Ofsted head: white working-class ‘less driven than migrants’
Amanda Spielman says lower aspirations to blame for underperforming schools in poor white British areas
Schools in white working-class areas are underachieving because local families are not as motivated as immigrant communities, according to Ofsted’s chief inspector.
Speaking at the Festival of Education in Berkshire on Thursday, Amanda Spielman “hit back at claims that the inspection system is biased against schools serving white working-class communities”, says Tes (formerly the Times Educational Supplement).
Spielman insisted that inspections were conducted “without fear or favour”, suggesting that the discrepancy could be due to lower aspirations among low-income white British families compared with more recent arrivals.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Ofsted data has revealed that nearly half of secondary schools in white working-class areas are rated “inadequate” or “requires improvement”, “compared to just 18% for similarly deprived schools where most pupils are non-white British”, The Independent reports.
The findings led some critics to suggest that deprived schools with a high percentage of white British pupils were being judged unduly harshly by Ofsted inspectors.
“We can’t pretend that Ofsted judgements are not lower in certain areas, many of them with a high proportion of white working class children,” Spielman said.
White working-class communities have often felt the “brunt of economic dislocation”, she said, in some cases giving rise to “a lack of aspiration and drive” which translates to lower educational attainment.
Some leading members of the education system have taken issue with Spielman’s explanation.
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), told The Independent that the Ofsted boss was “looking desperately for others to blame” for a pattern of systemic bias.
Spielman’s comments echoed remarks made earlier yesterday at the conference by former Ofsted chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, who claimed that in some parts of the country, many low-income white British families “don’t care” about education.
“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,” he said.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
US economy still strong in final preelection report
Speed Read It grew at a solid 2.8% annual rate from July through September
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
At least 95 dead in Spain flash floods
Speed Read Torrential rainfall caused the country's worst flooding since 1996
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court allows purge of Virginia voter rolls
Speed Read Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) is purging some 1,600 people from state voter rolls days before the election
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Ruth Perry: family blame Ofsted inspection for head teacher’s death
Speed Read Report by schools watchdog into Reading primary school has led to ‘outpouring of angst’ about system
By The Week Staff Published
-
Ofsted’s widespread downgrading of British schools
feature Watchdog says lower ratings show inspections are needed but teaching leaders voice their criticism
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
English literature: is it doomed?
Speed Read Arts and humanities courses are under attack thanks to a shift to ‘skills-led’ learning
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Does Ofsted require improvement?
Why Everyone’s Talking About Most teachers think the education watchdog does not drive up standards
By The Week Staff Published
-
Are UK classrooms a new political battleground?
Speed Read Government has issued new guidance on political neutrality in schools
By The Week Staff Published
-
Kathleen Stock resigns: the ‘hounding’ of an academic on the front line of transgender rights debate
Speed Read Sussex University students claim ‘trans and non-binary students are safer and happier for it’
By The Week Staff Published
-
How 100,000 ‘lost children’ disappeared from UK school system
Speed Read Experts warn that vulnerable pupils may be recruited by gangs after failing to return to education post-lockdown
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Why is the government planning to cut arts education funding by 50%?
Speed Read Proposal described by critics as ‘catastrophic’ and ‘an attack on the future of UK arts’
By Kate Samuelson Last updated