The facts on social mobility as reported when we launched our State of the Nation 2019 report in April seemed simple. Newspapers and politicians jumped on one word—that mobility had ‘stagnated’. But while this is true, our report uncovered a far more complex and disturbing picture—particularly when it comes to the life chances of young people growing up in the fractured landscape of British education today.
Let’s start with that word, ‘stagnated’. In publishing an analysis that shows that many key indicators haven’t changed for four years, we faced criticism from those who believe that the recent policy focus of the Conservative government on ‘burning injustices’ has had an impact, but equally there were raised eyebrows from those who were looking for more evidence of the impact of austerity over the last nine years. However, to use the lack of change as fuel for either viewpoint is to miss the basic point about any kind of analysis of social mobility—that it works on far longer timescales than that. The real worry for me about the impact of the last decade, as an educationalist, is that we see outcomes over the next decade start to nosedive, and that young people in 2030 will be held back by policies seeded in 2010.
But before we look to the future, let’s examine the conclusions we were able to make about what exactly is going for young people right now. We reported on five ‘life stages’: Early Years, schools, FE and apprenticeships, HE and working lives. For each we made recommendations, and at each stage, we saw a similar picture of deeply entrenched inequality and, yes, stagnation. Let’s be quite clear about what that means—not only is Britain one of the least equal and least socially mobile developed nations, but it seems as if we are unlikely to change that any time soon without significant action.
Sitting behind the analysis of the five stages was our breakdown of social mobility across the country using a variety of data, including, for the first time, the Labour Force Survey. This allowed for a detailed analysis of factors we have been unable to explore in detail before, and is why we concentrated on looking at the last four years—the timeframe for which we have access to this dataset.
In this article, I’m going to offer a brief summary of this overall assessment of social mobility in Britain, followed by a more detailed exploration of the chapters on Early Years and schools.
Social Mobility in Britain
The core of any analysis of social mobility is defining what it is you are looking at. The definition we work to—which is far from perfect, but which provides the focus essential for such a complex subject—is about the relationship between your own life chances and those of your parents. And, in the words of the Chair of the Commission, Dame Martina Milburn, ‘being born privileged in Britain means that you are likely to remain privileged. Bring born disadvantaged, however, means that you will have to overcome a series of barriers to ensure that you and your children are not stuck in the same trap.’