The link between family income and educational attainment is greater in the UK than in almost any other developed country. We must all be concerned with a situation where 96% of young people educated in independent schools progress to university, but only 16% of pupils eligible for free school meals make the same progression. This statistic should be hugely troubling to anyone who believes in a society of equal opportunities.
The evidence shows that even when children start school at age five on a reasonably even footing, those from disadvantaged backgrounds begin to diverge dramatically from their peers in terms of attainment.In 2009, for example, 38% of pupils in schools in the 10% most income deprived areas gained five A*-C grades (including English and Maths) at GCSE, whilst 63% achieved this benchmark in the 10% least income deprived areas, a gap of 25% (DCSF, 2010).
Education levels can be directly linked to a person’s happiness, earning power, and even health and longevity. This is why educational disadvantage remains one of the UK’s most unjust and pervasive problems.
It is a complex and deeply-rooted issue, with no one ‘quick-fix’ solution. I have seen increasing evidence, however of the power that education has to transform lives and, within a school, the single most important thing which can make a difference to a pupil’s future is access to effective teachers and leaders.
Teach First was founded to create, equip and mobilise a movement of leaders with a life-long commitment to raising the achievement, aspiration and access to opportunity of children from low socio-economic backgrounds.
We are making steady progress. This year Teach First was one of the most popular choices for graduates, with 6,000 applying for over 750 places on the two-year Leadership Development Programme. In September, those who got through the rigorous application process started teaching in 350 partner schools in challenging circumstances in six regions across the country. They all want to make a difference and most stay in teaching and engaged with our mission long-term. In July this year, the quality of Teach First’s training was rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in all 44 categories assessed.
The Liberal Democrats have been supporters of Teach First since our launch, as have the two other main political parties. More recently, the coalition government’s support for our expansion, and the support we receive from our corporate partners and the schools we work with, has been invaluable in enabling Teach First to grow in numbers and expand our reach over the last nine years.
Teach First cannot address this problem alone, and as we head towards our tenth anniversary in 2012, and set out plans for the next ten years, a real focus will be on strengthening our partnerships with people and organisations that share the same goal.
If businesses, government, parents, schools and charities like Teach First continue to work together to tackle the attainment gap, I sincerely believe that one day every child in the UK will have access to a great education and the life chances that come with this. We should expect no less.
* Brett Wigdortz is Founder and CEO of Teach First.
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7 Comments
This is all necessary, but the disaster of the higher education reforms will only makeaccess harder for non privately educated students.
Brett – other than more support for Teach First, what do you suggest to breach the gap?
“In 2009, for example, 38% of pupils in schools in the 10% most income deprived areas gained five A*-C grades (including English and Maths) at GCSE, whilst 63% achieved this benchmark in the 10% least income deprived areas, a gap of 25% (DCSF, 2010).”
But shouldn’t one expect a strong correlation between parental income and academic performance, owing to the influence of genetic factors alone? In that context, surely it would be nonsensical to expect the quoted percentages to be equal.
Er, sorry, for “breach” in the above comment, please read “bridge”.
When Brett writes that ‘the single most important thing which can make a difference to a pupil’s future is access to effective teachers and leaders’, I almost think that he is saying that one of the reasons for this terrible gap between the richer and the poorer is because the schools serving the poorer children have less effective teachers.
What is to stop the teachers on the Leadership Development programme going to teach in the better schools after their A* training?
Here endeth an almost politics free advertisement for Teach First. Are we so desperate for articles that we ask Chief Execs to write self congratulatory pieces on why their organisation is the only one that can deliver motherhood and apple pie?
“Teach First was founded to create, equip and mobilise a movement of leaders with a life-long commitment to raising the achievement, aspiration and access to opportunity of children from low socio-economic backgrounds.”
This is fine for a corporate mission statement, but it’s no basis for government policy and (as others above point out) is therefore silent on what changes could be made at the political level to address the issue.
Education is universally accepted as an asset, with measurable returns on the level of investment made, so it strikes me that the analysis driving initiatives such as Teach First to incessantly focus on raising the level of investment rather than acknowledging the forms and types of investment as the first step to maximising individual returns is approaching the problem from the wrong direction.
Without a measuring stick to place a value on the extent of educational assets acquired by individuals the funding source (whether it be public or private) is working half-blind as to the effectiveness of the investment made, and education grows into a black hole.
This was the irony of Blair’s notorious mantra of ‘Education, education, education’ – you can’t beat learning into kids, just as throwing money at a problem is no guarantee you’ll resolve it.