Social Class and Educational Inequality

Social class is often seen as an intractable barrier to success, yet a number of children from disadvantaged backgrounds still manage to show resilience and succeed against the odds. This book presents the findings from fifty Child and Family Case Studies (CFCS) conducted with 13-16 year olds. The authors look specifically at the roles that people and experiences - at home, in schools and in the wider community - have played in the learning life-courses of these children; how these factors have affected their achievement; and explanations and meanings given by respondents to the unique characteristics, experiences and events in their lives. Featuring the voices of real parents and children, and backed up by a decade of quantitative data, this is a compelling record that will help readers to understand the complex nature of social disadvantage and the interplay between risk and protective factors in homes and schools that can make for a transformational educational experience.

Iram Siraj is Professor of Education in the Department of Early Years and Primary Education in the Institute of Education, University of London. She is also Visiting Professor at the Universities of Melbourne, Waikato and with some part-time secondment to the University of Wollongong, Australia. Aziza Mayo completed a doctorate at the Department for Social and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Amsterdam and is currently Professor of Education at the University of Applied Sciences Leiden, Netherlands.

'This book is a stupendous achievement and deserves to be very widely read. The authors' large-scale longitudinal research into why some children succeed 'against the odds' and others do worse than expected given their relatively privileged start in life is already widely known. This book puts 'flesh' onto the bones of the data, providing case studies of fifty children (those who succeed and those who don't from both working-class and middle-class backgrounds) that exemplify their findings in a truly marvellous way. Equally impressive, Siraj and Mayo illustrate the power and importance of a solid theoretical foundation. They draw on scholars such as Urie Bronfenbrenner to show that the everyday activities and interactions that occur between children and their parents, their teachers, and people in the wider community have profound effects on academic performance from early childhood through adolescence. The authors also do a wonderful job revealing the way that these interactions also influence, and are influenced by, personal characteristics of the children themselves and of the various people with whom the children interact. The book's combination of intellectual rigour and ease of reading makes it a resource that will serve equally for undergraduates interested in understanding development and scholars working in the area of risk, resilience, parenting practices, and school achievement.' Jonathan Tudge, University of North Carolina, Greensboro 'The child and family case studies presented in this important book add considerable value to the large-scale longitudinal study from which they are drawn. In studying children who succeeded against the odds or did not fulfil expectations, the authors lay bare the human stories that, in particular cases, confirm or interrupt the prevailing link between social background and educational achievement. By identifying what - in the home, the school and the community - can make a difference one way or the other, the message is ultimately an optimistic, though realistic, one.'