I've just started working as a teacher for a charity that tries to tackle education inequality and I've been placed in a Nursery/Reception class at an underperforming school in a very deprived white area (school can't afford to have them separate). This is my biggest hurdle with the children. There's a very marked difference between the children who have parents that are actively engaged, turn up to Parents' Evening, read the books we send home, ask about the curriculum newsletters etc, and the ones who just about bother to drop their kid off without so much as a jumper. We have two 4yos who still come in with nappies. There's been several older kids in the school who have stated their ambition is to "get pregnant and get the government to pay" (girl in Year 4) and "I shouldn't have to read. It's pointless and I'll never use it" (boy in Year 6).

One very notable thing I've noticed: my 4 best performing children were 3 black boys (who actually left the school because they lived too far away) and 1 Indian girl from first generation immigrants. All just as poor, one was living in a Women's shelter, but their parents have a very different attitude towards the importance of education.