Urban Youth and Education [Paperback]

• How can we understand the educational disengagement of urban, working-class young people?
• What role do schools and education policies play in these young people’s difficult relationships with education?
• How might schools help to support and engage urban youth?

Drawing on a two year study of urban 14-16 year olds, educational professionals and parents, the book focuses in depth on the views and experiences of ethnically diverse young Londoners who had been identified by their schools as 'at risk of dropping out of education' and as 'unlikely to progress into post-16 education'.

It provides an informative and accessible overview of the key issues, debates and theoretical frameworks. It is important reading for school leaders, teachers and learning support assistants as well as trainee teachers and educational researchers.Social exclusion, risk and urban schools
'The Street', 'the estate' and 'my trainers': social class and urban education
Entangled identities: 'race', ethnicity and schooling
'Responsible boys' and 'glamorous girls'? Gender and schooling
Aspirations and 'the future'
Respect, reciprocity and relevance: the three Rs for urban schools
Choice or coercion? Policies to promote educational engagement
ConclusionsLouise Archeris Professor of Sociology of Education at King's College London, UK. Her research focuses on educational identities and inequalities of race, social class and gender.

Heather Mendickis Senior Lecturer in Education at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. She is author ofMasculinities in Mathematics(Open University Press, 2006)

Sumi Hollingworthis Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Education (IPSE) at London Metropol£‡