POORER pupils’ maths education has not recovered from the setback it suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic, a report has found.

Secondary school pupils from low-income backgrounds in England have lost an average of four months of learning and primary school pupils have lost two, the analysis said.

The research, conducted by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) think tank and software firm Renaissance Learning, also found that the attainment gap in maths for disadvantaged primary school pupils remains wider than it was before the pandemic, having increased from 6.9 months to 8.7 months.

EPI head of analysis and director of school performance and systems Jon Andrews said the research highlighted how the pandemic had worsened “already stark inequalities.”

He said: “These inequalities should be a significant concern for policy-makers and education providers.

“The far lower outcomes for pupils who experience persistent disadvantage is a reminder of the importance of tackling child poverty as a root cause of the gap in academic outcomes.”

Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) general secretary Geoff Barton said: “It is abundantly clear that there needs to be continued investment in education recovery and there is a strong case for continued investment in a tutoring programme as a permanent feature of the education system as a means of narrowing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers.”

The analysis looked at data from Renaissance’s Star Reading and Star Maths assessments from 2017-18 to 2022-23 for pupils in years 3 to 9 in England, and the impact of the pandemic on pupils who have been eligible for free school meals for at least 80 per cent of their time in school.

The Department for Education said that, since 2020, it had made £5 billion available for education recovery initiatives, including the National Tutoring Programme.