I've worked across my county in a variety of schools, and there is a significant element of culture in white, working class towns, of not rising above your station, of not needing an education to get by, because everyone else in your family managed... except a couple of generations back, it didn't matter nearly so much because you could have a job for life down the pit. Now you do need it.
These are familes who've had a very limited range of experiences. They rarely need to travel more than a few miles because their small town contains most of what they need and all their social connections. Occasionally they venture to the nearest seedy sea-side town or the nearest city. If they do go abroad, it's to the resorts that are basically Blackpool with reliable weather. I've had kids be incredulous that I've driven more than 5 miles to work from another town.
Where life is a grind to keep existing it will crush out the energy and the opportunities to better yourself, even if it's the bus fare to the nearest town to go to the nearest free musuem, or having the energy to walk to the library when you're working multiple jobs to get by. Parents may have low education skills often including undiagnosed difficulties such as dyslexia and be unable to offer much support to their children. There is also a lot of pride and saving face. So many times at parent's evening, the conversation has started with me being told by the parent that they hated/ was no good at my subject.
The hardest type of student to teach is the affluent, arrogant one who knows he has a guarenteed job in daddy's business. They are much rarer, but schools in affluent bubbles do have a lazy entitled contingent who expect the world to spoon feed them. The current teach to the test system where teachers can not allow pupils to fail does a lot to feed that and is a major factor in the crisis of teacher retention.
Of course it isn't everyone in England, but there are significant sub-cultures who don't value education, either at all or just for its utilitarian functions in getting a job rather than as a rounded individual.
It's no co-incidence that youth mental health has declined as the curriculum has become more narrowly focused on"academic" subjects and on the outcomes of assessments. It's not the only factor, but it is significant.
From what I understand from Irish family, there is a stronger culture of education for self betterment as mass affluence is comparatively recent over the last 20-30 years. The curriculum does remain broader through the secondary years. When I travelled in India, there was a lot of aspiration and people self-studying at night schools to earn a better place in society for their children's futures.