At Brightside, we want to see every young person succeed whatever their background. But we exist to help young people facing barriers. Barriers like caring responsibilities, visual impairments, living in areas of high unemployment and few opportunities, or being the first in their family to go to university.
Statistically these young people are predicted to be less likely to access university or enter a ‘high value’ career.
Reports suggest that this year’s A Level results are the best in a generation and include an increase in 18-year-olds from POLAR4 Quintile 1 areas being accepted into university. Great stuff, and huge congratulations to those young people.
However, dig below the surface and you find persistent and worrying trends. The access gap (the difference between rich and poor young people accessing higher education) continues to widen overall. It’s now the widest it’s been for over a decade. Dig deeper still and the regional disparity causes more concern.
As The Sutton Trust have highlighted: “the parts of the country which have previously seen fewer pupils go to university are falling even further behind other areas. This gap has increased since last year and is now higher than a decade ago.”
The coverage of GCSE results was less positive, with grades falling for a third year running. The regional divide was apparent here too, with Northern Ireland seeing the steepest drop in grades and the persisting north-south divide in England getting a lot of coverage.
So, if you go to school in London or the South East you are more likely to get better grades and access higher education than if you are in the North East or East Midlands. How is that fair and what can be done?
This year’s A Level and GCSE students have had a lot to deal with, from a global pandemic resulting in disrupted and inconsistent learning through to the ongoing cost of living crisis. A crisis which is once again hitting those with the least the hardest and which these young people cannot control or influence. I ask again, how is this fair and what can be done?
How can we combat the geographical barrier facing anyone who doesn’t live in London? Brightside has the answer and has had for over 20 years: online mentoring. Young people can access high-quality information, advice and guidance about careers without leaving their house. Kids in Kidderminster can chat to working professionals in Woking, young people in Yeovil can talk to students in Sheffield.
And we’re not the only one to have come to this conclusion. Pearson brought together an expert panel of educators alongside testimony from young people to draw recommendations which would address the disparities that are playing out and concluded:
“A mentor scheme should be put into place – supported by central Government and driven by the National Careers Service and the Careers and Enterprise Company – connecting learners with mentors who can offer advice, grow their confidence, and widen their networks.”
Our recently launched Generation Worry campaign has highlighted the difficulty young people are having in making decisions about their next steps after school or college. In our survey, 51% said they were worried about their next steps, with 24% citing decision making as their biggest concern.
With more than 850,000 young people not in employment, education or training (NEET), because of mental and physical health issues and lack of local opportunities, the need for action is more and more urgent. These young people need immediate help. They need someone who’s been there and done it to help them take their next steps.
Our experience and our proven impact back up Pearson’s recommendation. Young people from those high unemployment, low opportunity areas who have received Brightside mentoring:
- Achieve 4.5 grades better in their GCSEs across all subjects
- Are twice as likely to enter higher education
- And twice as likely to complete their degrees
Matthew, a mentee on one of our programmes, said: “I can definitively say that my Brightside mentor altered the course of my life and that I wouldn’t be where I am today without his support.”
If reading this has made you want to be part of the solution to the widening disadvantage gap, there are plenty of ways you can get involved.
We’re looking for volunteer mentors, donations and new partnerships so we can keep having a positive impact on young people that so often get left behind.
