Long-term problems

It is fashionable to say that the nation is divided: the North and South, the haves and have nots, the politically engaged and the apathetic. Educational attainment has been added to that list, following yesterday’s apocalyptic report from the University and College Union (UCU), which found that there are more people without qualifications in one impoverished part of the East Midlands than there are in ten other affluent constituencies across the country. The report concludes that those from the poorest backgrounds have been “short-changed for generations”.

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Louise Perry

The Rotherham cover-up

What’s so striking about this report is that it follows hot on the heels of an OECD investigation into grade inflation under the previous government. Despite the system having been manipulated and standards having fallen, a gap in attainment has still opened. There are few better examples of the systemic failure of British state education and why it must change.