This report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies looks at the trends which have consequences on educational inequalities and the failure by politicians and policymakers to engage with many of the main drivers of inequality.
There has been a general endorsement rather than challenge of social mobility as the main mechanism of social justice in education, an acceptance of private schools, and an influential movement within the discipline that promotes the notion of knowledge as power rather than any strong concern with analysing and understanding the workings of power within education.
This report focuses on all these trends and their consequences for educational inequalities.
The research raises concerns about the well-being of children generally, but among children growing up in poverty a majority were worried about pressure from school and saw it as a barrier rather than an enabler of a brighter future.
The fact that schooling is seen by so many children as an obstacle to realising their potential should be raising the alarm among those committed to the welfare of future generations.
There is not only a socio-economic attainment gap but also socio-economic and gender well-being gaps that have received insufficient attention, despite contributing to educational inequalities.