White working-class children failed by education system, says inquiry

Adam has just finished his exams with the help of his grandad, who made flash cards to help him revise. He said he taught him to be hard-working and he is now hoping for a place at his local college.

"I'm from a working-class background and now I get to do an A-level in law and politics and business," he said.

"It's a huge achievement and I feel like it'll help me further down the line."

Adam and Stephen are proudly working-class, which the inquiry said was a common feature within the demographic.

It said children, families and communities had spoken powerfully about the joy, pride, humour, identity and sense of community that comes with being white working-class.

"The task is not to change these communities, but to build an education system that better recognises, values and builds upon the strengths already within them."

But the inquiry also acknowledged that the true scale of white working-class disadvantage is "likely to be substantially larger", as the education data they looked at did not include families who were on low incomes but did not receive free school meals.

One of the inquiry's recommendations was to introduce a wider definition of who is working-class.

Currently, for a child from Year 3 onwards to qualify for free school meals in England, families need to be on Universal Credit or earning below £7,400 a year. That is changing this September to include all families on Universal Credit, regardless of income.

Phillipson said the inquiry's report laid bare the scale of the challenge, but added that "for the first time in a long time white working-class children have a government that will fight for them".

She said: "From lifting the two-children limit, to more opportunities through sport and the arts, to breathing new life into family services, I'm changing things for these children and families."