The Making of a Left-Behind Class
Educational Stratification, Meritocracy and Widening Participation
Fred Powell, Margaret Scanlon, Pat Leahy, Hilary Jenkinson, Olive Byrne
- 224 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
The Making of a Left-Behind Class
Educational Stratification, Meritocracy and Widening Participation
Fred Powell, Margaret Scanlon, Pat Leahy, Hilary Jenkinson, Olive Byrne
About This Book
Despite the high aspirations of young people from disadvantaged communities, they face barriers that are frustrating the realisation of their educational ambitions. This book analyses the 'left-behind' phenomenon and shows how education has become the new divide in Western society. It explains how denied educational equality and frustrated opportunity are undermining social cohesion and what we can do about it. It challenges meritocratic thinking and the efficacy of widening participation as a policy for social inclusion. Combining analysis of educational disadvantage at an international level and among Travelling communities with empirical data derived from fieldwork with parents, teachers and students in the European Union (Ireland), this book offers fresh thinking and new hope in relation to young people left behind in the opportunity structure.