Sussex Community Foundation commissioned OCSI’s (Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion) research team to assist with their 'Sussex Uncovered' series, which highlights the challenges Sussex faces, bringing data-driven insight.

Reaching Potential is the latest report in the series. It aims to support the grassroots charities and community groups that are helping communities to develop their skills and confidence, overcoming barriers to learning whilst improving opportunities for marginalised groups in deprived areas.

It builds on the previous report on Tackling Poverty which highlighted issues of poverty and social care challenges. 

Methodology

We analysed and evaluated data under seven key themes identified through discussions with the Foundation about their strategic priorities for Sussex:

• Spatial inequalities in educational attainment
• Spatial inequalities in further and higher educational participation and training
• Spatial inequalities in adult skills
• Children and adults with learning disabilities or neurodiversity
• Attainment and outcomes for educationally disadvantaged communities (including Children in need, Looked after children, pupils receiving Free school meals)
• People experiencing language barriers
• Other vulnerable groups experiencing barriers to learning and opportunities (people experiencing social isolation, asylum seekers, veterans, people with mental and physical disabilities)

Due to a lack of up-to-date, open-source data on education, the report primarily focuses on data from the Department for Education (DfE) School Census which captures detailed information relating to characteristics and attainment levels of pupils who attend maintained schools. One limitation with this source is that data is not available below Local Authority level due to privacy concerns, data suppression policies and the statistical unreliability of small sample sizes. 

As such, unlike the Tackling Poverty report where we were able to aggregate data from small neighbourhoods to major towns and rural areas in Sussex, this report primarily analyses data from larger areas (Local Authorities and above). Where possible, we have included data from the 2021 Census to provide a greater insight into issues faced by particular local areas.

Key findings

The majority of areas in Sussex are underperforming at Key Stage 2, with some areas experiencing low rates of attainment, resulting in lower rates of continued education

Most areas in Sussex underperform at Key Stage 2, with 11 of 13 Local Authorities below the national average of 59.9% for reading, writing, and maths. Eastbourne performs the worst, with only 49.2% meeting the standard. Hastings also shows the poorest outcomes at Key Stage 4, with the lowest scores in GCSEs, Attainment 8, and Progress 8. Subsequently, young adults in Sussex are less likely to enter higher education, with Hastings and Adur showing particularly low participation rates of 27% and 29%, compared to the national average of 40%.

Educational inequalities persist into adulthood, with high proportions of adults lacking qualifications in disadvantaged areas. However, some of the most educationally disadvantaged communities have seen greater improvements in adult skill levels over the last 10 years

Many communities in Sussex show high rates of adults without qualifications. Hastings (20.1%), Arun (19.7%), Adur (19.5%), Rother (18.9%), and Eastbourne (18.4%) exceed the national average of 18.1%. However, Adur reduced the proportion of adults without qualifications by 6.1 percentage points from 2011 to 2021, and Hastings saw a notable increase in adults with degree-level qualifications.

Pupils in educationally disadvantaged groups experience lower attainment (ie achievement of specific academic standards) compared to similar groups elsewhere in England

Pupils eligible for Free school meals, disadvantaged pupils, pupils with English as an additional language and pupils with Special Educational Needs are less likely to meet expected standards in reading, writing and maths at Key Stage 2 in Sussex than across the South East region and England as a whole.

Job opportunities are fewer, and access to employment is more difficult in communities with poorer educational outcomes

East Sussex has lower jobs density (60.7 jobs as a ratio of the working age population) compared to the national average of 77.9. Residents also face longer travel times to employment centres, averaging 39 minutes compared to 16 minutes nationally. Additionally, only 30.7% of jobs in East Sussex are high-skilled, compared to 36.6% across the South East.

To explore these challenges in more detail, you can read the Reaching Potential report here, or the executive summary here.

Aaron Henderson
Communications Officer, OCSI

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