Fiona Millar: Much of Britain’s bitter division began in school

Post-Brexit convulsions continue and will do so for some time. This may slow the pace of other legislation, which may delight many people, though personally I would trade even the dreaded education bill to be remaining in the European Union. I hope we can use this pause to consider some lessons from recent weeks.

The reasons behind the referendum result will be picked over for years, even generations. But there seems to be agreement that we are a divided, grossly unequal society in which some communities feel isolated, let down and left behind. This has translated into anger, often directed at immigration, an understandable desire to be heard, to pull up the drawbridge and recreate a past that may well be impossible to return to.

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Then there is the question of disaffected white British working class communities – fatally underestimated by so many on the remain side, especially in the Labour party. We know that children from many of these families still underachieve compared with disadvantaged young people from other ethnic groups. This is another possible, and subtle, contributor to the cauldron of anger we have witnessed in the past few months.

According to the Sutton Trust, whose work with the Education Endowment Foundation makes it the go-to place for evidence and research, a great deal is known about the stubborn gap in attainment between white working class pupils and the rest, but too little about how to tackle it.

The trust’s chief executive, Lee Elliot Major, told me last week: “We think it has to be about convincing good teachers to teach and stay in the areas with the highest concentrations of white working pupils, plus investment in programmes to engage pupils and parents outside the school to improve cultural capital and attitudes to education.”

Read her full column here