Bounty

The Education Secretary has urged action to be taken to close the attainment gap between rich and poor students as he claimed "rich thick kids do better than poor clever children".

Michael Gove said that schools should help pupils "overcome the disadvantages of birth" as he revealed research that claimed low-ability children from wealthy backgrounds overtake children with high abilities from poor backgrounds throughout their time in the education system.

He said on Thursday that the research, conducted by Leon Feinstein at the Institute of Education, found that social class was "strongly associated" with development during the early years of childhood.

At a Commons education select committee, he said that the gap between the attainment of rich and poor children gets worse as they get older.

"Schools really should be engines of social mobility that overcome the disadvantage of birth, but unfortunately, at the moment, despite the best efforts of many, many people, the situation gets worse," he said. "That's why we need early intervention."

Copyright Press Association 2010