This event took place on 16 August 2022 – playback available.

Education is one of the most important predictors of people’s life chances, shaping outcomes like work and pay, health, and wealth. Building an education system that offers all children and young people the chance to reach their potential is essential to tackling wider inequalities in society.

At this online event we discussed a number of questions. How does education shape people’s outcomes later in life? How well has the UK’s education system been doing at developing people’s skills and at reducing inequalities? How has that changed over time, and how does it compare to other countries? What aspects of the education system make the most difference to inequality? And what can policymakers do if they want to build a more equal education system?

This event was chaired by Paul Johnson, IFS Director, and will featured talks from:

• Christine Farquharson, IFS
• Simon Field, Skills Policy
• Diane Reay, LSE and the University of Cambridge