MOSCOW, November 12 (RIA Novosti) — London's schools with pupils from ethnic minorities gain higher GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) exam scores than the rest of England, a report released by the University of Bristol said Wednesday.
"In UK education policy circles, much has been made of the fact that average GCSE scores in London are significantly higher than in the rest of the country," the report, carried out by Professor Simon Burgess, said.
The results of the report showed that London's average GCSE scores are 9.8 percent higher than those in the rest of England.
The interaction between White British pupils and ethnic minority pupils, with higher-scoring, has played a key role in what the researchers call "the London effect", the report stated.
"The case I have made here is that the basis for the London performance is the ethnic composition of its school population," Professor Burgess said.
The report revealed that the children of relatively recent immigrants typically have greater expectations of education and have more "aspiring to a better life." Besides, the performance of ethnic minority pupils hardly depends on whether they live in the wealthy suburbs or in disadvantaged areas.
According to the report, White British students, who account for 84 percent of all pupils in England compared to 36 percent in London, perform lower GCSE scores. Over 64 percent of ethnic minority pupils tend to succeed in GCSE, considerably improving London's figures.
The results of the report are based on the GCSE data from 2012-2013 of more than 520,000 pupils in state secondary schools in England.
