The long-held fiction that this is a society without class distinctions, that everyone has an equal chance, helps to keep the working class from a sustained and organized effort on its own behalf. (JOW)

South Bank University in London offers a summer mathematics course that gives mature students with few formal qualifications the opportunity to gain math skills for further education. The program features small groups, tutors experienced in adult education, and attention to confidence building. (SK)

Offers an understanding of "class activism" that focuses less on the putative emotional needs of working-class students, of whatever ethnicity or gender, and more on the ways hierarchy and distinction are reproduced within and outside of the various institutions of higher education. Suggests that it is possible and even desirable for most people…

Clarifies the relationship of Antonio Gramsci to Leninism and his insistence on this form of socialism for political work with the working class. Discusses the relevance of these ideas for radical adult education. (SK)

The British radical socialist tradition has been marginalized by the liberal tradition. The latter has claimed achievements in working class education that the former actually brought about. The socialist tradition should be revalued as a means of countering capitalism's economic determinism. (SK)

Using institutional ethnography we examine the Own-Your-Own-Home (OYOH) movement as a configuration of ideological practices designed to reorder gender, family and housing arrangements in the United States during the early 20th century. We describe the social organization of these practices -- with particular emphasis on the coordinating activity…

Working-class academic narratives reveal a number of common themes, like dual estrangement and internalized class conflict. A less popularized motif is the bookish child who is catapulted out of her working-class origins. But some working-class academics, like myself, were not academically ambitious as children. I am a nontraditional working-class…

This qualitative study compares and analyzes the social network experiences of two working-class Chinese students from immigrant families (Sally, Alex) to those of one working-class Latina student from an immigrant family (Elizabeth). Theory holds that these students would have difficulty obtaining educational resources and support (i.e., social…

Multiracial youth activism groups, based in working class and poor neighborhoods, seek to improve social conditions by organizing grassroots campaigns. Campaigns such as these, which require sophisticated planning, organizing, and advocacy skills, are noteworthy not just for their political impact, but also because of the insights they provide…

This paper explores the potential for conducting collaborative and critical research in higher education which problematises the role and practices of the academy in maintaining exclusion. It begins with a brief discussion of UK government discourse on widening participation, and contrasts this with the research literature which indicates the…

This study combines data from three case studies of teachers moving from their university teacher education programs into their first jobs, with data collected through observations and interviews totaling six observation cycles over the 2 years of data collection. The curricula for working class students that the three teachers taught represent a…

This article reviews the literature on the experiences of working-class students at different stages of the student life cycle. It examines the factors influencing their participation rates in higher education (HE), their ability to adapt to university life, and their success in the graduate labour market. The article argues that without radical…

In this article, the author reflects on his feelings as a working-class transplant into academic culture and the middle class. He draws on his feelings of alienation from the people who surround him and his observations of the cultural subordination necessary to succeed in the middle class world to explain his desire to do more to help other…

A critical task for public school teachers is to build and maintain productive relationships with their students, especially to facilitate learning. That task is particularly important in preparing new teachers for urban schools because cultural differences between the majority of urban teachers and their students can complicate and impair those…

In Spain from the late nineteenth century, the "People's Houses" (Casas del Pueblo) corresponded to a desire to provide and organize a space of sociability for workers and their families. This formed part of the diverse Spanish popular education movement. This article focuses on the project to translate the model of the Belgian Maison du…