Introduction: Setting the Scene

Abstract

In August 2011 the rioting and looting by young people in parts of London led to calls for greater discipline and higher educational standards in schools, linked to the claimed poor literacy and numeracy attainment of London pupils. As Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London at the time commented: ‘The biggest shock for me from the riots was the sheer sense of nihilism — perhaps I should not have been shocked, but in my view literacy and numeracy are the best places to start’ (Wintour and Mulholland 2012). One of the questions addressed in this book will be: what are the educational implications of these social upheavals and the accompanying moral panics around literacy for a large segment of urban youth in London and in cities worldwide — specifically those who are immigrants, whether recently arrived or second or third generation?