So, white working class children are being failed by schools and society in general.

[mrsruffallo]

Held in contempt by the middle classes (much evidence of that on here)
Industry no longer provides these people with a job for a life, dismissed as chavs, it seems that these are the the people that it is okay to ignore.....

WTF? cat- completely agree... this was a very interesting thread, unfortunately I had to go off and do some work.

right- to answer some questions...

tethers- nope, not in London.

missmiss- ethnic breakdown of LAC in my authority is different to the ethnic breakdown of the whole school population, though % of white UK LAC is identical to % white uk in whole school pop. Bangladeshi, chinese, and pakistani heritage children are extremely under-represented in LAC pop, and Black-caribbean, and mixed heritage children are greatly over-represented. It must be pointed out that the mixed heritage groups are white/black-caribbean, white/asian, and black-caribbean/asian in the main.
We also have a significant number of LAC who are newly arrived - mainly from Afghanistan - indeed this group form 10% of the Y11 LAC cohort. (though as they are asylum seeking, there aren't really any in the lower (primary) age groups).

ivykaty- I suspect the mothers of persistent truants are jailed rather than the fathers because it is they who have residence, and therefore seen as responsible in the eyes of the law. (thinking of the cases I know, the ones who end up at trial happen to have been from families where the parents are separated)

Lynli- "The problem is arising mainly in schools with a large mix of nationalities where English is not their first language. It is harder for Working class white children to thrive in these schools than in schools that have a majority of working class white children and cater to their particular areas of weakness."

Actually in our LEA it is not schools with high BME populations that white disadvantaged children are struggling in.
I can think of many inner city schools with high BME populations, and where many many home languages are spoken that are doing outstandingly well with their children- of all heritages - according to their VA figures, and OFSTED assessments. There are still a core group of 90-100% white mc leafy suburb schools that top the (KS2) performance tables each year, but the group after that are all inner city, ethnically diverse schools with switched-on, dedicated staff that work hard for their pupils and have high expectations of them.
The schools that perform most weakly in terms of actual outcomes, and VA scores are those 90-100% white in run-down council estates.

The last sentence says it all....

It is the culture of low expectation and entitlement of these large white council estates. I can't imagine it's changed much from my days teaching, no respect for teachers or education by parents or teachers.

Yes obviously all people who live on council estates don't give a fuck about there kids education ..

Honestly, noone is saying that every family or even most are like this. But there is a problem with educational outcomes of those white boys growing up on council estates is an issue and there has to be reasons both in and out of school. I am assuming that some children are doing well even in the most shockingly bad schools.

Is that the definition of working class then? People too fossilised to see that they need to do something about their lives and try to do it? I'd find that a bit insulting TBH. I'm not arguing that opportunities aren't as great for some people and that is unfair, but if anyone is sitting there waiting for things to come to them, unable to cope with changes in society that always have and always will happen, they are not WC, they are dinosaurs!

That isn't my experience of people who would happily call themselves working class.

AB - oh I know why they jail the woman - its cos the fathers fucked off - i also know how oto suck eggs

I am working class, I have no problem with beng working class and I don't want to achieve educationaly - I really don't see a problem with that and certianly don't worry about this being read at in my eulogy, I don't give a toss I havn't got a degree, even more now that they are down graded and two a penny.

FioFio i take it the company is ok with discrimaination? its not what you know but who you know was supposed to go out with the ark. I work with someone who recruits and think the job is interesting and needs intelligent people to do the job - it is dull and boring and not really stimulating - but they emply grade A* people to do it and they get bored and leave....whereas grade C would stay and be happy and cost less in recruitment

No we don't have a high turn over of staff on lower grades without the a grades..

I grew up on a council estate and I hate to say this but part of what CliqueOff says are true.

Just for an example our neighbour was scorning my mum for making me revise for my exams and my mum said to him 'but dont you want you son to do better than you have in life' and he replied 'No I dont want my son thinking hes better than me'

Oviously not everyone living on council estates are like this (my family being a example and I knew lots of people that just wanted the best for their children) but I have seen parents say to their children that theres no point in trying in school as 'it never did them any harm'

I grew up on a large sink estate and education was not valued. My Mum was a rare brid indeed who made me wear my proper uniform and do my homework.

It was predominantly white - but that was due to its location. I am a governor at a school which is predominantly asian and the levels of educational aspiration are equally as low.

Being part of a group that does not aspire to anything is the problem. It is very hard to buck the trend. Not impossible, as I can attest, but bleeding hard.

My daughter was in a seven year old's class with a neighbour's son. In the supermarket queue she lambasted their teacher, 'Gary hasn't learnt a thing with Mrs Thomson'.

This was after one and a half terms. I was speechless. I would have blamed my daughter if she hadn't learned anything in the class. Maybe Gary was thick but she was in denial - but anyway you would follow it up to arrange extra work or something.

Different attitudes.