Educational Failure and Working Class White Children in Britain

GILLIAN EVANS is an associate of the Centre for Child Focused Anthropological Research at Brunel University, London, UK. She is currently a temporary lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester and has recently been awarded a five-year RCUK fellowship to be held in the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) at the University of Manchester.

'I was educated by this' - Dame Marilyn Strathern, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge 'A wonderfully enlightening and entertaining book. An anthropologist delivers an insider's account of life in inner London, and makes sense of the educational failure of working class white boys' - Adam Kuper, Professor of Social Anthropology, Brunel University 'A brilliant and highly entertaining study of a neglected subject' - Andrew Gimson, Daily Telegraph 'A compelling, often uncomfortable journey of self-discovery, as well as a fascinating insight into class and education in Britain. Educational Failure stands out for its honesty, its bravery and its originality' - Patrick Butler, Editor, Society Guardian 'This book should be read by teachers, parents, academics and policy makers, and by Bermondsey people. If they do, this book can be a catalyst for change' - Michael Holland, ex-Bermondsey playwright and film maker 'Gillian Evans provides some new, useful and challenging insights in her book.' - Bill Greenshields, The Teacher 'Overall, the manner in which Evans illuminates the inextricable relationship between social class and educational failure, but above all the way that she strengthens our understanding of what is meaningful to a working-class white person, cannot be underestimated.' - Peggy Froerer, Brunel University, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

• List of Figures Acknowledgements Preface Introduction: Social Class and Education PART 1: COMMON KNOWLEDGE Sharon: Common-as-Shit Common Women: Working Class Values Trouble on the Estates PART 2: CLASSROOM VERSUS STREET CULTURE Tom at Tenter Ground The Classroom and School Who Rules the School? PART 3: CREATING AND TRANSFORMING VALUE Pokemon and Peers Place and Prestige Notes from an Armed Robber - Gone Straight Notes References Index