Equity in Education

This book examines young people's experiences of justice in schools and beyond, and relates these experiences to the development of their personal sense of justice and the criteria they use to decide whether something is fair or not. The book includes the views and experiences of potentially disadvantaged pupils, including those with learning difficulties, or behavioural problems, those apparently less suited to an academic 'trajectory', recent immigrants, those learning through a second language, or who are from socio-economically deprived backgrounds. Based on research from across Europe and Japan, the analysis considers the characteristics of the schools that pupils attend, the pupils' own family and social background, their indicators of disadvantage, and their developing sense of justice. The authors examine their experiences and the potential impact of their experiences on well-being, work, relations at school, involvement in tasks, and results, plus perseverance in school, ethical and civic judgements, trust in institutions, and unfairness in general. This provides important indications for policy-makers and practitioners about the role of school organisation, and the behaviour of teachers, in creating equity and helping to form pupils' sense of justice. Pupils have quite clear views on what is fair, and are generally willing and able to express those views. Are research users willing to acknowledge and act on those views?