Social Mobility - to intervene or not to intervene....

It's not very often that you spot two articles on the same topic on the same day so I thought that it was appropriate to blog on two different viewpoints on social mobility. Of course, any Economics student of note should be chomping at the bit when offered different viewpoints on how to achieve an economic goal!

The articles that I saw were from former Labour cabinet member Alan Milburn on the BBC website and former Conservative cabinet minister William Waldegrave in the Guardian.

Milburn argues very clearly that the only way to reduce inequality and improve social mobility is to clearly intervene in educational policy to improve the prospects of under-privileged children. He suggests that more support be given to teachers working in deprived areas and clearer direct action on schools who are under-performing.

Waldegrave argues, not against intervention, but against any kind of quota or target mechanism. He suggests that by making employers positively discriminate in favour of people from poorer backgrounds or from non-fee paying school will not improve services in the short or long run.