Ofsted’s annual report on education and children’s services in England highlights a number of seemingly intractable problems that extend far beyond the school gates.

The first is the huge social class divide between rich and poor children. Youngsters at the bottom of the pile, those in local authority care, are five times less likely than the average and eight times less likely than affluent children to achieve five or more good GCSEs, the report finds.

Christine Gilbert, Ofsted’s chief inspector, today boldly pointed out the “stark” relationship between poverty and educational achievement, warning that poorer children still have the "odds stacked against them” and highlighting the fact that a large proportion of the failing schools are to be found in the most deprived areas.

Only 12 per cent of 16-year-olds in care and just 33 per cent of pupils on free school meals (FSM, the proxy measure for poverty) gained five or more good GCSE’s, compared to 61 per cent of non-FSM youngsters.

Among primary pupils, 61 per cent of FSM children achieve the expected level in English, compared with 83 per cent of non-FSM pupils.

Ms Gilbert is brave too to draw attention to another running sore in the Government’s record - the ten per cent of 16 to 18-year-olds not in education, employment or training, known as NEETs.

“The risk to young lives behind these statistics is alarming and unacceptable: over 200,000 young people without a foot in the door to the world of work,” she said.

Any suggestion that things might be improving for this group is squashed by her comment that “it is, frankly, hard to find encouragement” from Ofsted’s inspection service.

These two massive social problems are linked and depend on factors that extend far beyond the school gates, to cover a range of factors including family background and health.

Ms Gilbert hopes that Ofsted’s new responsibilities (it has taken over the inspection of children’s services and adult education in the last year) will give it greater leverage across a wide range of services to effect change in these areas.

It should be a lot easier, however, to solve another of the problems highlighted in today’s report: the lack of enthusiasm in many schools and colleges for vocational learning.

Indeed, Ms Gilbert notes that students often seem far more enthusiastic about such opportunities than some of their teachers. She blames this divide on a misguided tendency among teachers to associate vocational teaching with the least able students.

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