This week, I read the newly published Independent Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes.
It is a serious piece of work. And, if I’m honest, it landed with me not because it told me something entirely new, but because it put into words – and into evidence – many of the things we see every day in the lives of the young people we support. The report describes a system in which educational gaps emerge early, widen over time and are reinforced at key transition points, until too many young people feel that education is something that happens for other people, not for them.
That phrase stayed with me.
Because when a young person reaches us feeling disconnected from learning, unsure of their future and doubtful that any pathway really belongs to them, that feeling has usually taken years to build. It rarely begins at 16. It begins much earlier – in missed connections, poor fit, low trust, limited relevance and a growing sense that the system is not built with them in mind. That is exactly what this report sets out so clearly.
The report identifies five major findings. It says the education system is not set up to serve white working class children and families well; that schools and families are often misaligned in how they define success; that white working class families frequently have a poorer experience of the school system; that transitions are pressure points where disengagement grows; and that outcomes are shaped not only by school, but by wider economic and community conditions too.
It also includes some stark data. By the end of secondary school, only 36% of white British pupils eligible for free school meals achieve a grade 4 or above in English and Maths GCSE, compared with 72% of non-FSM pupils. The report also argues that this is not simply a matter of attainment. It is about confidence, belonging, mental health, attendance, relevance and whether a young person can see a credible route into adult life.
That is important to us because those are exactly the things that sit underneath so much of the work we do.
Why this report prompted me to write
I wanted to write this blog because the report is not just a diagnosis. It is also a call to act.
Its recommendations are wide-ranging: a stronger role for family hubs and early intervention, better transition support, more attention to Key Stage 3, better careers education, stronger vocational and applied pathways, expanded apprenticeship opportunities, properly funded enrichment, improved SEND support and more flexible post-16 and post-18 routes. The report is also very clear that further education colleges often succeed in re-engaging young people who have become disconnected from school, precisely because they can feel more adult, more respectful and more clearly linked to real life and future work.
Again, that resonated.
Not because everything in the report maps neatly onto every young person we support. It does not. But because the underlying message does: young people re-engage when education becomes relational, relevant and believable.
And that is why this report feels important. It gives national weight to something many specialist providers, practitioners and families have known for a long time.
What this means for the young people policy is trying to help
Over recent months, we have not only been supporting learners day to day. We have also been contributing to policy discussions designed to improve outcomes for the same broad group of young people who sit behind this report.
We contributed to the call for evidence for Alan Milburn’s Young People and Work review, which was launched to understand the drivers behind the rise in young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). That call for evidence ran from 16 December 2025 to 30 January 2026, and the interim report was published on 28 May 2026. The review is explicitly focused on understanding why rising numbers of young people – including disabled young people and those with health conditions – are becoming disconnected from education and work, and what reform is needed in response.
We also responded to the Department for Education’s SEND reform consultation, Putting Children and Young People First, which sought views on proposals to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND across the 0-25 system, including earlier support, fairer access and clearer shared accountability across partners. That consultation ran from 23 February 2026 to 18 May 2026.
And we are currently contributing to the Department for Education’s 16 to 19 performance measures consultation, which is seeking views on ways to make those measures more consistent and comprehensive, improve English and Maths progress measures, and refine retention measures. That consultation was published on 28 April 2026 and remains open until 21 July 2026.
These may sound like separate policy conversations.
They are not.
At the heart of all three is a similar question:
How do we build a system that recognises young people earlier, supports them better, and measures success in a way that reflects real progress rather than just administrative neatness?
What we are trying to say into those consultations
If I had to summarise our message into one sentence, it would be this:
Young people do not become disengaged because they lack potential. They become disengaged when systems repeatedly fail to make progress feel possible.
That is as true in the NEET conversation as it is in SEND, and it is just as true when we talk about performance measures for 16-19 provision.
The White Working Class Educational Outcomes report makes a similar point in a different way. It rejects the idea that underachievement is inevitable and shows that better outcomes are possible when young people experience high expectations, strong relationships, enrichment, relevance and trusted support.
In our contribution to the NEET review, we have wanted to emphasise that disengagement is usually the end point of a longer journey, not a sudden event. Young people who become NEET often have histories of anxiety, poor attendance, exclusion, fractured trust and weak transition support long before they disappear from the headline data. Alan Milburn’s interim report similarly describes the scale of the challenge as structural, long-term and deeply connected to inequality, health and place.
In our response to the SEND consultation, we have wanted to ensure that the lived reality of learners is not lost behind labels, thresholds and process. The consultation itself is about improving outcomes through earlier, fairer support and stronger shared accountabilities. From where we stand, that only works if systems understand that progress for many young people begins with trust, relationship and a sense of safety.
And in relation to 16-19 performance measures, we want to make sure that what is counted reflects what actually matters. Qualifications, achievement and retention matter, of course. But so do re-engagement, readiness, confidence, attendance recovery, sustained destinations and the progress a learner makes from the point they actually arrive. The current consultation is asking how to improve measures of outcomes, English and Maths progress and retention. That is exactly the right conversation – but only if we stay close to the realities of learners whose journeys are rarely linear.
What we are working hard to do
The easiest thing to do when reading a report like this is to nod along.
The harder thing is to keep doing the daily work well.
For us, that means continuing to create learning environments where young people can rebuild confidence, feel recognised, experience consistency and begin to connect education with a future that feels real to them. It means taking seriously the things that large systems often treat as secondary: belonging, language, trust, purpose, encouragement, routine and relevance. Those are not side issues. In our experience, they are often the conditions that make progress possible in the first place.
It also means trying to influence policy honestly.
Not from theory alone, but from what long-term practice teaches you.
The young people behind NEET policy, SEND policy, 16-19 accountability reform and this latest report are not abstract categories. They are young people with uneven educational histories, different forms of need, mixed levels of trust, and very real questions about whether the adult world has a credible place for them.
If policy is to improve outcomes for them, it must stay connected to that reality.
A final thought
The new report makes the case that no child should grow up feeling that education is for other people and not for them. It argues for a system in which young people leave education with confidence, purpose and a clear route into adulthood.
That is a national ambition. It is also a very practical one.
And it is one we are proud to keep contributing to – both through our work with young people and through the policy conversations that shape what happens next.
Go well…
be bold…
David Lett, Operations Director at New Meaning Training
PS – Here’s the full report if you’d like to read it: White Working Class Educational Outcomes Report – Summer 2026