North East 'falling behind' and needs powers to close GCSE and A Level gap

The North East needs more powers to close a widening education gap to London, councillors have urged. Last month's GCSE and A Level results saw the gap between the number of top grades being achieved by North East pupils and those in the capital grow to the largest points since records began. Education leaders have warned that the alarming figures show the need for systemic change to address the gulf in educational attainment and deliver on Andy Burnham's promises of cutting regional inequality. Former North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll said on Tuesday that the North East is 'falling behind' and complained that, with academy trusts that run schools being accountable to the Department for Education rather than local councils, decision-makers here 'lack the formal powers' to enact changes across a whole town or city. The ex-mayor, now a Green Party councillor in Newcastle, told a North East mayoral authority scrutiny meeting in Durham that a major problem was teachers not having time in the day to simply 'just sit and chat' to either a pupil or a colleague because of the demands of the curriculum and the focus on exam results. After hearing an update on a report on the mayoral authority's £4.9 million education improvement programme, Coun Driscoll told officials they were 'working your socks off in the trenches with spades, but you need a JCB.' 17.7% of North East GCSE entries for 2026 attained a grade 7 or above this year, the lowest rate in England and down very slightly by 0.1% from 2025. But some 28.6% of entries in London received the highest grades, meaning the gap between the two regions now stands at 10.9 percentage points – the largest since the start of available data in 2010. Almost a third of students in the capital, 32.7%, were awarded A or A* grades at A Level, compared to only 23.1% in the North East – again, the largest gap to London since the current system of grading began in 2010. Newcastle Lib Dem councillor Greg Stone questioned if enough had been done to truly address the trend. He said: 'Having heard a very large number of politicians and others talking about what is being done by local authorities and at a regional level over the years, I wonder whether we are getting a grip of the issues. The gap is widening rather than closing.' Coun Stone added: 'There have been good examples of good practice in educational attainment like the London Challenge, where they got really good outcomes. It has always puzzled me why they have not picked that up – picking up something that has worked elsewhere and implementing that, rather than reinventing the wheel.' Earlier this year, the Government did announce the launch of Mission North East – a targeted programme aimed at boosting school performance here, hoping to repeat the success of the London Challenge. Stephen Bowron, a Reform UK councillor from County Durham, suggested that the mayoral authority should fund the provision of internet access for children in poverty as a means of improving their access to education. Sunderland Reform councillor Richard Vardy also questioned why North East pupils' development appears to drop off after primary school. Andrew Garrad, the mayoral authority's education improvement project manager, replied: 'It is true that across the North East primary schools and first schools do really well at a national level. When we get to year 7, we can tell it drops. That transition is part of the work we are looking at.' He said research would be conducted around improving reading rates among secondary school pupils. Alan Reiss, the authority's director of operations, added: 'We absolutely recognise, and the mayor has been consistent in saying, that we do not yet have all the powers she would like and that the MSA would like in order to tackle the challenges facing the region. "The Government has published a document called 'Rewiring the State' on July 31, which sets out an ambition to transfer more powers, funding, and accountability to the regions. We will be doing the things you would expect in terms of engaging with the Government to shape that, so further powers and funding are devolved and we can tackle those challenges more deeply than we can currently.' To find all the planning applications, traffic diversions, road layout changes, alcohol licence applications and more in your North East community, visit the Public Notices Portal. Our ChronicleLive Daily newsletter is free. You can sign up to receive it here. It will keep you up to date with all the latest breaking news and top stories from the North East.