`Vicious circle' that traps white boys

PAUL FIELD

Standing in a phone box on the Globe Town estate in east London, Ian, 15, reckoned that Chris Woodhead, the Chief Inspector of Schools, has got a point. "Look at me," he said, lifting the refund flap to check for loose change. "The last time I went to school was November. It was a waste of time."

Ian was responding to the suggestion that white working-class boys are trapped in a vicious circle of under-achievement that could cause social upheaval. The head of the Office for Standards in Education argued, in the newspaper article, that truancy among this group could lead to a life of unemployment or crime.

His views are based on analysis of last year's GCSE results, National Curriculum assessments and Ofsted inspections which showed that girls now outperform boys in every subject except physics. White boys from poor inner-city areas are now the most likely to leave school without qualifications.

Ian is a prime example of the culture among white working-class boys which concerns the Chief Inspector. He admitted: "I nick things, I thieve from shops, warehouses, whatever. I will get caught one day and end up in prison like my old man."

Unlike girls and children from almost all ethnic minorities who are achieving better results at school, there is an explicitly anti-education culture and disruptive behaviour.

Ian has not regularly attended lessons since starting secondary school in 1992. His father has been absent for most of his childhood, mainly due to prison sentences for burglary and assault. He lives with his mother on the fifth floor of a block of flats, surrounded by other single-parent families and male unemployment.

"My mum works part-time in the launderette so when she is out I stay in and watch TV. At night I hang around with my mates. We drink, smoke and have a laugh, whatever."

In an indictment of schools in poor urban areas, Ofsted said low expectations and monotonous teaching were contributing to a lack of motivation among pupils.