The ‘London effect’: has it survived the Covid-19 pandemic? An analysis and a reflection on a response to the crisis from within the London education system

This article examines whether the so-called ‘London effect’, in which London’s schools outperformed the rest of England on key performance measures between 2003 and 2013, has persisted beyond the global Covid-19 pandemic. The research builds on previous work which demonstrated that the London effect had survived the high levels of change that characterised the school system in England since 2013, which included significant changes to the primary curriculum and the national assessment frameworks in both the primary and secondary phases. The research uses detailed analysis of educational attainment data, with its main focus being on determining whether the educational impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic adversely impacted the London effect or if London continued to remain the highest performing region in England after the pandemic. The analysis is based on the Key Stage 4 General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examination results in 2023. The article concludes with a reflection on the policy context and how this might influence future developments within the London school system.