Social Class and Educational Inequality

Iram Siraj is Professor of Education in the Department of Early Years and Primary Education in the Institute of Education, University of London. She is also Visiting Professor at the Universities of Melbourne, Waikato and with some part-time secondment to the University of Wollongong, Australia. Aziza Mayo completed a doctorate at the Department for Social and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Amsterdam and is currently Professor of Education at the University of Applied Sciences Leiden, Netherlands.

'This book is a stupendous achievement and deserves to be very widely read. The authors' large-scale longitudinal research into why some children succeed 'against the odds' and others do worse than expected given their relatively privileged start in life is already widely known. This book puts 'flesh' onto the bones of the data, providing case studies of fifty children (those who succeed and those who don't from both working-class and middle-class backgrounds) that exemplify their findings in a truly marvellous way. Equally impressive, Siraj and Mayo illustrate the power and importance of a solid theoretical foundation. They draw on scholars such as Urie Bronfenbrenner to show that the everyday activities and interactions that occur between children and their parents, their teachers, and people in the wider community have profound effects on academic performance from early childhood through adolescence. The authors also do a wonderful job revealing the way that these interactions also influence, and are influenced by, personal characteristics of the children themselves and of the various people with whom the children interact. The book's combination of intellectual rigour and ease of reading makes it a resource that will serve equally for undergraduates interested in understanding development and scholars working in the area of risk, resilience, parenting practices, and school achievement.' Jonathan Tudge, University of North Carolina, Greensboro

• 1. Child and Family Case Studies in the context of the EPPSE study; 2. Studying learning life-courses; 3. Methods and sample of the Child and Family Case Studies; 4. Cultural repertoires of childrearing across and within social classes; 5. Children as active agents of their own learning; 6. Powerful parenting and home learning; 7. Parenting towards higher aspirations; 8. Inspiring success in the early years and school environment; 9. Gateways to enhanced social, cultural and emotional capital; 10. Concluding discussion: promoting agency and advocacy.