The Education Committee’s report The forgotten: how White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it, highlights how White British pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) persistently underperform compared with peers in other ethnic groups, from early years through to higher education.
The report outlines that terminology such as ‘white privilege’ may have contributed towards a ‘systemic neglect’ of white working-class pupils who need support.
It states that – ‘Schools should consider whether the promotion of politically controversial terminology, including White Privilege, is consistent with their duties under the Equality Act 2010’.
The MPs also accuse the Government of ‘muddled thinking’ on policy, which has let down white pupils and failed to recognise the scale of the problem.
They make a series of recommendations to improve white working-class pupils’ outcomes, including finding ‘a better way to talk about racial disparities’ to avoid pitting different groups against each other.
Call for ‘clear’ guidance
The committee agreed with the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities that discourse around the term ‘White Privilege’ can be divisive, and that disadvantage should be discussed without pitting different groups against each other.
MPs said the Department for Education (DfE) should issue clear guidance for schools and organisations on how to deliver teaching on these complex issues in a balanced, ‘impartial and age-appropriate way’.
The report recommended a strong network of family hubs should be introduced around the country to boost parental engagement and mitigate the effects of multi-generational disadvantage.
Robert Halfon MP, chair of the Education Committee, said, ‘For decades now White working-class pupils have been let down and neglected by an education system that condemns them to falling behind their peers every step of the way. White working-class pupils underperform significantly compared to other ethnic groups, but there has been muddled thinking from all governments and a lack of attention and care to help these disadvantaged White pupils in towns across our country.
‘If the Government is serious about closing the overall attainment gap, then the problems faced by the biggest group of disadvantaged pupils can no longer be swept under the carpet. Never again should we lazily put the gap down to poverty alone, given that we know free school meal eligible pupils from other ethnic groups consistently outperform their White British peers. In 2019, less than 18 per cent of free school meal eligible White British pupils achieved a strong pass in English and Maths GCSEs, compared with 22.5 per cent of all similarly disadvantaged pupils. This equates to nearly 39,000 White working-class children missing out.
‘So far, the Department for Education has been reluctant to recognise the specific challenges faced by the White working class, let alone do anything to tackle this chronic social injustice. This must stop now.’
Critics of the report
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said, it was ‘important to understand that social class is the biggest determinant of educational success or failure’ and that there should be ‘greater focus’ on working class pupils.
‘With 4.3 million children trapped in poverty, the report should do more to acknowledge the impact of poverty and the huge challenge that poverty poses for schools. Whilst schools can make a difference, they can't make the difference on poverty,’ she said.
‘The NEU believes that experiences and stereotypes around class and ethnicity are inter-related, and we must therefore support schools to think about sex, class and ethnicity. Indeed, from the report’s own evidence, it is Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children whose attainment and entry to higher education needs the most attention, and findings for Black Caribbean children on Free School Meals are insignificantly different to White children on FSM.
‘It is deeply unhelpful to try and make it harder to talk in schools about racism, which seems to be one intention of the report. Racism is endemic across society and in workplaces and nearly half of Black children are living in poverty. Racist content is being targeted at young people online in working-class areas across the country and so all schools must talk proactively about racism, including tackle racist bullying, in age-appropriate ways. We think a proper role for Government would be to share good practice about how to tackle racism using education, and how to develop teachers' skills around poverty-proofing the school day.
‘Both challenging racism and empowering all working-class students should be at the heart of this next phase of recovery education, after Covid. We should be prepared to ask big questions about how to redesign education to respond to these inequalities.’
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, questioned why the committee had chosen to enter the debate about the term white privilege.
'This does not seem helpful and is likely to divert attention from the rest of the report,' he said. 'We have to do better for all disadvantaged pupils – from all ethnic backgrounds … Many communities suffer from multigenerational poverty, insecure employment and lack of opportunity, and it is extremely hard to raise attainment when children and families experience such factors.'
Labour MP Kim Johnson, who sits on the education committee, who said she disowned the report told The Guardian: ‘I’m not happy about the whole section on white privilege. They cherrypicked data. I think they were trying to create a culture war’.
A Department for Education spokesperson said, 'This Government is focused on levelling up opportunity so that no young person is left behind.
'That’s why we are providing the biggest uplift to school funding in a decade – £14bn over three years – investing in early years education and targeting our ambitious recovery funding, worth £3bn to date, to support disadvantaged pupils aged two to 19 with their attainment.
'The pupil premium is expected to increase to more than £2.5bn this year, through which schools can support pupils with extra teaching, academic support or activities like breakfast clubs or educational trips. Alongside this we are investing in family hubs, transforming technical education and strengthening teacher training in areas that need it most, including our opportunity areas, so that every pupil can go to an excellent school.'
Report findings
In 2018/19, just 53 per cent of FSM-eligible White British pupils met the expected standard of development at the end of the early years foundation stage, one of the lowest percentages for any disadvantaged ethnic group.
The committee described these disparities as ‘striking’ because White people ‘are the ethnic majority in the country’ and, while White British pupils are less likely to be disadvantaged, FSM-eligible White British pupils are the largest disadvantaged group.
During its inquiry, the Committee heard of many reasons why White working-class pupils are at a disadvantage. However, it said that it was not convinced by the Department for Education’s (DfE) claim that the gap can be attributed to poverty alone, with pupils from most ethnic minority backgrounds more likely to experience poverty, yet consistently out-performing their White British peers.
The report notes the DfE’s failure to acknowledge the importance of investigating the reasons for the disparities, instead relying on ‘muddled thinking’ and an ‘insistence that pursuing the same policies’ will somehow provide a solution.
Family Hubs and the early years
High-quality, joined-up education and health support for disadvantaged White families in the early years of their child’s life is ‘crucial’ and has ‘demonstrable benefits’, the report states.
To boost parental engagement and mitigate the effects of multi-generational disadvantage, committee members said that ‘a strong network of Family Hubs’ is needed. These should offer integrated services and ‘build trusting relationships with families’ and work closely with schools to provide support throughout a child’s educational journey.
The Government’s £14m investment to create a National Centre for Family Hubs, run by the Anna Freud Centre, is welcome but MPs said that ‘children need this support now’.
‘The Government must explain how the National Centre for Family Hubs will support the development of Family Hubs and should set out bold targets for every town to have a Family Hub using existing community assets where appropriate.
‘All Family Hubs must have a clear strategy for the early years, with the aim of bringing services, including health visitors and early years educators, together into one place to make it easier for disadvantaged White families to navigate the system, particularly with regard to taking full advantage of their free entitlements.’
MPs added, ‘The Government must implement the recommendations put forward by the Early Years Healthy Development Review, particularly around exploring the idea of a “key contact” for families and supporting local authorities to identify how best to introduce families to their local hub.’
That inquiry found examples of good practice, including in Manchester where every child is assessed ‘eight times between 0–5 years old’ with interventions following, where necessary.
The report added, ‘This will create a joined-up, universal early years support system that works for all parents, and most particularly those disadvantaged White parents whose children are falling off the ladder of opportunity from the very first rung.’
MPs acknowledged how access to high quality early years provision helps disadvantaged children, including White working-class children.
The report outlined the ‘financial difficulties’ that maintained nursery schools face and said that the Government must decide how to guarantee their long-term future ‘as soon as possible’.
It also urged the Government to acknowledge the ‘threadbare state’ of the early years system previous to the pandemic, and to outline a ‘long-term plan for the early years’ accompanied by a funding settlement for at least the next three years.
