Gap widening between Britain's best and worst areas for educational success, warns report

Stark differences at regional level and within major cities throughout Britain
 
Where you live will determine your chances of educational success and the gap between people living in underachieving areas and those in traditionally strong educational areas is widening, despite £1.9bn spent on trying to widen university participation since 2005. A damning new report released today by UCU reveals the full extent of the postcode lottery when it comes to educational achievement in Britain today.
 
The 'Location, location, location – the widening education gap in Britain and how where you live determines your chances' report from UCU analyses educational achievement by Westminster parliamentary constituency in England, Scotland and Wales and ranks each according to the percentage of people with at least some qualifications and the percentage of people with a degree or above. It also provides analysis of 21 of Britain's biggest cities by constituency.
 
The national average percentage of people of working age with no qualifications in a constituency is 12.4%. The national average percentage of people of working age who have a degree-level qualification or above in a constituency is 29%.
 
The report shows that constituencies with traditionally high academic achievement have pulled further away from those at the other end of the scale. As more people go to university, well-performing constituencies have, perhaps unsurprisingly, continued to enjoy success. However, worryingly, the constituencies at the bottom of the pile have seen academic achievement decline.
 
The union said today that it believes education holds the key to improving social mobility, tackling poverty and extending opportunity for all. However it warned that the report shows the current divide between the haves and have nots is growing, with where you live largely determining your access to education.
 
In the 20 constituencies with the lowest level of participation in higher education in 2008, the proportion, on average, of the working age population with a degree-level qualification or above fell from 12.6% in 2005 to 12.1% in 2008. However, in the 20 constituencies with the highest level of participation in higher education in 2008, the proportion of the working age population, on average, with a degree-level qualification and above increased from 48.8% in 2005 to 57.2% in 2008.
 
The analysis of the different cities reveals stark contrasts. For example, two out of three people (60%) living in Nick Clegg's Sheffield Hallam constituency have a degree and only 3% have no qualifications at all. However, just down the road in David Blunkett's Sheffield Brightside constituency almost a quarter of people (23%) have no qualifications and just 15% have a degree.
 
The 21 cities analysed in the report are Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Plymouth, Sheffield, Southampton, Stoke and Wolverhampton.
 
The report shows enormous regional variations in educational achievement.

• Of the 20 constituencies with the highest percentage of people with no qualifications, the West Midlands accounts for eight of them and occupies the four bottom spots. Labour MP Roger Godsiff's Birmingham, Sparbrook and Small Heath constituency has the highest percentage of people with no qualifications (37%) with the Business, Skills and Innovation Minister, Pat McFadden's Wolverhampton South East constituency next (36%).
• The other two West Midlands constituencies to make up the bottom four are Labour MP Ken Purchase's Wolverhampton North East (32%) and Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Liam Byrne's Birmingham Hodge Hill (30%). Hodge Hill also has the lowest percentage of people educated to at least degree level - just one in 10. Furthermore, of the 20 constituencies with the lowest percentage of people with degrees, one third can be found in the West Midlands.
• Although a lot of the constituencies with the lowest levels of educational achievement are traditional 'Labour' seats in the larger towns and cities, three constituencies in the East of England feature in the bottom 10 constituencies with the lowest percentage of people who have a degree. Two of the constituencies, Harwich and South West Norfolk, are held by the Conservatives - Douglas Carswell and Christopher Fraser respectively. The other is Labour MP Anthony Wright's Great Yarmouth constituency, indicating that the issue of providing fair access to education is cross party.
• London attracts the highest number of graduates, with 17 of the 25 constituencies that boast the most graduates found in the capital. However underneath that veneer London has many areas where a substantial percentage of the working age population have no qualifications at all – making access to education in the capital a true tale of two cities.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'The current government has rightly prioritised investment in education but this report shows that the problem is even more deep-seated than previously thought and is a challenge for all the parties.

'Education holds the key to improving social mobility, tackling poverty and extending opportunity for all. Those with the greatest access to qualifications tend to be healthier, wealthier and more active citizens. Yet, as this report shows, the current divide between the haves and have nots is growing with where you live largely determining your chance to educational success.

'Educational underachievement already costs our country £18bn a year and I hope this report acts as a wakeup call to politicians of all parties to recognise the power of education to change people's lives. All politicians need to work together to build a new consensus that prioritises fair opportunities for everyone, irrespective of where they come from.'

Location, location, location – the widening education gap in Britain and how where you live determines your chances can be found at www.ucu.org.uk/locationlocationlocation and has detailed tables of:

• the percentage of people educated to at least degree level by constituency
• the percentage of people without qualifications by constituency
• the 20 constituencies with the highest percentage of people educated to degree level (with changes since 2005)
• the 20 constituencies with the lowest percentage of people educated to degree level (with changes since 2005)
• Britain's 21 largest cities broken down and analysed by constituency.