White students from working-class families actually do the least homework and fall behind all other youngsters by the time they take their secondary examination as their parents have low educational aspirations, according to the study.

But, on the other hand, it has revealed that Asian and black youngsters, growing up in similar households, manage to do better in studies than white pupils, the British media reported in London on Friday.

The government-funded report said: “The most significant factors were the frequency of completing homework, academic self-concept and pupils educational aspirations.

“These variables play a large part in accounting for the differential progress among pupils from low socio-economic classification (SEC) homes, and could statistically explain the strong progress of minority ethnic pupils and the poor progress of white British pupils from low SEC homes.”

It added: “White British pupils were one of the two ethnic groups who reported doing the least amount of homework and the ethnic group with the lowest academic self-concept and the lowest educational aspirations, and these factors are key in interpreting their poor progress.”

In addition, the research by Dr Steve Strand from the Institute of Education at Warwick University, has uncovered a massive gulf in achievement between poor white pupils and white pupils from middle-class homes.