Social Mobility and Education in the UK

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The UK is one of the least socially mobile countries in the rich world. Your father’s income determines your own more than any other factor. This is unacceptable. But what are the main causes of this situation, and what can be done to remedy it?

When people talk of inequality in Britain, conversation often turns to higher education. It is an issue that animates many. Most leftists (including the Liberal Democrat Party) feel undergraduates shouldn’t have to pay at all and that it should be easier for poorer students to get into the top universities. But is this missing the point?

The reason, for example, that ~40% of Oxbridge students are privately educated yet independent schools only account for 7% of students is that they are much more likely to get better qualifications when at school. State school pupils’ relative neglect at school leaves them underprepared for the academic rigour of higher education and top universities unwilling to risk taking them on. It is this that is the real cause of inequality in Britain.

So, what should be done about this? The academy schools initiative has had some success and some failure. The Sutton Trust Open Access schemes have had more success – offering free places at top independent schools for bright underprivileged children. This would, however, if implemented by the government, hover dangerously close to a voucher system for the clever – something which would be resisted heavily by many in the corridors of power. The last obvious option is the return to the two-tier grammar school system of the past. Supporters wax lyrical about how fair it is; how it brings out the best in those more academically and those more practically inclined. However, critics suggest labelling children at such an early age can be damaging, and that streaming children within schools can achieve the same effects without segregating society so fundamentally.

Regardless, more money needs to be pumped into under-achieving schools. The ‘pupil premium’ scheme advocated by the Liberal Democrats – where schools get extra resources for taking on underprivileged children – would be an excellent start. Furthermore, small-scale experimentation as to school structures, such as a scaled down version of the academy schools initiative, or a trial of a localized grammar school system, should be welcomed, and further ideas gleaned from any results. This way underprivileged children will get the attention they deserve and will have better chances of getting into the universities of their choice. This is the path to a more socially mobile Britain.