In this study, we focus on the role of Dutch Level 2 senior vocational training in care work in relation to the prospects and options it provides for students who follow this programme. Similar to the 'care girls' from previous studies our participants are young women from lower-class backgrounds who aspire to various jobs in the care sector, but…

Much research on the role of race in education focuses on young people with a migrant background. The racial experiences of 'white' children are under-researched, especially in the Netherlands. This article examines whether 'white' Dutch working-class students experience white privilege and if so, how they make use of it as a 'resource' in their…

In this paper, we develop an information distortion model (IDM) of social class differences in self-beliefs and values. The IDM combines psychological biases on frame-of-reference effects with sociological foci on ability stratification. This combination is hypothesized to lead to working-class children having more positive math self-beliefs and…

This paper explores young people's perceptions of vocational education and training (VET) in England. It draws on interview and focus-group data from a funded project. Parallel studies were carried out in The Netherlands, South Africa and England. This study reports on the English project. It found that serendipity, contingent events and influence…

Between the 1940s and 1960s across Western Europe a spirit of reform along comprehensive lines manifested itself in secondary education, aiming at a reduction of the existing social inequality of educational chances. These reforms are said to be rooted in new policies and in new approaches in educational studies. This article explores the…

At the end of the nineteenth century Aime Bogaerts, a Socialist primary school teacher at a Ghent municipal school and from 1901 on the chief editor of the Socialist newspaper "Vooruit", began a new educational initiative: "the children of the popular classes from Ghent" ("De Gentsche Volkskinderen"). Children from…

Economic inequality is high and rising in a number of developed countries, including in the United Kingdom and the United States. There are growing concerns that this may have negative implications for equality of opportunity, and the extent to which social disadvantage is transmitted across generations. It is widely believed that providing…

A study examined the relationship among school, class, teacher, and student characteristics in Dutch elementary schools. Results of multilevel analysis of data from 7,410 eighth graders and 1,714 teachers in 567 schools found a consistent teaching approach irrelevant to achievement levels. Student socioethnic background seemed most important.…