Within all contemporary societies there are groups that struggle to gain

equality of opportunity and social justice in national educational systems.

Research has shown that education systems can be key in perpetuating or

curtailing educational disadvantages for marginalized individuals and groups

(e.g. Troyna and Hatcher 1992; Foster et al. 1996). There has also been exten-

sive critical debate about the effects of special education on its pupils (e.g.

Slee 1996; Pijl et al. 1997; Vlachou 1997), while the effects of educational

disadvantage and underperformance have been well documented (Tomlinson

2000).

In 1994 the UK government commissioned a report on social justice (Social

Justice Commission 1994), which uncovered an UNCOMFORTABLE situation.

DESPITE 50 years of educational reform, the education system continued to

fail the great majority of children. Even today, the UK has the lowest level

of educational provision for under-5s in the European Union, while the

average state primary class size is 27 pupils (DfES 2002). In private schools

the ratio is halved. Despite government attempts to raise participation, only

two in five of Britain’s 19-year-olds is still in full-time education (YCS 2001)

and, disturbingly, two-thirds of school leavers reported their main immediate

destination to be employment (HESA 2001). Universities are still mainly

accessed by pupils from economically advantaged families and private

schools, and recent proposals to increase fees for university education are

unlikely to reverse this trend. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, a

person’s life chances are even more powerfully affected by their education

than in the past.