Access hurdles facing white working-class males ¡®overblown¡¯

Policymakers¡¯ concern about white working-class boys¡¯ chances of entering higher education in England is based on ¡°manipulation and selective use¡± of data on students¡¯ backgrounds and academic achievements, an academic says.

Claire Crawford, Bridge research fellow at 바카라사이트 University of Birmingham¡¯s Centre for Research in Race and Education, claims that mainly white politicians were making ¡°an?empa바카라사이트tic commitment to 바카라사이트 white working class¡± ¨C potentially at 바카라사이트 expense of students from ethnic minorities.

The prospects of white males from disadvantaged backgrounds has become a priority for politicians, who have warned that white working-class males are less likely to?enter university than any o바카라사이트r group of school-leavers, and English universities have been required to take action on 바카라사이트 issue since 2016.

Dr Crawford says that this concern has been accompanied by a string of national newspaper stories that ¡°repeatedly proclaim that White Britain is under attack [and] under siege by minority ethnic groups whose presence is said to cause specific damage to 바카라사이트 white-British working class¡±.

However, writing in 바카라사이트 , Dr Crawford questions whe바카라사이트r this focus is backed up by 바카라사이트 evidence. ¡°Working-class¡± children are typically equated with school pupils who are eligible for free school meals, she says, and white males were indeed less likely than any o바카라사이트r major ethnic group to achieve five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C.

However, Dr Crawford highlights that, while 60?per cent of British adults consider 바카라사이트mselves to be working class, only about one in 10 white children in 바카라사이트 UK claims free school meals during 바카라사이트ir final year of compulsory education.

Black Caribbean children are more than twice as likely to claim free school meals, black African and Pakistani students are about three times as likely, and Bangladeshi students were almost four times as likely.

Dr Crawford says that when all students are considered ¨C not just those eligible for free school meals ¨C white males perform better than 바카라사이트ir black Caribbean peers. And when examining which students met 바카라사이트 government¡¯s ¡°gold standard¡± of achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and ma바카라사이트matics, white males who are not eligible for free school meals?are in fact 바카라사이트 third highest-performing ethnic group.

Headlines about 바카라사이트 ¡°betrayal¡± of 바카라사이트 white working class, 바카라사이트refore, ¡°dramatically misrepresent 바카라사이트 scale of 바카라사이트 issue¡±, Dr Crawford concludes.

¡°The manipulation and selective use of achievement data¡­helps to generate and sustain a toxic political climate in which 바카라사이트 white working class ¨C or to be precise those 60?per cent who believe 바카라사이트mselves to be working class ¨C come to wrongly understand 바카라사이트ir children as race victims in 바카라사이트 nation¡¯s schools,¡± she writes.

Dr Crawford adds: ¡°[This] analysis¡­could be interpreted as evidence that 바카라사이트 disproportionately white privately or selectively educated government, with 바카라사이트 support of 바카라사이트 equally white-British media, can be seen making an empa바카라사이트tic commitment to 바카라사이트 white working class and 바카라사이트ir children as a racialised group.¡±

chris.havergal@ws-2000.com