White Working Class Boys
White working-class boys perform the worst in any group of British schools . When Theresa May became Prime Minister in 2016, she addressed the nation on the steps of No.10 Downing Street and specifically mentioned the need to help “Ordinary working families” saying, “If you’re a white, working-class boy, you’re less likely than anybody else in Britain to go to university.” Why was this mentioned? Because there is a huge lack of presence within further education when it comes to white working-class boys.
A study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies researched and made observations that: “Ethnic minorities are substantially more likely to go to university than their white British peers” The authors of the research, Dr Claire Crawford and Ellen Greaves found out that:
All ethnic minority groups in England are now, on average, more likely to go to university than their White British peers. This is the case even amongst groups who were previously under-represented in higher education, such as those of Black Caribbean ethnic origin, a relatively recent change.
Figure 1: Percentage of pupils taking their GCSEs in 2008 who go on to university at age 18 or 19, by ethnicity and socio-economic quintile group.
Just 12% of white children from poor households go on to university, compared to 29% of Afro-Caribbean, 36% of Pakistani, 45% of Bangladeshi, 53% of Indian and 65% of Chinese children from the same socio-economic group.
James Kirkup, of the Social Market Foundation, told The Independent: “Rising numbers of BAME students are to be welcomed, while the fall in the number of white entrants underlines the need for more action to address the scandalously poor educational and economic performance of white working-class children.
He went on to say: “That means getting more experienced teachers and leaders into schools with large white working-class intakes, a much better careers offer in those schools, and a national debate about culture and ambition in white working-class families.
“Poor white kids need to know that if they aim higher, they have the same chance of getting a top degree from a top university as anyone else. Sadly, that’s not the case right now.”
For more information, check out the links below:
https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/8042
Ethnic minorities substantially more likely to go to ...
All ethnic minority groups in England are now, on average, more likely to go to university than their White British peers. This is the case even amongst groups who were previously under-represented in higher education, such as those of Black Caribbean ethnic origin, a relatively recent change. These ...
White working class boys have lowest GCSE Grades as ...
www.suttontrust.com
Chinese pupils from disadvantaged homes are almost three times as likely as white working class pupils to get five good GCSEs, according to new analysis published by the Sutton Trust today.
A compendium of evidence on ethnic minority resilience to ...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
A compendium of evidence on ethnic minority resilience to the effects of deprivation on attainment . Research report . June 2015 . Lucy Stokes, Heather Rolfe, Nathan Hudson-
