Literacy news

How fair is Britain?

21 Oct 2010

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published its first triennial review, “How Fair is Britain?”, a report to Parliament on the progress that society is making in relation to equality, human rights and good relations. The report identifies developments but also highlights areas that are still troubling. It outlines an “agenda for fairness” with 15 significant challenges that affect life chances and opportunities based around key areas, including that “society should aim to ensure that every individual has the chance to learn and realise their talents to the full.”

One key recommendation is to reduce the disparities in educational performance by socioeconomic background. The report cites statistics showing that “at age five, 35% pupils of known to be eligible for free school meals achieved a good level of development, compared to 55% of pupils not eligible for free school meals. Pupils from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are subsequently less likely to get good GCSEs, and less likely to enter higher education.”

The report also makes note of “boys’ consistently inferior performance in education” and calls for a reduction in the performance gap in education between boys and girls.

The review draws out significant findings and headline data for each of its key areas of focus: life, security, health, education, employment, standard of living, care and support and power and voice. It may be of use to local authorities as a source of information that can be used in arguing for and targeting services.

The online summary of the review can be viewed here.

Tags: Local Authorities, Partners in Literacy, Policy, Schools & teaching, Social inclusion

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