This paper examines post-primary school choice processes in the urban Irish working-class community of Portown. Here, there is an awareness of hegemonic neoliberal ideals and how school choice becomes a significantly classed space characterised by market ideologies and structural inequality. This critical ethnography explored the world through…

Young people in Irish schools are required to choose whether to sit secondary exam subjects at higher or ordinary level. This paper draws on a mixed methods longitudinal study of students in 12 case-study schools to trace the factors influencing take-up of higher level subjects within lower secondary education. School organisation and process are…

Examines the economic, social/cultural, and educational barriers that low-income, working-class, Irish students experience in accessing higher education. Suggests that the dynamic role of the state, in creating and maintaining inequality, needs to be systematically addressed; resistance can be accomplished by targeting structures from state…