Why then, is the achievement gap between social classes an issue? Education is the key to social mobility (ESRC, 2011), there is a direct link between educational attainment and success in the labour market. By using statistics to frame the severity of the achievement gap according to socio-economic status we can see in 2012 that only 38 percent of children from disadvantaged backgrounds achieved five GCSE's at grade A-C, compared to the national average of 65 percent (SMCPC, 2014). These statistics are mirrored at each level of education, from pre-school upwards. As we have mentioned, educational attainment is the key to success in the labour market (Parry and Francis, 2010).
From a political perspective, 1979 marked the introduction of Margaret Thatcher's neo-liberal government in Britain, closely followed in 1980 by the Reagan administration in the US. Since this time, neo-liberalism has become the dominant, global ideology for capitalist economies (Ross and Gibson, 2007). This is relevant in terms of education because neo-liberalism as a policy and practice is based around the principle of 'individual freedom through the free market'. .
Whilst considering modern British government's attempts to rectify education inequality, we must identify their specific political ideology. To further explain, "An ideology is a set of beliefs and values that rationalises a society's structure of power and privilege" (Marger, 2011). In this respect, an ideology is fundamental as to how government will explain, or indeed attempt to deal with a public or social issue such as educational inequality. Both Thatcher and Reagan stressed the need for a 'laissez faire' approach to government, a major component of neoliberalism which roughly translates from French to English as 'let them be'. What this implied was the need for a 'rolling back' of state intervention in the market and welfare economy.
