Independent readers have been sharing strong views on what is holding back white working-class pupils, with many drawing on their own experiences of education, parenting and teaching in the classroom.
The conversation follows a major independent report, which concluded that the education system is “not set up to serve” white working-class children and families, and called for once-in-a-generation reforms to tackle the attainment gap.
Debate was further fuelled by Dani Payne’s argument that communities should not be surprised to feel ambivalent about an education system that defines success by “how far a child can travel away from them”, with greater emphasis needed on local opportunity, further education and vocational routes.
Many readers argued the biggest influence isn’t schools but parents, pointing to family aspirations, attitudes towards education and support in the early years.
Others felt the education system is too focused on academic achievement, calling for greater investment in apprenticeships and further education.
Some also argued schools are built around middle-class ideas of success that don’t reflect every community, while others said poverty and a lack of trust in institutions remain key barriers.
Here’s what you had to say:
School reflects middle-class values
There is a big mismatch between working-class values and middle-class values. Schools run on middle-class values – based on individual achievement, moderate self-expression, and conceptual and analytical thinking. Experts have shown that middle-class kids have a significant advantage because school feels like an extension of home. For working class kids, they have to learn the new ways of thinking and behaving before they can get to grips with actual ‘learning’.
The trouble is not just a lack of specific provision in further education, it’s also that the elite think that those working-class people who don’t get a good education and “escape” are completely to blame for their own failure, neglecting the fact that people quite naturally don’t want to change their core beliefs, language or where they live.
RichT
Valuing trades as well as academia
I teach at university, but it has always amazed me that there is no comparable route for people wanting to become qualified in trades. It is an enduring class prejudice that regards “academic” achievements as more significant and refined than skill or craft accomplishment, and those who achieve them as more intelligent.
Elizabethz
The children of migrants are not necessarily disadvantaged
The children of migrants are not necessarily disadvantaged. They often have an extended family (including uncles and aunts) helping financially. This is not usually the case with working-class families.
Furthermore, the middle-class teachers at university go out of their way to help immigrant students, and there are often scholarships. Again, this is often not the case for working-class students.
User101
Modern British people are spoiled
Modern British people are spoiled and never had to emigrate just to survive. They get free schooling, healthcare and benefits. In other countries they get nothing; only sheer effort and sacrifice will allow them to survive. Obviously they don’t want their kids to go through the same pain.
Cat
The decline of adult education
There’s another factor that rarely features in these discussions – namely, the almost total absence of adult education provision, both vocational and non-vocational, in so many communities. In the past, organisations like the WEA and adult residential colleges like Fircroft and Coleg Harlech offered working-class people education in a variety of subjects.
Sometimes these were the route to better jobs, but often they simply satisfied a desire for knowledge about different aspects of the world – surely important for the citizens of any society that claims to be a democracy.
Such things have partially been overtaken by provision through organisations such as the Open University and by the increased numbers of students on full-time university courses, but working-class people have often not been the beneficiaries of this. Maybe we need a national conversation on what education should be for, and also on what form it should take.
jad
My father always emphasised education
It’s not the schools or the kids; it’s the useless parents.
Aspiration within the family matters more than anything. I grew up in a family of five kids on a council estate, and there was one thing my father, a factory worker, always emphasised: education. It worked.
Frankie
Sure Start and austerity
The right have already been on about this, and will see this report as a vindication of their criticism of woke anti-white bias. But in my area (a predominantly white seaside town containing several wards with some of the highest levels of deprivation), the Blair government set up Sure Start centres, which are generally accepted to have had significant benefits for the children who had access to them. And the scheme was massively curtailed by the Tory austerity of the 2010s. So remember that when Kemi and Nige kick off.
AdamDelver
It’s all about family support
After a lifetime involved in education, starting from a council estate in Billingham, I have seen how working-class white families with a positive attitude towards education have encouraged their children to succeed. Their future generations have then become ‘middle-class’. The families left behind don’t do as well.
The schools they attend have problems with discipline, as they have far too many problem families compared to others.
It’s not so much to do with race or socio-economic group, but family and peer group support. The better the family and peer group support in a school, the easier it is for the teachers in that school to make it successful.
The answer is resources at an early age, put into those primary schools to work with families.
Pete
Children need support, not just facts
Children are children. They should be allowed to be children. At a young age, the system should support them to find out what they are interested in, and teach them how to learn and socialise, not just facts and figures. As they grow, they require parents who will support them in their interests and gently encourage them to learn more.
Our modern society has games consoles, mobile phones and social media, 24-hour TV and the internet for children to navigate. Children will always be more successful if their parents see the value in learning and pass that on to their children. Poverty can affect children, but so can parental attitude. Do parents still read to their children and do puzzles, quizzes and play games? Or do they get thrown an iPad and left to their own devices?
I used to work with children who were at risk of being removed from the school system. Many were good kids who had attention problems or poor sleep from late nights on games consoles. Some were bullied, and some had parents who didn’t care about the education system. With attention and a bit of relationship building, these kids were great and the problems usually came out.
Silvafox
Disadvantaged pupils can coast
As someone who works in a school, I can also confirm that the white working-class children who are not on benefits (i.e. not disadvantaged pupil premium children who unlock additional government funding to improve educational outcomes) do get ignored.
The school pushes the high achievers and also offers intervention for pupil premium children regardless of their grades. But unless you are a financial asset to the school, they will just let pupils coast and not really care if they get a 2 or a 3.
VShelly
Parents’ aspirations make the difference
Aspiration and encouragement from parents are the key.
Immigrant families usually have great aspirations for their children. They want their kids to do well in that new country. This is what built America, after all.
But very often, white working-class parents lack ambition for their children. Worse, they sometimes work against the school system.
As a teacher, I was told many times, ‘I don’t want my kid to be better than me. If it was good enough for me, it is good enough for him…’ As a European immigrant, I was shocked by such outbursts. These parents were actually actively working against me.
It seems nothing has changed.
morganedebroceliande
Trust, aspiration and role models
The parents of these kids have developed a total and severe loss of trust in government and the education system. When you look at the demographics of the parents of those who are failing, no doubt you’ll see the average right-wing Reform set on one side, and the disenfranchised, poorly educated ne’er-do-wells who feel let down on the other. The kids then get bombarded with their narrative, so can’t see any point in school.
Throw in the idea of the ‘me’ generation, who have their indulgences sated by impoverished parents, and ‘influencers’, who appear to live a life of luxury that those kids aspire to without having to get an education, then what’s the point of school? And let’s not forget the gangs of thieves and drug dealers wearing black hoodies, sportswear and balaclavas, riding around on e-bikes nicking people’s phones. There are other ways of getting what you want without having to study.
As for the kids of first- or second-generation immigrant families, they have an attitude of determination to succeed against the odds, and without the privilege of whiteness or Englishness. Had they not come to the UK, they would have had to pay for the quality of education they get for free, then found getting work next to impossible. Of course they’re going to take the fullest advantage of what’s on offer. They trust it and can see how it benefits them without having to resort to fantasies or crime.
Tabbers
Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.
Want to share your views? Simply click ‘log in’ or ‘register’ in the top right corner to sign in or sign up. Once registered, you can comment on the day’s top stories for a chance to have your opinions showcased
Want your voice to stand out? Independent Premium subscribers enjoy priority for featured comments. Subscribe here
Make sure you adhere to our community guidelines, which can be found here. For a full guide on how to comment, click here
