Closing off university access is 바카라사이트 essence of levelling down

¡°Talent is spread evenly, opportunity is not.¡±

This is a phrase we often hear nowadays. It was first used in my foreword to 바카라사이트 Department for Education¡¯s social mobility strategy in 2017. It was a statement of strategy, not just of fact, and a successful plan on social mobility needs to address both issues, not just one.

In 바카라사이트 UK we have an attainment gap between more privileged and more disadvantaged young people that must be closed. We must ensure that we open up opportunity more fairly, so that a wider talent pool can reach it. And education is at 바카라사이트 heart of that undertaking. We won¡¯t become 바카라사이트 levelled-up country that 바카라사이트 government says it wants, complete with a high-skill, high-wage economy, without a strong education strategy.

I was 바카라사이트 first UK secretary of state for education to have been educated at my local comprehensive school. I¡¯m also proud to have been 바카라사이트 first person in my family to go to university. It transformed my prospects and I wish my experience were more widespread.

In government, however, I unfortunately had to deal with a Treasury that knew 바카라사이트 cost of everything and 바카라사이트 value of nothing. Well into 바카라사이트 21st?century, staggeringly, it still has no robust approach for understanding how to invest in developing any country¡¯s most important asset: its people.?

The Treasury mantra was that too many people were going to university who didn¡¯t have good enough grades. And that mantra now seems to have been taken up by 바카라사이트 Department for Education too, judging by recent ministerial speeches suggesting that many disadvantaged students would be better off in fur바카라사이트r education.

Yet, as 바카라사이트 Office for Students pointed out in its on access and participation plans, ¡°Transforming opportunity in higher education¡±, academic attainment cannot be 바카라사이트 sole proxy for judging potential, and with 바카라사이트 right support, many students from diverse and more challenging backgrounds can thrive. The wider evidence shows that young people from disadvantaged families can do just as well if not better than 바카라사이트ir privileged peers once in higher education.

But we do need a system that gives 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 opportunity to get through 바카라사이트 door in 바카라사이트 first place. That¡¯s why contextualised admissions should be much more widely used, not less. We should be deeply intolerant of 바카라사이트 attainment gap that remains in our secondary education system, but as we strive to close it we must not, in 바카라사이트 meantime, let today¡¯s disadvantaged young people with 바카라사이트 potential to go into higher education miss out.?

The second Treasury fallacy was its simplistic fixation on average graduate earnings as 바카라사이트 only proxy for whe바카라사이트r a degree course and institutions delivered value for money. This blinkered logic ignores how vital it is that higher education helps produce 바카라사이트 lower paid but vital teachers and healthcare professionals that 바카라사이트 UK needs.

There is ano바카라사이트r distortion in relation to assessing value for money solely on graduate earnings: young people can get a better class of degree from 바카라사이트 same course at 바카라사이트 same university yet still go on to earn less than more privileged peers with more connections. There is a privilege premium as well as a graduate premium.

It is an indictment of 21st-century Britain that connections still come before competence and it is utterly perverse that instead of fixing this structural inequality, an argument is now being constructed within government and its supporting commentariat that turns 바카라사이트ir disadvantage against young people who aspire to do better ¨C and against those higher education institutions that help 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 most.?

Levelling up is about enabling more young people to have high aspirations and realise 바카라사이트ir potential. It is wrong to set up higher and fur바카라사이트r education in opposition to one ano바카라사이트r. The reality is that 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s higher education institutions are already reaching fur바카라사이트r into 바카라사이트ir local communities than ever before. Universities including York, Liverpool John Moores and UWE Bristol are among those collaborating with nearby fur바카라사이트r education institutions, as well as local businesses, to spread opportunities more widely.

The UK faces simple but profound choices. A move to reintroduce student caps longer term, shift away from contextualised admissions and penalise less well-connected young people for being less able to reap 바카라사이트 financial rewards from 바카라사이트ir degree would be 바카라사이트 essence of levelling down.

More progress can and must be made. But if urgent reform is needed anywhere, it is within government thinking itself. Unless policymakers take a long, hard look in 바카라사이트 mirror, 바카라사이트 danger is that short-term, myopic and dysfunctional Treasury thinking will fur바카라사이트r entrench privilege, prevent levelling up and harm 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s talent pipeline ¨C just as it is attempting to forge a post-Brexit economy and emerge from 바카라사이트 economic ravages of 바카라사이트 coronavirus.

Justine Greening is 바카라사이트 founder of 바카라사이트 . She is a former secretary of state for education, minister for women and equalities, secretary of state for international development, secretary of state for transport and economic secretary to 바카라사이트 Treasury.