Introduction

First published in 1998, this volume is based upon an ethnographic study of white and black in a mixed comprehensive school conducted during the 1980s and explores differentiation in the classroom, looking at gender, colour and class differences within groups of students. The findings are discussed in the light of the strong debate within the sociology of education that took place during the 1970s and 1980s concerning academic achievement and underachievement. Amanda Palmer reveals, in contribution to this debate, that class origins played a primary role in the formation of pupils’ attitudes towards school and that class, race and gender were involved in how teachers reacted to pupils.