‘Youth-ing’ the educational gaps

Profiling the pioneering work of Kaia Allen-Bevan, founder and CEO of a multi award-winning company changing the landscape of modern-day education.

Since 16, Kaia Allen-Bevan has been an anti-racism advocate, striving for change daily – no matter how big, small, or visible these may be, she believes each and every change is absolutely necessary.

From 2019 to the present day, Kaia has bloomed since the grassroots of her activism, delivering a TEDx Talk in April 2022, co-organising Brighton’s own BLM demonstrations and managing the campaign from 2020 to 2021, founding @officialbrightonblm. Kaia is a recognised public speaker by the likes of Forbes and BusinessToday, and is considered to be ‘Making A Global Impact’.

As the Engagement, Anti-Racism and Allyship Lead at the award-winning company WatchThisSp_ce and a proud member of the GeniusIsCommon movement, she continues to make waves beyond the Brighton scene. ​She is also Plus X Innovation’s 2025 Ambassador, an artist and host, with a fruitful portfolio of partnerships, such as Grazia, Yubo and The Guardian.

Education is at a crisis point. Six hundred schools are “stuck receiving consecutive poor Ofsted judgments and more than 300,000 young people are going to these schools, which is directly impacting not just youth, but also educational staff and growing concerns from parents. With 285 million young people unable to access equitable education globally, The World Economic Forum has concluded that existing inequalities in accessing education have only heightened since COVID-19. Furthermore, according to UNISON, Government cuts to schooling mean a pupil who started school in England in 2010 has lost out on £5,384 of education funding by the time they graduate sixth form in 2023.

Kaia has always wanted to transform education for the better but was met with challenges and barriers within youth work and teaching. From conducting market research, Kaia concluded that her sample of 100 people, from ages 17 to 55, could be generalised to the UK population, where 75% of the UK would have had an overall negative experience within education, specifically around their relationship to the current curriculum and how anti-social behaviour (such as bullying, harassment and discrimination) was poorly addressed. Kaia sat with the pain of seeing the young people she taught be failed by the UK’s education system which propelled her into action.

Kaia, from February 2024 onwards, is the CEO and founder of the multi-award-winning community interest company YouthTheGap, a consultancy on a mission to reimagine the possibilities of education. Officially incorporated in November 2024, YouthTheGap won its first award (Plus X Innovation “Rising Star” award) and raised over £10,000 in funding in their first two weeks of operating.

YouthTheGap works directly with schools to identify educational gaps and co-create solutions to fix them, taking the weight off teachers’ shoulders. Through workshops, training, their own Remediation Audit, events and an alternative educational platform aimed to be released in early 2027, YouthTheGap is determined to end educational inequities, on a global scale. YouthTheGap works with schools within long-term partnerships as they recognise that tick-box exercises are not conducive to educational staff, parents/carers/supporters, students/pupils, and wider stakeholders.

YouthTheGap’s five-star framework is inspired to counter the traditional Ofsted grading system, and operates from its four-pillar values to ensure that each step progressed with schools is inclusive, sustainable and leads with social impact. Funded by the Blagrave Trust, they are delivering their first Remediation Audit with Downs Junior School. Progressing through their four phases (Discovery, Devising, Delivery and Discourse), the team are to analyse, benchmark and deliver a specialised action plan, to become an actively anti-racist school, working closely with their Deputy Head (Amy Trevatt) and new Headteacher (Katie Blood).

Funded by the Enjoolata Foundation, YouthTheGap has partnered with WildPurpose to launch their very own co-mentoring Programme “Symbiosis”, partnering purpose-driven people with a difference. Disrupting social hierarchies, each session is designed to forge coalitions and create safe spaces for each pairing to learn from each other. Since June 2024, 10 successful matches have undergone 3-months of active allyship, understanding through differences and modelling intergenerational connection.

YouthTheGap recognises that education is not just a UK issue. Since their founding date, they have hosted 20 events responding to humanitarian crises and have fundraised almost £1,000 for non-profits, charities and grassroots organisations.

This year, YouthTheGap has partnered with TEDx Brighton, one of Europe’s largest independently organised TEDx events, to host and curate a section dedicated to youth voices and social justice, welcoming Dyar Hussain, Busayo Twins and Annabelle Woghiren to the iconic Red Dot, with Kaia, on April 4th.

What’s next? Well, watch closely! Kaia, and YouthTheGapCIC, are not just passionate about creating a platform but insist that they are a movement. They are here to stay until education is truly meaningful, accessible and inclusive for all.

Website: www.youththegap.uk

Email: hello@youththegap.uk / youththegap@gmail.com

Phone number: 07982639559

Social Media: @youththegap / @kaia.ab