This is one of the key questions asked by Ofsted in a new report, which claims that the lack of a common understanding of the term is hampering poorer children’s life chances.
The inspectorate is calling on the Department for Education to provide a common definition of disadvantage, encompassing economic, health and social indicators. The report, ‘Unknown children – destined for disadvantage?’, says tackling the issues facing disadvantaged families requires leaders across children’s services, health and education to have a broader understanding of what it means.
It draws on feedback from an online survey of local authorities in January, followed by Ofsted inspector visits to 15 LAs to assess the effectiveness of their plans to support disadvantaged families. Inspectors also visited 43 providers, including schools, nurseries and childminders.
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