This article explores perceptions of the role of education as a potential medium of transformation and a vehicle to challenge and renegotiate symbolic and cultural notions of gender identity. Drawing on data collected at two time points over 10 years, it considers four young women from working-class backgrounds in England who aspired to and then…

The paper reports a study that investigated the relationship between students' self-predicted and actual General Certificate of Secondary Education results in order to establish the extent of over-and under-prediction and whether this varies by subject and across genders and socio-economic groupings. It also considered the relationship between…

This paper considers the role of social capital in the aspirations for higher education of a group of socially disadvantaged girls. Drawing on data from a longitudinal, ethnographic case study of an underperforming secondary school, the paper considers current conceptualisations of social capital and its role in educational ambitions. The paper…