Opinion: new strategy needed to 'break the cycle' for white, working class pupils
Across the region, white, working class pupils have some of the lowest levels of educational achievement and are one of the groups least likely to go to university. Councillor Udey Singh, Conservative chair of Wolverhampton Council's economy and growth scrutiny panel, today calls for a new strategy to break the cycle of failure.
With statistics showing that Wolverhampton now has the second highest claimant count in the UK, standing at around 7.8 per cent compared with the UK average of 3.8 per cent, it is high time for the council to be battle station ready to prepare the next generation for high skilled and high paying jobs.
By the council's own set goals, the first priority is to ensure that "children have the best start in life". But what does that mean?
I believe that the importance of education is a key component of this. If we look globally, education is one of the critical factors that has managed to pull billions of people out of poverty and into lives of dignity, respect, and financial stability.
We are very fortunate that in the UK, the state provides education to all its children irrespective of background, income, and status. But it is important that we target the group that requires the most support – children from white working-class backgrounds. It is these youngsters who are consistently behind their peers in key subjects such as English, Maths and Science. And children from this group are the least likely to go to university.
Addressing this issue is where most councils continue to fall flat.
The right attitude starts at a very early age. Most children spend a large amount of time with their parents and naturally pick up mannerisms and attitudes to life.
Ancestrally, I belong to an Indian family that arrived in the UK and lived in a council house. Each child in our household was taught the power of education from a very young age, even when my own family had not achieved much educationally.
This is a common theme for families who belong to an Asian diaspora, and it is no coincidence that there are so many highly skilled Asian doctors, dentists, pharmacists and lawyers.
There are many strategies laid out to help children in education, but I am not aware of a single piece of legislation that specifically targets children from white working-class backgrounds
Wolverhampton Council – and many other local authorities – puts the low achievement down to generational poverty in white working-class families, where people are stuck in a perpetual state of low expectation.
If this is the case, why not build a strategy around this group? If done right, it only takes one generation to break the cycle.
