Educational Equity; Pathways to Success is a new book by the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change and the Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland researchers on what can be done to promote greater equity in education.

The editors are Professor Chris Chapman, Director of Policy Scotland, and Professor Mel Ainscow. Here they explain why they think this book is needed now.

“This new book builds on our earlier work on the improvement of education systems. In the book we describe and analyse what happened over an eight-year period when a team of researchers from the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change at the University of Glasgow worked within the Scottish education system to find ways of promoting greater equity.

The accounts we present are unusual, if not unique, in that they involved an engagement at all levels of the system, from the offices of government ministers and officials, through to those involved in classroom activities and the many others who have a stake in the work of schools.

Another unusual feature of the book is that, although individual chapters are written by particular groups of authors, it develops a single overall argument. This was achieved by intensive cooperation between members of the team, a process that included mutual reading of draft texts and occasional meetings to agree the ideas to be presented. All of this was built on a tradition of partnership working at the University of Glasgow that has grown over many years.”

Professor Chris Chapman and Professor Mel Ainscow, editors of Educational Equity; Pathways to Success

There’s more from the authors on the Network for Social and Education Equity (NSEE) website, where they discuss these questions:

• What’s the agenda?
• What did you learn in working on this book that you didn’t know before?
• What’s happened since you completed the book?
• What’s your hope for the future and what do you hope this book will contribute to it?

Educational Equity; Pathways to Success is available from 15 July 2021 from Routledge.

There is also a discount voucher on the NSEE website.