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White pupils from low-income families in England start secondary school with far lower levels of enthusiasm or effort than other ethnic groups, according to new research that may partly explain differences in academic results and behaviour.
Both girls and boys from lower-income white families reported weak levels of engagement from year 7 onwards. Girls were less likely to enjoy being at school while the boys made less effort with their school work.
Only half of low-income white children said they worked hard at school, compared with about 70% of disadvantaged pupils of south Asian ethnicity.
The study measured pupils’ levels of engagement in questionnaires taken by children at more than 120 schools, which tested response to statements such as “I don’t feel bored at school” and “What I learn at school will help me in the future”.
Prof John Jerrim of University College London’s social research institute, who conducted the study, said the results revealed a difficult problem for policymakers at a time when improving education for white working class children was high on the political agenda.
“What you do see is that even on entry to secondary school, white working-class pupils tend to have lower levels of various measures of school engagement than other groups, both more advantaged groups and pupils of different ethnicity,” Jerrim said.
“It’s different across boys and girls. Girls struggle more with certain aspects such as peer relationships and enjoyment of school, whereas among white working-class boys, it’s more around valuing school and effort.
“One of the questions we asked is about self-reported effort and that’s probably the most interesting part where white working-class pupils stick out. If you ask them ‘how much effort are you putting into school?’, they really stand out from other groups in a bad way, and it’s because they are not properly engaged.”
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Last month Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, said that “the lack of progress for children from white working-class backgrounds is particularly concerning”, and promised to tackle it in the forthcoming white paper.
But Jerrim said that changing the group’s attitudes would be a “long-term slog”, and added: “This is a hard nut to crack. It’s likely to involve a lot of investment from an early age, following through these young people’s lives. A big message we all need to take away is that this isn’t going to change quickly.”
The study also found that pupil engagement with school declined over time across most groups, and Jerrim noted that black pupils had particularly poor relationships with their teachers compared with other groups.
