White working-class children ‘are failed by the education system’, says report praised by Bridget Phillipson
Top state schools should be encouraged to accept more disadvantaged students to improve their life chances, an independent report has found.
More ‘deliberate action’ is needed to place poor children in top-performing schools, the Survey of White Working Class Educational Outcomes published today said.
He said there needed to be ‘stronger expectations’ for principals to ‘promote inclusion’ and ‘clearer guidance’ to help them ‘prioritise disadvantaged pupils’.
The report, co-led by former education minister Baroness Morris of Yardley, said that “for the most part” the best schools admit students who are “much less disadvantaged than the communities around them”.
This echoes a similar recommendation in the Government’s white paper published in February, which suggested schools could be ‘encouraged’ to adopt more ‘inclusive admissions arrangements’.
Welcoming the report today, Education Minister Bridget Phillipson reiterated that she wanted to see ‘fair admissions policies and practices’ but said action by schools would not be ‘mandatory’.
‘White working-class children are among the lowest achievers academically in our school system,’ he told Times Radio.
‘This isn’t just about high-performing schools doing a bit more, although I welcome that.
Senior state schools should be encouraged to accept more disadvantaged students to improve their life chances, an independent report has found (pictured: Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, who welcomed the report)
‘What is needed to deliver a step change relates to the approach both in school and beyond the school gates.
‘This inequality starts very early. ‘Often these gaps open up when children arrive at school.’
Ms Phillipson’s white paper said access to high-performing local schools should not be dependent on ‘local house prices’.
Under existing rules introduced by the Conservative Party in 2014, poorer children are already allowed to be prioritized for school admissions.
Today’s wide-ranging report said only half of working-class white five-year-olds are at the expected standard of development, compared to three-quarters of middle-class children.
By the age of 16, only a third had managed to pass at least their English and maths GCSEs.
Working-class white students have the poorest educational outcomes of all major ethnic groups in England, and structural change is needed to tackle years of underachievement, the report found.
He called for free transport for those under 21, a crackdown on screen use and more white working-class teachers.
The inquiry’s panel also included Sir Kevan Collins, who advised the Government after the pandemic, and former education minister Baroness Morgan of Cotes.
It was commissioned by Star Academies, a multi-academy trust, and co-chaired by Morris and its chief executive, Sir Hamid Patel.
Speaking at the report’s launch event this evening, Ms Phillipson will say that lifting a ‘lucky few’ out of poverty is being used to rationalize the erasure of entire communities.
He will say: ‘The distant dream of social mobility has failed an entirely new generation.
‘The existence of opportunities for a minority can never justify the absence of opportunities for the majority. ‘What we need is social justice.’
The investigation used written evidence, focus groups, large-scale surveys of white working-class communities, roundtables with teachers and principals, and analysis of national data.
It found that many parents fail to make the connection between education and success in later life, but the problem cannot be explained by a lack of ambition alone.
