Since the 1960s, Britain's politicians have been promising equal educational opportunities for all but consistently failing to deliver. Now, with the rise of academies and free schools, new forms of inequality and discord afflict the nation's classrooms. The Coalition Government is further fragmenting and privatising the nation's school system, making a mockery of their claims to promote social mobility.

In this coruscating analysis of the games politicians play with our children's futures, Melissa Benn puts forward a genuinely comprehensive vision and points the way to restoring the...