A damning national report on white working-class children’s schooling must be a “turning point” for the government, warns a regional education charity.
The publication of an Independent Inquiry into the educational outcomes of white working-class pupils across England has sparked calls for an overhaul of the education system, including from charity Schools North East, which represents over 1,000 schools across the region.
Findings from the Inquiry
Headline figures from the Inquiry’s report found that 48% of white working-class children reach a “good level of development” by age five, compared with 75% of white British children who don’t get free school meals.
Only 36% of white working-class pupils achieve a Grade 4 or above in English and Maths GCSE, compared with 72% of all pupils not on free school meals, the report also found. In addition, the number of school sessions missed by white working-class pupils is almost double that of all other pupils, at 13% as compared to 7% for all other pupils.
The Inquiry’s research includes polling over 2,000 school-aged young people, over 2,000 parents, and 500 school staff, as well as 111 pieces of written evidence. Focus groups and roundtables across England were also conducted. Schools North East also took part in the research.
Response from Schools North East
Schools North East stated: “The report must mark a turning point in how the government understands educational disadvantage, regional inequality, and the structural barriers facing children and young people in communities across the North East.”
Director of Schools North East, Chris Zarraga, said: “This report confirms what North East school leaders have been saying for years: educational outcomes are shaped by far more than what happens inside the classroom.
“The lazy explanation is that communities lack aspiration, or that schools simply need to work harder. That is wrong. Parents want their children to succeed, and schools in our region are working relentlessly to support them. The real issue is that too many children grow up on the wrong side of a structural divide in opportunity.
Schools North East has called on the government to introduce a series of measures to help tackle educational inequality, including targeted investment in early years, better local careers education, further education pathways and apprenticeships, and improved local transport.
“The report is right to reject the idea that underachievement is inevitable. But if the government is serious about closing the gap, it must stop treating this as a narrow school standards issue. We need a long-term, place-based plan that connects education, health, transport, skills, family support, youth provision and economic development. “That is especially urgent in the North East, where long-term deprivation, hidden poverty, rural and coastal isolation, and pressure on public services are particularly acute.”
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