In his foreword to the Government’s new ‘levelling up’ plans, the Prime Minister declared that “From day one, the defining mission of this government has been to level up this country”  - which raises the question of why it has taken over two years to find out what ‘levelling up’ actually means. But at long last, the government has revealed all – or so they claimed. 

The Prime Minister accepted that we live in – and I quote – “a country in which the place of your birth is one of the clearest determining factors in how you’ll get on, what opportunities will be open to you, even the number of years for which you can expect to live.” 

This is clearly unacceptable – so what plans does the government now have to ‘level up’ the education system to help address these longstanding issues? Are their plans likely to prove sufficient when tackling such deep-rooted problems, and if not, what should ministers be doing instead? 

To help us understand how, when and where the government is likely to succeed or fail in their quest to ‘level up’ education in England, our two guests are experts in the economics of education and what it means for learners of all ages. 

Luke Sibieta runs his own education economics consultancy and is also a Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. 

And Dr Claire Crawford is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities at the Institute of Education. 

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