The Education Secretary has pledged to turn around “baked-in” educational inequalities, to ensure young people from all backgrounds have a chance to “get on in life” after leaving school.
Bridget Phillipson has accused the Conservatives of leaving behind a legacy of regional “disparities” in educational outcomes, and an attainment gap between private school pupils and their state school peers.
Speaking ahead of A-level results day on Thursday, she said too many children are living in poverty and many schools are struggling with the pressures faced by families because of societal “failures”.
Last summer, the attainment gaps for the top A-level grades between comprehensive schools and independent schools, and the north and south of England, remained larger than before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ms Phillipson said action needs to be taken to tackle the number of children living in poverty, saying it is a “big driver” of the educational disparities between the most and least advantaged students.
She also called on universities to do more to widen participation and access to higher education, as well as offer “ongoing support” to students once they are on degree courses to ensure they do not drop out.
Ms Phillipson told the PA news agency: “I know that this year there are really good opportunities for young people to progress, whether that’s into university or into employment or into an apprenticeship.
“I want to make sure that all young people, whatever their background, have the chance to get on in life and that’s the mission of the Labour Government.
“But my concern, as we approach the first of the results days, is that after 14 years the Conservatives have baked in massive inequality into the education system, including regional disparities and differences between outcomes for children at state and private schools, and I’m determined to turn that around.”
There was an 8.3 percentage point difference between the proportion of A-level entries awarded A* and A in south-east England (30.3%) and north-east England (22.0%) last year, figures showed.
Ms Phillipson, who highlighted Labour’s new taskforce to tackle child poverty, said: “It’s about the quality of teaching, about making sure schools have got what they need, but it’s also what goes on beyond the school gates and that’s where we’ve also seen big failures over the last 14 years.
“And it will take us time to get that right, but I am determined that we bring down the numbers of children living in poverty.
“That’s right. It’s a moral cause, but it’s also a big driver of some of these disparities that we see and it’s why we need to take action to support schools.”
She added: “This is an enormous task and I don’t shy away from that in one second.”
Shadow education secretary Damian Hinds defended his party’s record, saying: “Our record speaks for itself – with over 27,000 extra teachers, 90% of schools now rated good or outstanding, school funding at the highest ever level in real terms per pupil and English children now the best readers in the western world.
“And now children from disadvantaged homes are considerably more likely to go on to university than they were last time Labour were in government in 2010.”
Students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive their A-level results on Thursday and they will decide whether to attend higher education.
Experts have suggested that cost-of-living concerns, the attainment gap in schools since the pandemic, and anti-university rhetoric from the previous government, could see more students seek alternative routes to university.
Recent figures from the higher education admissions service Ucas showed that only 33.4% of 18-year-olds in north-east England had applied to university by June 30, compared with 59.2% of 18-year-olds in London.
Ms Phillipson said: “University is a fantastic option, but lots of people still don’t think it’s for them and that has to change.”
She added: “I want to work with universities to ensure that we are widening access, but also we’re making sure that young people have the support that they need to complete their courses.”
When asked whether the Government is considering bringing back maintenance grants in England to support poorer students facing financial pressures amid the cost-of-living crisis, Ms Phillipson told the PA news agency she was determined to “reform the system”.
She said: “I’m acutely aware of the pressures that many students are under at the moment and it concerns me that when I visit universities and meet with students I hear that they’re working 30 hours a week in retail jobs in order to meet the cost of housing and other costs.
“I am determined that we reform the system. You’ll appreciate a month in we’re looking at how we can make that change happen.
“But I don’t want young people to be put off applying to university on the basis of financial imperative and sadly I think increasingly we’re seeing young people making decisions based on their finances and that’s a really big challenge.”
Jo Saxton, chief executive of Ucas, wrote to all new MPs after the general election to draw to their attention the higher education progression rates of 18-year-olds in their constituencies.
Dr Saxton told PA: “I am passionate that as many people as possible benefit from the life-changing opportunities that university education provides.
“I’d like to see the application rates amongst 18-year-olds even out across the country and that’s what I’m focused on.”
The head of England’s exams regulator, which will publish a breakdown of results by school type on Thursday, said he was “concerned” about growing disparities between pupils and their better-off peers.
Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator of Ofqual, told PA: “I think it’s a scandal that we’ve got these gaps in our country, whether they’re regional or whether they’re disadvantage-related.
“We absolutely have to prioritise collectively as a system closing them, but my job is to make sure that we have a system of assessment and qualifications that runs fairly across the country, demonstrates what students actually know, understand and can do.
“I very much look forward to the day when results days demonstrate that we are closing or have closed those gaps and that will be proof that a policy has been effective.”
