Britain has a deep social mobility problem - the poorest find it hardest to progress but so do families with an annual income of around £22,500

people born in the 1980s are the first post-war cohort not to start their working years with higher incomes than their immediate predecessors

millions of workers - particularly women - are trapped in low pay with only 1 in 10 escaping

only 1 in 8 children from low-income backgrounds is likely to become a high-income earner as an adult

from the early years through to universities and the workplace, there is an entrenched and unbroken correlation between social class and success

in the last decade, 500,000 poorer children were not school-ready by age 5

children in deprived areas are twice as likely to be in childcare provision that is not good enough, compared with the most prosperous areas

families where both parents are highly educated now spend on average around 110 minutes a day on educational activities with their young children compared to 71 minutes a day for those with low education. This compares with around 20 to 30 minutes a day in the 1970s when there was no significant difference between the groups of parents

over the last 5 years 1.2 million 16-year-olds - disproportionately from low-income homes - have left school without 5 good GCSEs. At present, just 5% of children eligible for free school meals gain 5 A grades at GCSE

a child living in one of England’s most disadvantaged areas is 27 times more likely to go to an inadequate school than a child in the most advantaged

young people from low-income homes with similar GCSEs to their better-off classmates are one third more likely to drop out of education at 16 and 30% less likely to study A-levels that could get them into a top university

young people are 6 times less likely to go to Oxbridge if they grow up in poor household. In the North East, not one child on free school meals went to Oxbridge after leaving school in 2010

in the North East and the South West, young people on free school meals are half as likely to start a higher-level apprenticeship

in London, the number of top-end occupational jobs has increased by 700,000 in the last 10 years compared to just under 56,000 in the North East

despite some efforts to change the social make-up of the professions, only 4% of doctors, 6% of barristers and 11% of journalists are from working-class backgrounds

home ownership is in sharp decline - particularly among the young. Rates among the under-44s have fallen by 17% in the last decade

people who own their homes have average non-pension wealth of £307,000, compared to less than £20,000 for social and private tenant households

there is a new geography of disadvantage, with many towns and rural areas - not just in the North - being left behind affluent London and the South East. In 40 local authority areas, one third of all employee jobs are paid below the living wage

more than half the adults in Wales, the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber, the West Midlands and Northern Ireland have less than £100 in savings

Key recommendations

Early years - the government should:

introduce a new parental support package at key points in a child’s life to support children falling behind

set a clear objective that by 2025, every child should be school-ready at the age of 5 and the child development gap has been closed with a new strategy to increase high-quality childcare for low-income families

double funding for the early years pupil premium to ensure better childcare for those that need it most

Schools - the government should:

have as its core objective the ambition, within the next decade, of narrowing the attainment gap at GCSE between poorer children and their better-off classmates by two thirds, bringing the rest of the country to the level achieved in London today

rethink its plans for more grammar schools and more academies

mandate the 10 lowest performing local authorities to take part in improvement programmes so that by 2020 none of those schools are Ofsted-rated inadequate and all are progressing to good

reform the training and distribution of teachers and create new incentives - including better starting pay - to get more of the highest-quality teachers into the schools that need them

require independent schools and universities to provide high-quality careers advice, support with university applications and share their business networks with state schools

repurpose the National Citizen Service so that all children between the ages of 14 and 18 can have quality work experience or extra-curricular activity

Post 16-education and training - the government should:

develop a single UCAS-style portal over the next 4 years so that youngsters can make better choices about their post-school futures

make schools more accountable for the destinations of their pupils and the courses they take post-16

school sixth form provision should be extended and schools given a role in supporting FE colleges to deliver the Skills Plan. The number of 16- to 18-year-old NEETs should be zero by 2022

low-quality apprenticeships should be scrapped

a new social mobility league table should be published to encourage universities to widen access

over the next 10 years, higher education should be extended to those parts of Britain that have no or low provision

Jobs, careers and earnings - the government should:

create a new deal with employers to define business’ social obligations and the support they will get

develop a second chance career fund to help older workers retrain and write off advanced learner loans for part-time workers

work with large employers, local councils and local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) to bring new high-quality job opportunities backed by financial incentives to the country’s social mobility cold spots

support LEPs in social mobility cold spots to tackle local skills gaps and attract better jobs to the area

all large business should develop strategies to provide low-skilled workers with opportunities for career progression
introduce a legal ban on unpaid internships

Housing - the government should:

commit to a target of building 3 million homes over the next decade - with one third being commissioned by the public sector

expand the sale of public-sector land for new homes and allow targeted house-building on green-belt land

modify the starter home initiative to focus on households with average incomes and ensure these homes when sold go to other low-income households at the same discount

introduce tax incentives to encourage longer private-sector tenancies

complement plans to redevelop the worst estates, with a £140-million fund to improve opportunities for social tenants to get work

Quote from: Mordo on November 16, 2016, 10:53:49 AM

Make British food edible again.

fix'd

Quote from: gats on November 16, 2016, 05:51:18 PM

We need to bring to back Grade retention

wait, is that seriously not a thing in the UK?

Quote from: gats on November 17, 2016, 04:42:23 AM

Quote from: LC on November 17, 2016, 02:48:41 AM

Quote from: gats on November 16, 2016, 05:51:18 PM

We need to bring to back Grade retention

wait, is that seriously not a thing in the UK?

Unfortunately no, people generally progress onto the next academic year regardless of their grade.

what's even the point in giving people grades then?

Quote from: BaconShelf on November 17, 2016, 09:45:21 AM

Quote from: LC on November 17, 2016, 09:40:43 AM

Quote from: gats on November 17, 2016, 04:42:23 AM

Quote from: LC on November 17, 2016, 02:48:41 AM

Quote from: gats on November 16, 2016, 05:51:18 PM

We need to bring to back Grade retention

wait, is that seriously not a thing in the UK?

Unfortunately no, people generally progress onto the next academic year regardless of their grade.

what's even the point in giving people grades then?

We don't do end of year tests here. We have one set of tests at the end of Secondary School (GCSEs) where if you fail you have to redo them, and passing them lets you go on to A-Levels where you have to pass them to go to uni.

Those are at 16/17/18. Before then you don't really do much testing. Or at least, I never had to do tests.

Wut

I had end of year tests at my school but they were used as an indicator as to how well a child is doing so that the following year they could fix classrooms into 3 tiers, 1, 2, 3, with 1 being the smartest.