Once-in-a-generation reforms are needed to fix an education system that “is not serving the interests of white working-class children”, an independent inquiry has concluded.

It was set up last summer to look into why such children are the lowest-performing large demographic in the school system in England.

The inquiry’s recommendations include expanding apprenticeships and free public transport for under-21s.

Inquiry co-chair Baroness Morris said responsibility “cannot sit with schools alone” and was not due to a lack of aspiration or effort from young people.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said multiple generations had been “robbed of opportunity”.

“The communities in this report are my communities. I know what they’ve given this country and what this country has failed to give back,” she said.

The Independent Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes, external was commissioned by the multi-academy trust Star Academies and is supported by the Department for Education.

It spoke to thousands of young people and their parents as well as hundreds of teachers. Education data about white working class pupils was also analysed as part of the year-long review, looking at the 1.25 million young people in England who are white British and in receipt of free school meals.

The inquiry found a growing belief among white working-class families that the current education system does not guarantee future success.

Baroness Morris, who as Estelle Morris was education secretary under Tony Blair’s Labour government from 2001 to 2002, said none of the initiatives rolled out in the past 30 years had significantly or sustainably boosted the performance of white working-class children in school.

There was a disconnect between what the children and their parents wanted in terms of careers and what their schools could offer them, she said.

While the system often emphasises academic progression to higher education, the inquiry said many families place greater importance on the social experience of school and wanted to see more high-quality vocational options like apprenticeships in their local area.

The inquiry is calling for sweeping changes, from more support in the early years to improved mental health support and restrictions on smartphone use in schools.

It makes 24 recommendations, including:

The inquiry said the move to secondary education was a key moment where students can start to disengage with school.

That was the case for Stephen, who is 16 now but left school three years ago and spent the next three years out of education.

He said if the system was more vocational, then he may have stayed on.

“I feel like schools need to engage in more practical work because, at least for me, the written work didn’t work,” he said.

“So if they engaged in more practical work, that would help people who couldn’t really complete school because it would help them learn actual skills that are useful for them.”

At the beginning of this year, he started a four-week course in Preston, run by the charity Spear, which supports young people back into work or education and then mentors them for six months.

With their support, he is pursuing his dream of becoming a barber, and is starting a college course in September.

When 16-year-old Adam arrived at secondary school he was disengaged and struggled with reading.

“In Year 7, I started off in phonics. I couldn’t speak really well and I couldn’t really say certain words. I was so focused on home life,” he said.

But over the next six months at Beacon Hill Academy in Dudley, he learned to read in the library and was able to catch up with his peers.

“My teacher kept saying, ‘Whatever you believe in, you can achieve.'”

Adam has just finished his exams with the help of his grandad, who made flash cards to help him revise. He said he taught him to be hard-working and he is now hoping for a place at his local college.

“I’m from a working-class background and now I get to do an A-level in law and politics and business,” he said.

“It’s a huge achievement and I feel like it’ll help me further down the line.”

Adam and Stephen are proudly working-class, which the inquiry said was a common feature within the demographic.

It said children, families and communities had spoken powerfully about the joy, pride, humour, identity and sense of community that comes with being white working-class.

“The task is not to change these communities, but to build an education system that better recognises, values and builds upon the strengths already within them.”

But the inquiry also acknowledged that the true scale of white working-class disadvantage is “likely to be substantially larger”, as the education data they looked at did not include families who were on low incomes but did not receive free school meals.

One of the inquiry’s recommendations was to introduce a wider definition of who is working-class.

Currently, for a child from Year 3 onwards to qualify for free school meals in England, families need to be on Universal Credit or earning below £7,400 a year. That is changing this September to include all families on Universal Credit, regardless of income.

Phillipson said the inquiry’s report laid bare the scale of the challenge, but added that “for the first time in a long time white working-class children have a government that will fight for them”.

She said: “From lifting the two-children limit, to more opportunities through sport and the arts, to breathing new life into family services, I’m changing things for these children and families.”

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