The narrative that white working class children have been failed by the English education system is not new.  White children on free school meals continue to be the lowest performing group across the UK. They are the least likely to pass maths and English at GCSE level, or attend university. 

Yesterday, Westminster’s education select committee published a report titled ‘The forgotten: how White working-class pupils have been let down, and how to change it’.

Notably, the report references divisive conversations about race as an issue and a cause of disparity for white working class children, suggesting that the use of “politically controversial terminology” such as ‘white privilege’ may have contributed to the systemic neglect of white working class children in schools, before concluding that “poor white pupils are far from ‘privileged’ in education”. 

Unsurprisingly, the dismantling of the term ‘white privilege’ in this context has provoked a backlash, with various politicians and commentators pointing out that white privilege does not describe the absence of any or all hardship, but rather acknowledges that skin colour is neither its source, nor a compounding factor. 

Victoria Richards at The Independent argues that the report has mistakenly attempted to conflate two issues without acknowledging that “privilege begins at presentation alone”. 

Others, including the politicians David Lammy and Lisa Nandy, have highlighted the deficiencies of a report that fails to mention cuts to free school meals, reduced funding to youth services, and the cancelling of initiatives such as Aimhigher and Sure Start as potentially significant factors in a decade of stagnant social mobility and poverty.

The challenges faced by white working class children in the English education system will not be solved by adding fuel to cultural fires or by wishing away what some consider to be ‘woke’ terminology from schools. What’s needed is an honest examination of systemic social issues and an education system which continues to fail those at the bottom of the pile.