In 2022 Britain remains a deeply divided nation. Those divisions take many forms: class, income, gender, race and education. In England in particular, substantial inequalities in educational attainment are linked to social disadvantage and place – as demonstrated again this year by GCSE and A level results. This increasing attainment gap between disadvantaged and better-off pupils is only the visible part of a problem that starts in the early years and widens during a child’s schooling, with predictable, detrimental consequences for social mobility.
As one previous social mobility tsar, Alan Milburn was fond of pointing out, for decades state school children have not been reaching the highest levels in influential professions. It may well be an old-fashioned view, but I strongly believe that parents who espouse views about fairness, justice and redistribution but opt out of the state sector and send their children to private, fee-paying schools are choosing to become part of the problem, rather than seeking to be part of the solution.
