The academic achievement gap between pupils from poor and rich backgrounds is a problem which cannot be solved solely by those in teacher jobs, it has been claimed.
According to the National Association for Primary Education (Nape), recent research from the Sutton Trust highlighting the attainment gap between five-year-old pupils from different socio-economic backgrounds show the root cause of the problem is as much societal as educational.
John Coe, general secretary of Nape, said: "Putting those things right is a societal thing and not necessarily related exclusively to schools.
"[However], the most successful intervention has been identifying, by the age of six, children who are not progressing as they should and to give them one-to-one tuition."
The Sutton Trust report concluded that by the age of five children from the UK's lowest-income households are almost a year behind those from the most affluent backgrounds in terms of their linguistic development.
Mr Coe added that much of the industrial sector in the UK now expects employees to have high levels of linguistic skill.
