IMPORTING THE SUPERIOR ANGLO:

[M]ultiple non-white ethnic-minority groups are ahead of their white British peers in terms of academic attainment. In the 2020/21 academic year, England-based pupils of Chinese (69.2), Indian (62.0), Bangladeshi (55.6), Black African (52.2) and Pakistani origin (50.5) achieved, on average, better "Attainment 8" results in than their white British peers (50.2). Exposing the crudely homogenising nature of the terms "Black" and "White", Black Caribbean-heritage pupils are behind their co-racial counterparts of African heritage by 8.2 points (44.0), while Irish-origin ethnic-minority pupils are notably ahead of their co-racial British peers by 5.5 points (55.7).

But there are multiple patterns at play that challenge tired orthodoxies surrounding social class and material deprivation. It is true that within every single ethnic group, pupils on free school meals (FSM) have a lower average Attainment 8 score than co-ethnic counterparts who are not on free school meals. However, there are pupils on free school meals in certain ethnic groups who are outperforming non-free school meal pupils in others -- and in some cases, the differences are striking. 

Chinese-origin pupils on free schools are an astonishing 13.4 points ahead of white-British pupils not on free school meals (66.5 and 53.1 out of 90 respectively). Making a complete mockery of the utterly useless "BAME" acronym, Bangladeshi-origin pupils on free school meals are, on average, a higher-achieving group than their Black Caribbean-origin peers who are not on free school meals (51.5 and 46.8 out of 90 respectively).

There is no doubting that the white British working-class pupils -- especially boys -- are struggling on the whole in our school system. White British pupils in England who are on free school meals have an average Attainment 8 score of just 35.8 out of 90. Indeed, the "free school meals" effect is the strongest within the white British ethnic group -- a gap of 17.3 points. But the reality of the matter is that are a number of cases which demonstrate that economically deprived non-white ethnic minorities are outperforming relatively "well off" peers in the white British mainstream. What are the reasons for this? 

There is no doubt that a robust school culture based on hard work and discipline can lift educational standards. But it is time to recognise that much of the shaping of youth educational outcomes and personal development does not take place in public institutions -- but is influenced by family life, parental approaches and community-based relationships. 

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