England's education system, despite significant policy efforts like the pupil premium and initiatives from organizations such as Teach First, has failed to close the persistent gap in exam results between low-income children and their wealthier peers. Author Sam Freedman notes that while overall education quality has improved, the gap remains stubborn and has widened since 2020, a trend observed globally.
The core issue is not policy, teacher effort, or funding, but the system's inherent structure. While politicians present schools as providing universal skills, a primary function is ranking children for selection by higher education and employers, creating an unavoidable hierarchy. Wealthier parents rationally invest heavily to ensure their children excel in this critical ranking process, thereby perpetuating the inequality regardless of average performance improvements. Addressing this requires a fundamental shift in how policymakers approach inequality.
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