February’s mentions of the Sutton Trust and EEF in Policy

Up to the Job – Demos Report

In his Demos report on apprenticeships, Jonathan Todd cited the Sutton Trust and Boston Consulting report on Apprenticeships.

“Boston Consulting, on behalf of the Sutton Trust, has analysed the current situation in England and drawn on experiences in Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia and other international systems to recommend there should be 150,000–300,000 extra three-year apprenticeship starts each year for young people in England.”

Demos quoted that figure in their subsequent media activity.

Read the full report here.

 February’s mentions of the Sutton Trust and EEF in Parliament

3 February 2014 – Lord Nash on the Sutton Trust/EEF Teaching and Learning toolkit

Speaking on the pupil premium Lord Horam (Conservative) asked “what advice is available to schools on how best to use the money they receive?”

Lord Nash, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools ,  response included directing schools to the “teaching and learning toolkit run by the Education Endowment Foundation, which provides an accessible summary of research on key education interventions that have an impact in this area.”

Read the full discussion here (Column 5).

6 February 2014 – Lord McNally cites the Sutton Trust – Question for Short Debate

A short debate in the House of Lords on Social Mobility, started by Lord McFall of Alcluith (Labour) asked what assessment had been made of the impact of inequality on social mobility. In reply, Lord McNally (Liberal Democrat) stated, “We have found mounting inequalities over the past three decades. What is more, we have found them being embedded in our society… Sir Peter Lampl of the Sutton Trust…said recently:

“Social mobility in Britain is much lower than in other advanced countries and is declining—those from less privileged backgrounds are more likely to continue facing disadvantage into adulthood, and the affluent continue to benefit disproportionately from educational opportunities.”

Read the full debate here (Column GC162).

 25 February 2014 –  Kevin Brennan cites Sutton Trust research

Speaking at the Westminster Hall Debate on Disadvantaged Children, shadow education minister Kevin Brennan (Labour) cites two Sutton Trust reports.

“Many hon. Members will be familiar with the Sutton Trust report, “The Reading Gap”, from July 2013. It showed that boys aged 15 from disadvantaged backgrounds are some two and a half years behind their counterparts from the most advantaged backgrounds. That shows the problem of the attainment gap. Similarly, a Sutton Trust report from September 2011 highlighted the point that the hon. Member for Bradford East (Mr Ward) just made, namely the importance of high quality teaching.

 The executive summary of that report said:

“The effects of high-quality teaching are especially significant for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds: over a school year, these pupils gain 1.5 years’ worth of learning with very effective teachers, compared with 0.5 years with poorly performing teachers. In other words, for poor pupils the difference between a good teacher and a bad teacher is a whole year’s learning.”

That shows the significance of raising teaching standards and ensuring that they stay high.”

Read the full discussion here (Column 53WH).

​25 February 2014 – Damian Hinds mentions the EEF’s role in narrowing the gap

Damian Hinds (Conservative, Chair of the APPG on Social Mobility) commends the Government’s “twin approach to education, in respect of raising overall attainment and narrowing the gap.”  He states that “there is much more to do in our quest for the combination of social justice and economic efficiency, which is social mobility or opportunity for all.

“There is a lot going for us in that quest. We have unprecedented amounts of data at our fingertips as well as international benchmarking and case studies. Schools have been set free to innovate, and we have the Early Intervention Foundation and the Education Endowment Foundation.”

Read the full discussion here (Column 48WH).

26 February 2014 – Underachievement in Education of white working class children

Dominic Raab MP (Conservative) suggests the Government should consider Sutton Trust Open Access scheme to democratise access to the country’s leading independent day schools.

“What we are really talking about is social mobility…the Sutton Trust’s open access scheme, which has talked about allowing pupils from more deprived backgrounds to use their pupil funding to carry into some of the top independent schools…Do you think that that would be something that we should think about and look at in terms of social mobility, and in particular in relation to white working class underachievement?”

Schools Minister David Laws MP says schools are getting information from the Education Endowment Foundation and the Sutton Trust and others about what interventions work.

When asked by Alex Cunningham MP (Labour) whether schools “need some additional resource” to reach out to the white working class community, David Lawsresponded:,

“They are getting all the additional resources that we have got, which is the pupil premium. They are then getting information and evidence from the Education Endowment Foundation, the Sutton Trust and others about what interventions work.”

Read the full discussion here.