Equality of opportunity requires a united education sector

Before joining the Office for Students (OfS) at the beginning of the year, my career had been in teaching and latterly education policy. In taking up the role of director for fair access and participation with the higher education regulator, I always knew that partnerships with schools would be a significant part of the work I wanted to do, because so many of the challenges to equality of opportunity in higher education have their beginnings much earlier.

To take the most glaring issue, every teacher knows that learning gaps between young people from different socio-economic groups open before they have even made it into a formal teaching environment. Sadly, despite schools’ huge efforts over the past 20 years, those attainment gaps continue. The Education Policy Institute recently concluded that the gap for persistently disadvantaged pupils has been consistently wider than the headline gap for all disadvantaged pupils over the past decade, and that signs of those gaps narrowing before the pandemic have faded.

That is not to say that teachers have not made a huge difference in that time; that our school system has not seen a substantial widening of these gaps through the many troubles and tribulations of the past years is a worthwhile achievement, even if we want to do more. And the rich debates that teachers are engaged in about curriculum, pedagogy, behaviour and assessment make it clear that their appetite to close those gaps remains strong, using the most effective methods we can find.

So when I announced last week that universities and colleges would be expected to work with schools to meet some of these challenges, and increase equality of opportunity for all students, I was absolutely not suggesting schools don’t know their own business and need to be told it by vice chancellors. However, working across phases in a respectful, open-minded way can yield real benefits for all involved, opening up new ways of understanding, problem solving, and adding capacity and resource where there might be little to spare if acting alone.

But the days of universities rocking up with a pre-determined menu of one-shot activities schools are told to take or leave are over. I have been clear that universities and colleges should build strategic, enduring and mutually beneficial partnerships with schools.

We know from recent work we have done with higher education providers that there is richness in the offer they can make to schools. Examples of innovative and useful activity can be seen across the country that unfailingly work best where schools feel they are equal partners with their higher education colleagues. The precise nature and work of those partnerships is not for me as the regulator to set. It is something that should emerge through meaningful discussions between those involved, rooted in a deep understanding of the problems all concerned have an interest in tackling.

We anticipate a focus on building knowledge and understanding in younger year groups. Schools, generally, can teach effectively in the statutory assessment years, whereas universities might be able to support with delivering and evaluating the effectiveness of longer-term interventions over multiple years.

We also expect that subject-specific knowledge enhancement for teachers is something academic departments could help with. Other examples we know are happening now include: tutoring delivered by undergraduate students; universities setting up schools and multi-academy trusts; and the development of freely available, high-quality, web-based mathematics support.

My request to teachers and school leaders is to respond positively if they’re approached by a higher education provider. And if the approach doesn’t seem aimed at building strategic, enduring and mutually beneficial partnerships, remind them that is the goal the OfS has set out.

Building a united education sector, with space to discuss and act on common goals and challenges, can make a huge difference to pupils’ outcomes. In reforming our regulatory expectations of higher education providers, the OfS is asking universities and colleges to play their part. I hope schools leaders and teachers will feel confident and valued enough to play theirs too.