Schools Week:
Education has `done nothing' to improve social mobility
16 July 2017
Education has “not done anything” to improve social mobility and has made inequality worse, according to the education economist Stephen Machin. Speaking at a debate held by the Sutton Trust on Wednesday in central London, Machin said education had been a “dequaliser” because it benefited rich pupils more. “Education has not been the great leveller. It’s either done nothing for social mobility, or it has reinforced existing inequalities.” Time at school strengthened the link between pupils and their family backgrounds, said Machin, a professor at the London School of Economics, meaning more rich pupils ended up in higher education. He also cited the OECD’s finding in 2012 that in 20 developed countries, only young people in the UK and US had as poor literacy and numeracy skills as their parents’ generation.
Related links
Stephen Machin CEP publications webpage: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/author.asp?author=machin