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‘We haven’t done enough for White working-class children’: issues of distributive justice and ethnic identity politics

journal contribution
posted on 2015-01-01, 00:00 authored by Amanda KeddieAmanda Keddie
This article explores the politically contentious issue of White working-class student under-achievement within one particular school – a large and culturally diverse comprehensive secondary school in the greater London area. The article examines the equity philosophies and identity politics articulated by staff in their understanding of and approach to this under-achievement. It challenges the distributive logic and group identity politics that simplify, dislocate and distort equity issues. The article provides an illustration and theorising of remedies that offer potential in raising the educational performance of White working-class students – remedies not based on ethnic identity but rather on destabilising the patterns of economic distribution and social disengagement that compromise these students’ schooling attainment.

History

Journal

Race ethnicity and education

Volume

18

Pagination

515-534

Location

Abingdon, Eng.

ISSN

1361-3324

eISSN

1470-109X

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal, C Journal article

Copyright notice

2013, Taylor & Francis

Issue

4

Publisher

Routledge