Provides a case study of how school effectiveness policy is mediated by teachers and Local Education Authority (LEA) advisors. Uses qualitative data of a "failing" junior school in the United Kingdom to highlight (1) an LEA response to an evaluation by the Office for Standards in Education and (2) staff mediation of the LEA intervention.…

Explores the social-contextual nature of parents' perceptions of nursery education, using the ecological systems theory, in three nursery classes attached to primary schools. Reports that "working-class" parents were better able than "middle-class" parents to articulate their views on both nursery education and their children's…

In an effort to explore how racial and class oppressions intersect, the authors use their autobiographical narratives to depict cultural and experiential continuity and discontinuity in growing up white working class versus Chicano working class. They specifically focus on "racializing class" due to the ways class is often used as a copout by…

In many analyses of children's "emergent literacy" (Clay, 1966) practices, there is little acknowledgement of children's engagement in techno-literacy practices. This article discusses findings from a survey undertaken in a working-class community in the north of England which aimed to identify the "emergent techno-literacy"…

This paper draws on a systematic review of qualitative research to explore the resilient mothering practices that young, British, working-class mothers employ to care for their children. The synthesis of studies of UK mothers under the age of 20 demonstrates how young working-class women must mother in impoverished circumstances, at the same time…

Ever since George Washington opted for the title of president rather than king, Americans have been uncomfortable with the idea of class distinctions. This article presents an interview with Dr. Janet Galligani Casey regarding the idea of class distinctions. Galligani Casey, who grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts,…

Social class has strongly influenced the development of social policies about adult education. Present policy discourses are a result of weakening working-class interests.

For two working-class academics/editors, the book they co-edited, "This Fine Place So Far from Home: Voices of Academics from the Working Class," is a working-class book masquerading as a traditional scholarly work. Over 100 submissions were received for the collection, and most were autobiographical and did not resemble scholarly essays…

Adult education in North Korea first eliminated illiteracy and is now concentrating on raising the level of general knowledge of the working people to that of college graduates. The first stage was concluded when illiteracy was eradicated by 1949 through the establishment of educational institutions for the literacy crusade. The second stage was…

A study combining qualitative and quantitative research methods (a direct survey) investigated the attitudes of 75 working class individuals in Glasgow, Scotland toward differences in the speech of older or younger people and in the speech of the opposite sex. Results indicate that dialect lexis loss was neither as thorough nor as abrupt as older…

The economic role of American women is traced from colonial times through the 19th century. In colonial America women shared the economic responsibilities of family livelihood with their husbands and were engaged primarily in the production of food and clothing. Early 19th century America saw a redefinition of the social and economic spheres of…

While there are acknowledged physical, psychological, and social benefits to be derived from maintaining sexual activity in old age, the negative cultural attitudes displayed by younger members of society as well as by their own peers constitute a barrier to the achievement of a satisfactory sex life for the elderly. A study was undertaken to…

This paper investigates the extension of educational rights to girls, working class children, and the children of migrant workers in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The first section discusses the theoretical basis of affirmative action in West Germany, legal provisions for attaining equality in education, and basic features of the West…

Examines how the status of Dominican women in the United States improves as a consequence of waged employment. Considers the ideological forces which root women in the household and discourage collective struggles in the workplace and suggests that the middle-class aspirations of Dominican families are in contradiction to their children's future…

Describes and assesses different explanations for the low reading achievement level amongst Afro-American children and critiques traditional attempts to remedy this dilemma. Recommends a holistic approach that fuses cultural difference and social structural approaches to reading and acknowledges that motivational processes are central. (RDN)