Graduates who experienced poverty in childhood still face a significant earnings gap after a decade in work 👎 An important new report from @resolutionfoundation.org reveals how childhood disadvantage shapes the earnings of university grads in England 🧵 www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...

💡 Powerful and important discussions on the SEND system took place yesterday at our panel event on the government's proposed reforms. The event marked the launch of our research analysing the relationship between disadvantage and SEND in school admissions 🧵

We are in a crucial period for the future of the SEND system. Our new research underlines the importance of considering the interaction between socio-economic disadvantage and SEND in ongoing debates surrounding inclusion. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

🔎 How well do secondary schools represent their local community, including pupils on free school meals and those with SEND? Our interactive map - which features insights on the socio-economic makeup of school intakes - has been updated to include data on their SEND cohorts.

🚨 NEW: Top performing secondary schools are effectively shutting out disadvantaged pupils with special educational needs. Our new polling suggests this is often a deliberate strategy to limit the numbers of these pupils coming through their school gates 🧵⤵️

We were delighted to be joined by members of our Alumni Leadership Board and our Changemaker Ambassadors for our annual parliamentary reception earlier this month! Our alumni are the best representation of the Sutton Trust. It was great to see them supporting our work 👏

Are top performing schools accessible to disadvantaged pupils with SEND? 🔎 Our new report takes a closer look at the relationship between disadvantage, SEND, and access to state schools. Out tomorrow.

Newspaper columnists are in a unique position to shape the political agenda 📰 But the profession isn't very accessible. Our research found that half of Britain's newspaper columnists were privately educated. This figure is up from 44% in 2019 and 43% in 2014.

✍️ "Both families did the best they could for their children but differing resources and circumstances meant they had very different experiences of the SEND system." More on the class inequalities in access to SEND support exposed by our research ⤵️

🚨 Upcoming event on access to SEND support and the potential reforms! On Tuesday, we're hosting a panel event to discuss the opportunities and challenges surrounding the government’s proposed SEND reforms, following the publication of the Schools White Paper ⬇️

🗣️ "Cost pressures absolutely are part of the issues which are putting students off everywhere from going to university but particularly in the North East." Our CEO @nickharrison73.bsky.social on the financial decisions made by students when it comes to going to university @itvtynetees 📺

✍️ "In creative and media-adjacent careers, the ladder often starts with free labour." Many young people in this country simply cannot afford to work free, but many industries still normalise free labour as a route into a career. This must be tackled.

Yesterday evening we hosted the Sutton Trust's annual parliamentary reception in the House of Commons! It was great to see a room full of individuals who are engaged with our work and care about levelling the playing field in this country.

The latest meeting of the APPG on Social Mobility (for which the Sutton Trust is Secretariat) focused on the SEND system. In our latest blog, our Senior Public Affairs Officer, Ryan Frost, provides some insights on what was discussed at the meeting ⤵️ www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...

✍️ "Social mobility isn’t just about moving up. It’s about not moving alone. It’s about opening the door behind you once you’ve stepped through." Our alum discusses her own social mobility story and the importance of helping others in their journey ⤵️

🗣️ "At 26, I’m learning to live out something I’ve always known, to be loud and proud about the way I sound and the voice I have." Our research on accents has been cited in a personal piece discussing regional identity by a freelance producer ⬇️

💬 "Children from less well-off homes start school already behind their classmates, and gaps in their attainment widen further through primary and secondary school." We have long pushed for action to close the attainment gap - but what is it? Our explainer ⬇️

🚨 We're recruiting a Lead Trustee for Policy! Influencing national policy change is critical to achieving our mission. If you have senior experience in policy, research or public affairs, come and help us break the link between background and success ⤵️

✍️ "Social mobility is increasingly embedded in conversations about talent, performance and long-term business sustainability. Reflecting on our decade-long efforts to widen access to careers in the world of banking and finance ⤵️ www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...

💬 "The Schools White Paper sees the government seek balance and compromise across a series of fraught debates." Our Head of Research and Policy, Billy Huband-Thompson, unpacks the detail from the Schools White Paper in our latest blog ⤵️ www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...

📣 Govt has published its response to their call for evidence on unpaid internships. While we welcome the commitment to ending unpaid internships and ensuring both employers & interns are more aware of their rights to minimum pay, we’re disappointed they've stopped short of an explicit legal ban 🧵⤵️

This morning, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Social Mobility is discussing SEND and socio-economic disadvantage, in the wake of the Schools White Paper. Chair @peter4bracknell.bsky.social is joined by @charleyo.bsky.social, @ellenbroome.bsky.social, and Sarah Horn. @suttontrust.bsky.social

AI is already being used in schools across the country. But our research found growing inequalities in how schools are adopting the technology and what they’re doing to help teachers to use it. Here's how we can address this rapidly emerging issue ⬇️

💬"The sea limits expansion to one side, and weak transport links limit access on the other. Mobility is constrained, and travel is expensive." Read about the barriers to opportunity for disadvantaged young people living in coastal communities ⤵️

✍ "If the government are going to achieve their mission of breaking down barriers to opportunity, successful SEND reform is absolutely key." @carlcullinane.bsky.social discusses the Government's new proposals to reform the SEND system in @labourlist.bsky.social ⤵️ labourlist.org/2026/02/send...

We recently responded to a call for evidence from the Milburn Review on young people not in education, employment or training. In our latest blog, our Senior Public Affairs Officer @ryangfrost.bsky.social unpacks what we included in our submission ✍️ www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...

💬 "Regardless of economic or social mobility, class-based cultural markers such as accent continue to shape how people are perceived and treated." Our research on the pervasive issue of accent bias in the workplace cited in The Conversation ⤵️

The government’s Schools White Paper sets a target to halve the disadvantage gap. But what is the disadvantage gap? 🧵

"This campaign began with a simple question from parents who refused to accept that where you live should determine where you learn." Class Divide have done great work to push for major changes to school admissions in Brighton. Read about their efforts 👇

At Downing Street early this morning for the launch of the schools White Paper. Three big ambitions in it: 1. Halve the disadvantage gap, 2. Fix a broken SEND system, 3. Improve engagement and attendance. A big deal if it can be delivered... A 🧵 👇 @suttontrust.bsky.social

📣 We’ve long been advocating for a national mission to close the attainment gap, and this is a significant first step. Meeting this target will be challenging, requiring serious reform in education and decisive action to tackle poverty beyond the school gates. www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...

Which professions are dominated by the privately educated? We've repeatedly highlighted the problems with elitism in sectors like the media, politics, and sport. Here are the most & least representative professions (in terms of education backgrounds) ⬇️

💬 "One of the most persistent misconceptions about communities like ours is that children ‘lack aspiration'." @thatpovertyguy.bsky.social writes about the obstacles to opportunity and improving social mobility in the North East ⤵️

🚨New research shows children from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to benefit from a private tutor than more affluent peers. This is despite strong evidence that one-to-one and small group tuition improves attainment, with disadvantaged pupils standing to benefit most.

🚨 Accent prestige rankings 🚨 A hierarchy of accent prestige has been entrenched in Britain for centuries, and our research finds that this remains today. We found that accents associated with industrial cities and ethnic minority accents are considered the least prestigious.

Who is benefitting from the rise in private tutoring, and how can government best widen access to tutoring? New polling, out tomorrow.

📊 Our interactive map offers an unprecedented look at school admissions in England. It shows a pattern of some schools accepting lower numbers of disadvantaged pupils than live in their area, while others have much higher levels of disadvantage ⤵️

Only a fraction of medical students come from working-class backgrounds. Our research has found persistent issues with access to careers in medicine, as working-class people remain hugely underrepresented in the profession ⬇️ www.suttontrust.com/our-research...

Universities play a major role in driving social mobility for disadvantaged young people 📈 But where they go and what they study is crucial. More from our research on the relationship between universities and social mobility ⤵️

The privately educated are still heavily overrepresented at the top of British society. Since we last looked at elitism in 2019, little has changed 👎 Britain’s most powerful people are still 5x more likely to have been privately educated than the general population.

📣A journal article from the COSMO Study's @jakeanders.uk and @ericaholtwhite.bsky.social has been published in Social Indicators Research! The article uses COSMO data to highlight inequalities in young people’s subjective wellbeing and mental health in the wake of the pandemic 🧵

💬"There’s almost no one from the same background as me, and it feels as though all my peers have parents who are doctors." Careers in the medical profession out of reach for most working-class students. Working-class representation must be improved.

Since 1937, every Prime Minister who has attended an English university has attended the University of Oxford - including the current PM, Keir Starmer. This fact highlights the dominance of social elites at the top of British politics 👇

✍️ "43% of internships and placements are located in London. And, according to data from The Sutton Trust, 61% are unpaid or paid at less than minimum wage." Our research on unpaid internships cited ⤵️

Are you applying for one of our @cam.ac.uk summer schools? Don't forget that applications for all University of Cambridge programmes close tomorrow. 🚨 summerschools.suttontrust.com/university-p...

🚨 The Department for Work and Pensions has announced plans to set out a clearer path to apprenticeships for young people. Our Director of Research and Policy, @carlcullinane.bsky.social, spoke to the BBC about the proposed changes 📻

Happy #NationalApprenticeshipWeek! To celebrate the week, we wanted to spotlight our Access Apprenticeships programme. Access Apprenticeships is a year-long initiative supporting students to meet leading employers, connect with like-minded peers, and learn how to access top apprenticeships 🧵

🗣️ "BAFTA nominated actors are still five times more likely to have attended a fee paying school than the population as a whole." Great to see Lord Parkinson directly cite our research on the lack of class diversity in creative professions in a debate in the House of Lords ⬇️

School funding needs to be more fairly distributed. Changes made to the National Funding Formula in 2018 benefited schools in less deprived areas. These changes should be reversed, in order to rebalance funding back towards schools serving the most disadvantaged communities.

An alumni of the Sutton Trust Fulbright US Programme has secured a full scholarship to study at Harvard! 🥳 Tina, who is from Keighley, is set to begin a joint degree in government and East Asian studies at the Ivy League university. www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/2582651...