Improving outcomes for white working-class pupils

The School Leadership Podcast · Sep 8, 2026 · 35m

This summer, an independent inquiry into white working-class education outcomes concluded that underachievement is driven not by low aspirations or individual failings, but by a complex set of systemic challenges. These include lower levels of belonging, higher rates of absence and too few clear pathways into further study, training and employment.The findings were based on polling exploring how different groups of young people and parents experience education across England, and focus groups with working-class children, young people and the adults who teach, support, care for and live…