Report warns that Opportunity Areas are ‘too led’ by DfE
An independent analysis of the government’s Opportunity Areas, which is its flagship social mobility programme for 12 of the most deprived areas of the country, has found some local representatives have struggled to get involved partly because of time commitments.
Each of the partnership boards are meant to come up with specific plans on how to prevent the area from being a ‘social mobility cold spot’, including lots of initiatives targeted at schools. They work hand in hand with a DfE ‘local delivery team’.
But several stakeholders in the areas said “sometimes the partnership board felt too led by the Department for Education”, especially at the start of the programme, the National Foundation for Educational Research found.
There is a need to “enhance local engagement, input and influence over the programme”, said researchers.
Stakeholders said they face logistical challenges such as the time commitment involved in helping to implement the programmes, and also the practical problem of how to roll out the programme while it’s still being defined.
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It was also announced last Monday that the entire North East region was to become an Opportunity Area, titled ‘Opportunity North East’.