Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend the Olivier Awards as a guest of the Society of London Theatre.

During the ceremony, one thing that struck me was the number of winners who mentioned their working-class roots in their acceptance speeches, including those by Jodie Comer, Richard Hawley, Dickson Mbi and Dame Arlene Phillips.

It would certainly be fascinating to see the actual proportion of winners who attended a state school.

The arts and creative industries are notoriously difficult for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to break into and the figures that back this up are stark.

The class ceiling

According to the Sutton Trust, 29 per cent of people in the creative industries attended a private school, despite these accounting for only 7 per cent of the pupil population. An even larger proportion (38 per cent) of the country’s richest musicians, film and TV stars were privately educated.

And when you look at award winners the proportions creep up further: 42 per cent of Bafta winners attended a private school and a staggering 67 per cent of British Oscar winners were privately educated.

There are many reasons for this disparity. A culture of unpaid work is a substantial barrier to those without resources, with repeat unpaid internships being particularly common in the creative industries.

Opportunities for young people to explore their artistic and creative talents in state schools have been crowded out of the school day in recent years, through a curriculum heavily skewed towards academic subjects.

Typecasting also appears to be an issue: young actors from working-class backgrounds report being considered only for working-class roles.

A nationwide problem

Inequity of opportunity is, of course, not a story unique to the arts.

In finance, half of leading bankers were privately educated, rising to 70 per cent of those working in exclusive hedge funds; precisely the same picture is found in law, with 50 per cent of leading lawyers having attended a private school, rising to 70 per cent of High Court judges; around a third of MPs attended private school, with 61 per cent of Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet having been privately educated. 

Sutton Trust analysis concluded that around 45 per cent of those in “top jobs” in the UK attended a private school. Yet, while privately educated graduates are significantly more likely to enter “top” occupations, they manage to do this with the same academic grades as their state-educated peers. So, what is it that sets them apart?

It seems clear that the old saying “it’s not just what you know, it’s who you know” still rings true. Talent may be spread evenly across the country, but opportunity isn’t.

The power of work experience

This is why work experience is so important for young people because it opens up a world of opportunity for young people and the chance to start getting to know people who are able to help advance their careers.

Evidence from our own research shows that involvement in meaningful work experience can lead to higher salaries and stronger educational outcomes.

We found that just one work experience placement can raise your future salary by approximately £1,088 when in full-time employment and reduces the likelihood of becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) from 11 per cent to 7 cent. Not to mention the immeasurable impact on personal aspiration.

However, those without parental networks to draw upon are often at a severe disadvantage: privately educated students are twice as likely to have access to work experience than young people in state school and young people in receipt of free school meals typically report lower career readiness than their more affluent peers.

This is why Speakers for Schools is campaigning for high-quality work experience to be available to all in state schools.

To do this, we are actively engaging with relevant government departments, as well as politicians from across the political spectrum, on the importance of work experience, having published several research reports that have established a strong evidence base of benefit, and a compelling case for change.

We know universal work experience is not an expensive endeavour when considering the bigger picture.

Why work experience must be a priority

Our recent work with the Social Market Foundation found the annual cost to government for ensuring all students receive two work experience placements would be in the region of £75 million.

The Labour Party has committed to make work experience mandatory for all students should they form a future government. Meanwhile, current government policy recognises the benefit of work experience but stops short of making it an entitlement for all.

Yet, with simply not enough hours in the school day to do everything for everyone, finding the time for work experience is challenging.

Ultimately, something has to give. But schools that have been on this journey with us have reported the benefit and impact of doing so, including on young people’s motivation, engagement and outcomes.

Collectively, we need to be talking as much about the “opportunity gap” post-school as the attainment gap while in school. We don’t need to wait for parity of outcomes to take further action that will help level the playing field in the world of further study and work.

Nick Brook is CEO of Speakers for Schools