Tag: Sutton Trust

The press release issued by the Sutton Trust on 3 November 2022.

Our Founder and Chairman, Sir Peter Lampl, touches on his experience as he reflects on our latest research on accents and social mobility.

For 25 years, the Sutton Trust has engaged in understanding the barriers to social mobility, from early years through to the workplace. But beyond the grades you achieve and the educational institutions you attend, there are barriers to mobility that aren’t discussed – accents.

How people speak is an extremely important part of how they are perceived. Accent is key to how someone is viewed. Our ears are finely tuned to the wide variety of accents heard across Britain. This leads us to make all sorts of value judgments about where someone is from, their education and their class. It is inevitable that some of these judgments, often made unconsciously, are likely to be wrong. Just because someone has a working-class accent from, say, Leeds or Liverpool, doesn’t mean they’re less capable.

Yet as today’s research shows, there is a hierarchy of accent prestige entrenched in British society, with ‘BBC English’ being the dominant accent of those in positions of authority. This is despite the fact that less than 10% of the population have this accent. Many young people who don’t feel like they have the ‘right’ accent are worried about the impact on their careers, and many have been mocked, criticised or singled out during their education, work and social lives.

I faced this myself when I was 11 years old. When I moved from Wakefield to Surrey, my broad Yorkshire accent stood out at my new school and resulted in me being mercilessly picked upon and ridiculed, and I learned to develop a Surrey accent in order to fit in. This is a common experience for those who are geographically or socially mobile. But this need not be the case.

Talent in Britain is spread evenly, but opportunities are not. That means there are talented young people with every kind of accent, but for many, they need to work harder to prove their worth, just because of how they speak.

This country has learned to be more diverse in many respects, but there remain taboos about accents. We must embrace the diversity of accents to enable those from all backgrounds and parts of the country to have the chance to succeed.

The press release issued by the Sutton Trust on 26 October 2022.

Rishi Sunak attended an independent school as did most of his cabinet. They are a staggering nearly nine times more likely to have gone to an independent school than the general population, according to analysis by the Sutton Trust published today. 61% were educated at fee-paying schools, while 23% went to a comprehensive and 13% attended a grammar school.

This proportion of alumni of independent schools is lower than Liz Truss’s cabinet (61% versus 68%), but similar to Boris Johnson’s first cabinet (64%). It is more than twice that of Theresa May’s 2016 cabinet (30%), and more than Cameron’s 2015 cabinet (50%).

The proportion of cabinet ministers educated at comprehensive schools is similar to Liz Truss’s cabinet at 23% vs Truss’s 19%, but lower than Boris Johnson’s first cabinet (27%). A number of those heading up key departments – including the Chancellor, the Foreign Secretary, the Home Secretary – are educated at independent schools.

The proportion of independently educated ministers attending cabinet (at 61%) is less than earlier cabinets under Conservative Prime Ministers, John Major (71% in 1992) and Margaret Thatcher (91% in 1979). Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both had 32% of those attending cabinet privately educated, while 25% of Clement Attlee’s first cabinet had been privately educated.

Of the 31 ministers attending Sunak’s new cabinet (at 0830, Wednesday 26 October 2022), nearly half (45%) went to Oxford or Cambridge. This compares with 27% of all Conservative MPs, 18% of Labour MPs and 21% of all MPs. 32% of the new cabinet went from fee-paying schools to Oxbridge.

Sunak continues the academic dynasty at Number 10 that stretches back to the start of World War 2: except for Gordon Brown, every Prime Minister since WW2 who attended university was educated at Oxford.

Parliamentary Privilege 2019 – a major piece of research surveying the education backgrounds of the House of Commons – showed that 29% of current MPs in the House of Commons come from a private school background. Two-fifths (41%) of Conservative MPs attended an independent school, compared to 14% of Labour MPs.

Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust and Chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:

“Rishi Sunak faces unprecedented challenges as he enters Number 10.

“In his new cabinet, 61% went to private schools – nearly nine times the number in the general population and 45% went to Oxbridge, more than double the average for all MPs. While his cabinet is marginally more representative than Truss’s, Tuesday’s appointments highlight how unevenly spread opportunities to enter the most prestigious positions continue to be.  Making the most of Britain’s talent regardless of background must be a priority.”