Unleashing Aspiration

The Government's response is to back the majority of the Panel's conclusions and work on their recommendations has already begun. The report stated that elitism in the professions and a lack of focus on careers in schools mean that bright young people from middle class as well as lower income backgrounds are being shut out from professional jobs. The Panel chaired by Alan Milburn MP, concluded that without action to address Britain's closed shop mentality, tomorrow's generation of talented young people will miss out on a new wave of social mobility. There were over 80 recommendations in the final report with social mobility to be the top social policy priority. This response includes plans to raise aspirations by focusing on four factors that impact on people's life chances: the care and development of children in their early years, the quality of our schools, continued and high quality education and training post 16 and the skills our workforce.

Celebrity, Aspiration and Contemporary Youth uses the lens of celebrity to explore how young people think about their futures under austerity. Based on an interdisciplinary study, the book offers fresh insights into contemporary youth aspirations and inequalities. It helps us to understand young people's transitions into adulthood at a time of socio-economic 'crisis'. Drawing on original data, the authors examine what it means for young people to be forming their aspirations within the context of 'austere meritocracy'. The book addresses three central questions: What kinds of futures do young people desire and imagine for themselves? What is required of young people in the process of achieving these futures? And how are inequalities embedded and reproduced within these? Using young people's 'celebrity talk' to explore their aspirations, the authors challenge stereotypes of young people as a fame-hungry, get-rich-quick generation. Instead, they show how young people engage critically with celebrity and its discourses. Key chapters focus on how young people talk about youth, work, authenticity, success, happiness, money and fame in relation to their own lives and those of celebrities. Each of these chapters contains a case study of an international celebrity, including, Beyoncé, Will Smith, Bill Gates, Prince Harry and Kim Kardashian. The authors conclude with possibilities for social change. They show that celebrity offers an important way of working with young people to critically explore what futures are possible and for whom.

This book explores a range of challenges teachers face in dealing with situations of disadvantage, and explores different ways of thinking about these situations. Starting with a variety of incidents written by teachers in schools in disadvantaged settings, the book provides a range of ways of thinking about these - some more psychological, others more sociological - and chapters develop conversations between teachers and academics. These 'conversations' will help teachers reflect more deeply on the contexts in which they work, on what disadvantage means, and how disadvantage manifests in practice. It will also help teachers reflect upon the nature of their work; what it means to be a good and effective teacher; and the particular skills, approaches, relationships and competencies that may need to be developed in differing settings of educational disadvantage. The book explores the tensions between different ways of thinking about education and disadvantage; it will make compelling reading for students and teachers of education, education policy makers, and practising schoolteachers.

Mick Waters has consistently been a down-to-earth voice in the increasingly complex world of education for many years. He has regularly endeared himself to school communities in the UK and overseas by talking the sort of sense they needed to hear - practical, challenging, inspiring, insightful, engaging. His unique perspective, closeness to the classroom and ability to see innovation in terms of its impact on learners mean his views are always worth listening to. In this long-awaited book, Mick tells it how it is. The things he believes in. The things he wants to see differently. Wry reflections, humorous insights, astute asides and simple ideas to change the system - and the future - for young people everywhere. This is the book you have been waiting for.

The public image of judges has been stuck in a time warp; they are invariably depicted in the media - and derided in public bars up and down the country - as 'privately educated Oxbridge types', usually 'out-of-touch', and more often than not as 'old men'. These and other stereotypes - the judge as a pervert, the judge as a right-wing monster - have dogged the judiciary long since any of them ceased to have any basis in fact. Indeed the limited research that was permitted in the 1960s and 1970s tended to reinforce several of these stereotypes. Moreover, occasional high profile incidents in the courts, elaborated with the help of satirists such as 'Private Eye' and 'Monty Python', have ensured that the 'old white Tory judge' caricature not only survives but has come to be viewed as incontestable. Since the late 1980s the judiciary has changed, largely as a result of the introduction of training and new and more transparent methods of recruitment and appointment. But how much has it changed, and what are the courts like after decades of judicial reform? Given unprecedented access to the whole range of courts - from magistrates' courts to the Supreme Court - Penny Darbyshire spent seven years researching the judges, accompanying them in their daily work, listening to their conversations, observing their handling of cases and the people who come before them, and asking them frank and searching questions about their lives, careers and ambitions. What emerges is without doubt the most revealing and compelling picture of the modern judiciary in England and Wales ever seen. From it we learn that not only do the old stereotypes not hold, but that modern 'baby boomer' judges are more representative of the people they serve and that the reforms are working. But this new book also gives an unvarnished glimpse of the modern courtroom which shows a legal system under stress, lacking resources but facing an ever-increasing caseload. This book will be essential reading for anyone wishing to know about the experience of modern judging, the education, training and professional lives of judges, and the current state of the courts and judiciary in England and Wales.

Issues of access, social exclusion and widening participation dominate educational policy agendas and are a shared global challenge. Participation in higher education and adult lifelong learning activities can be a life-changing experience that opens up new opportunities. However, access remains unequal. People from lower socio-economic backgrounds, those living in the most deprived areas and people from minority ethnic groups are underrepresented. In this book, we focus on how we can move the field of widening participation forward, paying specific attention to the theories and methods we can use to better understand and tackle the problem of underrepresented groups in post-compulsory education, and how individuals and institutions can be supported. We argue that in order to make sense of these issues, it is important to engage in both the findings of widening participation research and the theoretical foundations which underpin them. This way, alternative perspectives on the widening participation agenda and emerging research and policy can be explored from alternative perspectives. This book was originally published as a special issue of Studies in Continuing Education.

There is a growing demand for educational professionals to develop a more critical understanding of the key and emerging debates in education so that they can better meet the challenges and demands placed upon them. Exploring Education at Postgraduate Level represents a range of perspectives from educational experts to academic researchers, and highlights the key issues surrounding contemporary education. Organised into three parts and drawing on key issues in education theory, policy and practice, the book considers areas such as SEN, evaluating learning, ESOL and gender. Featuring reflective questions, case studies and summaries of core ideas, the chapters include: Troublesome learning journey; Applying educational thinkers to contemporary educational practice; Values production through social and emotional learning; Policy research: In defence ad hocery?; We are all critically reflective now: The politics of critical reflection in higher education and in the work place; Developing critical thought about SEN; The refuge of relativism. Aimed at supporting students on Masters-level courses, this acessible but critically provocative text is an essential resource for those wishing to develop a more critical understanding of the role, purpose and function of educational systems and practices.

Despite becoming a big issue in public debate, social mobility is one of the most misunderstood processes of our time. In this accessible and engaging text, Geoff Payne, one of Britain’s leading mobility analysts, presents up-to-date sociological research evidence to demonstrate how our politicians have not grasped the ways in which mobility works. The new social mobility argues for considering a wider range of dimensions of mobility and life chances, notably the workings of the labour market, to assess more accurately the causes and consequences of mobility as social and political processes. Bringing together a range of literature and research, it covers key themes of mobility analysis, and offers a critical and original approach to social mobility. This important book will challenge the well-established opinions of politicians, pressure groups, the press, academics and the public; it is also sufficiently comprehensive to be suitable for teaching and of interest to a broad academic audience.