The study commissioned by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the National College for School Leadership suggest that class is still as it was decades ago - an important factor in exam results.
Researchers visited a number of schools where white, working class pupils were performing above the national average for their social group. They found that most of the head teachers from these schools were people who came from a similar background.
John Bangs, head of education at the NUT, said white working class pupils were a ‘forgotten group’.
‘What I would say is that great strides have been made in identifying this group's needs in the last couple of years,’ he said. ‘The extra mile project the Government has done, which looks at the issue of deprivation, is one of the best things they have ever done. This is not a race issue, it's an issue of class, it's about social class, and I think that now, the department is waking up to the issue of social class.’
The report said that many of the head teachers specifically chose to work in deprived areas and showed a ‘profound respect’ for the people and areas they were working in. The researchers also said that funding should be ‘reconfigured and used sensitively, particularly in deprived areas, in part to recognise the impact of deprivation on the achievement of white working class pupils,’
A spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: ‘We know underachievement, regardless of background or ethnicity, can only be tackled by changing the aspirations of young people, their parents and the education system. But we firmly believe that with all the support on offer for parents and schools, no child is on a pre-determined path to low results - whatever their ethnicity and wherever they go to school.’
