This paper reports on the social factors influencing the learning of two cohorts of school students and their experience of compulsory secondary education in a city in southern England - the secondary schooling phase of a 12-year, longitudinal ethnographic study that also tracked the same children's experiences through primary schooling. We embed…

Attempts to analyze, through questionnaires and interviews with students, parents, and teachers, some of the factors contributing to differences between male and female student scoring on the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). The GCSE is a British comprehensive, national core curriculum examination. Discusses the reasons why…

Recalls a conflict in an Australian high school where a student committee on social justice was blocked from displaying a poster discussing homophobic attitudes. Uses this incident for a broader discussion of hegemony, school culture, and how social justice initiatives threaten that hegemony. Identifies various restricting school strategies. (MJP)

Summarizes a longitudinal study that identifies a variety of mechanisms within the French school system that continue to generate social inequalities. These mechanisms include school status, parental choice, and economic status. Briefly reviews social inequality and French educational policy. (MJP)

Observes that the current discourse on the school-to-work transition pivots on career decision-making; two views of decision-making exist: one focusing on socially-structured pathways and one focusing on individual freedom to choose. Presents a new model that avoids the pitfalls of social determinism and views young people as completely free…

Describes the Israeli education system focusing on the unequal access to education for children of Middle Eastern origin, the creation of secondary education that was expected to eliminate the cultural gaps and equalize educational opportunities, and the use of parental choice as a means of freeing the schools from bureaucratic bonds. (CMK)

Explores, through the life histories of a group of first and second generation immigrant students in an inner-city school, the ways black identities have evolved within British society. Highlights the students' views of their status as citizens, of cultural identity, and of their desires. (CMK)

Ex-Education Minister Stephen Byers claimed that "laddish behaviour" was in part responsible for English boys' academic underachievement. Presents and discusses students' responses to Byers' claim. Draws data from the semi-structured interviews of a study with 100 14-16-year-old students. (CMK)