Who cares if the children of the North get a fair shot at life?

EDUCATION is at the heart of our region’s aspirations for the future. Economic prosperity as well as the personal fulfilment of generations of young people who deserve rewarding careers and decent livelihoods depend upon it.
By YP Comment
Published 28th Mar 2022, 06:01 BST
Updated 28th Mar 2022, 11:23 BST
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that Yorkshire’s schoolchildren are falling worryingly behind, with only 65 per cent leaving primary schools with the expected ability to read and write.The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that Yorkshire’s schoolchildren are falling worryingly behind, with only 65 per cent leaving primary schools with the expected ability to read and write.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that Yorkshire’s schoolchildren are falling worryingly behind, with only 65 per cent leaving primary schools with the expected ability to read and write.

EDUCATION is at the heart of our region’s aspirations for the future. Economic prosperity as well as the personal fulfilment of generations of young people who deserve rewarding careers and decent livelihoods depend upon it.

Yet too many are being denied those prospects even before they are out of their teens, held back by under-investment in schools and poor backgrounds which undermine their chances of succeeding. In turn, this inevitably hampers the regional economy, which increasingly needs a well-educated and highly qualified workforce.

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Against that backdrop, the Government’s pledge to offer targeted support to all pupils at risk of falling behind is welcome, especially in the key subjects of maths and English.

Yorkshire's families must be helped if their children are to do well at school. The Government is right to put more money into helping pupils catch up, but there is a risk of its effect being undermined by poverty at home.Yorkshire's families must be helped if their children are to do well at school. The Government is right to put more money into helping pupils catch up, but there is a risk of its effect being undermined by poverty at home.
Yorkshire's families must be helped if their children are to do well at school. The Government is right to put more money into helping pupils catch up, but there is a risk of its effect being undermined by poverty at home.

For the north in particular, there is a great deal of lost ground to be made up. Only last month, the Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that Yorkshire’s schoolchildren are falling worryingly behind, with only 65 per cent leaving primary schools with the expected ability to read and write.

Welcome though it is, questions must be asked whether the Government’s new strategy will do enough to give children the help they need.

Education unions quite rightly have concerns over levels of funding and, crucially, about the wider societal factors involved in under-achievement at school.

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These concerns go to the heart of the matter. Yorkshire has many pockets of severe deprivation, and the difficulties suffered by children living there can only be aggravated by the cost of living crisis that is already making life hard for poor families and is likely to get worse as the year progresses.

These families must be helped if their children are to do well at school. The Government is right to put more money into helping pupils catch up, but there is a risk of its effect being undermined by poverty at home.

Related topics:NorthGovernmentYorkshire

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