We find ourselves today in a crisis situation. This year, the education system we know has been thrown up in the air. 

As the headteacher of an inner-city secondary wrote in Tes in March, “We should be under no illusions about the potentially devastating impact that the combination of economic hardship and school closures will have on the poorest children and young people in our society.” 

Through the events of 2020, we have all seen the inequalities that exist between children from different backgrounds in the most vivid way: children with no access to a good meal because they couldn’t access their free school meals during lockdown; huge differences in resources at home including a lack of laptops and wifi, a quiet space or learning resources; countless families plunged into further hardship because of the economic challenges arising during lockdown. 

We also saw starkly how black and other ethnic minority communities were more deeply impacted by Covid-19 than others.

The icing on a very unfair cake

All of this has affected some children’s wellbeing and ability to learn much more than others’, putting them at a disadvantage. 

The recent controversy around the exam-results algorithm, which essentially codified existing inequalities by determining student’s grades based on historical data from their school, was the icing on a very unfair cake for disadvantaged pupils this year.

Next week, teachers and children will be returning to the classroom and doing what they can to mitigate this inequality between different children. 

But, actually, as our report with Education Policy Institute shows today, none of this is really new. Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement have just drawn back the curtain to expose what was already there.

Even before Covid, inequalities were worsening. Trends show that, despite efforts, gaps will never close. This is particularly alarming when we know that events this year will have worsened it even further. 

The inequalities that run deep

Educational inequality is not new, and neither are efforts to tackle it. Significant efforts from successive governments, educationalists, charities, social enterprises and businesses to date - from widening-participation programmes, to pupil-premium policy, to teacher development programmes in areas of disadvantage and, most critically, incredible leadership from teachers and heads - has helped some children beat the odds of an unfair system. 

However, ultimately it has only taken us so far. It hasn’t helped the most persistently disadvantaged, and it hasn’t made the education system fully fair. And - disturbingly - it never will. 

Importantly, some drivers of inequality are beyond the control of individual local authorities, multi-academy trusts and schools, highlighting the urgency and need for cross-sector approaches that tackle the root causes of inequality.

Covid-19 has compounded an already critical situation, but it has also exposed it. As a result, people are vividly seeing the inequalities that run deep in our society, and there is an awareness that the role of education goes far beyond teaching academic subjects to support the whole child and their communities.  

The Black Lives Matter movement has also awakened people’s understanding, and communities have connected and seen what it takes to support each other through the most challenging situations.

Ripping off the sticking plaster

Our optimism tells us that with this crisis comes an opportunity to rethink and reshape the system.

We, the Fair Education Alliance - a coalition of 200 education institutions, businesses, charities and social enterprises - have now been calling for several years for a more collective, system-wide approach to change, which will fundamentally make the whole system fairer. 

Our member organisations have together developed a shared vision, and are working collectively to create a fair, inclusive system which:

• gives all young people a rounded education, so that they develop skills, are looked after emotionally and physically, and can achieve academically no matter their personal circumstances;
• engages parents and communities of all backgrounds, so that education does not stop at the school gates;
• supports, incentivises and rewards teachers and leaders to enable all children to thrive - including incentives to work in more disadvantaged areas;
• gives all young people the knowledge, skills and awareness to succeed in life after school, whether in further education, higher education or employment.

We can no longer take a sticking-plaster approach to making an unfair system a bit less unfair.  We must all - those within the education sector and beyond - commit to rebuilding a fair system together which starts with the premise of ensuring that our education system serves all children, not just the lucky few. 

Sam Butters and Gina Cicerone are joint CEOs of the Fair Education Alliance 

If you want to find out more about the Fair Education Alliance and how to get involved, please contact: info@faireducation.org.uk