Social Mobility

There is an increasing body of evidence linking social mobility – the ability to improve one’s standard of living, through better education, employment and income – to employability skills such as confidence, self-esteem and resilience. People who overcome adversity and realise their potential tend to exhibit these key skills; thereby enabling them to develop the ability to believe in themselves, pursue their goals along the way.

Social mobility and the seemingly unbreakable class ceiling

By Teach First

  • Even with a degree, young people who started poorer get a 10% cut in pay compared to colleagues with the same qualifications
  • Pupils living in the same neighbourhood and with similar GCSE results make very different post-16 choices depending on whether or not they are eligible for free school meals.
  • Young people from low-income backgrounds in particular struggle to overcome barriers presented by costs, lack of information and lack of networks
  • Poor social mobility to cost the UK £14billion per year, by 2050
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Fair access to work: Levelling the playing field for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds

By Deloitte

  • In 2016, just 10.3% of applications to UCAS were from the most disadvantaged students compared with over 30% of the most advantaged
  • Students from under-privileged backgrounds earn almost 10% less than the most advantaged, six months after graduating in the same subject
  • The most disadvantaged students were more likely to be employed in jobs that require essential talents e.g. cognitive skills and abilities and social skills which will enable workers to adapt to further technology driven shifts in the future.
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The Class Ceiling: Increasing Access to the Leading Professions

By The All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Mobility

  • Belief in one’s ability to succeed, the perseverance to stick to a task and the ability to bounce back from life’s set-backs are qualities that have a major impact on life chances, both during education and in the labour market
  • More importance should be given to the development of “character and resilience” with schools making it part of their strategy to engage in extra-curricular activities aimed at nurturing pupils’ self-belief, perseverance and ability to bounce back from set-backs
  • The earlier the intervention on child development, the more profound the impact on later life and social mobility
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