The Opportunity To Engage

Neil Davenport writes:

Yet another academic is calling for education to be made more ‘relevant’ for working-class children. According to The Times, Lee Elliott Major, a professor of social mobility at Exeter University, has told the UK government’s curriculum review that ‘deprived’ pupils are alienated by the middle-class biases of education. He criticised middle-class cultural references in exam questions; the privileging of ‘middle-class ways of speaking and behaving’ in the classroom; and complained that schools prioritise ‘middle-class pursuits’, such as ‘visits to museums, theatres and high-brow art galleries’.

To appeal to working-class kids, Major said that schools should instead ‘visit local football clubs and grounds for tours’; ‘collaborate with artists and musicians to explore grime and rap music’; and ‘attend graffiti-art workshops reflecting local culture or invite tradespeople to speak or run workshops’.

This cringeworthy attempt to make school more ‘relevant’ to working-class kids is sadly nothing new. It is part of a broader campaign that has been brewing for years to strip the curriculum of supposedly ‘elitist’ content. It is condescending, counter-productive and deeply flawed.

Those advocating making education less ‘posh’ believe that learning is only effective when it reflects students’ own backgrounds and experiences. This assumes that if children see their world mirrored in the curriculum, they will automatically be more engaged.

But this approach is a recipe for failure. Students can spot condescension from a mile away. If teachers try too hard to ‘relate’ to their students, it breeds cynicism and disengagement. Kids don’t want to be patronised – they want to be challenged. Pandering to perceived cultural biases is no way to inspire them.

Yes, children from more academic backgrounds often have a head start in vocabulary and knowledge – or ‘middle-class ways of speaking and behaving’, as Major would put it. But the solution isn’t to lower the bar. It’s to offer a rich, knowledge-based education that bridges those gaps. One of the few genuine successes of the previous Tory government was its implementation of a demanding, knowledge-rich curriculum. Abandoning this now risks reversing the progress that has been made in education.

Sadly, too many within the educational establishment have long been hostile to traditional academic content. They tend to cast the high achievements of Western culture as expressions of white supremacy, elitism and class superiority. This approach ignores the transformative power of education. As the late John Prescott once remarked of being sent to college by his trade union, despite struggling at school: ‘Ruskin [College] opened my eyes, opened my mind. I owe most of my life to Ruskin.’ Prescott recognised the value of formal education, even as he acknowledged the shortcomings of his early schooling. Today’s self-described progressives in the education world, however, seem intent on depriving children from similar backgrounds to Prescott of the same opportunities.

This approach stands in stark contrast to the goals of early 20th-century left-wing activists. They fought to provide working-class children with access to a liberal education. Their aim was to prove that these children were just as capable as their wealthier peers. They saw education as a universal good – a tool to uplift the disadvantaged, rather than talk down to them.

Prescott’s story is a testament to how a challenging, rigorous education can open doors and expand horizons. The current push to strip schools of intellectually demanding content can only stifle personal development and restrict social mobility. A curriculum focused on ‘relevance’ over intellectual challenge risks keeping working-class children in their place, reinforcing mediocrity instead of fostering ambition.

This elite hostility towards the ‘middle-class curriculum’ is, in reality, a hostility towards academic content itself. If politicians and educators truly want to help working-class children, they need to raise expectations, not lower them. Education isn’t about pandering to perceived ‘working-class culture’ – it’s about providing every student with the opportunity to engage with a rich, challenging curriculum. Anything less is a betrayal of the next generation.