Social mobility report: a smorgasbord of the bleeding obvious, but...
The strategy document released today by the Social Mobility Commission is a smorgasbord of the blindingly obvious, a charge sheet of failure and neglect when it comes to the least well off.
Challenges around skills, poverty, health and ambition are once again pointed at as barriers to opportunity for those with the least in life, materialistically, whose inner potential is as limitless as the next person – we’ve seen it all before and regular readers of these column inches will be well versed in the detail.
Except, this newspaper is pleased to report, we haven’t quite seen it all before because the Innovation Generation: next steps for social mobility report outlines an actions-based strategy that ought to change the game when it comes to raising the bar.
Stepping away from an homogonous template of invest-and-forget policies, this place-based approach will diagnose and treat the economic ills impacting upon particular communities in a bespoke fashion, doing away with broadbrush remedies that make the fixers feel good whilst leaving what is broken broken still.
Connecting employers’ skills demands with the workers of tomorrow in central London cannot be successfully achieved by deploying the same methodologies that are required to do the same on inustrial Teesside, for example.
The future net zero jobs on The Humber, for example, require a skills-based curriculum that inspires as well as educates; walk the walk and talk the talk. The regional deep dives recommended by this report are hugely welcomed, helping decision makers to understand the nuanced needs of certain regions that goes on to inform delivery, because what is blindingly obvious to all concerned is that getting this right is the key to unlocking growth and prosperity for all.