Last Updated on October 26, 2026 by Karl Thompson
Educational achievement varies considerably by ethnicity, and the pattern is not the one many people expect. The headline points from the latest official statistics are:
- At GCSE, Chinese and Indian pupils have the highest average results, and most ethnic minority groups score above White British pupils.
- Black Caribbean, Mixed White and Black Caribbean, Gypsy/Roma and Irish Traveller pupils score well below average.
- Poverty affects White British pupils’ results more than any other large group.
- Girls outscore boys in almost every ethnic group.
- Ethnic minority students are much more likely to go to university than White students, but White students are the most likely to get a first-class degree.
Below I set out the latest figures for each stage of education, from GCSE to degree, as tables, with some commentary on what needs explaining and on the limitations of the statistics. This topic is part of the sociology of education module, examined on AQA Paper 1 (7192/1).
Where these statistics come from
All the figures are official statistics. The school figures are for England only: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own exam systems and publish their own data. The degree figures cover the whole UK. Ethnic groups are named as the government’s statistics name them, and each table gives its source and year.
Why 2022/23 for some of the figures, when newer results exist? The Department for Education (DfE) publishes results every year, but the breakdown by individual ethnic group (Chinese, Indian, Black Caribbean and so on) is published later, on the government’s Ethnicity facts and figures website. At the time of writing, 2022/23 is the latest year with that detail. Where newer figures for broad groups exist, I give them too.
GCSE results by ethnicity (Attainment 8)
The main measure of GCSE results is Attainment 8: a pupil’s average grade across eight GCSE-level subjects, with English and maths counting double. The maximum score is 90. It measures attainment (the grades pupils get), not progress (how far they have improved since primary school), which is a separate measure called Progress 8.
| Ethnic group | Average Attainment 8 score | Number of pupils |
|---|---|---|
| All pupils | 46.3 | 606,915 |
| Chinese | 65.5 | 3,383 |
| Indian | 59.4 | 19,601 |
| Asian other | 54.3 | 12,152 |
| Bangladeshi | 51.9 | 10,981 |
| Mixed White and Asian | 51.7 | 8,787 |
| White Irish | 50.7 | 1,651 |
| Black African | 48.7 | 26,334 |
| White other | 48.4 | 38,104 |
| Pakistani | 47.0 | 27,242 |
| Mixed White and Black African | 46.4 | 5,074 |
| White British | 44.9 | 392,497 |
| Black other | 44.3 | 4,862 |
| Black Caribbean | 40.0 | 6,787 |
| Mixed White and Black Caribbean | 39.1 | 9,282 |
| Irish Traveller | 26.8 | 189 |
| Gypsy/Roma | 20.3 | 1,429 |
England, state-funded schools, 2022/23. Source: Ethnicity facts and figures, GCSE results (Attainment 8), published 7 November 2024. The Irish Traveller figure is based on a small number of pupils and is less reliable.
To my mind the headline points are:
- Chinese pupils score 19 points above the national average, and Indian pupils 13 points above.
- Most minority groups, including Bangladeshi, Black African and Pakistani pupils, score above White British pupils.
- Black Caribbean and Mixed White and Black Caribbean pupils score 6–7 points below the national average.
- Gypsy/Roma and Irish Traveller pupils have by far the lowest scores.
- It isn’t useful to lump together ‘Black’ and ‘Asian’ pupils, because there are big differences within these groups: Black African pupils score almost 9 points above Black Caribbean pupils, and Indian pupils 12 points above Pakistani pupils.
Ethnic minority pupils: no longer ‘underachieving’?
Up to the 1990s, most sociological research on ethnicity and education asked why ethnic minority pupils underachieved. The statistics above show why that question has changed. Most minority groups now do better than White British pupils, so the question for many groups is why they achieve so well, while the underachievement of a few groups, especially Black Caribbean, Gypsy/Roma and Irish Traveller pupils, remains.
The latest DfE figures, for 2025/26, are only published for broad ethnic groups. They show the gaps continuing to shift:
| Broad ethnic group | Change in average Attainment 8 score, 2018/19 to 2025/26 | Change, 2024/25 to 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|
| Black / African / Caribbean / Black British | +1.7 | +0.4 |
| Asian / Asian British | +1.6 | +0.5 |
| Mixed | −0.4 | +0.1 |
| White | −1.2 | +0.1 |
| Other | −1.3 | +0.1 |
England. Source: DfE, Key stage 4 performance, academic year 2025/26 (provisional, published 15 October 2026). The DfE gives changes for these groups in its commentary rather than levels.
So Black and Asian pupils’ results have risen since before the pandemic while White pupils’ results have fallen. Be careful, though: a rise for ‘Black’ pupils as a whole can hide very different trends for Black African and Black Caribbean pupils.
Ethnicity, poverty and GCSE results
Eligibility for free school meals (FSM) is the DfE’s main indicator of poverty: pupils qualify only if their family’s income is low.
| Ethnic group | Eligible for FSM | Not eligible | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| All pupils | 34.8 | 49.6 | 14.8 |
| Chinese | 60.3 | 65.9 | 5.6 |
| Indian | 48.6 | 60.4 | 11.8 |
| Bangladeshi | 47.7 | 54.2 | 6.5 |
| Black African | 44.7 | 50.7 | 6.0 |
| Pakistani | 42.2 | 48.9 | 6.7 |
| White other | 38.7 | 50.4 | 11.7 |
| Black Caribbean | 35.3 | 43.1 | 7.8 |
| Mixed White and Black Caribbean | 32.2 | 43.7 | 11.5 |
| White British | 30.9 | 48.6 | 17.7 |
| Gypsy/Roma | 16.1 | 25.1 | 9.0 |
Average Attainment 8 score, England, 2022/23. Source: Ethnicity facts and figures, GCSE results (Attainment 8), published 7 November 2024. Gap calculated from the published figures.
Poverty lowers results in every ethnic group, but by very different amounts:
- White British pupils on free school meals (30.9) score lower than poor pupils from every other large group (only the much smaller Gypsy/Roma and Irish Traveller groups score lower), and the gap between poor and better-off White British pupils is the biggest of any large group (17.7 points).
- Chinese pupils on free school meals (60.3) score higher than better-off pupils from every other group except Indian pupils (60.4).
- Poor Bangladeshi (47.7) and Black African (44.7) pupils score well above poor White British pupils, and not far below better-off White British pupils (48.6).
This is strong evidence that material deprivation alone can’t explain the ethnic pattern. For more on this see material deprivation and ethnicity.
Ethnicity, gender and GCSE results
| Ethnic group | Boys | Girls |
|---|---|---|
| All pupils | 44.0 | 48.6 |
| Chinese | 63.6 | 67.6 |
| Indian | 57.5 | 61.4 |
| Bangladeshi | 50.0 | 54.0 |
| Black African | 45.3 | 52.0 |
| Pakistani | 44.7 | 49.5 |
| White British | 42.8 | 47.1 |
| Black Caribbean | 36.0 | 43.8 |
| Mixed White and Black Caribbean | 36.4 | 41.8 |
Average Attainment 8 score, England, 2022/23. Source: Ethnicity facts and figures, GCSE results (Attainment 8), published 7 November 2024.
Girls outscore boys in every ethnic group except Irish Traveller pupils, but the gender gap is widest for Black pupils: Black Caribbean girls score almost 8 points more than Black Caribbean boys. Black Caribbean boys have one of the lowest averages of any group of this size. Nationally, the gap between boys and girls was 3.9 points in 2025/26 (DfE).
A-level results by ethnicity
| Ethnic group | % of A-level students getting 3 A grades or better |
|---|---|
| All students | 16.1% |
| Chinese | 27.4% |
| Indian | 21.1% |
| Mixed White and Asian | 18.5% |
| White Irish | 17.6% |
| White British | 13.6% |
| Bangladeshi | 10.4% |
| Pakistani | 10.3% |
| Mixed White and Black Caribbean | 9.3% |
| Black African | 8.6% |
| Black Caribbean | 4.9% |
| Gypsy/Roma | 2.6% |
Students aged 16 to 18 in England who took at least one A-level, 2022/23. Source: Ethnicity facts and figures, Students getting 3 A grades or better at A level, published 21 January 2025. The Gypsy/Roma figure is based on small numbers.
The A-level pattern is not the same as the GCSE pattern. Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black African students do better than White British pupils at GCSE but are less likely than White British students to get three A grades at A-level. One reason to be careful here: the figures only count students who took A-levels. If a bigger share of one group stays on to take them, that group’s A-level figures are drawn from a wider range of GCSE results, so the groups being compared are not quite like for like.
Going to university
| Ethnic group | Entry rate into higher education at age 18, 2006 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 53.6% | 66.1% |
| Asian | 34.5% | 51.4% |
| Black | 21.6% | 48.0% |
| Other | 27.0% | 43.9% |
| Mixed | 22.9% | 37.0% |
| White | 21.8% | 29.8% |
Percentage of 18-year-old state school pupils in England accepted onto a full-time undergraduate course through UCAS. Source: Ethnicity facts and figures, Entry rates into higher education, published 9 July 2025 (UCAS data).
This is one of the most striking patterns in the data. White pupils have had the lowest entry rate to university of any group in every year since 2007, and Black pupils’ entry rate has more than doubled since 2006.
Degree results by ethnicity
| Ethnic group | First-class degree | Upper second (2:1) | First or 2:1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 36.1% | 46.9% | 83.0% |
| Mixed | 31.3% | 48.7% | 80.0% |
| Asian | 27.5% | 47.3% | 74.8% |
| Other | 25.1% | 47.6% | 72.7% |
| Black | 17.3% | 45.4% | 62.7% |
UK-domiciled students graduating with a classified first degree, UK, 2021/22. Source: Ethnicity facts and figures, Undergraduate degree results, published 6 December 2023 (HESA data). First or 2:1 calculated from the published figures.
So the pattern reverses at university. Ethnic minority students are more likely to get there, but White students are the most likely to leave with a first or a 2:1, and Black students the least likely. That gap has narrowed: the share of Black students getting a first or 2:1 rose from 50.8% in 2014/15 to 62.7% in 2021/22. Universities usually call this the ‘awarding gap’.
Exclusions by ethnicity
Exclusions matter for achievement because an excluded pupil loses time in school and has to start again somewhere else.
| Ethnic group | Permanent exclusions per 100 pupils |
|---|---|
| Gypsy/Roma | 0.43 |
| Irish Traveller | 0.35 |
| Mixed White and Black Caribbean | 0.24 |
| Black Caribbean | 0.18 |
| White British | 0.13 |
| All pupils | 0.11 |
| Black African | 0.06 |
| Pakistani | 0.06 |
| Bangladeshi | 0.03 |
| Indian | 0.01 |
| Chinese | 0.01 |
State-funded schools in England, 2022/23. Source: Ethnicity facts and figures, Permanent exclusions, published 11 December 2024. Rates for small groups are based on small numbers and are less reliable.
The groups with the lowest GCSE results also have the highest exclusion rates. The DfE’s figures for 2024/25 show the same pattern at the top and bottom: Gypsy/Roma and Irish Traveller pupils had the highest rates, and Chinese and Indian pupils the lowest. For what lies behind the figures, see why do some children get excluded from school?
Ethnicity and achievement: what needs explaining?
Based on the statistics above, these are the questions sociologists need to answer, and the ones the rest of this topic tries to answer:
- Why do Chinese and Indian pupils have such high achievement?
- Why do most ethnic minority groups now do better than White British pupils at GCSE? (See cultural factors.)
- Why do Black Caribbean pupils, and Black Caribbean boys in particular, have lower results? (See in-school factors and Tony Sewell.)
- Why do Gypsy/Roma and Irish Traveller pupils have such low achievement?
- Why does poverty affect White British pupils’ results more than other groups’?
- Why are ethnic minority students more likely to go to university?
- Why are White students more likely to get firsts and 2:1s at university?
Limitations of these statistics
Like all official statistics, these have to be used carefully. The main problems:
- Broad categories hide big differences. ‘Black’ combines Black African and Black Caribbean pupils, whose results are very different, and ‘White’ includes both White British and Gypsy/Roma pupils.
- Small groups give unreliable figures. There were only 189 Irish Traveller pupils in the 2022/23 GCSE figures.
- Ethnicity is recorded by pupils or parents, and some choose not to say, so a few groups may be under-counted. Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families in particular may not identify themselves.
- Correlation is not cause. The figures show differences, not why they happen. Ethnicity overlaps with social class, gender and where people live, so a gap ‘by ethnicity’ may partly be a gap by class.
- The figures are a few years old by the time they are published for individual groups, and 2020 and 2021 results were teacher-assessed, so those years can’t be compared fairly with the rest.
For more on using statistics like these as a research method, see official statistics on educational achievement.
Using these statistics in the exam
AQA’s June 2019 Paper 1 essay question opened its Item with the sentence “All levels of the education system show differences in achievement between ethnic groups.” These figures are the evidence for that sentence. In a 30-mark essay you don’t need many numbers: one or two well-chosen comparisons (for example Chinese pupils on free school meals scoring above better-off pupils from other groups, or the Black African and Black Caribbean gap) are enough to show the examiner that the pattern is more complicated than ‘minorities underachieve’.
Sociology of Education Revision Bundle
If you like this sort of thing, then you might like my sociology of education revision notes bundle, written by Karl Thompson, who taught A-level sociology for eighteen years and spent twelve as an AQA examiner, marking all three papers on the current specification.
Signposting and related posts
This material serves as an introduction to differential educational achievement by ethnicity, which is part of the education module within A-level sociology. The explanations are covered in these posts:
- Ethnicity and education: cultural factors
- Material deprivation and ethnicity
- Ethnicity and educational achievement: in-school factors
- Are schools institutionally racist?
For the same statistics by social class, see social class and educational achievement statistics.
Please click here to return to the homepage – ReviseSociology.com
Sources
- Ethnicity facts and figures (GOV.UK): GCSE results (Attainment 8), 2022 to 2023 (published 7 November 2024); Students getting 3 A grades or better at A level, 2022 to 2023 (21 January 2025); Entry rates into higher education, 2006 to 2024 (9 July 2025); Undergraduate degree results, 2021 to 2022 (6 December 2023); Permanent exclusions, 2022 to 2023 (11 December 2024).
- Department for Education (2026) Key stage 4 performance, academic year 2025/26 (provisional, 15 October 2026).
- Department for Education (2026) Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England, 2024/25 (9 July 2026).
Pre-update stats tables….
