Miseducation: Inequality, Education and the Working Classes

by Diane Reay

Overview

In this substantially revised and updated edition of her bestselling book, Diane Reay, herself working class turned Cambridge professor, examines the benefits and costs of educational success for the working classes, comparing working class and middle-class experiences and outcomes of education.

Drawing on over 500 interviews from working class children and young people, she looks at class identity, the inadequate sticking plaster of social mobility and the effects of wider economic and social class relationships on working class educational experiences.

She charts the impact of the rise of academies on education in the UK, the new emphasis on pedagogy, control and discipline and includes two all-new chapters offering a global perspective on education worldwide.

Addressing the still pressing question of why we have ended up with a system that educates the different social classes in fundamentally different ways, she provides clear recommendations for improving education to meet the needs of all children.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447371229
Publisher:	Policy Press
Publication date:	04/01/2025
Series:	21st Century Standpoints
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224

About the Author

Diane Reay grew up in a working-class coal-mining community before becoming an inner-city primary school teacher for 20 years. She is now Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge and visiting Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science, with particular interests in social justice issues in education, and cultural analyses of social class, race and gender. She has researched extensively in the areas of social class, gender and ethnicity across primary, secondary and post-compulsory stages of education.
Diane Reay grew up in a working class, coal mining community before becoming an inner city, primary school teacher for 20 years. She is now emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge and visiting Professor of Sociology at the LSE with particular interests in social justice issues in education, and cultural analyses of social class, race and gender. She has researched extensively in the areas of social class, gender and ethnicity across primary, secondary and post-compulsory stages of education. with particular interests in social justice issues in education, and cultural analyses of social class, race and gender. She has researched extensively in the areas of social class, gender and ethnicity across primary, secondary and post-compulsory stages of education.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. What is social class, and why it matters both inside and outside of education

2. Still Miseducating

3. Social Mobility: a problematic solution

4. Class in the classroom

5. The Rise of the Academies and the Demise of State Schooling: Why Structures still matter

6. Teach like a Champion, Learn like a Servant

7. Miseducation in Global Perspective

8. Towards an educational system that develops all children’s potential

Conclusion

Epilogue: what I have learnt from writing this book

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Incredibly insightful and passionate … Diane Reay really does get class. Mandatory reading for anyone proclaiming greater equity in education.” John Smyth, University of Huddersfield

Editorial Reviews

Miseducation would benefit anyone interested in social mobility and education in the UK… Reay’s contribution to debates on education and social background is to personalise everyday working-class experiences of school and university, something usually absent from current discourse. This, combined with statistical evidence of the extent of inequalities, makes for particularly engaging reading.” LSE Review of Books

From the Publisher