New Commission on Inequality in Education reveals large regional disparities
A new commission examining the cause and effect of inequality in schools was launched this week.
Led by former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, the Social Market Foundation (SMF) commission’s initial research looks at inequalities in educational attainment at age 16 and age 11 and how “these trends in inequality have evolved over time”, revealing “marked regional disparities in educational outcomes”.
It states that these disparities are already obvious by the end of primary school, adding that the past three decades have seen a growth in geographical inequality: “comparing the performance of 11 year-olds born in 2000 with those born in 1970 reveals that the geographic area a child comes from has become a more powerful predictive factor for those born in 2000 compared to 1970”.
The commission will also include Conservative MP Suella Fernandes, Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, as well as education academics Sam Freedman and Becky Allen.
The SMF’s publication can be read here.