ABSTRACT
This chapter explores data that shed light on attainment gaps in relation to poverty, ethnicity and gender. It looks at and discounts explanations of the poorer educational outcomes of one particular group (disadvantaged white children) based on ability and poverty per se, and explores explanations suggested by commentators, such as low parental aspirations, and lack of social and cultural capital. Research studies are described which suggest that for secondary students low aspirations are involved in the low attainment of this group, along with peer group pressure, truancy, exclusion and pupil mobility. The chapter suggests that we have much to learn from research on disadvantaged white pupils who have succeeded against the odds. This suggests that at the school level, disadvantaged white pupils do better when the schools seek and listen to pupils’ views, notice and celebrate success, pay attention to pupils’ social and emotional as well as academic development, help them develop ownership of their learning, target interventions carefully on the basis of detailed assessment, seek to engage parents, and understand and respect the communities they serve. At the individual level, disadvantaged white students do well when they have developed strong social and emotional skills (persistence, the ability to manage friendships and resist negative peer pressure), experienced early success (not necessarily academic success), have developed a sense of agency, had better spoken language skills in their early years than their less successful disadvantaged peers, and had learned to read successfully.
