.”
She said:
“That can sometimes cut through class in terms of black females often doing a lot better than black males and white males lower than say Asian males.”
Marlow said she was “exactly right” and the council would send a supplementary report.
He said:
“We used to report on gender, but it didn’t actually used to go into the detail of crossing gender with ethnicity, and also differences in outcomes between the genders of disadvantaged pupils, I think that’s a really good point.”
Church representative Raisel Freedman pointed out the report showed locally and nationally there were staff recruitment and retention issues and asked if Marlow could share “any progress that had been made”.
In response he said retention “was good” but the difficulty lay with recruitment.
Marlow said:
“A barrier to coming and working in Barnet is financial because Barnet is an outer London borough and outer London teachers get less money than inner London teachers.”
According to Marlow, nearby boroughs like Brent, Islington, and Camen were categorized as inner London and hence attracted more employees; the salary difference could be “£3000 or £4000 more.”
The council had visited with university students to persuade them to work in the borough, he said, but the process had been “a struggle.”
What are the key highlights of the educational achievement gap in Barnet?
In Barnet, Black students—especially those of Black Caribbean heritage—perform worse than students from other ethnic groups at Key Stages 2 and 4.
In spite of this, Barnet’s Black students outperform their national counterparts.
Compared to Asian, Mixed, and White students, who typically score well and are frequently in the top 10% nationally, Black students in Barnet rank lower in terms of accomplishment.
Black students in Key Stage 4, for instance, placed 22nd in terms of attainment, which is better than in prior years but still worse than other ethnic groups.
Compared to earlier rankings, Black students’ Progress 8 scores have decreased, placing them 53rd. This suggests that although certain places have seen gains, it is still difficult to guarantee steady advancement for all ethnic groups.