“Most people are not really free. They are confined by the niche in the world that they carve out for themselves. They limit themselves to fewer possibilities by the narrowness of their vision. The class system in England reveals deep-seated societal values and prejudices, often influences opportunities and lifestyle”-V.S. Naipaul

Bridget Maeve Phillipson, the current Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities, since July 2024, who was on free school meals, working class northern England, from single parent family who had grown up in poverty in council accommodation on benefits but defied her deprived background to get into Oxford and reach the pinnacle of her profession. Education was her only way out which is why she clearly embraced her role as education secretary. She started acing her test and other parents saw her as a good influence on their errant offspring.

Phillipson (41) spent her early years from a former mining town, Washington in Tyne and Wear, and was brought up in a street of dilapidated council homes without a father. Her focus was to be always on time with her homework. Her house was squeezed between a disused railway line and an industrial wasteland with no upstairs heating and was often burgled. Phillipson never met her father, a teacher who paid no money towards her upbringing. Phillipson said “My father died when I was at university. I never kept in touch with my dad’s family. I never had any interest. My mother encouraged me to read from an early age and do my times tables with my grandad, a nurse who took me to museums. They saved up for drama lessons at 50p every Saturday because I was too shy to speak. I became an extra in children’s TV show Byker Grove and learnt the violin. I was thought in Portakabins but encouraged to apply for Oxford. Having accepted to Oxford to read French, despite only having been abroad once on a school exchange. I want all the children to have the opportunities and they just don’t now. The challenges facing white working-class kids are complex and profound”.

“My son is very proud, but my daughter finds it a bit odd that there is picture of me in a classroom at her school. I do, reading and homework with them and I have had to brush on stuff. Like every mum I want them to work hard and do the right thing but also be happy, rounded people”. children have it easier now, as may under 16 don’t do chores. I do believe children need a sense of boundaries to feel secure and safe, otherwise they find the world daunting. So, we have bedtimes and limited screen time. But we also let them go out with friends, getting to school on their own and we have a dog in the pandemic on the condition that they came out for walks with us.” Phillipson said.

“it is a scandal that fewer than 20 per cent of the children from white working-class background get a strong pass in English and Maths” Phillipson explains. Bashing Tory rule all those years which she believes entrenched social divides and disproportionately damaged the poorest. She rallies against the stereotyping of the areas like hers, the red wall, as lacking in aspiration, when she says they feel desperate about their sense of powerlessness. She cites glossy brochures for independent schools that are filled with pictures of beaming children playing tennis or the oboe, making pottery.  

After university she moved back to Washington working for a charity and council before buying her first house in the street where she had grown up and becoming MP for Houghton and Sunderland South.

She also highlighted about the provision of special educational needs and disabilities which has become an urgent problem. The number of children requiring education, health and care soared from 250, 000 to 638,000 in a decade, using local authority’s budgets. “We need to make sure that when teachers identify a child’s needs we can work to ensure that child thrives. There will always be a requirement for specialist provision for children with complex requirements, but we need to deliver better mainstream inclusion for send children in their local schools so that they don’t have to travel long distances.” Phillipson said.

“Working class parents are still ambitious and aspirational for their children, for them to be happy and safe and have opportunities. My family came to the UK from Ireland. When you come to the UK without connections, you really have to work hard and you want to prove yourself. But lots of people I represent work really hard and life can still be really tough. If you have more money and time it is easier to be a parent. We face unacceptably high levels of child poverty. It damages us all.” Phillipson insists. “All working parent are now eligible for 30 hours of free childcare a week if their child is aged between nine months and four years. Too many young couples think it’s impossible to balance having a family with juggling a job and being happy and fulfilled as a parent. It’s about making it affordable with early years help and making it easier for parents to get a job”. Phillipson is proud that nearly everyone in the Labour cabinet attend a state school and almost all have at least one degree.