Dear Sir Michael
I read with interest your interview quoted in The Guardian newspaper about the consequences of educational underachievement. I have to say, it’s very much a case of ‘I told you so’.
Back in 2005, I produced a report ‘Underachievement of White Disadvantaged Pupils in Birmingham’. While focussed on one local authority, it had much wider application. Consequently, it was re-produced and was used as the main text for a parliamentary debate, on 19 May 2009. The debate had been instigated by Richard Burden MP for Northfield and the then minister from the DCSF, Sara Macarthy-Fry, had responded on behalf of the government. I was quite encouraged because she had agreed some of my findings. But then the election came and….
My report had made the link between underachievement and extremism (though I might have said cohesion). I had shown quite simply that the wards of Birmingham where large numbers of White pupils were leaving school with few or no qualifications were the same communities which had a presence of the British National Party and, in one or two wards, the National Front as well. I had also drawn attention to other consequences of underachievement such as crime.
Since the above document, I have also produced other research reports including one pointing out that addressing white working class underachievement was not rocket science. It provided, Colmers School, Longbridge, as a case study. My most comprehensive and recent report on the subject was ‘White Working class underachievement – a case for Positive Action’. This was used as the backdrop for my TES article ‘White working class needs the minority treatment’, published in 2010.
One point on which I do agree with you is that the underachieving groups change. For many decades, the largest numbers of pupils who have left our schools have been white boys, especially those on free school meals. But, as pointed out in my recent book, Dear Birmingham, Pakistani boys in the city will probably become the main losers in the education lottery, especially if nothing is done about it. The latter are already a quarter of the local authority’s school population and around a thousand leave every year without the benchmark qualifications. Like their White neighbours, many also head for anti-social activity; some even make it to prison. I hope to offer some solutions on their underachievement in the near future when my doctoral research has been completed.
Finally, there is little I can suggest that you would not know. To paraphrase, Professor Charles Desforges, the achievement of working class pupils (White, Pakistanis) could be significantly enhanced if we systematically apply all that is known about education.
Karamat Iqbal
Author ‘Dear Birmingham – a conversation with My Hometown’