Parents must do more to tackle their children’s bad behaviour, the Education Secretary has said, as new figures reveal one in 10 of the poorest white working-class pupils is suspended from school every year.
Bridget Phillipson warns that the most ill-disciplined pupils are three times more likely to end up living a life on sickness benefits, with “profound implications not just for those young people, but for society as a whole”.
Writing for The Telegraph, Ms Phillipson says parents, families and schools all need to play their part in turning the tide on bad behaviour, while acknowledging that the wider system has “resolutely failed white working-class children”.
New statistics reveal white children from poorer families have among the highest absence, suspension and expulsion rates.
Figures from the National Behaviour Survey show that one in 10 white children on free school meals was suspended in the 2023-24 academic year.
That was the highest suspension rate of any grouping except for gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils, who are much fewer in number.
As the new term begins in England and Wales, Ms Phillipson is urging parents to make sure that their children return to school on their best behaviour.
She said: “I am calling on parents, schools and families to join us in playing their part to get children in class and ready to learn for the start of the new school term.
“We have already made progress with five million more days in school this year, and are backing parents and supporting schools through our Plan for Change.
“But we all need to do more, when it comes to getting kids in and behaving – this includes mums, dads and carers too.
“We know what works – strong leadership, consistent attendance and schools standing shoulder to shoulder with families.
“That’s why we’re investing in proven expertise so that schools facing the biggest challenges can get the support they need.”
Ms Phillipson warns that there is a significant link between persistent absence, including periods of suspension, and pupils’ chances in later life.
She says that, by the age of 24, children who were suspended at school are three times as likely as their peers to be on sickness benefits.
Youngsters who are persistently absent also earn on average £10,000 per year less by the time they are 28.
The “sobering” figures reveal a stark behavioural divide between white working-class children and their middle-class peers, which is not so pronounced in other ethnic groups.
They show that suspension rates are five times higher for white children on free school meals, and expulsion rates are six times higher.
Ms Phillipson said the result is that “for far too many white working-class children, opportunity is out of reach”.
She writes: “Absence leads to lower attainment and robs children of their earning ability. It’s not just exam grades or attendance figures – it’s generations of talent wasted, of young people locked out of the chance to contribute to our society and economy.
“The dislocation of these young people, often isolated from their communities, has profound implications not just for those young people, but for society as a whole.
“It is only this Government that has the courage to upend a system that has resolutely failed white working-class children.”
The highest proportion of working-class white children is in the North East, where Ms Phillipson represents the Houghton and Sunderland South constituency.
Separate figures from the National Behaviour Survey show that seven minutes out of every half-hour lesson are lost to classroom disruption.
And almost four in five teachers reported that bad behaviour was having a negative impact on their own health and wellbeing.
To tackle the issue, ministers are unveiling new Attendance and Behaviour Hubs at 800 schools across the country, which teach a combined 600,000 pupils.
By Bridget Phillipson
This week, millions of children will walk through school gates for the first day of a new school year. The opening of those gates should represent opportunity, aspiration and a pathway to success. But for far too many white working-class children, opportunity is out of reach.
The statistics that landed on my desk this week make for sobering reading. The previous government simply didn’t take this problem seriously, so even the numbers we have today only enable us to see the tip of the iceberg.
One in 10 white children on free school meals were suspended last year, with suspension rates five times higher than their peers. The same group of children also have among the highest overall absence rates in the country.
These children are swimming upstream against a staggering, entrenched class divide that sees them disproportionately kicked out of education or not attending in the first place. I will not shy away from telling the truth: these children were failed by the previous government.
Absence leads to lower attainment and robs children of their earning ability. It’s not just exam grades or attendance figures – it’s generations of talent wasted; of young people locked out of the chance to contribute to our society and economy.
By 24, suspended pupils are two and a half times as likely to receive unemployment benefits and three times as likely to receive health-related benefits. Pupils who are persistently absent earn £10,000 less by the time they are 28 and are four times more likely to end up not in education, employment or training.
As the Prime Minister has said, the dislocation of these young people, often isolated from their communities, has profound implications not just for those young people, but for society as a whole.
These dividing lines run like scars across the country – with opportunity clustered in some places while elsewhere entire communities are left behind. In my region, the North East, the percentage of white working-class pupils is the highest in the country. It also has some of the country’s highest absence and suspension rates.
This isn’t a coincidence. In too many of our towns and cities outside London, in too many former industrial heartlands, young people look around and struggle to see a route to success that feels real or achievable.
When the local economy has been hollowed out, when university feels like something for other people’s children, when a good apprenticeship seems out of reach, and when the most successful people you know had to leave to make it somewhere else, it becomes harder to believe that education is your route up.
Real change for white working-class children means real change for the communities they’re growing up in. After destroying these families’ faith in the value of being at school, it is the job of the state to restore that faith, their trust in education itself.
That’s why our Plan for Change is kickstarting economic growth and raising living standards in every part of the country, breaking the link between background and success wherever young people live.
We are already turning the tide on attendance with nearly 150,000 children back at school, and more than five million additional days of attendance in the classroom – the biggest year-on-year improvement in attendance in a decade.
And as the new term gets under way, we are going further, launching support through RISE Attendance and Behaviour Hubs in 800 schools covering 600,000 pupils. Because every day of missed lessons, every suspension that leads to lost learning, has consequences that echo throughout their lives.
But we will go further to break the link between background and success. Our forthcoming schools white paper will set out an ambitious vision for transforming outcomes for young people from all backgrounds. And we’re investing in early years provision and family support and giving millions more pupils access to expanded mental health support teams, free breakfast clubs, free school meals and better SEND support.
It is only this Government that has the courage to upend a system that has resolutely failed white working-class children. The Tories, fading fast into irrelevance, have neither the energy or the ideas to fix a problem they created.
Where Labour offers real hope of opportunity for young working-class people, Reform has nothing to offer our young people except anger and grievance.
And while Nigel Farage’s answer to so many of the challenges facing our young people is a resounding “don’t know”, there is one thing he is clear on: his support for the toxic online influencer Andrew Tate. Farage offers working-class people no hope, only the politics of anger and the poison of misogyny.
Young people growing up in parts of the country like my own need the Government to show them that in our great country, with its proud history, a bright future exists too. They need to know that they matter, that their hard work will end in success and that their background won’t determine where they end up.
The children in those statistics aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet. They’re someone’s daughter, someone’s son. I won’t rest until we have a school system and a country that fights for their future.
