Who gets noticed gets opportunity
Updated: Oct 12
Growing Up in the 2020s found less favourable teacher assessments of ability and engagement for several groups of pupils, including those receiving SEN provision and those eligible for free school meals. That should make us curious about the evidence adults gather about learners every day. |
A learner is chosen to represent their school at an event. They do brilliantly. An adult notices, encourages them to take on a leadership role and recommends them for another opportunity. They make new friends, discover strengths they didn't know they had and begin to see themselves differently.
Another child, who might have been equally brilliant, never gets asked. Their attendance has been poor, they've had difficulties with behaviour and they're rarely the first person adults think of when opportunities come along.
Over time, those decisions accumulate. One learner develops a growing collection of experiences that tell them they're capable, while the other has fewer opportunities to discover what they might be good at.
We can offer an outstanding range of opportunities and still find that the children who would benefit most are the least likely to access them. If we're repeatedly choosing those who already have confidence, support and a good reputation, we risk widening the inequalities we're working so hard to address.
This is something worth considering alongside the findings from Growing Up in the 2020s.
The report describes inequalities in mental health, attendance, engagement and wider experiences occurring together, creating patterns of cumulative advantage and disadvantage. Participation in sport, arts and enrichment was lower among young people experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage and those receiving SEN provision. Awareness of some post-16 routes was also lower among parents of children receiving SEN provision or eligible for free school meals.
These patterns are already visible by Year 8. The experiences children access can influence their confidence, relationships, developing identities and understanding of what might be possible for them.
Making opportunity accessible
At Navigate, Opportunity sits alongside Self-Belief and Hope because children's experiences influence what they believe about themselves and the futures they can imagine. We want every learner to have credible evidence of their own capability, opportunities to contribute and adults who continue to believe in what they might achieve.
But making those experiences accessible requires us to look carefully at who is actually participating.
Think about the child who would love to join a sports club but cannot afford the kit. The learner whose behaviour means they repeatedly miss trips or opportunities to represent their school. Or the young person with considerable practical ability who has never been encouraged towards a subject or career where those strengths could develop.
For some children, getting involved is straightforward. They have the confidence to volunteer, families who understand what's available and adults encouraging them to try.
Others may need a personal invitation, help with arrangements, some additional preparation or support to manage their first experience successfully.
We should be particularly thoughtful about learners whose difficulties are already shaping adult expectations. Attendance, behaviour and attainment can tell us a great deal about the support a child needs. We need to be careful about how much we allow those difficulties to determine what we imagine for them.
Maintaining boundaries and accountability remains important. Sometimes an opportunity will require additional planning, adjustments or teaching the skills a learner needs to participate successfully. Making that possible is part of our responsibility.
Who is actually getting through the door?
Schools already hold much of the information needed to examine this.
Look at participation in clubs, trips, leadership, student voice, work experience and enrichment. Compare it with what you know about disadvantage, additional needs, attendance and behaviour. Who is repeatedly missing out, and what is preventing them from getting involved?
Then ask children and families. Cost, transport, confidence, relationships and previous experiences can all influence participation. A personal invitation, practical adjustment or support during the first few sessions may be enough to open an opportunity that previously felt out of reach.
It's also worth examining the opportunities adults create through everyday interactions. Who gets encouraged to try something challenging? Whose strengths are recognised? Who is trusted with responsibility, recommended for something new or given another chance after things have gone wrong?
These small experiences contribute to children's developing identities. Being recognised as capable, trusted to contribute and supported to succeed can influence what they feel confident enough to attempt next.
And if awareness of post-16 opportunities is already unequal, we need to introduce children and families to future pathways early enough for those possibilities to become familiar. Information, exposure, encouragement and practical experiences all help children understand what's available to them.
We should measure whether our efforts are changing access. Are children who previously missed out beginning to participate? Are they developing new interests, taking responsibility, becoming more independent and experiencing success?
There are significant inequalities shaping childhood, many of which schools have limited power to change. But we have considerable influence over the experiences children are offered, the strengths we recognise and the opportunities we help them access.
The next time we're choosing children for something, perhaps we should pay particular attention to the names that don't immediately come to mind.
There may be a child who would be brilliant at it, who has simply never had the opportunity to show us. No one left behind has to include the future as well as the present.
Pass it on: Explore our free Opportunity, Self-Belief and Hope resources on We Navigate Together, alongside learner activities and family resources that help schools widen participation, recognise strengths and make future opportunities more accessible.
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