When I was a student the concept of "social mobility" was a hot topic. The expansion of higher education and the introduction of comprehensive schools in the 1960s opened new doors of opportunity for young people, despite the persistence of barriers such as finance and family "culture". Education was the great hope.
This was echoed this summer in Leipzig inGermany, where the discussions I attended focused on improving equality of educational opportunity in some of the new EU countries, such as Poland.
Yet it became clear that policy rhetoric and new action plans to promote such equality were often undermined by commitments to the "marketing" of education. Government aspirations to provide equal access to decent educational experiences continue to be thwarted, in part, by the strategic activities of families who strive to maximise the life chances of their children. For example, they move neighbourhoods to a better catchment area; they support extra-curricular activity; they assist additional learning in the home. In short, they provide the right framework and engender greater competence and motivation when it comes to their children's education.
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