White working-class children have to be exceptional or exceptionally lucky to succeed, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson says
Working-class white children must have either “exceptional” talent or “luck” to achieve success in Britain today, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said.
Ms Phillipson criticized the “distant dream” of social mobility, arguing that it failed this demographic by only lifting a “lucky few” out of poverty, including herself.
His comments followed an independent investigation that concluded “once-in-a-generation reforms” were urgently needed to address persistent underachievement among white working-class students.
This group has been described as the worst-performing broad demographic group within England’s school system.
The research highlighted that the 1.25 million white British students eligible for free school meals (FSM) in England consistently experience some of the poorest educational outcomes across all stages.
Speaking at the opening of the inquiry in the House of Lords on Monday evening, Ms Phillipson said: “As this report makes so depressingly clear, the distant dream of social mobility has led to the complete failure of a whole new generation of white working-class children.
“The lucky few who escaped poverty were rationalizing the erasure of entire communities.
“It’s the same logic that has been used over the years to ignore nine failing state schools just because the 10th had good grammar.
“It’s the same logic that eliminates the fact that some groups are so underrepresented at the university because it’s a weird outreach program.
“This is an approach that tells working-class white kids that they have to be either extraordinary or extremely lucky to succeed.”
Ms Phillipson also lashed out at Kemi Badenoch following a row between the pair during Prime Minister’s Questions last week, with the Conservative Leader calling her a “vindictive class warrior”.
The Education Secretary was seen shaking his head after Ms Badenoch said she was “taxing private schools to get more teacher pay but the number of teachers is decreasing”.
He claimed he was “disappointed by the incompetence” of outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, adding: “Appointing a bad class warrior as Education Minister has proven to be a disaster.”
Speaking to an audience of teachers and education professionals on Monday, Ms Phillipson said: “My journey from Parliament to Cabinet has been hugely hopeful in some ways.
“This is proof that people from my background can be successful in this country, and sometimes they are.
“Yes, even second class warriors like me.”
But Ms Phillipson, who grew up in a council house in Washington, Tyne and Wear, said her own success should not be used to distract from the struggles facing most working-class children.
“I think it’s vital that we don’t use stories like mine to obscure the broader story of working-class communities,” she said.
“Because let me make something clear: I was lucky.”
He also said teachers should not succumb to “soft bigotry” that assumes working-class white kids should not pursue academic careers at university.
“We must support them with the route that suits them, with real and real choices,” he added.
Ms Phillipson also said the social contract promising success in return for hard work had been broken and it was no surprise young men were turning to “online hate”.
“No matter how hard you work, no matter who you are, you will succeed. This is the essence of our social contract,” he said.
“But this report reveals that promises made to many people in our country are not kept.
“And if we can’t show this young man the path to success, then we shouldn’t be surprised when he veers off that path, especially when he’s bombarded every day with the easy answers to online hate and the corrupting poison of intolerance.”
The Education Secretary said working-class white boys were reluctant because they did not see homeownership or employment in their future.
“Today, even a working-class white kid who grew up on the same street as me doesn’t see the point of going to school.
“Maybe his parents didn’t get the point either. It didn’t work for them. It didn’t work for his grandparents. So why would it work for him?”
“He doesn’t see the path to a good job, the respect that comes with it, the chance to have some money in his pocket, to buy his own house, to start a family.”
Among the investigation’s main findings were that the education system was not set up to serve white working-class children and their families, that these communities had different perceptions than schools of what success was, and that higher education was often seen as inaccessible or irrelevant to them.
The report also highlighted how vocational and technical pathways, particularly apprenticeships, were valued by white working-class families, who described access as limited, highly competitive and unequally distributed.
The researchers found that working-class white students were “disproportionately” suspended and excluded from school, less likely to attend regularly and more likely to have serious absences.
The research found that working-class white parents were more likely than other groups to say that their child’s anxiety about going to school was an acceptable reason for not going to school.
Focus group participants attributed mental health issues to the “increasing role” of phones, screens and social media in young people’s lives.
The inquiry recommended that 30 hours of free childcare be given to all disadvantaged families who are not currently eligible, while reading fluency be made a national priority for white working-class children.
It was also recommended to reduce the financial risks associated with further and higher education and provide free access to local public transport for all people under 21 years of age.
