Sense of local pride is key to achievement

From: Chris Whitwood, Deputy Leader, Yorkshire Party, St Sepulchre Gate, Doncaster.

TO remove educational inequality, we must also give our children a sense of belonging. The dramatic disparity between the attainment of white, working-class boys and children from other backgrounds is, as the Prime Minister rightly acknowledged in her maiden speech, one of the most serious problems facing our education, indeed our nation, today.

While this is a complex issue, funding is, of course, a key aspect – particularly among those faced with the ‘double disadvantage’ of low income and place poverty.

However, disparity in education funding is not only evident between working-class and more affluent areas. The amount of state funding a school receives varies dramatically depending on which part of the country it is in.

For example, according to Department for Education statistics, schools in London received £8,587 per pupil in the academic year 2015/16. By contrast, schools in York received a mere £4,202. The result of this funding gap is evident.

Back in 2003, the two regions of England with the lowest GCSE attainment were London and Yorkshire. The capital, which has the benefit of the devolved Greater London Assembly, instigated the London Challenge – an initiative that offered increased funding, specialised training for teachers and the sharing of best practice. As a result, in both 2014 and 2015 the region with the highest GCSE results was London. Yorkshire and the North East performed the poorest.

Is it any wonder then that the growing number of regionalist political parties – such as the Yorkshire Party and the North East Party – are calling for an end to such funding inequality and the implementation of similar educational ‘challenges’?

There is a second issue that is far more significant. Underfunding, typically, affects towns which have suffered industrial decline and whose heritage is all but forgotten. In many of these communities, the local school is the last remnant of a once close-knit society.

Industrial decline, the disappearance of work and with it aspiration, has dogged many towns for the past generation. If white, working class boys are to succeed, then the financial inequality must be addressed and the wider community must work together to create a positive sense of local identity.