White working-class children ‘lack drive of migrant families’

CHILDREN from white working-class families can “lack the aspiration and drive” of their migrant counterparts, the chief inspector of schools has said.

Amanda Spielman said that schools in white working-class areas tended to get worse inspection reports, adding that this “shouldn’t surprise us”.

She cited analysis from the Department for Education, which showed that schools in these areas struggled to recruit teachers and had challenges with capacity.

Speaking yesterday at the Wellington College Festival of Education in Berkshire, Ms Spielman said: “We can’t pretend that Ofsted judgments are not lower in certain areas – many of them with a high proportion of white working-class children.

“But that shouldn’t surprise us. Over the past few years, there has been a long-overdue debate about … why they have fallen behind.”

She went on: “We are having to grapple with the unhappy fact that many local working-class communities have felt the full brunt of economic dislocation in recent years, and, perhaps as a result, can lack the aspiration and drive seen in many migrant communities.”

Sir Michael Wilshaw, her predecessor, also spoke at a separate conference event about the negative attitude towards education that can be prevalent in white British families. He said families let their children down if they “allow their children to do what they like in school, don’t support the behaviour policy, don’t read to their children, don’t care for them, don’t love them”.

Sir Michael added: “The reason why London schools are doing so well, apart from good teachers, is that a lot of the immigrant families care about education, they value education, they support their children.”

 ITV’S Love Island is a “sad reflection of the education system”, said Sir Michael.

He said the few minutes he had watched were enough for him to see how ignorant contestants were. He said: “I saw five minutes and was absolutely appalled.”