The idea that education can only be improved through solving the root cause of social disadvantage has a rotten effect on our nation's classrooms. Consider the following claim from Matthew Taylor, then the Guardian's education correspondent, writing about a study into educational outcomes: "This unprecedented project has revealed that a child's social background is the crucial factor in academic performance, and that a school's success is based not on its teachers, the way it is run, or what type of school it is, but, overwhelmingly, on the class background of its pupils." As a teacher, I find it hard to think of a sentiment that does more to undervalue the profession. The sociological view of education is a gospel of defeatism. 

It is not hard to see how in many of the nation's classrooms the sociological view becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. In her speech to the Conservative party conference in 2010, Katharine Birbalsingh criticised schools which avoid punishing misbehaving black pupils for fear of being labelled racist. She concluded, "Black children underachieve because of what the well-meaning liberal does to them." 

The same effect can be seen in academic expectations, where school curricula are relentlessly dumbed down by sympathetic educators hoping to make schoolwork more "accessible" for their pupils. "Subject to Change", a 2007 report by Martin Johnson, deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, criticised the teaching of discrete, academic subjects. Johnson wrote that this "classical and elite model containing a narrow range of intellectual knowledge and skill is inappropriate for an age of universal education". In one of the most absurd recommendations I have read, he proposed a new national curriculum focused on "principles, concepts and attitudes". As an example, he recommended "physical skills such as walking, which involves a disposition as well as a technique, and digging". 

However, there is hope to be found in the trends emerging in some of Britain's most ambitious state schools. A new mindset of "no excuses" designed to combat the decades-long rot of "low expectations" is gaining ground. This approach originated in the American charter school movement, on which Britain's free schools policy is partly based. KIPP schools, the largest and best-known network of charter schools in the US, have an enviable track record in educating pupils from deprived backgrounds: 94 per cent of their pupils are either African-American or Hispanic, and 76 per cent qualify for the federally-supported free meals programme. By the end of eighth grade, 94 per cent of KIPP classes outperform their local districts in reading, and 96 per cent in maths.