To truly tackle social immobility, the curriculum needs to be rewritten, a former regional schools commissioner has said.
Speaking at the Association of Colleges’ annual conference today, Lisa Mannall, who is trust leader at the Cornwall Education Learning Trust, said the current interventions around social mobility in education are not working.
“I believe that we have to go back to look at the curriculum that we’re teaching the young people in school, to when they start at 3 until they leave us at 18 … and that’s how we will address social mobility,” she said.
“[We need to] stop what we’re doing in schools - it’s not working. We know the gaps are getting bigger. We know often these young people are not ready for what comes next in higher and further education.
“Let’s look at our curriculum, let’s look at how we’re addressing it and let’s look at how we can address it for those 3-year-olds that come into school already with this big learning gap. How do we address it? For me, the only way we can ensure social mobility and stop the inequality is to redo our curriculum.”
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Ms Mannall was speaking on a panel that looked at how colleges could support social mobility in the community.
Social mobility commissioner Alastair Da Costa said that there was no getting away from the fact that the pandemic had exacerbated social mobility.
Apprenticeships ‘not the social mobility tool they should be’
He added that while the renewed focus on vocational qualifications in the Skills for Jobs White Paper was welcome, there was a danger that inequality would increase, if it was only those from wealthy backgrounds who accessed the new opportunities.
He said: “There is the danger of exacerbating inequality if it’s only those people who are coming from wealthy backgrounds who are actually going to be accessing those opportunities. We have to look at ways where everyone can benefit from the vocational opportunities made available. Our evidence today is that apprenticeships are not proving to be the social mobility tool that they should be.”
Research published by the Social Mobility Commission last summer found that the apprenticeship levy had actually “failed” disadvantaged learners.
Wigan and Leigh College principal Anna Dawe said a culture of learning and a culture of engagement must be fostered to support outcomes that result in disadvantaged learners progressing to higher skills levels.
“Students are not just units of economic activity. If we are serious about social mobility, it is about creating a culture of learning, a culture of engagement again with learning that really does foster those outcomes of social mobility progression to higher levels, economic advantage and skills.”
She added that while the White Paper was welcome, there were concerns around engagement with employers, and said that colleges needed to be trusted to contribute towards designing qualifications.
