Analysis of data on school leavers in Scotland points towards considerable inequality in access to higher education. This is highlighted in terms of participation in higher education by young people from lower-income households or identifying as first in their families to consider going to university. The situation is more acute in terms of access…

Children's treatment in the school environment has barely changed over many decades. Norms of obedience, discipline and control persist to define their 'place' in hierarchies of schooling. This is in direct contrast with freedoms they enjoy outside of school from, for example, their use of information communication technology, use of time and…

In the 1840s, massed singing classes led by charismatic pioneer music educators such as Joseph Mainzer (1801-1851) sprang up across the United Kingdom. Mainzer was a much respected composer, music journalist, and music educator. Born in Trèves (Prussia), he traveled across Europe and settled in Paris, where he was part of the revolutionary…

The evidence on why students from lower social origin are persistently underrepresented in higher education (HE) suggests social, educational and economic factors all play a role. We concentrate on the influence of monetary costs/benefits and how these are influenced by social origin. In particular, we consider the effect of a class-based wage…

Social class is a major determining factor of people's life chances. Much sociology-based research shows that socio-economic position is still one of the best predictors of who will achieve success, prosperity and social status and, in particular, who will enjoy the highest levels of educational outcomes. Survey data and qualitative studies alike…

Undertaken in the context of an ageing population and under-representation of older adults in formal education in Scotland, this paper reports on selected findings from research funded by the West of Scotland Wider Access Forum. Using a longitudinal design, the project sought, over a two-year period, to track the experiences of 85 working class…

A key factor motivating the organisation of tutorial classes for adult learners, based on collaboration between the Workers' Educational Association and universities in England and Wales, was a belief that they offered an educational vehicle for the promotion of liberal concepts of political citizenship. Attempts to disseminate this tutorial class…

Participatory research with children in the main focuses on short-term interactions. As this practice develops, questions about longer-term consequences for participants have arisen, examining the empowering claims for this research approach. This article reports the findings from continued contact with participants of an ethnographic…

This paper reports on original research where the primary objective was to critically explore the learning experiences of older (50+ years) working class adults in the context of a new university. Semi-structured interviews with 10 older learners engaged in a range of study in a new university in the west of Scotland were utilised. This…

This paper uses data from the Scottish School Leavers Surveys and the England and Wales Youth Cohort Study to analyse changes over time in gender and social class inequalities in the opportunities of young people to participate in higher education (HE) in Scotland, England and Wales. The results show that in Great Britain, in the period from the…

This article focuses on the role of Grace Paterson (1843-1925) in education, health and social welfare in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Glasgow. Integral to her efforts to improve the health of the city's poor was her emphasis on the need to raise the standards of the domestic education of working-class girls and women, both in the…

In this paper attention will be paid to issues arising from school-based research into the experience of working-class boys who are excluded. National and local school exclusion statistics indicate an overall gender imbalance: in the secondary school sector, for every four boys who are excluded only one girl is excluded. Furthermore, statistics…

This article aims to address concerns about schools as locations where students grapple, materially and subjectively, with class-based notions of femininity, the promotion of heterosexuality and the support of hetero-normative, middle-class families against, and in contrast with, their own working-class families, identities and experiences. Two…

A project to improve access to higher education for working-class Scottish adults illustrates the need to address individual ability and attitude as well as institutional and situational barriers to participation. A balance of the structural and the individual is needed to challenge inequality and promote social inclusion. (SK)

"Connect" is an approach to family literacy in Scotland that recognizes that people have different literacies used in different life domains. It values home and community literacies and challenges the deficit perspective and dominant cultural and ideological patterns. (SK)