For decades, politicians have failed to address the root causes of the disadvantage gap. Tinkering at the edges made some difference, but the diminishing returns of that approach were evident before Covid. Generations of working-class pupils continue to inherit the same barriers to success.
Our education system is not broken—it’s working exactly as designed. It filters, sorts and rewards those who fit the mould.
Recent articles in these pages and in The Times focus on white working-class children (which I was myself), but for working-class children of all backgrounds, the truth is that the mould was never made for them.
I’ve spent 25 years working in these communities. This is what I believe needs to change.
Representation matters
Teaching remains one of the most middle-class professions in Britain. Working-class children need role models they can relate to—people who understand their communities, their families and their lives beyond the school gates.
We must improve access to the classroom for working-class professionals, many of whom may have had poor experiences of school themselves.
Embrace working-class values
Family, pride, resilience, hard work and loyalty. These aren’t just buzzwords; they’re the social glue that holds communities together and can be a powerful source of motivation and identity.
This isn’t about lowering aspiration. It’s about changing what we value and how we value it. Working-class kids shouldn’t be forced to chase after an idea of success that often entails leaving their community and values behind.
End selection
Grammar schools persist. Some politicians even love to champion them as a route to social mobility. But the low numbers of disadvantaged pupils in them show what this really is: selection by class at age 11.
This stifles ambition and compounds inequality. It’s not aspirational and it’s not meritocratic. It’s managed exclusion and misguided aspiration.
Redefine ambition
At school open evenings and in school prospectuses, we need to stop parading tiny handfuls of Oxbridge or Russell Group acceptances as the pinnacle of achievement and social mobility.
These are great pathways for a tiny few, but they’re not the only ones that matter. Success is also taking over the family business, becoming a brilliant plumber, a talented builder or a committed carer.
This isn’t about reducing aspiration for working-class kids. It’s about reclaiming and redefining it. Working-class communities are fiercely ambitious.
Update uniforms
Let’s stop dressing working-class children like they’re stepping out of a Victorian boarding school. Traditional uniforms may symbolise ‘discipline’ to some, but to many children, they reinforce a message that school is a place where they don’t belong.
Uniforms should reflect dignity, not deference to outdated norms borrowed from private institutions, with blazers and stripy ties. The argument that uniform is a social leveller is a myth. It’s an outdated tradition, rare outside of the UK, where the idea of social equality has been bent to fit a performative and exclusive tradition.
Reset accountability
Our measures of success reflect deeply ingrained snobbery. If working-class children aren’t meeting these measures, perhaps it’s time to question them rather than the children.
Instead of the narrow EBacc, let’s recognize a broad spectrum of qualifications that align with the interests and strengths of working-class aspirations, including vocational pathways.
And instead of the myopic Progress 8, let’s make success also about personal growth, practical achievement and meaningful contribution.
Improve literacy and numeracy
Improving functional literacy and numeracy remains the single most important tool for social mobility. That work must be relentless, focused and properly funded, with access to a curriculum that allows this to be measured.
Caroline Benn and Professor Clyde Chitty wrote Thirty Years On: Is Comprehensive Education Alive and Well or Struggling to Survive? almost 30 years ago. Their conclusions are still as relevant today. For sixty years, we have failed to deliver on the ambition of the comprehensive system.
We don’t need more committees or commissions. We need schools that reflect our values and respect our ambitions—not overwrite them.
Working-class children don’t need charity. They need change.
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