The Independent Inquiry into White Working-Class Educational Outcomes also determined that once-in-a-generation reforms were needed to tackle why such children are the lowest-performing large demographic in England’s school system.
It was commissioned last summer by the multi-academy trust Star Academies, and is supported by the Department for Education.
Inquiry co-chairs Baroness Estelle Morris and Sir Hamid Patel said the issues identified in the report “cannot be explained away by low aspiration or lack of effort”, and cannot be “solved by schools alone”.
Thousands of young people and their parents, as well as hundreds of teachers, were interviewed for the inquiry.
The Education Secretary has welcomed a report into educational outcomes for white working-class boys, saying class remains “a huge driver of outcomes…right across society”.
Bridget Phillipson told Times Radio: “I welcome the report, because I think it shines a really important light on what has been an underdiscussed area for some time in the schools.”
She added: “Class is a huge driver of outcomes, never mind in our politics, but right across society.
“If by class we mean the family that you’re born into determining what you go on to achieve in life, that’s as strong a driver as anything.
“We know that children born into less well-off families are more likely to arrive at school further behind their more affluent peers. We know they don’t make progress across school in closing that gap, and we know they’re more likely at the end of school to go into being not in education, employment, or training.
“So, background, social background, family background, where you’re born, they are big determinants of what you achieve in your life.
