If we want to stop white working-class pupils falling out of education, the work starts long before the classroom, writes Lucy Powell

We all believe that it should be your talent, your skills and how hard you work that determine how far you go in life. Not where you were born or what your parents earn. That’s what we tell ourselves anyway. But for too many, especially white working-class children, it isn’t the reality. Not because they lack talent. Not because their parents lack ambition for them. But because somewhere along the way, too many disconnect from school and don’t see its relevance.

Last summer’s white working-class inquiry’s findings were clear. These children are being held back by things outside their control, like their postcode, and how much their parents earn. But critically, they don’t think education has anything to offer them and they don’t enjoy school when they are there. It goes without saying, but it’s unacceptable that a quarter of white working-class kids say they never or rarely enjoy school. It’s unacceptable that fewer than half build the knowledge they need at primary and just 36% go on to pass English and maths GCSEs at 16.

When they start secondary school, worrying numbers are becoming disengaged at precisely the point when school should be opening new opportunities to them, with exciting specialist teachers. Skipping school starts to become really noticeable in their early teens. For white working-class children, persistent absence rates are 75% higher in secondary than primary. That's why I'm following the evidence – from Alan Milburn’s seminal work on disengaged young people to the government’s recent independent review of the curriculum and more – and making the first three years of secondary school, known as Key Stage 3, count.

As part of our once in a generation review of the entire National Curriculum, Key Stage 3 will become more exciting and engaging, with more time for teachers to spend on both the deeper understanding of subjects and crucially, richer and broader experiences. It will equip children with the capabilities they need for a changing world, like reading for pleasure, speaking and presenting, financial know-how, technical skills like making and cooking, understanding the technological age, more PE and enrichment, as well as a strong understanding of how to learn that will stay with them throughout their lives.

Alongside these high expectations, I will tell schools I don’t expect them to turn these vital years at the start of secondary into an ever earlier and earlier exam factory. Only 36% of pupils see how learning relates to life beyond exams or a future career in most or all lessons. So, schools will no longer be able to eat into parts of Key Stage 3 to start GCSE courses early. I want school to be unmissable, especially in these crucial years of the early teens and tweens.

I want every child to find their passion, their path in life and to be ready for the fast-changing world they are entering. But that’s not all, because school is only one part of the equation. The gap opens up much earlier. Experts tell us that children who are behind as toddlers are far more likely to still be behind as teenagers. That’s why today I’m backing the second phase of the White Working Class inquiry, which will look beyond the school gates at two critical points in a child’s life – how well prepared they are when they start school age 5, and what choices and opportunities they have available to them between 14 and 19.

If we want to tackle the NEETs crisis, we can’t wait until someone is 16 and struggling to find their next step. We have to deal with what puts these children at risk of getting there in the first place. That is why we’re acting across the whole life of a child’s journey. Our exciting curriculum reforms will ignite a love of learning for every child. But we're rebuilding support long before school starts, with Best Start Family Hubs offering families a one-stop shop for health, education, and family support services together under one roof, alongside the biggest expansion of free childcare ever.

And we're introducing new vocational GCSEs, as well as new V Levels post-16, to sit alongside academic subjects, so every young person can pursue their interests and see a clear, high-quality path from school to college, an apprenticeship, university or a good job. None of this is about lowering expectations for white working-class children. It is about raising them. Where you are born, what your parents earn or the community you grow up in should never determine whether you arrive at school ready to thrive, whether you enjoy and succeed in education, or whether a route to success is waiting at the end of it.

It begins with making sure no child starting out today is ever allowed to believe opportunity belongs to somebody else and empowering them to achieve excellence at every step of their education. Lucy Powell is the Secretary of State for Education and MP for Manchester Central. LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

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