Life isnt Fair and neither are Schools
picture
a society
in which education
is at its finest
pupils are well nurtured and thrive
in their learning
people
from all backgrounds and all genders
across the globe
upper
middle and working class
have equal opportunities and a
fundamental right to an opportunity
enriched education
when we think of what goals we want to
achieve by 2050
combating climate change or ending world
hunger
are high on everyone’s wish lists
i believe
reducing the inequality gap within
education
to offer equal opportunities to all
young people
is equally important
after all
it’s education that enables individuals
and communities
to bring regeneration to every other
aspect of our lives
i have a confession
i’ve had a privileged education which
has opened endless doors for me
life
could have been very different for me
for example
more than 50 percent of young students
from 58 out of 133 countries
have not completed upper secondary
education
53 percent of 10 year olds from low and
middle income backgrounds
are unable to read or understand a short
age-appropriate text
the gaps in inequalities have grown
during the kovit-19 pandemic
it might shock you to know
that in the uk
a so-called developed nation
one in three students from low-income
backgrounds
are unable to read or write or solve a
basic math question by primary school
if you come from a low income background
you are three times more likely to be
permanently excluded from school
and 2.5 times less likely to be admitted
into a selective university
this is manifestly unfair
and by looking
and reading around
very little has been done
to tackle this issue
let’s take a look at some of the history
to see what we can learn
in 1944
the uk government introduced grammar
schools to solve this problem
they were non-fee paying but selective
schools that aimed to provide a better
education for intelligent children of
all
socioeconomic backgrounds
whilst grammar schools intended to
create more opportunity for children
from non-wealthy backgrounds
only 2.6
attending
were from working class families
the number of grammar schools has been
reduced
from
1298 in 1964
to a mere 163 in 2021
clearly
if we’ve gone down to almost 10 percent
of what we started with
cram scores was never an ideal solution
for social mobility
instead
grammar schools have become a refuge
for the elite
wealthy and highly educated parents
who equip their children with ready-made
social networks and expensive tutors
coming from an educated background
not only favors a child in entering a
grammar school
but favors them in every aspect of the
educational system which involves
learning for exams
the current method of examination
involves learning for tests
and having the time
and support available at home
this is because there are so many
factors that can influence how well a
child succeeds at education
your parents and their jobs
your background your environment your
financial situation to name a few
since grammar schools are so heavily
reliant on the type of background you’re
born in it becomes increasingly harder
to challenge this social mobility
let me suggest
a few ideas to level up the inequality
gap
one suggestion as a country
would be to increase the investment in
secondary state schools
specifically those with disadvantaged
students
england have the second largest gdp in
europe which is a measure of the size
and wealth of the country’s economy
yet to be ranked 17th
in the social mobility index which is
significantly low
for a developed country
england are not investing enough money
into primary schools
with the current spending nearly 6
five hundred pounds per year per child
which is nine percent lower than a
decade ago
we need to bring back funding
to a level that equates
if not better as that of the 2010s
and go one step further
by ensuring more money is invested in
schools with high percentages of
students from low income backgrounds
or have english as an additional
language
let’s compare the uk
to a near neighbor
take finland
a middle-ranking country a decade ago
to third in the social mobility index
finland invest an average of nine
thousand pounds
per year per child
using money to ensure schools have basic
resources
such as libraries and textbooks
as well as extra teaching assistants to
help with struggling students
in finland
it takes an average of two generations
to approach from a low income family to
the mean income
compared with five generations in the uk
let’s take a look at another example
in germany the average class size is 12
students per teacher
compared with england’s 21 students per
teacher in primary school and 30 in a
state school
the government has talked about
levelling up the education system
yet we have lost 90 million pounds this
year due to underfunding
mostly affecting disadvantaged students
it is becoming increasingly harder to
challenge this social mobility
a second approach
would be to accelerate the rollout of t
levels
which is a new vocational qualification
aimed to teach practical skills with
first-hand experience
with only one in four working-class
children attending university
a vocational qualification would
accelerate social mobility for some
students
t levels are typically studied between
ages 16 to 18.
they will enable students to progress
onto university which will then enable
social mobility
and finally
a third approach in reducing the
inequality gap within education
would be to introduce more classes
during the summer holidays
for example
it’s no coincidence that the crime rate
during the summer
shoots up by 35 percent
let’s take a look
across the pond
in america the baltimore study
followed a sample of 790 children
from ages 6
to 22.
the data concluded that by ninth grade
almost two-thirds of the achievement gap
between higher and low-income students
was explained by unequal access to
summer learning opportunities
moreover
why stop during the summer
why not give added support during term
time
staggeringly there is no research that
suggests adding homework clubs will
improve performance
yet my friends and i have all been
helped at various points in our lives
with our homework and it seems obvious
that if a child doesn’t have the support
at home
it can be difficult to cope alone
2021
is a difficult year for the education
system
with the recovery from covid and the 90
million pound funding cut mostly
affecting disadvantaged students it is
becoming increasingly harder to
challenge the social
mobility the government
has not made enough change
through the underfunding of schools
and the lack
of reform
so
what do we do
well this is a call to all young people
we need to do more to make the
government listen
greta thundberg was 15
when she was protesting outside the
swedish parliament to promote climate
change
thousands of pupils went on strike and
followed her
teenagers have clearly got the options
these days
with social media and demonstrations to
get hurt
therefore why don’t we use our voices to
enact change
we want to
re-generate our educational system
to offer equal opportunities to all
young people
no matter your background no matter your
class no matter your gender
in the same way
people mobilize themselves for climate
change
they can mobilize themselves
to re-generate
our educational system
schools
aren’t fair
let’s do something about that
you