Social Mobility Myths Social Mobility Myths Peter Saunders Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society London First Published June 2010 © Civitas 2010 55 Tufton Street London SW1P 3QL Civitas is a registered charity (no. 1085494) and a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales (no. 04023541) email:
[email protected] All rights reserved ISBN 978‐1‐906837‐14‐3 Independence: Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society is a registered educational charity (No. 1085494) and a company limited by guarantee (No. 04023541). Civitas is financed from a variety of private sources to avoid over‐reliance on any single or small group of donors. All publications are independently refereed. All the Institute’s public‐ ations seek to further its objective of promoting the advancement of learning. The views expressed are those of the authors, not of the Institute. Typeset by Civitas Printed in Great Britain by Cromwell Press Group Trowbridge, Wiltshire “Aim high For though you may not reach the sky You will most certainly reach the mountaintops” Teacher’s inscription in my father’s autograph book on the day he left school at the age of 14 in the summer of 1939. After leaving school, my father started work as a factory operative. At 17 he joined the RAF, and after the war he enlisted at a teacher training college. He went on to complete a successful and rewarding career as a sports and science teacher, which included almost 10 years teaching in Zambia, Uganda and Namibia. This book is dedicated to my father, and to all those teachers, past and present, who encourage children to rise above their circumstances, to take advantage of the opportunities that are available to them, and to exploit their talent to the full.