A voice to be heard in the fight for social mobility Client Conversations

Sonia Blandford knows a thing or two about social mobility. From a childhood in west London marred by deprivation, to Professor of Social Mobility at Plymouth Marjon University, she has literally and figuratively travelled a long way. But Blandford is also the first to admit that her remarkable journey was made possible in spite of the system in which she lived and worked from an early age, rather than thanks to it.

That discrimination and prejudice only made her more determined to succeed. But for many others it has a far more corrosive impact—crushing dreams and hopes for a better life. It’s a challenge that successive governments and the broader business community have largely failed to tackle. And it’s particularly pronounced in tech – where just 9% of the workforce comes from a lower socio-economic background, versus 39% of the UK population at large, according to Tech Talent Charter’s Diversity in Tech report.

Yet it is a problem that desperately needs fixing. It’s estimated that improving social mobility merely to the average of Western European countries could add £39bn in GDP to the UK economy. How can we get there? By listening to experts who have lived such experiences themselves.

“We need to have people like me to have a voice, and to hear that message,” says Blandford.

From Feltham to freedom

Blandford’s childhood began in a two-room flat above a sweet shop in the west London suburb of Feltham. The Allied Estate in which she lived was notorious for crime, poor housing conditions, failing schools and limited access to healthcare. Her mother was illiterate; her father having only learned how to read and write as an adult. These are experiences mirrored all over the country, both then and now, says Blandford. She started working from the age of nine, rolling balls of wool. By 15 she was holding down three jobs and struggling to find the time for academic studies, having failed her 11+.

But two aspects of that early life had a profound impact on Blandford. The first? Her local library, and the Jane Austen novels within that showed her “another life” was possible.

“I was in awe of books. Today I’m addicted to biographies and obituaries because I’m fascinated in other lives and what I can learn from them,” she explains.

Confidence also came from teachers at school who nurtured Blandford’s musical talent. And after 21 attempts to get the right combination of O-levels, she finally made it to Bretton Hall College in Yorkshire, to begin what would be a long and successful career in teaching. But it was also here that she first experienced the kind of blind prejudice that suffocates so many dreams of social mobility—over-hearing parents tell their children not to socialise with her because of her accent and clothing.

Academia was Blandford’s route to social mobility. But it is not going to be the right choice for everyone, and her own six higher education degrees may have been a form of “over-compensation”, she argues.

“You meet a different group of people [at university] who enable you to communicate in those settings and circles. But it’s not what I’d advocate,” Blandford says. “You should have conversations with people regardless of their background. And listen to them.”

Making fewer judgments

Part of the problem, she argues, is that most governments have based their social mobility policies on the wrong assumptions. They foreground academic excellence as a route into the workplace, which in turn improves mobility. But such a system will not help those unable to achieve the right grades—“if some are succeeding, then others are failing”, Blandford argues.

“We must be able to question how we work as a society and culturally together, and have participation rather than segregating society and tell people to move from one part to the other. Because that implies a meritocracy, and that doesn’t exist,” she continues.

Meritocracy is difficult to achieve in a world where employers tend to recruit candidates in their own image. And where society places too much store on the number of qualifications an individual can attain.

“We recruit in our own image in order to feel comfortable—from our own socio-economic background and race. We need companies to stop making those judgements. We need to have education stop making those judgements,” Blandford argues. “We need to encourage participation – whether through sports, music or the arts, so people meet people of varying backgrounds. And we need to ensure what we’re aiming for is not for everyone to be like us. Our judgements have to change.”

Time for change

There’s clearly much to be done, especially after the pandemic wiped out what modest gains had been made in closing the attainment gap. Nearly a third (30%) of children are not reading at the right level, while over 40% are persistent non-attenders at school, says Blandford.

Business can play a critical role here: first because employees who are carers and parents have a responsibility to engage with and get their kids reading more at home. And second, by engaging as potential employers with local communities, with a message that all are welcome—regardless of background and how many GCSEs their children attain. That’s particularly important given that parents often shun such opportunities, says Blandford, citing her own parents’ fear of authority.

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