Britain's no 1 priority | thearticle

The levelling up of incomes and wealth typically attract most of the policy attention and often rightly so. But the levelling up of educational opportunity is surely, even more important. In

recent days, there has been a very heartening development. I am a trustee of Shine, the educational charity (Support and Help in Education — and through its twenty year history, it has

focused on trying to help boost educational opportunities for the disadvantaged. Its early years were focused on London and the South East, due to the location of our staff and trustees, so

we could evaluate and monitor projects. And to be consistent with our philosophy of monitoring and evaluation, we have stuck to these principles. A few years ago, Shine relocated to Leeds to

be at the heart of the so-called Northern Powerhouse, and to shift our focus towards educational disadvantage in the north. During much of the previous era of Shine’s existence,

coincidentally, the attainment of disadvantaged children in London and the South East broadly improved, opening up a gap with the rest of the country, especially the North. We thought we

needed to redirect our efforts. In my view as an economist, among all the important ingredients to boost productivity, education is perhaps the single most important, and is crucial to the

challenges that the UK faces. While some young people have probably managed to cope with home-based learning during the Covid-19 lockdown, perhaps a few might have excelled. But it is pretty

clear that the most disadvantaged have not. And as in other areas of society, this crisis is exposing, and perhaps adding to the challenges of those who are most disadvantaged. In this

context, it is welcome that the government announced a £1bn package to support additional tuition for those who need it most. Along with the driving forces behind these initiatives, such as

the MP Robert Halfon, and my colleagues at the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, I believe that the government needs to go further. Support for the early years is crucial, given the

overwhelming body of evidence showing that those who fall behind at the start typically never catch up. This is a specific area on which Shine focuses. When talking about educational

outcomes in the North, there is often a too simplistic broad brush approach. The situation is much more nuanced. There is no single picture that captures all attainment levels. There are

numbers that can be used, but there is considerable volatility around these averages measurements across the North. To highlight just two, the averages show that, pre-Covid, the North wasn’t

too far behind at the primary school level, but that the gap widened notably through secondary years. Evidence suggests the transition period from primary to secondary is perhaps

responsible.