1. Stephen Isherwood, CEO, ISE
Getting In, Getting On
Stephen Isherwood, CEO, ISE

2. 60% of Boris Johnson’s cabinet went to private school

3. “The stark truth is that an independent day school student is 55 times more likely to win an Oxbridge place and 22 times more likely to go to a top-ranked university than a state school student from a poor household”.
Sir Peter Lampl, Sutton Trust
2016
Source: Sutton Trust

4. Two types of Social Mobility
Historical context
Two types of Social Mobility
Structural
Economic forces restructure society, i.e. the post-war decades
Individual
Where one person moving up passes another on the way down

5. US Income Data

7. University participation rates by social group
“You are still, however, 2.3 times less likely to enter higher education if you are from the least advantaged group relative to the most advantaged group and 5.5 times less likely in the higher tariff institutions”
OfS, 2018
Source: UCAS

8. The business case
“Companies in the bottom quartile both for gender and for ethnicity and race are statistically less likely to achieve above-average financial returns” (McKinsey, 2015).
Decisions made and executed by diverse teams delivered 60% better results (Forbes, 2017)
Teams with one or more members who represented the customer are 158% more likely to understand their customer and respond accordingly (FT, 2014)
Demographic changes mean there aren’t enough white, middle-class males to meet resourcing needs

10. A more socially mobile future?
• What is the likely impact of tech on the world of work? • How will the apprentice vs graduate debate impact diversity strategies? • How much do attraction and selection activities need to change? • How do we deal with resource limitations? • How do organisations retain widening participation hires?

11. Employer best practice
Increase the range of universities you target. If you interrogate your previous hiring data you’ll probably be surprised by the range of institutions you have hired from.
Add social mobility questions into the diversity section of your application process. Students are used to answering these questions now.
Stop using A-level grades to reduce your applicant pool. More robust testing methods exist.
If A-level grades are a predictor of success in your organisation consider using a contextualised data system.
Remove school and university names from the information that recruiters, interviewers and assessors see. It’s proven to remove bias.
Track what happens to your diverse candidates as they progress through the selection process to make sure your approach isn’t unfairly rejecting candidates.
Making an offer isn’t enough. Give your new hires a buddy or a mentor. Keep in touch with candidates until their start date.
Keep track of how all your candidates’ careers progress. Who is or isn’t doing well, who is getting promoted, are your diverse candidates leaving?
Close the loop: use your diverse hires as ambassadors back on campus to share their tips for success and act as role models.
Make a long-term commitment to creating a diverse workforce. Change will take years to work though into your organisation’s culture.

12. OfS Access & Participation Plans
At a high level, the main strategic measures you will take to deliver your aims and objectives, including a statement about how each measure relates to your aims and objectives and is underpinned by evidence. This should include:
Curriculum, pedagogic and student support development to promote inclusivity and address attainment and progression gaps
Employability and skills development
Collaboration with other bodies across the student lifecycle. This includes other higher education providers, students, schools and colleges to raise prior attainment, employers and third sector bodies
Alignment with other work and funding sources such as the NCOP, outreach hubs, and local graduates where applicable
“Consider the whole student lifecycle comprising of access, success (non-continuation and attainment) and progression (employment/further study and progression into highly skilled employment)”

13. Questions What are the barriers to improving outcomes for WP students?
How can universities and employers work better together to address WP outcomes for students?

14. The rise of the meritocracy
IQ + effort = merit
The rise of the meritocracy

15. “A bright but poor child will rarely move up the ladder unless one of his peers higher up passes him on the way down. There is only so much room at the top”
The Myth of Meritocracy, James Bloodworth