White working-class children are falling behind their peers in all but 21 schools across England, highlighting a deep and persistent educational gap affecting thousands of pupils nationwide. The Mail has the story.
It means only a tiny fraction of more than 3,400 secondary schools across England see such pupils doing as well as their peers. …
The proportion of white working-class pupils getting grades 5 or above in English and maths GCSE was 18.6%, substantially below the 45.9% national average, according to the data. …
Tory schools spokesman Neil O’Brien said: “Everything Bridget Phillipson is doing is disastrous for white working-class kids.
“Her trade union-led Schools Bill is smashing up 30 years of cross-party reforms which have raised standards in England.
“Phillipson has axed support for able pupils in mathematics, physics, Latin and computing because she sees them as elitist.
“She has axed the behaviour hubs which were doing so much to improve discipline and standards in schools.
“School funding formulas still tend to heavily favour urban areas. While 40 years ago, London was an education disaster zone, today it is the highest-achieving part of the country and the lowest levels of achievement are found in shire and coastal areas.”
At secondary school, white British pupils on free school meals perform around a grade and a half worse in each GCSE subject compared with the national average. …
According to the research, white boys from disadvantaged backgrounds and workless homes have the lowest aspirations of all groups.
But white working-class girls also fell in school attainment at a faster pace than their peers over the past five years.
Worth reading in full.
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