Sutton Trust: Career Inequality

The challenge for schools based in areas of deprivation are as acute as ever. Data collected by The Sutton Trust from a range of reports reveals that disadvantaged pupils will face significant hurdles if they are to close the gap on their wealthier peers:

• There is already 19 months gap in school readiness in between the richest and poorest children when starting school. (Social Mobility Report, 2012)
• Pupils from the highest social class groups are three times more likely to enter university as those from the lowest social groups. (Leading People, 2016)
• Fewer good jobs are being created than before; for both men and women, upward mobility rates fell for those aged 30 between 1976 and 2004, whilst downward mobility rates rose. (The state of Social Mobility in the UK, 2017)

Despite huge investment in Pupil Premium, Independent schools are hugely over represented in major professions. For schools in challenging areas this poses continued questions about how best to promote career paths and support pupils in not just having a dream, but sustaining it and then achieving it. 

• What are we doing to tackle the language, behaviour, self regulation and vocabulary gap that already exists by the age of 3?
• How are careers promoted consistently as part of the everyday curriculum?
• Is there any way that we can continue to champion and support Primary pupils once they transition to Secondary?

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