The UK needs to move beyond a higher education system “dominated by the traditional three-year residential degree” and develop more flexible routes, according to an inquiry that found universities “lack relevance” in the lives of white working-class children.
Just 22 per cent of white working-class pupils believe university is “important for getting a good job”, according to polling conducted for an independent inquiry into the educational outcomes of this demographic, while more than half (55 per cent) do not rate their schooling positively for “helping them succeed in the future”.
In comparison, by year 12 and 13, nearly half (44 per cent) of white middle-class children say going to university is “part of being successful”, with 44 per cent of non-white children from the same social class reporting the same.
Overall, 52 per cent of white working-class pupils told researchers that they were likely to attend university, versus 82 per cent of their peers.
The Independent Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes, commissioned by multi-academy trust Star Academies and supported by the Department for Education (DfE), was commissioned because education is not working for white working-class young people “in the way it should”.
