Have you ever wondered why some children excel academically while others struggle? In this episode, we explore the critical importance of early years education, from birth to junior school, which many experts consider the most critical time for young people's development and learning.
We take a close look at the lives of one family in Whitehawk, a council estate on the outskirts of Brighton, and how their experiences in the formative years could potentially have a profound impact on every aspect of their lives.
To provide a broader understanding of the challenges facing early years education, we are joined by a diverse range of guests.
Rapper, broadcaster, campaigner and Orwell Prize winning author Darren McGarvey talks to me about universal education being created to provide a literate workforce, and that working classes are not given a liberal education, only trained for specific tasks, creating a two-tier education system. He suggests the educational attainment gap reflects this.
Thomas McMorrin, headteacher at City Academy Whitehawk shares his insight about the importance of a language-rich home environment for young children's language development and how schools can support families to bridge the gap.
Professor Diane Reay, Cambridge academic researcher and higher education teacher who grew up on a large council estate and comes from a working-class background discusses the highly segregated education system from nursery onwards, where affluent families access quality education while working-class families have limited options.
Dr Sarah Leaney from the University of Brighton researches lives of people on council estates and the formation of classed identities. She argues that working-class children's experiences should not be seen as lacking, despite facing a lack of resources and that schools often measure ability based on access to educational resources, and teachers are aware of inequalities but lack the resources to address them.
Celia Greenwood is one of the co-founders of the WAC Arts Organisation, which she set up in London while teaching in the 1970s. She emphasises the importance of recognizing and valuing diverse experiences that children bring to school instead of only focusing on what they lack.
Dr Chris Bagley, educational psychologist and former teacher shares his ideas about dividing people into top, middle, and bottom sets in schools and that this idea goes back thousands of years and is deeply ingrained in our society, leading to the internalisation of these ideas by teachers and students. He calls this 'Shadow Culture'.
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union talks about the impact child poverty has on education outcomes with teachers struggle to address these gaps due to lack of resources and funding.
To find out more about Class Divide, head to www.classdivide.co.uk
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