// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
The 'education gap' hiding behind picture-perfect Cornwall and Devon
The South West peninsula is England's top tourist destination
This year, millions of holidaymakers will head to Cornwall and Devon for their sandy beaches and pretty coastal towns - just two reasons why the South West peninsula is England's top tourist destination.
Yet behind its wild coastal beauty and affluent towns lies a different story: one of lost opportunities and the unfulfilled potential of many growing up in the region.
On almost every measure, the region is among the weakest educationally, according to the South West Social Mobility Commission, a coalition of organisations trying to bring about change.
Disparities in GCSE results are often framed through the lens of a North-South divide, but that narrative can obscure the challenges facing children in coastal and rural parts of England.
When you look at the regional data for English and maths GCSE passes for all pupils in England, you can see that, overall, the South outperforms the North.
However, when you drill down into the data at a local authority level, and take into account children on free school meals, you see a different story.
The South West is the second worst performing region through this lens, after the South East.
Tanya Ovenden-Hope, Professor of Education at Plymouth Marjon University, describes what happens in the South West as "pretty poverty", and says this leads to fewer young people reaching their full potential.
She calls growing up in a low-income family in a coastal rural community a potentially "toxic" combination.