Equally, the converse is true; there are many people who, despite all the educational opportunities in the world, never realise their potential. But for most of us, the relationship between education and success is a reinforcing one, one which starts with our socio-economic prospects at birth. It is these prospects which set the first potential parameters of our lives.
They have a significant impact on our cognitive ability in early childhood and on the degree to which the foundations of learning, including our capacity to be numerate and literate, will be successfully laid. In turn, these early childhood foundations have a direct bearing on our educational performance in our early school years.