How education reform can bridge North-South divide – The Yorkshire Post says

A Treasury Minister when the 2010 coalition was formed, she ultimately made history by becoming the first Education Secretary to have been taught by a comprehensive school.

Proud of her Rotherham roots, and the monthly column that she now writes for The Yorkshire Post, her new 14-point ‘equality of opportunity’ prospectus is more detailed than any plan put forward by this Government since it coined the phrase ‘levelling up’.

These two words are a misnomer that Ministers have, quite deliberately, used to give the impression that they have a plan to tackle the North-South divide when, in fact, there is a paucity of policies to unleash the untapped potential of this region, and other disadvantaged areas, for the UK’s greater good.

It is why this newspaper has begun to challenge this glib misuse of language by Ministers in the hope that they belatedly recognise its urgency – the Covid pandemic has already led to levels of attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their better-off peers worsening by as much as 75 per cent.

And it is why the plan outlined by Ms Greening, and the Social Mobility Pledge, must form the starting point for Government action in next month’s Budget. Chancellor Rishi Sunak should now seize the moment and put education at the heart of regional reform. After all, it was a desire to improve schools, and opportunities for the young, that inspired him to enter politics. What better way to prove these credentials than this?

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