A good education system can tackle inequality and break the cycle of disadvantage, boost the economy and create the foundations for a happy and healthy life. Arguably, it is the topic that most neatly captures the guiding principle of the UK 2040 Options project: to improve outcomes for children who are born today and will be becoming adults in the 2040s.

But our system is struggling. Thousands of children start school every year without basic skills and there are millions of people who still lack basic literacy and numeracy as adults. The attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers – which was closing before the pandemic – is the highest it has been in a decade, and employers are not able to access the skilled workforce they need. 

Against this backdrop, global megatrends – like technological innovation, climate change, emerging global wealth, demographics and urbanisation – will also present new challenges and opportunities for the system. How will schools adapt to big changes in pupil numbers across the country? Can people gain the right skills to prepare for a green economy? How can universities take advantage of surging global demand for higher education without failing domestic students?

For this project, the Education Policy Institute has pulled together eleven fundamental facts that represent the major challenges facing the education system in England, from early years to adulthood.