Class and race merit more attention
Ravi Chandiramani
Monday, January 25, 2010
The underachievement of white working-class children has justifiably become a cause for national concern. Plenty of schools are making great strides to tackle the issue. Nevertheless, it has led to declarations, most recently from Communities Secretary John Denham, that social class is the most significant factor in determining school achievement rather than ethnicity.
White children who are eligible for free school meals do indeed lag badly behind white children who are not. Yet the disparity in GCSE results among different ethnic groups also remains stark. Chinese children outperform all other groups. And there are large variations within certain groups. Among Asian children, those of Indian origin as a whole outperform Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. Black African children outperform Black Caribbeans. Often it is to do with issues of culture, values and expectations in the family or, for Caribbean boys, a general lack of role models. Educationalists have known these things for decades.
Doing nothing could entrench underperformance. A study by London Metropolitan University in November, for example, found some teachers underestimated the potential of Black pupils.
The pupil and parent guarantees in the government's Children, Schools and Families Bill provide a rare opportunity to recognise the significance of class and ethnicity. Proposals are currently out for consultation. Sensibly, they include one-to-one tuition for primary pupils falling behind in literacy and numeracy and help for the most gifted and talented to fulfil their potential. What is absurd is that there are no references to social class or ethnicity whatsoever.
The National Union of Teachers is right to call for an audit of the needs of children in all local authorities. This can be done by existing national audit bodies so it need not increase burdens on the education community. Whoever wins the election should commit to this exercise so that funding matches the actual needs of children as they enter school.
The government's focus on personalised education will count for nothing if we do not recognise these crucial dimensions to children's lives. To be blind to class and colour is to bury our heads in the sand. It is not about some grand social engineering exercise to manufacture equality of outcomes. It is about dealing with the underperformance of certain groups to make sure every child has the best chance. That's a guarantee worth shouting about.
Ravi Chandiramani, editor, Children & Young People Now
