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New Study Shows UK’s Most vulnerable Children Are Being Betrayed

Source: by Harriet Sergeant, UK Centre for Policy Studies
Posted on: 29th November 2009

Too many of our most vulnerable children are being betrayed, demonstrates Harriet Sergeant in Wasted: the betrayal of white working class and black Caribbean boys, published on Friday 27 November 2009 by the Centre for Policy Studies.

Based on a year of interviews with those the education system has most let down, and with teachers and parents, Harriet Sergeant reveals that:

  • Only 6% of white boys entitled to free school meals and 16% of all Caribbean boys go on to further education
  • More than one in five 14 year old boys has a reading age of nine or less. 63% of white working class boys and 54% of black working class boys are unable to read and write properly at 14
  • 48% of the prison population has a reading ability below that expected of an 11 year old
  • Youngsters from disadvantaged homes are five times more likely to fail to get five good GCSE grades than those from affluent backgrounds

We cannot afford this waste of talent. Nor can we afford the cost it incurs in terms of dependency on benefits and the probability of crime. With the number of NEETS (Not in Employment, Education or Training) now approaching 1 million, the cost in benefits alone is over £90 million a week.

It need not be like this. Harriet Sergeant details case studies which show:

  • the success of Charter Schools in the US, where children from poor backgrounds are flourishing in response to strong discipline and traditional teaching methods
  • the success of synthetic phonics in teaching reading, particularly for those who find reading most difficult – and how government efforts to impose synthetic phonics have been subverted
  • how some voluntary organisations are able to provide the structure and discipline which are so often absent from schools

Children can be taught to read. Children will respond to discipline. Children will rise to a challenge. And there are some excellent state schools which, despite the odds, flourish. But for this to take root in all our schools, we must eradicate the educational orthodoxies that are in large part responsible for the failings of too many of our schools.

Harriet Sergeant concludes:

“It is time to must challenge this deep-seated culture in our schools. Proposals for giving parents more freedom to set up schools, for imposing synthetic phonics, for enhancing the professionalism of teachers are all wise and greatly needed. But if change is to be lasting, something more dramatic is in order: namely, a recognition of the source of the crisis and an end to the educational ideology that has damaged schools and betrayed millions of children.”

The report is available as a free download. There is a short film about the report here

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