“I remember enough of my past to be outraged on behalf of the people abandoned when social mobility is lost…Our education system should help children out of the circumstances in which they were born, not lock them into the circumstances in which they were born… We need them to fly as high as their luck, their ability, and their sheer hard graft can actually take them…and it isn’t going to happen magically. “
Former Prime Minister, John Major.
This quotation opens the chapter I contributed to a book edited by the founder and owner of AQR, Doug Strycharczyk. I first met Doug when I was Programme Director at London Youth Rowing. He wanted to showcase the mentoring programmes LYR created with corporate partners. The young people on our programmes could see the ivory towers of Canary Wharf from their school playgrounds, but the opportunities within might as well have been another world away. I didn't necessarily want to add to the sum total of investment bankers in the world, but I did want the kids we worked with to at least walk through those boardrooms, meet the people on their graduate schemes, and understand that, with ambition and focus, such destinations were theirs for the taking.
When I started my own programme in Leeds later that year, the first thing I did is sit down with Professor David Cottrell. David had recently finished his stint as Dean of Medicine at the University of Leeds and was still running large research projects in his specialist field of Adolescent Psychiatry. Together we launched a pilot exploring some of the themes in my chapter. Since David's retirement, that excellent work has been picked up Liverpool John Moores University. It's expansion is something I am keen for a Labour government to support.
Having worked in the state and independent education sectors, I have seen for myself that there is very little difference between the two in terms of the quality of teaching and leadership. Where there is an enormous difference, however, is the learning environment provided outside of the classroom and the resource made available to deliver it. My area is sport, but the offer needs to be across a wide range of co-curricular activities. And yes, the 'co' matters.
There is so much untapped potential here for state education. It's not until you have spent time in both sectors that you can truly understand just what a missed opportunity this represents. This is my life's work.
These are the opening passages:
Organised sport can play an important role in the development of the whole child. It is a forum in which mental toughness can be tested and developed. It helps create a ‘mental map’ and provides a vital tool with which young people can build their own futures. This can be reflected in – and measured by - educational attainment, employability and inter-generational economic mobility.
At London 2012, the 7% of privately educated citizens in this country made up 50% of Great Britain’s Olympic team. That is an arresting statistic. Such a disproportionate impact at the highest level does prompt a question as to whether investment in school sport, including a willingness to fully exploit its educational capacity, is possible within the state sector.
Many independent school Headteachers feel sport is a crucial area which helps create their ‘competitive advantage’ - both in terms of the product they supply - and the life chances of their graduates. But what of the other 93% of young people in this country, particularly those from more deprived communities?
