Are white working class girls falling behind?

Are white working class girls falling behind?

From File on 4 Investigates by BBC Radio 4

April 14, 2026 · 37 min

About this episode

The episode investigates the decline in academic performance among white working-class girls in England and the efforts to address this issue.

White disadvantaged girls are being overlooked, school leaders are warning. Whilst white working-class boys remain one of the worst performing group in their GCSEs, white girls from low income homes aren’t much further behind them. File on 4 Investigates has worked with the BBC Data team to compare 2025's GCSE results in England with those of 2019. The team found that white working class girls in England have seen some of the biggest declines in attainment since 2019 - with just 38 percent of these students passing their English and Maths exams. All girls are down by 1.6 percentage points at GCSE but low-income white British girls are down by 6.4 percentage points. Cutting the link between 'background and success' and halving the 'disadvantage gap' is something the Department for Education has pledged to tackle. In this programme we examine what is behind the decline for this group of girls and meet school leaders who are working to reverse it. Reporter: Hayley Mortimer Producer: Ashley Kennedy Technical Producer: Cameron Ward Production Coordinator: Tim Fernley Editor: Tara McDermott

People in this episode

Hosts: Tim Fernley, Tara McDermott

Guest: Hayley Mortimer

Topics covered

  • education
  • disadvantage
  • gender
  • academic performance
  • socioeconomic status
  • policy

Keywords

  • white working class girls
  • GCSE results
  • academic decline
  • education policy
  • socioeconomic disadvantage
  • England
  • Department for Education

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Department for Education

Places: England

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