Schoolchildren in deprived areas are being given the chance to learn about enterprise as well as maths.

James Ludlow, head teacher of the King’s Church of England School in Wolverhampton, often stops pupils in the corridor to ask them what they want to do in the future. For years, the answer has always been the same: “I don’t know, sir.”

The secondary school contends with some of the toughest conditions in the country for providing education. Its near-700 students are drawn from 40 different primary schools and speak more than 40 languages. One pupil who joined recently had escaped the war in Syria.

In the past year, however, answers to the head’s corridor question have become far more varied as a new focus on providing careers skills has started to pay off. Pupils talk regularly to entrepreneurs and business leaders and are invited to work at local companies — including the Mount, a plush hotel where visiting Premier League teams stay if they are playing Wolverhampton Wanderers.

King’s is playing a small part in a quiet revolution in schools. Along with English, maths and science, pupils are being taught the skills required to start businesses and thrive as workers in a changing economy that values entrepreneurship as much as it does qualifications in traditional subjects.

At the same time, the push — both by government and private interests — is helping improve social mobility by addressing one of the big inequities in the business world: a shortfall in working- class entrepreneurs.