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14 April 2026

Tag: social mobility

Mental health support for young people should be a priority

Mental illness affects about one in four people: that means six pupils in a class of 24. And yet young people, who often cannot access the right help, can be told that they are little more than “upset”, that they need to get out more. This year the UK Youth Parliament takes up their cause […]

How I had a fight in the name of social justice

Forget your pedagogical differences: teachers need to speak up about how a reduction of services to alleviate poverty is the real threat to closing the education gap, says Kiran Gill Last weekend I got into a fight. I had spent the day listening to stimulating talks at Michaela Community School in north London and debate was still rumbling […]

Schools must not miss out on women leaders

There is inequity in school leadership, particularly at secondary level where men outnumber women almost two to one. An equalities network set up by ASCL is aiming to redress the balance Women significantly outnumber men in teaching, except when it comes to secondary headship where the reverse is true. This is not new, but progress […]

Leaders from other successful education systems are surprised by the imbalance in England

This week CfBT is launching its new report “Interesting Cities: five approaches to urban reform”, comparing the approaches used to improve schools in five cities across the world (London, New York, Dubai, Rio de Janeiro and Ho Chi Minh City). Each of these cities has achieved remarkable education improvements. Some aspects of what was achieved […]

Mary Bousted: ‘Don’t tell me I have low expectations’

Teachers care passionately about their pupils and strive to close the education achievement gap, but their job becomes more difficult as inequality and poverty levels rise – as they will under Conservative party policies Speaking last week at a Schools and FE Week Fringe at the Conservative party conference, I was accused by Nick Gibb, […]

2 ways to switch girls on to engineering

Engineering can be a cool career choice – but ingrained biases mean that girls don’t always agree. One solution is to grab their attention between the ages of 11 and 14; it’s the prime time to turn their perceptions around Women have made great strides in the workforce on many fronts in the past few […]

Independent schools do change lives

The abolition of the assisted places scheme and grammar system has contributed to a decline in social mobility As the headmistress of an independent girls’ secondary school, it might be reasonable to expect criticism from those who probably have never had first-hand experience of life in an independent school. But we shouldn’t shirk issues for […]

Put the students’ interests at your school’s core

Social mobility is something that all educators aim for, but there are things that you need to consider first Beware the American dream It simply isn’t true that anyone can be anything they want in life, so long as they work for it. We must encourage young people to set their goals high, but our […]

What would it take to break the link between A level results and family income?

From students jumping in the air, to accusations that exams are getting easier, A-Level results day wouldn’t be the same without the usual clichés. But what goes on behind those headlines? There are the young people who defied expectation and achieved brilliant results, usually with the support of teachers and parents who struggled to ensure […]