The end of social mobility?

New research for ColegauCymru by Dr Mark Lang examines whether current education provision supports social progression and resilience for young people from deprived communities. In the “Can you get there from here?” report, Dr Lang addresses the issues through a series of ‘lenses’, including economic, social, delivery and spatial.

In 2019, the Augar review suggested that there had been ‘…no improvement in social mobility in Britain over half a century’. Similarly, Deloitte’s 2019 Global Millennial Survey found that two-thirds of millennials believe that, as a result of their backgrounds, some people never get a fair chance to achieve success irrespective of how hard they work.

Education, especially Further Education, has traditionally played a huge role in social mobility but the current picture is complex. Delivering well-being, rather than simply focusing on economic competitiveness, requires education policy and delivery to be more focused on creating ‘learning dispositions’. Social progression relies on key players coming together to consider action under each of the different lenses.

Full report: Can you get there from here? Dr Mark Lang

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