✍️ "Social mobility is increasingly embedded in conversations about talent, performance and long-term business sustainability.
Reflecting on our decade-long efforts to widen access to careers in the world of banking and finance ⤵️
www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...
💬 "The Schools White Paper sees the government seek balance and compromise across a series of fraught debates."
Our Head of Research and Policy, Billy Huband-Thompson, unpacks the detail from the Schools White Paper in our latest blog ⤵️
www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...
Read our full reaction to the Government's response ⬇️
www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...
The current system is simply not working, and this move would provide much needed clarity and protection for interns.
There needs to be a crystal-clear message, backed with legal enforcement, that unpaid internships are both illegal and discriminatory.
Our own research backs this up too.
Three quarters of employers offering internships told us banning unpaid internships wouldn’t negatively impact the number of opportunities they provide.
www.suttontrust.com/our-research...
A majority of respondents to the consultation were in favour of a ban on unpaid internships, and employers agreed that a clear legal definition of an ‘intern’ would be useful.
The call for evidence allowed the Government to gather views from a wide range of stakeholders (including businesses and employers, trade unions, and workers), to inform the action they should take to put an end to unpaid internships.
📣 Govt has published its response to their call for evidence on unpaid internships.
While we welcome the commitment to ending unpaid internships and ensuring both employers & interns are more aware of their rights to minimum pay, we’re disappointed they've stopped short of an explicit legal ban 🧵⤵️
This morning, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Social Mobility is discussing SEND and socio-economic disadvantage, in the wake of the Schools White Paper.
Chair @peter4bracknell.bsky.social is joined by @charleyo.bsky.social, @ellenbroome.bsky.social, and Sarah Horn.
@suttontrust.bsky.social
AI is already being used in schools across the country.
But our research found growing inequalities in how schools are adopting the technology and what they’re doing to help teachers to use it.
Here's how we can address this rapidly emerging issue ⬇️
💬"The sea limits expansion to one side, and weak transport links limit access on the other. Mobility is constrained, and travel is expensive."
Read about the barriers to opportunity for disadvantaged young people living in coastal communities ⤵️
✍ "If the government are going to achieve their mission of breaking down barriers to opportunity, successful SEND reform is absolutely key."
@carlcullinane.bsky.social discusses the Government's new proposals to reform the SEND system in @labourlist.bsky.social ⤵️
labourlist.org/2026/02/send...
We recently responded to a call for evidence from the Milburn Review on young people not in education, employment or training.
In our latest blog, our Senior Public Affairs Officer @ryangfrost.bsky.social unpacks what we included in our submission ✍️
www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...
💬 "Regardless of economic or social mobility, class-based cultural markers such as accent continue to shape how people are perceived and treated."
Our research on the pervasive issue of accent bias in the workplace cited in The Conversation ⤵️
Our 2024 briefing set out clear steps to close the attainment gap.
However, this goes beyond the education system. Work to end child poverty is also essential.
Find out more in our attainment gap explainer ⬇️
www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...
The attainment gap is caused by a variety of factors in the home and at school.
Poverty undeniably plays a major role, while educational factors include:
🟢Inadequate school funding
🔵Unequal access to quality teaching
🟣Unfair school admissions
Our Opportunity Index also found significant geographical disparities, with children in London faring much better than those in other regions, even with similar levels of socioeconomic disadvantage.
East Ham was the top ranked area for opportunity, while Newcastle upon Tyne Central was the lowest.
The knock-on effects of the attainment gap are severe, limiting young people’s options for further and higher education and closing off career paths they might aspire to.
This not only limits opportunities for individuals, but also means our economy misses out on potential talent.
Despite the gap narrowing slightly in 2023/24, it remains wider than it has been since 2012, having increased significantly during the pandemic ⬇️
Children from less well-off homes start school already behind classmates, and gaps in their attainment widen further through primary and secondary school.
By GCSEs, the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is equivalent to 19.1 months of development.
The government’s Schools White Paper sets a target to halve the disadvantage gap.
But what is the disadvantage gap? 🧵
"This campaign began with a simple question from parents who refused to accept that where you live should determine where you learn."
Class Divide have done great work to push for major changes to school admissions in Brighton.
Read about their efforts 👇
At Downing Street early this morning for the launch of the schools White Paper. Three big ambitions in it: 1. Halve the disadvantage gap, 2. Fix a broken SEND system, 3. Improve engagement and attendance.
A big deal if it can be delivered...
A 🧵 👇
@suttontrust.bsky.social
📣 We’ve long been advocating for a national mission to close the attainment gap, and this is a significant first step.
Meeting this target will be challenging, requiring serious reform in education and decisive action to tackle poverty beyond the school gates.
www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...
Which professions are dominated by the privately educated?
We've repeatedly highlighted the problems with elitism in sectors like the media, politics, and sport.
Here are the most & least representative professions (in terms of education backgrounds) ⬇️
💬 "One of the most persistent misconceptions about communities like ours is that children ‘lack aspiration'."
@thatpovertyguy.bsky.social writes about the obstacles to opportunity and improving social mobility in the North East ⤵️
Without an ambition to ramp up in-person tutoring support, targeted at those who need it, we face an uphill battle in closing the attainment gap.
Explore the findings in full ⬇️
www.suttontrust.com/our-research...
Patterns of school-based tutoring differ from private tuition, with 22% of worst-off pupils receiving tutoring in school compared to 19% of best-off pupils.
And while there were large differences in private tutoring by ethnicity, few were seen in school-based tutoring.
This decline has in part been driven by the end of the NTP in 2024.
While the Government is currently focusing on AI tutoring in schools, the value of in-person tutoring shouldn’t be forgotten ✏️
🏫There has also been a dramatic decline in the ability of state schools to provide tutoring support in recent years.
This matters, because school-based tutoring can be the only way many poorer pupils can access a tutor.
