CLARE O’SULLIVAN, THE PTI, UK
Class still counts
In the UK, education is often described as a ladder of opportunity. Yet the profession at the heart of this promise – the teaching workforce – remains disproportionately middle class. Unlike ethnicity or gender, socio-economic background is not recorded in key national datasets such as the School Workforce Census, which renders working-class teachers largely invisible.
The National Foundation for Educational Research investigates who enters and remains in teaching, examining characteristics, profiles, and representation (McLean and Worth, 2025). However, these reports do not provide detailed socio‑economic data. There is an imbalance within the profession, which requires greater diversityThe recognition of individual differences in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, physical ability, religious beliefs and other differences and equitable access.
Representation and belonging: Why identity in the classroom counts
Teachers bring more than subject knowledge; they bring presence, experience and identity. For students from disadvantaged backgrounds, seeing a teacher ‘like me’ at the front of the classroom can be transformative. It fosters belonging and signals that school is a place that they can claim. Reay (2017) emphasises that this is not about virtue signalling, but about cultivating environments where every young person can thrive.
Evidence suggests that students are more likely to engage, aspire and believe in their potential when success is modelled by people from a range of backgrounds. Teachers with similar life experiences often understand the invisible barriers – such as navigating official language or unspoken behavioural expectations. They do not simply teach content; they translate culture. Reay notes that ‘we are still educating different social classes for different functions in society’ (Ferguson, 2017). When the workforce is dominated by one socio-economic group, definitions of ability, potential and professionalism risk being narrowed to reflect dominant norms, marginalising others.
Systemic inequities: The accountability gap
Improving class diversity in teaching is not just about recruitment; it is about fairness. The absence of socio-economic data in workforce datasets represents an accountability gap. Without baselines, it is impossible to measure progress or identify persistent inequalities.
The National Audit Office (2022) highlights that teacher shortages are most acute in disadvantaged areas, particularly in secondary education. These shortages mirror wider social inequalities: students eligible for free school meals continue to underperform in national examinations. The relationship between teacher identity and student experience is therefore critical. If we do not ask who our teachers are, then we risk missing key insights into why some students feel disengaged, alienated or unseen.
Scholars argue that class diversity in teaching can disrupt cycles of disadvantage (Elliot Major and Briant, 2023; Morley and Harris, 2025). But progress requires more than piecemeal initiatives. Structural barriers such as financial insecurity, unconscious bias and limited access to professional networks must be addressed.
Lived experience as cultural capital
Sociologists have long explained how class shapes education. Pierre Bourdieu’s (1986) theory of cultural capital refers to the social and cultural knowledge that is valued within education, which privileges certain groups while marginalising others. Similarly, Paul Willis’s Learning to Labour (1977) shows how working-class young people may internalise limits on their own potential.
Teachers who have navigated these dynamics themselves can offer more than academic instruction: they bring empathy and advocacy, grounded in lived experience. As Owolade (2023) argues, class remains a more persistent determinant of life chances in Britain than race or ethnicity. A class-conscious approach to recruitment is therefore essential. Without it, the profession risks being performative – speaking of inclusionAn approach where a school aims to ensure that all children are educated together, with support for those who require it to access the full curriculum and contribute to and participate in all aspects of school life while replicating exclusion.
What’s working: Examples from the ground
Some schools are already demonstrating the impact of intentional recruitment. In Essex, bursaries introduced in 2024 increased the proportion of trainee teachers from low-income backgrounds by 20 per cent. Retention also rose, from 85 to 92 per cent. A primary school in Harlow embedded recruitment within the local community and offered training based in familiar contexts. Outcomes included improved student engagement and, in one case, two new members of staff who had once been students at the school themselves.
Morley and Harris (2025) argue that teachers with lived experience of poverty can recognise need without pathologising it. These examples suggest that when recruitment is intentional, localised and resourced, working-class teachers are not only included but also lead, inspire and reflect their communities.
Retention and cultural change: Beyond recruitment
Recruitment is only the first step. Retaining teachers from working-class backgrounds requires attention to school culture, mentoring and leadership development.
Mentorship is crucial, especially when it addresses professional identity as well as pedagogy. Entering institutions shaped by middle-class norms can create dissonance for teachers from different backgrounds, and without support, this can undermine confidence. Mentoring provides a reflective space in which to challenge assumptions and build resilience.
Bias-aware appraisal systems are one way in which to drive change. When progression relies on subjective terms, such as ‘presence’ or ‘leadership potential’, schools must interrogate whose leadership and presence are being valued. Policy, too, has a role. The Department for Education’s retention strategies could explicitly address socio-economic barriers. National programmes such as Teach First should also examine their models: serving disadvantaged communities is not enough if the workforce itself lacks socio-economic diversity.
Barriers and complexities: What still stands in the way
Challenges remain. Tokenism is a risk: working-class teachers may be celebrated superficially but expected to assimilate into prevailing cultures. The pressure to ‘fit in’ rather than reshape institutions is heavy. Resource limitations are another barrier. Schools in disadvantaged areas often lack funding to provide bursaries, coaching or reflective professional development.
Measuring class is also complex. Indicators such as parental education, eligibility for free school meals and postcode each capture only part of the picture. Data collection must therefore balance transparency with dignity, ensuring that teachers are not reduced to checkboxes.
Policy levers: What needs to happen next
A joined-up approach would involve:
- Data reform: Add socio-economic indicators to the school workforce and initial teacher trainingAbbreviated to ITT, the period of academic study and time in school leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) (ITTInitial teacher training - the period of academic study and time in school leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)) census
- Targeted pilots: Combine bursaries, mentoring and bias training in high-need areas and evaluate their impact over time
- Inspection lens: OfstedThe Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills – a non-ministerial department responsible for inspecting and regulating services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills should consider staff diversity alongside curriculum
- Funding for professional development: Provide grants for schools developing inclusive recruitment and retention strategies
- Programme reform: Encourage national initiatives, such as Teach First, to centre socio-economic diversity in mission and design.
Reimagining the teaching profession
Recent research has shifted discourse on educational disadvantage. Morley and Harris (2025) stress that understanding disadvantage is the first step in overcoming it. Teachers with lived experience of poverty can identify need without pity and teach from recognition and not assumption. Knowles (2025) calls for curriculum models that resist reproducing middle-class cultural capital, embedding socio-economic diversity within content and pedagogy. Wright (2025) demonstrates how mentoring and targeted professional learning can address systemic inequities in the workforce. Maude and Davies (2025) highlight leadership frameworks that foreground equity, advocating for recruitment and promotion practices that extend access to senior roles for underrepresented groupsThe diversity of research participants should reflect the educational community for whose benefit the research is taking place. When this is not the case, some groups are underrepresented.
Together, these perspectives underscore how inclusion is not simply numerical representation or compliance with benchmarks. It requires structural recalibration across curriculum design, professional development and governance.
Conclusion: Towards a profession that reflects and reshapes
Teaching is more than instruction: it is relational, built on identity, trust and connection. A profession that reflects the socio-economic diversity of its students is not optional but essential. Teachers from working-class backgrounds bring lived perspectives that can reshape culture, raise aspirations and make education attainable for those often marginalised. Yet access alone is insufficient. Structures must support these teachers to remain, thrive and lead. If schools are to serve all children, then all children must be able to see themselves –and their communities – in the people who teach them.
