*Greening: 'teachers central to social mobility efforts'

In a speech at the Teach First annual conference, Greening said that teaching is one of the biggest levers the country has to equalise opportunity.

There are some communities for which poor social mobility has become entrenched. The young people in these areas are often emerging from education with fewer career opportunities than they started with.

Greening said: "It's great news that there are 1.8 million more children in schools rated ‘good' or ‘outstanding' than there were in 2010 and the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers is narrowing.

"But we know there is more to do - particularly in parts of the country that are at risk of falling behind."

The education secretary has said that they plan to start in early years, to ensure that young people have outstanding choices upon leaving secondary school, on both academic and applied education routes.

She reported that two new projects focused on improving social mobility in schools will receive a share of the £75m Teaching and Leadership Innovation Fund.