In the first decade of this millennium local government researchers in London and Birmingham, England, put their heads above the parapet to address the issue of White working-class children’s underachievement. The first London council to hold a conference on this was Islington, Cambridge Education @ Islington, which facilitated an open conversation about the challenge. Work by Iqbal in Birmingham drew attention to the education of the same demographic, including a conference and a report cited in Parliament. In this blog post, we argue that addressing the underachievement gap for White students is an important element in tackling issues of racism which may be fuelled by a lack of belonging and a sense of being left behind.

Writing in London in 2010, Hayes et al. produced an analysis of educational outcomes from early years to key stage 4 (ages 3 to 16) by ethnic group and found that the biggest disadvantaged attainment gap was between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged White pupils. We took the issue out of the negative paradigm, carrying out in-depth interviews with young people from White working-class backgrounds who achieved better than their predicted GCSE results (exams taken at 16 years old). We showed how important issues of self-esteem, self-efficacy in organising schoolwork, resilience, family support, extra-curricular enrichment opportunities and the ability to change friendship groups were in helping these students ‘succeed against the odds’.

While enrichment experiences are a tangible deliverable, we acknowledge that less tangible factors like self-esteem and resilience are harder to impart. Nonetheless, these findings were shared widely with local schools and in a national conference held in Greenwich in 2008. This work – and a relentless focus on other low-performing ethnic groups translated into tangible improvements in educational outcomes – meant that by 2013 Greenwich was outperforming national averages at GCSE. The research drew interest from neighbouring boroughs, for example, the fire service chief in Newham contacted Greenwich to learn lessons about how to stop White youths in Newham calling out the fire service (when there was no actual fire) and throwing missiles at the fire officers.

Work by Demie et al. in Lambeth also explored this issue, focusing on effective strategies to close the attainment gap for White pupils, which Lambeth showcased in a national conference in 2010. Demie also sat on the expert panel on disadvantage in Northern Ireland in 2019/20. His analysis of educational outcomes exposed the underperformance of working-class boys, both Protestant and Catholic and most specifically in the urban settings of east and west Belfast.

‘In Northern Ireland, educational underachievement remains an issue tied into sectarianism.’

It was possible to draw links between these young peoples’ lack of educational success and the riots in Northern Ireland and England in the summer of 2024; riots often spurred on by dangerous right-wing figureheads spreading disinformation. In Northern Ireland, educational underachievement remains an issue tied into sectarianism. This was evidenced by the political fallout from the meeting in September 2024 of the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC – a bona fide group but linked to loyalist paramilitaries) with the Education Minister from the Democratic Unionist Party. This saw local politicians clashing at Stormont’s Education Committee, although the original meeting was ostensibly called to discuss educational underachievement in loyalist areas.

As a counter to some of the persistent sectarianism in Northern Ireland, the work of the Centre for Shared Education at Queen’s University Belfast tackles these issues. The model it uses promotes curriculum-based collaboration and bridge building as a mechanism for improving intergroup relations between pupils and teachers from different community backgrounds and enhancing educational opportunities for all.

Educational underachievement, especially for poor young White people, remains a problem. These are possibly the same young people who, alongside their parents and others in the community, took part in the racist riots in 2024. Our research raises issues and offers solutions that should be addressed and adopted by politicians, policymakers and school leaders in English and Northern Irish educational contexts to avoid failing another generation of disadvantaged young people.

References

Bain, M. (2024, October 2). Sinn Fein hits out at Givan’s LCC meeting as MLAs clash again at Education Committee. Belfast Telegraph. Bain, M. (2024, October 2). https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/sinn-fein-hits-out-at-givans-lcc-meeting-as-mlas-clash-again-at-education-committee/a1852600990.html  

Centre for Social Justice [CSJ]. (2025). Lost boys: State of the nation (p. 28). https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/library/lost-boys

Demie, F. (2021). The educational underachievement of disadvantaged pupils in Northern Ireland: Challenges and good practice for tackling inequalities. Expert Panel on Educational Underachievement. https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1628255

Hayes, S., Shaw, H., McGrath, G., & Bonel, F. (2010). Student performance by social class and gender. Making research findings on students’ resilience and self-regulation work for teachers in secondary schools. Greenwich Council.