The link between a child’s social class and their ability to achieve in the classroom has been a hot topic for decades. Back in 1956, the landmark Social Class and Educational Opportunity report found that the educability of children ‘is determined by the subtle interaction of the social influences of home and school’. Author Jean Floud showed that differences in the environment of children from different social classes affected their performance in tests. Sixty years on, the issue is often framed by the underperformance of white working class boys, the worst-performing social group in the UK.
Recent research includes Ofsted’s Unseen Children report in 2013, while Theresa May felt compelled to raise the issue in her first speech as Prime Minister last year, when she said, ‘If you’re a white, working-class boy, you’re less likely than anybody else in Britain to go to university.’ (Just 9 per cent of white 18-year-old males who received free school meals do.)
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