In this essay, music education is conceptualized as a game or performance within The Game, the "pervasive atmosphere" (Fisher 2009) of neoliberal capitalism, which inevitably shapes scholarship, practice, and policy. Even people who strive to see music education for what it really might be (e.g., those researching and promoting social…

This paper revisits and reassesses the intellectual and practical contribution of Caroline Benn (née DeCamp, 1926-2000) to politics, policymaking and practice at a crucial turning point in English education, which I call the 'long comprehensive moment' between 1950 and 1990. It articulates a strong sense that her involvement in significant public…

The promotion of equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives has become routine within Anglophone universities in the Global North. However, critical race scholars have demonstrated that these well-intentioned policies are often formulated in ways that transact empty performatives, where discussions of racism are deemed too challenging. Moreover,…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) live in the American imagination as promising tools for solving pressing global challenges and enhancing quality of life. Despite the importance of the STEM disciplines in the landscape of U.S. political, economic, and social priorities, STEM learning opportunities are unevenly distributed,…

This article analyses the discourse on 'good parenthood' that has emerged in Germany in the context of neoliberal educational reforms in recent decades. The analysis shows that this discourse is structured mainly along the lines of "race", "class" and "gender." It also shapes the parents' responses to racial othering…

Northern Ireland has a deeply divided education system with demarcation most notable along ethno/religious and social class lines. The former is largely attributable to the historical organisation of the schools estate based on religion, and the latter is associated with a system of academic selection that filters children into grammar and…

This paper examines the interplay of class and race in theeducation of Roma students in the Czech Republic. We contribute to theliterature on the role of teachers as gatekeepers to future education andemployment by looking into how they assign educational and career routes basedon what they perceive as appropriate for particular students, with…

Democratization of the South African education system was significantly advanced by the South African Schools Act (SASA) promulgated in 1996. SASA gave parents the power to direct the course and substance of their children's education in important ways. The circumstances of its origination, however, left in place crucial features of the country's…

Purpose: This study examined challenges to gentrifying schools as white spaces, exploring the efforts of administrators and parents to create an equitable school environment during the initial years of the Diversity in Admissions policy. Methods: In qualitative fieldwork conducted over 2 years at City, a Title I public school in New York City, I…

While much has been written about inclusive education systems, researchers have mainly focused upon policies and practices to encourage access and participation for children with disabilities or special educational needs. Yet it is evident that the population of individuals and in some cases whole communities who have been denied access to…

School funding policy in Australia not only promotes educational equity in some ways but also creates substantial between-school resource inequalities due to its embrace of market ideologies. School funding policies are designed to promote school choice and competition, based on the assumption that they are both a right and an effective lever for…

Higher education should be a social good for everyone and, despite the intentions of university policy on inclusion and diversity with schemes on widening participation, the truth is that for working-class students, university is still a place where they encounter prejudices and feelings of exclusion. This article uses the method of…

In social stratification research, the most frequently used social class schema are based on employment relations (EGP and ESEC). These schemes have been propelled to paradigms for research on social mobility and educational inequalities and applied in cross-national research for both genders. Using the European Working Conditions Survey, we…

Higher education initiatives to support students from low socioeconomic backgrounds are widespread. However, there is pervasive concern within public discourse that such widening participation efforts have contributed to a 'dumbing down' of higher education. There are classed dimensions to evaluations of (dis)advantaged students' university…

Over the past two decades, as in many countries, the use of private tutoring ('shadow education') has increased substantially in the Netherlands. Educators and policy makers are raising questions regarding the role that shadow education may play in relation to the traditional configuration of the home and school being assigned the responsibility…