Tireless work is rightly being done to improve outcomes and break down barriers to opportunity based on class, race, gender, disability and more. But one group has been forgotten in the push for social justice: white working-class boys.
This is not a hunch. It is one of the most consistent findings in our education data. White British boys from low-income backgrounds have the lowest outcomes of any major ethnic group. The trend begins early and persists all the way to adulthood.
At the end of primary school, just 40 per cent of white British boys who are eligible for free school meals (FSM) reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. That compares with 58 per cent of Black African boys and 71 per cent of disadvantaged Chinese pupils.
White FSM-eligible girls do slightly better, but even they remain well below the national average.
By the time these boys reach their GCSEs, the picture is still bleak. Around one in four achieves strong passes in English and maths. On the Progress 8 measure, they record some of the lowest scores nationally. In other words, they are not just under-achieving but falling far behind.
Higher education also remains elusive. Just 13.7 per cent of white British boys from low-income backgrounds progress to university by the age of 19.
That figure is dwarfed by the rates for other disadvantaged groups. More than half of Black Caribbean and Bangladeshi girls in similar financial circumstances reach higher education.
And at the most selective institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge white working-class representation is virtually non-existent.
This is not some sort of ‘reverse racism’; it is about poverty and its interaction with place, culture and identity. But we should not be surprised when some political factions make hay from turning it into a race issue.
Discomfort must not get in the way of action
Poor white communities, particularly in post-industrial towns and coastal areas, often feel disconnected from national policy. Their educational outcomes remain stubbornly low, their schools struggle to recruit and their aspirations are often shaped by generations of limited opportunity.
But white working-class boys have become politically awkward for mainstream politicians to advocate for, for fear that acknowledging their struggle will diminish the legitimacy of support given to others.
Case in point: a 2021 parliamentary education committee report described white working-class pupils as “a forgotten group” and called for action to tackle the underlying cultural and economic issues affecting their attainment. It should have been a turning point, but progress remains slow. Who has even heard of the report?
In truth, this very idea of a zero-sum equation plays into the hands of what were once fringe parties. We can recognise the need for targeted support for minority groups while also recognising that this particular group has been overlooked for too long.
The challenges are complex. Low expectations, limited parental engagement and a lack of visible success stories play a role. However, other disadvantaged groups face similar hurdles and have made significant progress, often helped by culturally responsive outreach and community engagement.
This is not a call to shift resources away from anyone else. It is a call to expand the conversation. If we are serious about social mobility, we must be honest about where the gaps are widest.
White working-class boys are less likely than almost any other group to read fluently by age six, to achieve five good GCSEs or to attend university. That cannot be acceptable in a system that claims to value fairness.
We need a renewed national focus. That means better early years support, targeted intervention in primary and secondary schools, stronger community engagement and a bold approach to post-16 pathways. It also means ensuring that university access initiatives explicitly include this group, rather than unintentionally excluding them.
We must not allow discomfort to get in the way of action. These boys are not underperforming because they are less capable. They are underperforming because, somewhere along the line, society stopped believing they could do better.
It is time we started believing again. And more than that, it is time we started advocating for them – or someone else will.
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