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Education and Social Class: How Did We Get to This and What Needs to Change?

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Education and Working-Class Youth

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Abstract

This chapter locates the classed nature of education within a critical socio-historical framework, and considers how questions of social class are played out not only in the classroom but also at the institutional and the systemic level. Historical and contemporary debates about the nature and purpose of education are used to challenge the status quo, and present an agenda for change. The chapter argues that re-engaging with social class as a key organising concept is necessary in order to understand the nature of contemporary schooling in western neoliberal societies such as the UK, and to re-imagine young people’s relationship with education. This, it is argued, is necessary to re-engage working-class youth in ways that are not only meaningful but also socially and economically just.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education and Professional Development, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK

    Robin Simmons & John Smyth

  2. Federation University Australia, Ballarat, Australia

    John Smyth

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  1. Robin Simmons
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Correspondence to Robin Simmons .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education and Professional Development, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom

    Robin Simmons

  2. School of Education and Professional Development, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom

    John Smyth

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Simmons, R., Smyth, J. (2018). Education and Social Class: How Did We Get to This and What Needs to Change?. In: Simmons, R., Smyth, J. (eds) Education and Working-Class Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90671-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90671-3_10

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90670-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90671-3

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