Ethnicity

There is substantial variation in pupil attainment by ethnic group. We use the largest group, White British pupils, as the comparison group, meaning the gap for these pupils is set to zero in each year. For each phase we first show a snapshot of attainment (relative to White British pupils) for each ethnic group in both 2019 and 2024. Groups whose attainment fell, relative to White British pupils, between 2019 and 2024 have figures shown in red.[1]

We then show the attainment of both disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils within each ethnicity, relative to non-disadvantaged White British pupils. This allows us to compare within-group gaps (not just between groups) and absolute levels of attainment (for a given level of disadvantage).

Early years foundation stage

At age 5, only 3 out of 17 minority ethnic groups were ahead of White British pupils in 2024 – Chinese, White and Asian, and White Irish pupils – all of whom extended their leads since 2019. By contrast, Indian pupils had similar levels of development to White British pupils in 2024, having been ahead in 2019.

Among lower-attaining minority groups at age 5, two ethnicities stand-out as having large gaps compared with White British pupils: Irish Traveller pupils (with a gap of 8.1 months in 2024) and Gypsy Roma pupils (with a gap of 8.0 months).

Most lower-attaining ethnic groups saw their gaps widen in 2024 compared with 2019, most notably among Black African, pupils of Any Other Black background and Black Caribbean pupils (who fell further behind White British pupils by at least 0.8 months). The two exceptions were Gypsy Roma and pupils of Any Other White Background – both of whom markedly narrowed the gap by at least 0.8 months.

Figure E1: Since 2019, White British pupils aged 5 have pulled away from most lower-attaining ethnic groups causing gaps to widen

At age 5 White Irish pupils had the largest gap between the attainment of their disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils, at 8 months. Indeed, non-disadvantaged White Irish pupils had higher attainment than all other non-disadvantaged ethnic groups except for Chinese pupils, whilst disadvantaged White Irish pupils had the third lowest attainment of any disadvantaged ethnic group (following Travellers of Irish Heritage and Gypsy Roma pupils).

The next largest disadvantage gap was for White British pupils, at 6 months. Of non-disadvantaged pupils, only White Irish, Chinese, and White and Asian pupils were ahead of White British pupils, whilst among disadvantaged pupils all ethnicities but three were ahead of White British pupils.

Pakistani, followed by Bangladeshi, pupils had the smallest disadvantage gaps of any ethnicity, at just 1 month. This reflects disadvantaged pupils of Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds having higher attainment than similarly disadvantaged pupils of most other ethnicities (except Chinese and Indian pupils), despite non-disadvantaged Pakistani and Bangladeshi pupils tending to perform less well than most other non-disadvantaged groups.

Overall, within-ethnic group gaps tend to be larger than between ethnic group gaps. Within-group gaps at age 5 are particularly large for White Irish and White British pupils, reflecting disadvantaged pupils in these groups faring relatively poorly on starting school, whereas their non-disadvantaged peers of the same ethnic background tend to perform relatively well.

Figure E2: White Irish and White British non-disadvantaged pupils aged 5 had higher attainment than most other ethnicities, but also had some of the lowest attainment for their disadvantaged pupils

Primary school

By the time students reached age 11, many ethnic groups had improved their position relative to White British pupils. In 2024, only 6 ethnic groups had lower attainment levels, a significant change from the 13 groups with lower attainment at age 5.

The performance of Chinese pupils stands out, as they are ahead of White British pupils by 12.8 months. Conversely, the low attainment levels of Gypsy Roma and Traveller of Irish Heritage pupils are also significant, with these groups trailing White British pupils by 17.9 and 17.2 months respectively.

When considering changes between 2019 and 2024, 6 previously lower-attaining ethnicity groups saw improvements relative to White British students. Pakistani pupils, and pupils with other any white background, at the end of primary completely caught up with their With British peers by 2024. Seven higher attaining ethnicity group extended their lead over White British students, with Bangladeshi pupils showing the greatest relative improvement in the gap, of 1.9 months.

Figure E3: Most ethnic groups saw improvements in the gap at the end of primary school (relative to White British pupils) between 2019 and 2024

By age 11, White Irish pupils, White and Asian pupils and White British pupils had the most significant disparities in attainment between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students, with gaps of 19, 12 and 11 months respectively.

Black-African and Chinese pupils had the smallest disadvantage gaps, at only 2.4 and 2.6 months, respectively. Remarkably, disadvantaged Chinese pupils outperformed non-disadvantaged pupils from all other ethnicities.

Further, non-disadvantaged pupils with Gypsy/Roma and Traveller of Irish Heritage background had lower attainment compared to disadvantaged pupils from all other ethnicities and had within ethnicity gaps of 4 months and 5 months, respectively.

Figure E4: White Irish, White and Asian, and White British pupils aged 11 had the largest disadvantage gaps, whilst disadvantaged Chinese pupils outperformed even non-disadvantaged pupils from other ethnicities

Secondary school

By the end of secondary school in 2024, most ethnic groups achieved higher GCSE grades than White British pupils. Additionally, all ethnicities experienced greater improvements in attainment from 2019 to 2024 compared to White British pupils.

In 2024, Chinese students are over two years (26.4 months) ahead of white British pupils, followed by Indian students, who are now 18.6 months ahead. Despite the relative improvement in the position of Gypsy Roma and Irish Traveller students, they are still well behind White British students, by 29.8 and 16.6 months, respectively.

The relative improvement of four ethnicity groups made them surpass White British students between 2019 and 2024; Black – African, Pakistani, Any Other White Background, and Any Other Ethnic group.

Irish Traveller students and students from Any Other Black background saw the largest improvement in their attainment relative to White British pupils between 2019 and 2024, with a reduction in the gap of 7 and 6 months respectively.

Figure E5: All ethnicities have improved their key stage 4 attainment relative to White British students since 2019

Disadvantage gaps within ethnicity groupings significantly vary between ethnicities. White Irish students and Irish Traveller students stand out for showing the largest disadvantage gaps, showing a gap of over two years (32 months, and 27 months, respectively).

The attainment gap between disadvantage and non-disadvantaged Chinese students was the smallest of all, at just 6 months. Markedly, disadvantaged Chinese ethnicity students showed a relative performance that was greater compared to non-disadvantaged students from any other ethnicity. Further, disadvantaged Chinese students performed more highly than the next highest achieving non-disadvantaged students (Indian pupils), by 1 month. Conversely, the more advantaged Gypsy Roma students achieved lower GCSE results compared to disadvantaged students from most other ethnic groups.

Overall, the attainment of all ethnicities has converged slightly since 2019.

Figure E6: Disadvantage gaps are particularly large within White Irish, White British, and White and Asian ethnicities

16-19 education

In 16-19 education, students from most ethnic backgrounds achieved more highly across their best three qualifications than White British students in 2024. The exceptions to this were Gypsy Roma students (5.3 grades behind), Travellers of Irish Heritage (3.9 grades behind), White and Black Caribbean students (1.4 grades behind) and Black Caribbean students (1.2 grades behind). All ethnicities experienced improvements in attainment between 2019 and 2024 compared to White British pupils.

Figure E7: All ethnicities have improved their 16-19 attainment relative to White British students since 2019

Non-disadvantaged students from most ethnic groups were ahead of non-disadvantaged White British students. Relative to non-disadvantaged White British students, disadvantaged Gypsy Roma and traveller of Irish Heritage students were over 7 grades behinds. In contrast, disadvantaged Chinese students were ahead of non-disadvantaged White British students and 2.5 grades ahead of the next highest performing disadvantaged group (Indian students).

The largest within ethnicity disadvantage gaps were for travellers of Irish heritage (5.4 grades), White Irish (4.8 grades), White British (4.5 grades) and White and Asian (4.3 grades).

Figure E8: Disadvantaged gaps were particularly large amongst Travellers of Irish heritage, White Irish and White British students, and White and Asian students

Footnotes

[1] For lower-attaining groups, figures in red mean they fell further behind White British pupils; for higher-attaining groups, their lead over White British pupils narrowed.

• Foreword & executive summary
• Disadvantage
• EAL
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Geographic disadvantage gaps
• SEND
• Methodology