An introduction to the South-West Social Mobility Commission
In March 2023, the new South-West Social Mobility Commission met for the first time and on 3rd July we published our introductory report. The report sets out the stark social mobility challenge in the region (which includes the lowest proportion in the country - just 37% - of children from low-income families able to read, write and do maths at expected levels by age 11, and the fewest young people from any background progressing to higher-level education and training). The report goes on to outline what the Commission intends to do to change the situation.
Why a South-West Social Mobility Commission?
The Commission has been established in response to the 2022 report Social Mobility in the South West. This revealed that the South-West had the lowest educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils of any English region. For example in 2019 only 40% of disadvantaged pupils in the region attained a pass grade in GCSE English and maths, and only 17% went on to university – the lowest rate of all regions. Social mobility is poor in many places and low-paid workers struggle with the lowest weekly pay in the UK.
The launch of the report highlighted an urgent collective desire for action from leaders across the region and support for establishing a cross-sector body for driving change. In December 2022, the Commission was launched with Sir Michael Barber as Chair. He has been joined by a dedicated and passionate group of civic leaders representing a range of sectors from across the South-West peninsula as inaugural Commissioners.
We believe the Commission is a unique opportunity to drive long-term transformational change in education and employment outcomes for disadvantaged young people. The Commission will tackle social mobility from a cross-sectoral perspective, advocating for change and working with local and regional partners to develop and deliver programmes and best practice guidance to address the barriers faced by children, families and young people in the region.
Stay connected
We hope this space will bring together people in the region and beyond with an interest in tackling low social mobility. To truly change the dial on social mobility in the South-West we need everyone involved - pushing to embed a social mobility perspective into organisational decision-making across the board, whether in the private, public or not-for-profit sector.
In this Substack, we plan to share progress updates on the Commission’s work (beyond our annual report) and start conversations on topics of interest. We aim to be as transparent and communicative about our work as possible. Our hope is that this will contribute to both national and regional discussions about how to undertake this type of regional, cross-sectoral, collaborative work on social mobility, and provide rapid learnings on what projects and programmes do and don’t work.
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