Further Education Sector Key to Removing Barriers to Social Mobility

After considering 58 written pieces of evidence, hearing from 54 witnesses and a visit to meet students, teachers and employers in Blackpool, the House of Lords Social Mobility Policy Committee, which I chair, has published its report ‘Social mobility: Local roots, lasting change.’

Defining social mobility

Social mobility has long been a subject of debate and public policy. It still matters because it is about helping people thrive, whatever background they come from. We heard repeatedly from witnesses that social mobility no longer meant offering a few individuals, often the most academically able, the opportunity to attend one of a small number of elite universities and pursue a career in a high earning profession. It was broadly agreed that social mobility meant: “ensuring that the situation that you are born into or grow up in does not determine your outcomes in later life.”

Inquiry focus

Our inquiry’s focus has been on the better integration of work and education opportunities for young people, concentrating on four key areas; the importance of place, those not in education, training and work (NEETs), Education and training for 16-18 year olds and data.

We welcome therefore the publication last month of the Government’s paper on ‘Post-16 Education and Skills’. That consultation paper agrees with many of the conclusions we had reached, based on the evidence we heard from Government ministers.

While that paper, and the recent Curriculum and Assessment Review, are good starting points, there are many issues on education and skills which still need to be addressed.

To pick three issues from our report:

1. There is an acute problem with almost a million young people not in education, employment or training. Offers of work experience are insufficient. They need other support, including learning the skills of being an employee, plus a thriving local economy where they can find a job, as well as good local transport.
2. We hope that Skills England, established towards the end of our inquiry, will help reduce the barriers for progress that exist for so many. Maths and English GCSEs, as currently formulated, do not provide the high-quality functional skills needed for apprenticeships, but failure to obtain them is a bar to too many futures. Moreover, young people from low-income families wanting to go to university may well not be able to afford to, given that the threshold to qualify for the maximum maintenance loan has been frozen for 17 years.
3. Some Strategic Authorities are doing good work to build skills and increase social mobility. But half the country sits outside these mayoral authorities. All areas need powers and support to build what is needed locally (and this will differ) to help young people access education and get jobs.

FE has a central role. Every part of the country has its own character. Coastal, post-industrial and rural areas, as well as towns and cities, have different problems to overcome to promote social mobility. Lack of affordable housing, inadequate transport provision and poor broadband connectivity continue to prove barriers to social mobility in rural areas in particular. It was clear from the evidence we received, and confirmed by our Blackpool visit, that central government alone cannot develop and implement policy change that will remove barriers to social mobility. It is people with experience and knowledge of an area who are best able to pinpoint its particular challenges and build plans to support all those who live there to learn, work and thrive.

We heard inspiring examples across the country of representatives from Job Centres, local authorities and even the Fire Brigade leading on local strategies to engage with young people and other residents. However, these approaches seem to rely on the drive and passion of a few individuals, which isn’t necessarily sustainable and hard to replicate in other locations. Further Education Colleges however do provide a consistent presence at the heart of communities across the country. More importantly they have the facilities, leadership and staff with the knowledge, skills and passion required to develop and implement NEET and other engagement strategies with employers, local authorities and other stakeholders to support young people back into education and develop the skills needed to get the jobs local employers can offer.

We therefore hope that the Government takes on the Committee’s recommendation to empower local partnerships to remove barriers to social mobility.

By Baroness Manningham-Buller, Chair of the Select Committee on Social Mobility Policy