‘Complacent’ white pupils joint bottom of the class in the latest Sats results

WHITE children have fallen to joint bottom place in Sats results, official figures show.

Figures released by the Department for Education show that 64 per cent of white pupils reached the expected standard in the “three Rs” this year, the same proportion as black children.

More than half a million 11-year-olds across England took national curriculum tests in May. Chinese students were the highest performing ethnic group, with 80 per cent meeting the expected standard, although they only make up one per cent of pupils taking the test.

When the Government launched a new “tougher” curriculum in 2016, black children were the lowest performing ethnic group, with just over half (51 per cent) meeting the standard. But over the past four years, this has risen by 13 percentage points.

White pupils’ scores have also improved, but at a slower rate, meaning that they are now the joint bottom group with black pupils.

Professor Alan Smithers, director of Buckingham University’s centre for education and employment, said that the difference in performance of ethnic groups is “down to how keenly parents feel that education is important to their children”.

He said: “Many of the ethnic groups are recent arrivals to this country or first generation immigrants and the parents know from the experience of their home countries just how important education is to getting on in the world.

“Therefore they make it plain to their children that if they want to get on, they really have to apply themselves in school.

“I think the white British tend to get rather complacent and comfortable in life. They assume quite falsely that the world will take care of them.”

The gap between boys and girls is getting wider, the data showed. Seven in 10 girls (70 per cent) reached the expected standard, compared to 60 per cent of their male classmates.

Poorer pupils continue to lag behind their richer peers. Around half (51 per cent) of the most disadvantaged pupils achieved the expected standard across all three subjects, compared to 71 per cent of their more affluent peers.