Unequal Opportunities, BBC Two

There’s an equality gap in our education system. Poor kids come bottom of the class, while rich kids are destined for the elite universities. In the eloquent words of education minister Michael Gove: “Rich thick kids do better than poor clever kids.” And we’ve got loads of stats to back this up.

The stats were duly trotted out by John Humphrys, the genial BBC broadcaster with the savage bite. By the age of three, children from socially deprived backgrounds are already a year behind their better-off peers; by 14 it’s two years, and by 16 they’re half as likely to get five good GCSEs. When it comes to higher education, your chances of getting into a good university are 25 times higher if you went to an independent rather than a state school.

But rather more jaw-dropping is this finding: in a study conducted by the Sutton Trust we learn that the UK has the biggest attainment gap in the world between the independent and the state school sectors (outside this documentary, there are some quibbles about the accuracy of comparisons between countries – are we really worse than Uruguay? - but, still, we seem to be somewhere near the top of this league, whichever way you cook it).

But, odd quibble aside, is there anyone who’s really that surprised by these findings? Those “sharp-elbowed” middle classes who apparently play the system to get their kids into the best state schools aren’t; nor, surely, are those at the bottom of the heap who belong to the generation now leaving school in their thousands with only one acronym attached to their names - NEET (not in education, employment or training).

So are we angry? Behind that avuncular demeanour, Humphrys certainly is. He was a poor kid himself who was bright enough to get into a good grammar school. Though it didn’t open the doors to Oxbridge, it provided him with a good enough grounding to land him a job as a cub reporter on a local newspaper. Those days are long gone. Now, post-graduate courses in journalism seem to provide the only way in to the heady world of the media for those without connections, and then, if you’re lucky, a year as an unpaid intern - which only those with parental means can afford to do. No wonder society’s more socially divided now than it was 25 years ago. And throwing money at the problem hasn’t, it seems, done one iota of good.

So what, if anything, can be done? Humphrys is on a mission to find out. He goes to one school in an affluent part of south-west London, and finds that it’s become a “dumping ground” for deprived kids who travel miles each day to get there, since local middle-class parents won’t touch it. The school has only recently come out of special measures, and, according to Ofsted, is now “satisfactory”. But “satisfactory” just isn’t good enough for parents with sharp elbows.

However, there's good news: bad schools really can be turned around. And, Humphrys finds, it’s all about leadership. Mossbourne Academy is the flagship of the academy policy. Its previous incarnation was Hackney Downs, once written off as the worst secondary school in the country. Now it’s housed in a building designed by Richard Rogers, and led by the indomitable Sir Michael Wilshaw - part captain of industry, part army corporal. “Is the structure too regimented?” Humphrys enquires, after seeing one young teacher sharply instruct a pupil to straighten his tie.

And Sir Michael came out with something quite marvellous, something that I would never have heard back in my day, when comprehensive schools were run by what the Daily Mail would have called “loony lefties”.  “I wouldn’t say so,” Wilshaw reflects. “Structure liberates them. I gives them the freedom to do well, to express themselves, to be creative. They get enough chaos at home.”

So there’s hope. But only, as ever, for a lucky few.

• Watch Unequal Opportunities on BBC iPlayer