It is crucial that all disadvantaged children are given support early on. The pupil premium should be topped up by with a ‘fair chances’ premium to ensure those who are behind before the age of seven are given help to catch up
Ofsted published its annual report on the state of England’s schools yesterday. Following hot on the heals of the OECD’s PISA rankings last week – which showed the UK ‘stagnating’ in global education league tables – Ofsted has shined a light on some more specific issues.
One which stands out, and that is subject to growing political and policy interest, is the trend of underachievement amongst white working-class children – they are now consistently the lowest performing of all the main ethnic groups.
Ofsted highlights that in 2012, only 30.5% of white British pupils on free school meals (FSM) achieved five good GCSEs (A*-C, including English and maths) – compared with 40.2% of Black Caribbean children on FSM (the second lowest attaining group) and 68.2% of Chinese pupils on FSM (the highest attaining group).
What’s more, these gaps in attainment between white British pupils and other groups have widened over time. The underlying causes are complex and still subject to much debate – making developing any potential targeted policy responses difficult as a result.
But one fruitful direction for policy would be to focus on the links between schools and communities: are areas where there are large numbers of low-income white British children failing the poorest?
We know that there are big differences in the chances of poor children doing well, depending on where they live.
For example, Yorkshire and Humber, a part of the country with many low-income white pupils, is the poorest performing region in the country with a number of local authorities where fewer than half of pupils attend a good or outstanding school.
Ofsted itself has suggested ‘regional education challenges’ in certain coastal towns, many of which still have very poor educational outcomes – including for low-income white communities.
However, there is currently momentum behind improving schools in particular cities or regions, which should be welcomed.
Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt said this week that we should look at the successes of areas with high levels of child poverty like London, which have ensured that their poorest children are able to beat the odds at school, and consider how these lessons can be applied to different areas of the country.
And the Social Mobility All Party Parliamentary Group this week published a report on social mobility ‘hotspots’, mostly focusing on London and why it has been so successful in largely changing the educational life-course of its disadvantaged children.
While the capital, with its ethnically mixed population, has moved ahead, why should areas with low-income white communities be allowed to lag behind?
It is also worth noting that, just as with all disadvantaged children, white working-class children are falling behind early on in their school lives.
New analysis carried out for Save the Children by Professor Denis Mongon, from the Innovation Unit, shows that at age-seven assessments, 26% of white British children on FSM are behind in reading: this compares with 18% of non-white British FSM children. By some distance they are already more likely to be behind than other poor children.
This is why Save the Children argues that it is crucial that we ensure that all disadvantaged children are given support early in their lives – with a new ‘Fair Chances Premium’ topping up the Pupil Premium early in primary school to ensure that all children who are behind before the age of seven are given extra help to catch up.
While Ofsted’s report understandably focuses on the challenges, there is also a big opportunity.
If all parts of the country were to emulate the success of places like London, and poor white British pupils did as well as other low-income ethnic groups, this would result in a giant step towards the achievement of an historic goal – that no child, regardless of their ethnicity or the place where they live, is behind at primary school and that all are able to fulfil their potential.
Hollie Warren is education policy adviser at Save the Children
