Investigates the social and cultural background behind the rejection of compulsory day continuation education in West Ham in East London (England). Stresses the logic and realism behind the parental objections that were generally rooted in the universal facts of working-class life, not from ignorance or the fettering effects of poverty. (CMK)

Academic feminism is now largely concerned with abstract theory and a discourse which distances it from the lived reality of working class women. This paper explores, through the concept and approach of dialogical feminism, ways in which feminists in the academy can re-connect with 'other women' in working towards social transformation for all…

This article deals with pre-vocational education that was first implemented in Israel's educational system in 1955 in 7th and 8th grades of elementary school. The purpose of the article is to examine the role that this education played in making Israel's ethno-working class. This role emerged, we argue, through conflicting dynamics involving two…

Literacy narratives have been pedagogically important in writing instruction, particularly in the basic writing class, as a means for students to interrogate the politics of language and education and thus to establish a critical connection to writing. But the literacy narrative as a critical genre is problematic. Such narratives often are…

This article describes the discourses working-class students at a university in Britain have about learning. The discourses include ideas about who is a good student, education as an investment, and marking. Students incorporate, in part, both neo-liberal and neo-conservative economic and political views into their perceptions of who should…

Framed within recent developments in genre theory, this paper examines personal storytelling as practiced by working-class children and their families. Although both working-class and middle-class children encounter versions of oral storytelling that embody a personal perspective, these versions privilege different slants on experience. Drawing on…

This paper describes dominant discourses and practices which permeate English language learning and information and communication technologies (ICT). Through the adoption of a critical discourse analytic perspective, and drawing on New Literacy Studies research, it discusses how English language learning and ICT practices have come to take…

This paper asks, what are the attributes of the rural working class population in England and Wales? Drawing on the Office for National Statistics' (ONS) Longitudinal Study (LS), household and personal attributes at both the 1991 and 2001 Censuses are examined, with a view to exploring how far the rural working classes can be conceptualised as a…

This essay outlines several ways in which educators might better prepare young people of all backgrounds to understand, enter, and eventually act upon the changing economic landscape. The contributors to this article, which presents perspectives on social class and education in the United States, suggest that one might learn some lessons from the…

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…

This article reports on case study research of seven- and eight-year-old children's discourse about reading. The case studies were selected to provide classrooms in contrasting neighbourhoods within a white "working class" town in the North of England. Mixed methods were employed, but primarily the case studies were ethnographic in…

This paper draws on an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded research project on men (aged 18-54) participating in pre-university access and foundation programs in four London further and higher education colleges. Men's educational choices and decisions are analysed and discussed within current policy debates about widening…

From 1952 onwards, following the approval of the "Second Five-year Plan," a series of profound changes took place in the Argentinean national curriculum and in its schoolbooks. Some authors have pointed out that such changes implied the use of the educational system as an "agency for indoctrination." Other authors have…

This research note aims to address concerns about schools as sites where students wrestle, materially and subjectively, with classed based notions of femininity, the promotion of heterosexuality, and the support of heteronormative, middle class families against and in contrast with their own working class families, identities and experiences. Two…

The first paper focuses on the study of British working class speech, and highlights research on the topic. It is suggested that a culture is identified through its organizing concept, and that it is necessary to determine how far culture is linguistic. The conclusion is drawn that it is not possible to make fundamental correlations between…