This book examines experiences and implications of "against-the-grain" school choices, where white middle class families choose ordinary and "low performing" secondary schools for their children. It offers a unique view of identity formation, taking in matters like family history, locality and whiteness.

The white middle-class parents who chose to send their children to urban comprehensives largely rejected engaging in the usual competitiveness for educational success. Nevertheless the parents in our study still found themselves wittingly or otherwise captured by that same discourse. Their children are high achievers and are regarded as a valuable…

In the context of widening participation policies, polarisation of types of university recruitment and a seemingly related high drop-out rate amongst first generation, working class students, we focus on the provision offered by the universities to their students. We discuss how middle class and working class student experiences compare across…

At a time when the public sector and state education (in the United Kingdom) is under threat from the encroaching marketisation policy and private finance initiatives, our research reveals white middle-class parents who in spite of having the financial opportunity to turn their backs on the state system are choosing to assert their commitment to…

Tony Blair's period as Head of the Labour Government from 1997 until 2007 has been heralded as a period of increased parental power and growing choice within education. However, beneath the rhetoric, Blair's legacy has been one of consolidating and re-inforcing previous Conservative policies that stressed parental responsibilities whilst operating…

The transition to secondary school is rarely conceptualised as an important influence in maintaining and contributing to wider processes of social exclusion in the inner city. This article argues that the seeds of social exclusion are sown in under-resourced, struggling inner-city schooling, and their germination is found in class practices,…

Highlights the centrality of women to social reproduction through a focus on the sociocultural processes of parental involvement. Argues that, although most mothers help children with school work, only middle-class mothers have resources to shape effectively the curriculum offered. Concludes that the market system of education favors the middle…

Argues that the issues of good teaching practice and professionalism are at risk of becoming marginalized in the developing market culture. Finds that a growing compliance of schools to middle-class parents may result in the overriding of teachers' professional judgments that do not mirror the perceived requirements of these "valued"…

The English educational system is still being organized along social-class lines. Working classes have historically been "found out" in education--discovered to be inferior and less cultured and clever than middle classes. Findings from studies on higher education choice, secondary school transitions, and primary assessments underline…