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Bourdieu argued that class-based inequalities influenced educational outcomes and this paper illustrates the relevance of Bourdieu's concepts in understanding one specific community. A wider study by the authors used the concept of habitus to identify factors which impacted on the participants—predominantly white working-class mothers'—perceptions of their engagement with schools. This paper provides two selected case study examples from the wider study which describes the ways these mothers interpret different habitus in relation to education and discusses how habitus can inform understandings of different parental perceptions towards education and how this affects engagement. Schools can use this insight to ensure that parents from such backgrounds feel better able to engage with their children's education. Schools use this insight to inform to ensure that parents from such backgrounds feel able to engage with their children's education, both at home and in school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Levelling Up' has come to dominate debates around regional inequality in England, but has been criticized for lacking clarity and definition. This paper addresses this critique by providing an early assessment of the concept. It summarizes and critically reviews Levelling Up, arguing that the concept offers a mix of marginal and familiar policies, alongside aspirations for industrial policy and research and development. Furthermore, Levelling Up begins to diverge from recent policy in its spatial focus and approach to governance and devolution. As governments in Europe and the United States grapple with similar challenges, the paper has value beyond a UK audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of the universities in England publicise statements of their values, separately from other mission statements, aims or goals. This paper compares universities whose value statements contain direct references to diversity, inclusion or equality, with those that do not and seeks to explore whether such values are reflected in these institutions' student intakes. Although a relatively broad-brush approach, by focusing on the characteristics of student bodies (in terms of ethnicity, disability, and prior background in terms of school type attended and local area) the paper shows that in general there are minimal differences according to whether a university publically claims to value diversity according to available quantitative data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper dissected the role of leaders in implementing equality, diversity and inclusion in UK higher education. Since most Higher Education Institutes are now monitored on their graduate outcomes, it is important that they are inclusive within planning curriculum design so as to give their students better chances and outcomes at completing their studies and being competitive in the global jobs market. The UK law and legislation worldwide is stepping up to value inclusion and now moving away from passive social exclusion. The research used ethnographical research in order to find out if equality, diversity and inclusion is being effectively implemented in curricula design. The results are based on one organisation in the Northwest of England using data collected over a 4-year period. A mixed method research design was also devised to use in-depth unstructured interviews to tutors of HND and degree programmes regarding curriculum design on their programmes. The findings show that there has been significant changes based on social and political influences, such that leaders are therefore working within standardised frameworks as a result of legislation. The primary research confirms that leaders have more understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion and it has the potential to self-sustain the UK higher education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rights that guarantee public passage across private land are known as rights of way. In this paper, we argue that rights of way are a literal manifestation of a politics of space. The paper's purpose is to suggest rights of way are central to issues surrounding social and spatial inequality, specifically with regards to public access to urban and rural space. They are a neglected topic in geographical research, despite their relevance to many sub‐branches, including landscape studies, urban natures, GIS, and open‐source geospatial research. Rights of way in England and Wales are currently facing their biggest legal threat to date. On 1 January 2026, unregistered rights of way are set to be extinguished. Path extinguishment threatens thousands of kilometres of footpaths, bridleways, restricted byways, and byways open to all traffic. The paper concludes by examining how geographical approaches help reveal the cultural and historical value of two at‐risk footpaths in Coventry, England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Review of Contract Law is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Home education is a phenomenon that has been increasing globally over the past decade, particularly for families of children with special educational needs or disabilities. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this phenomenon with many families continuing to home educate even after their children can officially return to school. This paper reports on a small-scale design-based research project that explored the needs of families who are home educating children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Working in partnership with educational settings, practitioners, and families during the second year of the pandemic, academic researchers in Malaysia and England designed, implemented and evaluated a home learning pack for children with ASD aged 6–12 years old. The findings emphasised the role of economic, social and cultural capital for the families involved and how this impacted their ability to work and educate their children successfully. This raises crucial questions in relation to the place of home education within the wider international inclusive education debate and matters of social equality whilst also highlighting key questions for future research in this field on how policy and provision might develop to meet a growing diversity of need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – An increasing number of countries have introduced duties for public-sector organisations who, in addition to addressing discrimination, are now also required to promote equality of opportunity between different groups. The purpose of this paper is to explore the limited progress of gender equality policies, through a study of the local implementation of equalities policies. The authors highlight the role of equalities leads in the public sector as local “agents of change”, and explore explanations of the implementation gap between policy and practice. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports on a small-scale qualitative study with equalities leads in the health sector in England. The study comprised semi-structured interviews with equalities leads from nine health organisations which were purposively selected to include a mix of areas and populations. The interviews focused on the leads’ backgrounds and their perceptions of barriers to their work. Findings – The equalities leads had a range of experience prior to their current post, though most had little formal subject-specific training. They highlighted a number of barriers to effective implementation of gender equality strategies, including resource issues, the impact of organisational change, the increased the number of equalities they were expected to address, organisational perceptions that gender was no longer a priority and resistance to what are seen as “tick box” exercises. Originality/value – The value of this paper is that it adds to the understanding of the challenges facing the implementation of gender equalities policies in the health sector, the reasons for these and the role of local policy implementers in the effectiveness of national equalities policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), used widely in England, is an important tool for social need and inequality identification. It summarises deprivation across seven dimensions (income, employment, health, education, housing and services, environment, and crime) to measure an area's multidimensional deprivation. The IMD aggregates the dimensions that are differentially weighted using expert judgement. In this paper, we test how close these weights are to society's preferences about the relative importance of each dimension to overall deprivation. There is not agreement in the literature on how to do this. This paper, therefore, develops and compares three empirical methods for estimating preference-based weights. We find the weights are similar across the methods, and between our empirical methods and the current IMD, but our findings suggest a change to two of the weights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent educational reforms in England have sought to reshape public education by extending central government control of curriculum and assessment, while replacing local government control of schools with a quasi-private system of academies and multi academy trusts. In this paper, we resist reading this as the latest iteration of the debate between "traditional" and "progressive" education. Instead, we note how, despite the mobilisation of the rhetoric of the public and public education, schooling in England has never been public in any deeply meaningful sense. We develop a genealogical reading of public education in England, in which ideas of British universalism – "the public" – and inequality and exclusion in education and society have not been opposed but have gone hand-in-hand. This raises the question whether it is possible to envisage and enact another form of collective – one that is based on action rather than fantasy and that is co-authored by, comprising, and exists for, the people. The final part of this paper seeks to grapple with this challenge, in the context of past, present and future potential developments in education, and to consider possibilities for the imaginary reconstitution of public education in England in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper offers to substantiate a claim about the so-called Meritocratic Conception of how educational opportunities ought to be distributed. Such a conception holds an individual's prospects for educational achievement may be a function of that individual's talent or effort levels but should not be influenced by their social class background. The paper highlights the internal tension in the Meritocratic Conception between on the one hand a prohibition on the influence of social class on educational opportunities and on the other a permission to allow unequal educational opportunities on the basis of talent and effort. This tension obtains because individuals' talent and effort are themselves subject to influence by social class. The paper makes a positive case for an interpretation of the Meritocratic Conception that resolves this tension in favour of an egalitarian version, such that social class represents an objectionable determinant of unequal educational prospects even when its influence is mediated through the cultivation of talent and effort. This argument is further supported through an explanation that the character of social class as a systemic social source of the structure of individuals' opportunities makes it an objectionable influence on educational opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fire that erupted in Grenfell Tower in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London on 14 June 2017 is widely acknowledged to be the worst experienced during UK peacetime since the nineteenth century. It is confirmed to have resulted in 72 casualties and 70 physically injured. It has also left a community physically and emotionally scarred. That the catastrophe occurred in the country’s wealthiest borough added to the shock while the circumstances surrounding it also begged questions relating to political and corporate responsibility. The UK Prime Minister swiftly established a public inquiry which is ongoing and anticipated to stretch well into 2019. This paper offers a preliminary analysis of what some are interpreting to be a national atrocity. It begins by describing the events at the time of the fire while also identifying the key controversies that began to surface. It then examines the local geography of Grenfell Tower and the surrounding Lancaster West Estate revealing an astonishing landscape of inequality across the borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The paper then uncovers how such inequality was combined with a malevolent geography of injustice whereby for several years residents raised regular warnings about the building’s safety only to be disregarded by the very organisations which were there ostensibly to protect and safeguard their livelihoods: the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea municipal authority and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation. The paper then deepens the analysis identifying how these organisations disavowed the local democratic process, in doing so dishonouring so tragically the Grenfell residents. It then finds this democratic disavowal to be multiscalar: for amid an incremental neoliberal political assault on the national welfare state, public housing across the country has become wretchedly devalued, stigmatised, and the subject of scandalous maladministration. A final section offers some preliminary analysis of the early stages of the Grenfell Inquiry, while also revealing the dignified resistance of Grenfell community in the face of London’s increasingly plutocratic governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a personal view of the problems that archaeologists will face as a result of the UK leaving the EU (Brexit). These problems will affect all levels of our discipline, including students, researchers and academics, as well as field archaeologists, and impact equally on both non-domiciled archaeologists working in the UK and UK archaeologists working in other EU countries. The paper suggests that there are opportunities for archaeologists from many different sectors to unite in tackling the difficulties that may arise through the Brexit process, and such opportunities should also embrace tackling other problems affecting our discipline, particularly with regard to issues of diversity and equality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores issues of equity and group identity at ‘Hamilton Court’, a large comprehensive multi-faith and multi-cultural school located in England. The exploration draws on data gathered from a study that examined the conditions, structures and practices associated with productively addressing issues of justice and cultural diversity. The paper focuses, in particular, on the voices of two learning mentors, ‘Rosanna’ and ‘Yasmeen’. With reference to a cultural event at the school based around an Asian-inspired Bollywood Dance Festival, the school's approach to absence requests on the basis of religious observance, and the disadvantage experienced by a particular White British working class boy, the paper highlights tensions and problematics associated with issues of equity, schooling and group identity. The paper makes a theoretical contribution to debates in this area. Further illustrating the limitations of distributive understandings of equity that begin with group identity politics and fail to consider matters of context in struggles against cultural oppressions, it examines the possibilities of an equity approach that instead begins with a focus on overcoming these relations of oppression. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 2008, the EU Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA) set a target of an increase of two healthy life years by 2020. More recently, in 2018, the UK Government set a target to "ensure people can enjoy at least 5 extra healthy, independent years of life by 2035, while narrowing the gap between the experience of the richest and poorest". This paper reviews the progress the EU member states have made towards meeting this target, and what the UK can learn from their experiences. I conclude that, although the EU target is likely to be reached, the gap in healthy life years between the member states has increased. Past trends in and projections of disability-free life expectancy in England suggest that it will be difficult to achieve an increase of five healthy and independent years of life by 2035. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A combination of development constraint, low wages in seasonal employment and market intrusion by more affluent households generates housing access and affordability difficulties in many rural amenity areas. In response, residents' groups and public planners have sometimes sought to prioritise 'local needs', restricting the occupancy of new housing to key workers or others deemed 'local'. Drawing on examples from England, this paper illustrates how these down-stream interventions are often rendered ineffective by the upstream and structural drivers of housing access inequality, revealing a need for up-stream reforms focused on community control of land and the tax treatment of housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- This article aims to bring readers up to date with policy developments in England and Northern Ireland in the last two years since the journal first reported on these issues. Design/methodology/approach -- As well as looking at changes to policy and legislation, the paper highlights not only the differences but also the shared concerns for people with intellectual disability living in the two countries, e.g. equal access to healthcare as experienced by the general population. Findings -- In spite of shared visions of inclusion and equality in mental health care, there are major differences in how both countries approach these issues. Recently this has been highlighted by significant shifts in policy. In Northern Ireland strategies designed to inform the delivery of evidence based services for the future have been witnessed. Whilst in England there has also been a move towards public protection within mental health legislation and the reaffirmation of the need to move towards more individual services. Whilst policy initiatives in both countries have been encouraging; they need to be implemented so issues such as access to healthcare and geographical disparity are addressed by local providers. Social implications -- Although there is a desire for change, the reality is that the policies and legislation introduced to address issues such as accessing mental health care and service standards have still to make a significant impact to people's daily lives. Originality/value -- This paper offers an update of current practice and policy relating to mental health for people with intellectual disabilities in England and Northern Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data published by the United Kingdom's Ministry for Justice clearly shows that, compared to persons who were White, members of racial minorities in England, particularly Blacks, were far more likely to be stopped and searched by the police. The question is whether such racial disparity in stops and searches could be justified by racial disparities in offending? Or whether the disparity in stop and searches exceeded the disparity in offending? This paper proposes a method for measuring the amount of excess in racial disparity in police stop and searches. Using the most recently published Ministry of Justice data (for 2007/08) for Police Areas in England and Wales it concludes that while in several Areas there was no excess to racial disparity in police stop and searches, there was, on the basis of the methodology proposed in the paper, evidence of such excess in some Police Areas of England and Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on interviews with White middle-class families who choose to send their children to London comprehensive schools, this paper focuses on the construction of Whiteness and middle classness as privileged identities. The paper explores the contradiction between parents' desire for multiethnic 'mixed' environments for their children's schooling and their fear and ambivalence about their children being 'out of place' in these contexts. It examines how various practices and processes set these children apart and result in a reification of Whiteness and middle classness as normative. The paper concludes that comprehensive schooling can do little to dismantle privilege in a wider system of structural inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes that widening participation in higher education might distinctively be conceptualised beyond economically driven human capital outcomes, as a matter of widening capability. Specifically, the paper proposes forming the capability of students to become and to be 'strong evaluators', able to make reflexive and informed choices about what makes a good life for each of them. Evaluating equality and justice in higher education, and specifically the case of 'widening participation', is then greatly advanced by considering the conceptual tools provided by Amartya Sen's capability approach. The paper therefore elaborates on Sen's ideas and demonstrates their applicability in relation to widening participation student voices gathered in research interviews. Important though Sen's ideas are, there are barriers that stand in the way of taking up these ideas educationally. While three such barriers are acknowledged in the paper, four resources of possibility for recovering widening participation as capability formation from neoliberal and other forms of instrumentalism are also sketched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers some of the social, legal and political changes that have taken place in the UK over recent years to elevate the inequality and discrimination faced by lesbians and gay men and how these changes have affected social work practice. In doing this the paper highlights some of the debates from verbatim reports of proceedings in both houses of parliament that pre-empted the passing of the legislation. These debates indicate the prejudicial attitudes of some members and show their opposition to lesbians and gay men having the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts. The paper then introduces the Equality Act 2006 and the Sexual Orientation Regulations 2007, which make it illegal to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation. The paper considers various amendments that the introduction of equality legislation makes to other pieces of legislation before going on to discuss the impact the legislation will have on the way in which goods, facilities and services will be delivered. The paper concludes that changing the law might be one thing, but changing people's attitudes is another. This conclusion has particular implications for social work education and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the challenges facing English flood risk management (FRM) policy and practice when considering fair decision-making processes and outcomes at a range of spatial scales. It is recognised that flooding is not fair per se: the inherent natural spatial inequality of flood frequency and extent, plus the legacy of differential system interventions, being the cause. But, drawing on the three social justice models – procedural equality, Rawls’ maximin rule and maximum utility – the authors examine the fairness principles currently employed in FRM decision-making. This is achieved, firstly, in relation to the distribution of taxpayer's money for FRM at the national, regional and local levels and, secondly, for non-structural strategies – most notably those of insurance, flood warnings and awareness raising, land use control, home owner adaptation and emergency management. A case study of the Lower Thames catchment illustrates the challenges facing decision-makers in ‘real life’: how those strategies which appear to be most technically and economically effective fall far short of being fair from either a vulnerability or equality perspective. The paper concludes that if we are to manage flood risk somewhat more fairly then a move in the direction of government funding of nationally consistent non-structural strategies, in conjunction with lower investment decision thresholds for other local-level FRM options, appears to offer a greater contribution to equality and vulnerability-based social justice principles than the status quo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a discourse of diversity, specialism, equality and choice, selective schooling is again on the UK education agenda. A previous selection policy operated between 1944 and 1964. The argument that some children are more suited to a vocational education and others to an academic one is evident now and then. This paper focuses on the life‐histories of four ‘50‐something’ women sent to ‘bilateral’ schools in Bristol, England. With children from the same primary school or street, they found themselves on differing sides of a divide between grammar and secondary‐modern education. The paper explores the practices through which White working class children received contrasting experiences of the same school, where different gendered‐classed identities, aspirations and expectations were constructed. The co‐existence of firmly separated grammar and modern streams within one school allows an analysis of everyday practices of selective schooling, of the means by which one was constantly constructed against the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Española de Sociología is the property of Federacion Espanola de Sociologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

• Associations between transport noise and socio-economic factors are mixed. • Each city presents different patterns of social inequalities in environmental noise. • Contextual factors of the urban area may influence the relationship. • Inequalities in transport noise depend on the noise source and indicators used. Noise from transport is a major environmental problem in urban areas. The distribution of noise in cities may be linked to socio-economic characteristics and evaluating the social distribution of noise is important for planning more equal, liveable and sustainable cities. However, to date, there is no strong base of evidence pointing towards a positive or a negative relationship between transport noise and socio-economic disadvantage. Results across studies are mixed and have mainly focused on road noise. Little information is available on other sources of noise or combined exposures. This paper examines associations between socio-economic factors and transportation noise at a small-area level in four different urban areas in England. To this end, the paper investigates associations across different city characteristics, individual and combined noise exposures (i.e. road, rail, air), different noise levels, as well as different socio-economic indicators. The results show non-homogeneous and complex patterns of socio-economic inequalities in exposure to transport-related noise across the urban areas studied. The relationships are influenced by the type of socio-economic indicator, the noise indicator, the noise source, the noise level as well as by the area's local characteristics. This highlights that inequalities in noise exposure should be considered along with other contextual factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the creation of a socially and ethnically mixed student body relates to mobility within the context of Beaumont Academy. This authoritarian school opened in 2004 under the ethos ‘structure liberates’. Based in a predominantly deprived, ethnic minority area of London, Beaumont seeks to culturally transform its students. With its outstanding GCSE results, the school has been championed as a blueprint for reform, yet the cultural implications underlying this approach remain unexamined. The ethos pathologizes the surrounding area while essentializing itself as an ‘oasis in the desert’ liberating students through discipline. The paper explores how mobility is embodied by students and the alterations or eliminations necessary to achieve it. These alterations produce raced and classed positions and bring them into focus, highlighting who needs to ‘adjust’ themselves to accrue value. Uncritical celebrations of mixed-ness conceal structural inequalities lingering beneath the rhetoric of happy multiculturalism and aspirational citizenship. These inequalities are exacerbated by a marketized education system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

BishopP. The spatial distribution of personal insolvencies in England and Wales, 2000–2007,Regional Studies. This paper analyses the evolving spatial distribution of personal insolvencies across England and Wales from 2000 to 2007 utilizing a range of exploratory techniques including inequality measures, spatial autocorrelation, Markov chains and mobility indices. The analysis reveals an intricate pattern of spatial clustering, fragmentation, persistence and mobility. Whilst average insolvency rates have increased, levels of spatial inequality have fallen, implying a degree of convergence. However, there is considerable mobility of areas within the distribution. A widespread and growing spatial cluster of high insolvency rate areas is located across South West England and a shrinking cluster with low rates is centred in London. BishopP. 英格兰及威尔士 2000–2007 年间个体破产的空间分布，区域研究。利用一系列解释工具，包括不平等指标、空间自相关性、马尔可夫链和流动性指数，本文分析了英格兰及威尔士 2000–2007 年间个人破产的空间分布。分析揭示出空间积聚、分散、持续以及移动性的复杂模式。在平均破产率上升的情况下，空间不公平水平下降，暗示出一定程度的融合。然而，分布地区中存在相当部分的移动性。在英格兰西南地区存在着持续增加的破产空间性积聚，而在伦敦地区上述破产的空间性积聚逐渐减少。 个体破产 不公平 移动性 探索型数据分析 英格兰与威尔士 BishopP. La distribution géographique des insolvabilités personnelles en Angleterre et au pays de Galles, de 2000 jusqu'à 2007,Regional Studies. Employant toute une série de techniques exploratoires, y compris des mesures de l'inégalité, l'auto-corrélation géographique, des chaînes de Markov et des indices de mobilité, cet article cherche à analyser la distribution géographique des insolvabilités personnelles à travers l'Angleterre et le pays de Galles de 2000 jusqu'à 2007. L'analyse laisse voir une distribution complexe de clusters, de morcellement, de continuité et de mobilité géographiques. Alors que les taux d'insolvabilité moyens ont augmenté, les niveaux d'inégalité géographiques ont diminué, ce qui laisse supposer une certaine convergence. Toujours est-il que la mobilité varie sensiblement au sein de la distribution. Un cluster géographique étalé et croissant de zones où le taux d'insolvabilité s'avère élevé se situe à travers le sud-ouest de l'Angleterre, tandis qu'un cluster réduit où les taux s'avèrent plus faibles se situe autour de Londres. Insolvabilité personnelle Inégalité Mobilité Analyse exploratoire des données Angleterre et Pays de Galles BishopP. Räumliche Verteilung von privaten Insolvenzen in England und Wales, 2000–2007,Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag wird anhand verschiedener explorativer Techniken, darunter Maßstäbe für Ungleichheit, räumliche Autokorrelation, Markow-Ketten und Mobilitätsindizes, die Entwicklung der räumlichen Verteilung von privaten Insolvenzen in England und Wales im Zeitraum von 2000 bis 2007 untersucht. Aus der Analyse geht ein komplexes Muster aus räumlichen Clustern, Fragmentierung, Persistenz und Mobilität hervor. Die durchschnittlichen Insolvenzraten sind zwar gestiegen, doch zugleich hat das Niveau der räumlichen Ungleichheit abgenommen, was auf ein gewisses Maß an Konvergenz schließen lässt. Innerhalb der Verteilung ist jedoch eine erhebliche Mobilität der Gebiete feststellbar. Im Südwesten Englands ist ein weit verbreitetes und wachsendes räumliches Cluster an Gebieten mit hohen Insolvenzraten vorhanden; in London befindet sich ein schrumpfendes Cluster mit niedrigen Raten. Private Insolvenz Ungleichheit Mobilität Explorative Datenanalyse England und Wales BishopP. Distribución espacial de insolvencias personales en Inglaterra y Gales, 2000–2007,Regional Studies. En este artículo analizamos la cambiante distribución espacial de las insolvencias personales en Inglaterra y Gales de 2000 a 2007 utilizando una serie de técnicas exploratorias, entre ellas las medidas de desigualdad, la autocorrelación espacial, las cadenas Markov y los índices de movilidad. El análisis revela un modelo intrincado de aglomeración, fragmentación, persistencia y movilidad espacial. Si bien los índices medios de insolvencia han aumentado, también se ha reducido la desigualdad espacial, lo que implica un grado de convergencia. Sin embargo, existe una movilidad considerable de áreas en la distribución. En Inglaterra sudoccidental se observa una extendida y creciente aglomeración espacial de áreas con altos índices de insolvencia mientras que en Londres hay una aglomeración en retroceso con índices bajos. Insolvencia personal Desigualdad Movilidad Análisis exploratorio de datos Inglaterra y Gales [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore potential benefits in aligning Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) with implementation of the Equality Delivery System (EDS) to improve commissioning of healthcare for minority ethnic groups. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on data gathered for a large research study carried out in England exploring the use of evidence in commissioning for multi-ethnic populations, to present a reflective discussion on the potential synergies between JSNA and EDS processes. Qualitative data were collected from 62 interviews with stakeholders in Sheffield, Leeds and Bradford, who, as part of their normal role, had an active responsibility to contribute to decision making for commissioning healthcare. 19 individuals working in national roles with experience in evidence use, ethnicity and commissioning across NHS, local authorities and third sector were also interviewed. Observational data were collected through regular attendance at an NHS Equality Group, which had Equality Delivery System implementation within its remit, and from a regional workshop focussing on Joint Strategic Needs Assessment improvements. Observations also came via participation in local EDS implementation meetings across Sheffield, Leeds and Bradford. These data were supplemented by a review of local and national policy literature about implementing JSNA and EDS. Findings – Formally strengthening the connection between JSNAs and the EDS has potential benefits for enhancing the evidence base about health and wellbeing needs of minority groups in general, and ethnic minorities in particular. Originality/value – NHS and Local Authority organisations need to establish structural processes to formally connect these two workstreams and to ensure adequate resource is made available, with clear direction from senior management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and analyses the work of a large scale improvement project in England in order to find more effective ways of fostering equity within education systems. The project involved an approach based on an analysis of local context, and used processes of networking and collaboration in order to make better use of available expertise. Reflecting on the impact and difficulties involved in using such an approach, the paper draws out lessons that may be relevant to other contexts. Consideration is also given to the implications for policy makers, practitioners and community stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses data from the Scottish School Leavers Surveys and the England and Wales Youth Cohort Study to analyse changes over time in gender and social class inequalities in the opportunities of young people to participate in higher education (HE) in Scotland, England and Wales. The results show that in Great Britain, in the period from the end of the 1980s to 2001–2002, HE expansion has benefited more women than men, and in the most recent time points has led to a reduction in social inequalities. However, gender and social class differences persist at degree level and in the choice of subject studied. The results also show that higher proportions of working class students enter HE in Scotland than in England and Wales, but that social inequalities are more marked in Scotland. The larger availability of vocational routes in Scotland, at both sub-degree and degree level, may explain country differences in HE participation rate of working class students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that race issues in local government are not composed of a single uniform agenda. Instead, the agenda varies between locality and over time. These agendas are the product of the interaction between the level of organizational coherence and the degree of racial explicitness of local politics and policy-making. The case of Ealing Borough demonstrates the extent to which the language and substance of race policy debate - the agenda of race - was transformed over the period analysed (1965–86). The traditional liberal framework for public policy discussion of race-related issues has served to shape - and constrain - the local politics of race in Britain. Despite a number of important setbacks and failures, the framework continues to exert considerable influence in the way in which it devolves race policy to local arenas, places heavy and unmanageable burdens on the voluntary sector, gives priority to racial harmony over racial equality goals, and denies legitimacy to those groups committed to racially explicit political strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specialization serves an important purpose in health services, ensuring resources are used efficiently and patients can access specialized skills and interventions. However, specialization also results in services being concentrated in fewer locations, with less patient choice. Focussing upon the example of gender-identity services for trans people in England, this paper outlines contemporary debates regarding hormone prescription pathways and argues that concepts of 'specialization' in health care may at times disadvantage minority populations who have needs that are uncommon but not clinically complex. Supplying gender-identity services in specialized clinics has sometimes been presented as avoiding discrimination that may occur in wider health services, but may reinforce perceptions that other health providers do not need to engage with trans populations. Primary care-led models for providing trans health care operate internationally and are being explored in the UK. However, reform processes may be helped by further critical attention to the purposes and implications of specialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational and occupational aspirations have become an important reference point in policy debates about educational inequality. Low aspirations are presented as a major barrier to closing educational attainment gaps and increasing levels of social mobility. Our paper contributes to this on-going debate by presenting data on the educational aspirations of students from the Effective Provision of Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education Project in England. We analyse factors that help predict students holding high aspirations. Our findings reveal generally high aspirations across all students but also differences by income group and other background factors. We evaluate the significance of these findings for the existing literature and public policy discussions about the importance of raising educational aspirations. In particular, we question the way in which low aspirations are framed by policy-makers as a major problem in debates around educational inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study presents a critical analysis of the state-prescribed teaching standards from 1984 to 2012 in order to reveal discourses of equality imbued within. Critical discourse analysis and critical race theory are employed to explore and explain how the discourses of equality are shaped by the prevailing political ideology of the state. Up to 2007, the analyses revealed the gradual emergence of two seemingly incompatible discourses: recognition of the difference within notions of appropriacy of curriculum input vs. the assertion of a homogenised knowledge valid for all. It is argued that because this tension remained unexamined in the documents, damaging assumptions of deficit were obscured, thereby effecting a failure to critique the hegenomic norms against which such deficit was assumed, with the ultimate effect of maintaining the status quo of inequitable outcomes. The standards of 2012 also operate to maintain the status quo, but do so far less discretely. Here homogeneity appears overtly approved through an overarching assimilationist agenda. Deficit is now more openly articulated as attached to those who need to assimilate. The paper concludes with ideas for an alternative transformative teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is a response to Davidson and Wyly. While we agree with them that class and class conflict is an important element of cities, we disagree with many of their claims and assertions regarding our work. In particular, we argue that the growth of the middle class does not mean that we consider the working class unimportant or to have largely disappeared as they suggest. This is to muddle empirical findings and political agendas. The working class is still clearly present, even though it has shrunk. Nor does the growth of the middle class imply that inequality has become unimportant. On the contrary, we argue that the growth of the middle class is one of the key reasons why London has become more unequal. We take issue with their claim that the middle class does not exist, and we argue that their analysis of 2001 census data, while interesting, does not look at the changes which have taken place over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews Bernard Barker's claims that ‘the pendulum is swinging’, in relation to school markets and competition. Barker's arguments are complex in this regard. He rejects markets and competition as a means of improving outcomes and equity, but supports some of the system features that are often associated with marketisation, such as school autonomy and differentiation. With this in mind, the article reviews the underpinning ideology and design of market and competition policies in England under different governments since 1988, as well as the evidence on the impact of these policies. It argues that the pendulum is not swinging away from markets and competition, although ideological shifts are discernible in the policies of the new Coalition government. One reason for this is that the evidence for the damaging effects of marketisation is not nearly as conclusive as Barker suggests. The pendulum is, however, swinging away from central regulation, including from regulatory mechanisms to protect against the worst effects of market policies on social justice. This may accelerate demands for a progressive post-market alternative, although the article concludes by pointing to the difficulties in practice of reconciling the values of equity, opportunity, social mobility, choice and community within system design. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Germans and the English differ in their experience of friendship. This paper departs from the observation that German manners books in the nineteenth and twentieth century are preoccupied with 'friendship' and the use of the personal pronoun, the informal you: Du. The topic 'friendship' is virtually absent in English manners books. In English books, until the 1970s, rules for introductions were a major if not the most prominent topic, whereas these rules attracted hardly any attention in the German ones. From an analysis of manners books from the last decade of, this paper compares friendship in Germany with introducing in England. Establishing a 'friendship' as well as 'being properly introduced' are both ritual transitions from a rather distant and hierarchical relationship in the direction of greater 'equality' and intimacy. These different forms are explained by placing them in the context of their national class structures and by connecting them to differences in the functioning of their good society, particularly the regulation of social mobility, as well as to differences in the processes of social emancipation and national integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous literature about race equality in social care has identified specific examples of good practice, but also a lack of widespread action by services to address both race discrimination and cultural competence. This paper is based on work by the Commission for Social Care Inspection to produce a practice-focussed bulletin for social care service providers about providing appropriate services for black and minority ethnic people. It is based on evidence from self-assessment work by services and importantly, the views and experiences of black and minority ethnic people using social care services. The findings suggest that only a minority of services are taking specific action on race equality and that there is an under-reporting of concerns by black and minority ethnic people using services. The key to appropriate services is not adapting existing services based on generalisations about ‘culture’ but providing culturally competent, personalised support that addresses individual needs alongside a systematic approach to remove barriers to race equality in the service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study commissioned by the Environment Agency to determine the spatial pattern of environmental inequality in South Yorkshire. GIS was used to correlate a range of environmental variables against socio-economic data sets, to quantify multiple impacts and thus identify hot spots of poor environmental quality. A new measure known as an Impact Intensity Score was developed to quantify multiple impacts and this measure would be transferable to other studies. This study provides evidence of inequality between different social groups in South Yorkshire with regard to environmental quality. In general, deprived areas have poorer environmental quality and in particular the most deprived areas often have the poorest environments in South Yorkshire. As such, it fits in with an emerging body of environmental justice work across Europe which has found links between deprived populations and poor environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to some authors (Thomas & Loxley, 2001), 'inclusion' has become something of a cliché, even being 'evacuated of meaning' (Benjamin, 2002). In England, teachers and teachers' assistants are required to implement inclusion but, in the absence of any universal definition of what the term means, the way in which they enact it varies depending on their understanding of this concept. In this paper, which was originally given as a performance text, we will be re-presenting data collected in the course of narrative and autobiographical investigation of mainstream teachers and teaching assistants' experiences and understandings of inclusion. Through these re-presentations our aim is to illustrate and bring about an engagement with the range of perceptions and conceptualizations portrayed. These demonstrate the tensions and resistances between systemic and personal elements in their understanding of inclusion. Our focus is primarily methodological in that we explore what 'narrative and the performance turn' (Denzin, 2003) have to offer to research which seeks to investigate practitioners' articulations and understandings of educational inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally recognized that there is a lack of equality of opportunity for minority‐led contractors and consultants (i.e. where at least 50 per cent of the workforce or ownership is from a minority group, such as women, disabled people or a black and minority ethnic community) to compete for work within the housing association sector. In response, the Housing Corporation, the government quango responsible for social housing in the UK, recently commissioned research to investigate the potential benefits of establishing a national database of such companies for the sector in England. The expectation was that such an initiative will help develop, support and promote black and minority ethnic (BME) companies and at the same time, redress the skills shortage in the construction industry. Recent funding cuts within the Housing Corporation now seriously undermine the future sustainability and development of this sector of the construction industry. This paper begins by providing an overview of the types of discrimination faced by BME contractors and consultants. This is set within the context of an unprecedented expansion in the construction sector but where restricted capacity among mainstream contractors due to skill and staff shortages is increasingly evident. The extent to which contractor registration databases have addressed these inequalities is then considered with particular reference to the largest of such contractor registration systems, Constructionline. Drawing on recent empirical work, the development requirements of such a database from the perspective of BME contractors and consultants is considered. The discussion also focuses on the future sustainability of BME small and medium enterprises. The commitment of social housing agencies to equality of opportunity will be crucial to the success of this sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings from research conducted for the Environment Agency1 investigating the social distribution of the risk of flooding in England and Wales. Following a broadly outcome based analysis, and using socio-geographic modelling techniques and the 1991 Census, the social class characteristics of the population at risk from flooding were explored and compared with the population considered not at risk as a means to uncover any evidence of social inequality. The Environment Agency indicative flood plain maps (1 in 100 year return for fluvial and 1 in a 200 year return for tidal flooding) were used to identify at risk areas. Two different methods of capturing the at risk population were employed; one based on census enumeration districts and the other using surface population models which redistribute the area population over a grid surface of the area of interest. The two methods provide completely different results. The enumeration district method indicates that those in higher social classes are the most likely to be exposed to flood hazard while the grid method indicates that it is those in the lower social classes who are most at risk. We suggest that the grid method provides a more accurate analysis but highlight the significant effect that the choice of areal unit and spatial analysis can have on conclusions about the extent of any inequality in vulnerability to flooding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. There has recently been much emphasis on the role of `partnerships' between local community `stakeholders' in strategies to redress health inequalities. This paper examines obstacles to participation in such partnerships by African-Caribbean lay people in local initiatives to improve mental health in a town in southern England. We present a `social psychology of participation' which we use to interpret our data. Our work seeks to illustrate some of the micro-social mechanisms through which social inequalities are perpetuated, using Bourdieu's conceptualisation of the role played by various forms of capital (economic, social, cultural and symbolic) in perpetuating social inequalities. Design. Our empirical research consists of a qualitative case study of attitudes to participation in mental-health-related partnerships in a deprived community. In-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted with 30 local community `stakeholders', drawn from the statutory, voluntary, user and lay sectors. Results. While interviewees expressed enthusiasm about the principles of participation, severe obstacles to its effective implementation were evident. These included severe distrust between statutory and community sectors, and reported disillusionment and disempowerment within the African-Caribbean community, as well as low levels of community capacity. Moreover, divergent understandings of the meaning of `partnership' suggested that it would be difficult to satisfy both community and statutory sectors at once. Conclusions. We suggest that disadvantaged and socially excluded communities are often deprived of the social resources which would provide a solid basis for their participation in partnerships with state health services. In the absence of efforts to remove such obstacles, and to generate the necessary resources for participation, partnerships may be `set up to fail', leaving social inequalities to prevail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the data on occupational and social class mortality published decennially for England and Wales are used to examine the trend in the size of class differentials in mortality from 1921 to 1972 for adult men, married women and infants. Using summary measures which take into account changes in the relative sizes of the social classes over time, it was found that absolute inequality in mortality increased among adult men and married women during the 1950s and 1960s and relative inequality increased for all three groups. Two widely recognized potential sources of error, changes in the occupational composition of the social classes over time, and discrepancies between the numerators and denominators of occupation-specific death rates are examined to determine their effect on the trend indicated, and the initial findings are confirmed. Finally, the possible causes and implications of rising inequality coincident with declining overall levels of mortality, relative affluence, and the uniform availability of basic medical services to all socio-economic sub-groups of the population are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are an estimated 50,000 LGBT teachers in English schools. In common with all workplaces, under the Equality Act 2010, schools have a responsibility to protect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) teachers from harassment in the workplace. From September 2020, for the first time, schools in England have been required to teach Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) that is inclusive of LGBT relationships. Representatives of faith communities and parents of school children in Birmingham and other major cities have protested outside school gates in opposition to the introduction of LGBT inclusive RSHE. This article explores what is at the heart of the moral panic about the inclusion of LGBT identities in the curriculum. As schools introduce inclusive RSHE, we must consider the impact of protests on LGBT teacher health, well-being and identity. More than half of LGBT teachers have suffered from anxiety or depression linked to their sexual identity and role as a teacher and so supportive and unequivocal support and intervention is needed to ensure schools are safe places, free from hostility, for LGBT teachers, pupils and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The challenge for the twenty-first century for oral health is to reduce the social inequality observed in populations. This challenge has been made explicit by the Department of Health (DH) in England. Turning rhetoric into reality is difficult for all concerned whatever field or profession. A cohesive model that embraces philosophical ideals can help individuals achieve change as it provides structure on which to develop ideas. This paper describes a model of care in general dental practice that fits the requirements of the DoH in addressing social inequalities, in the context of developing general dental services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an overview of wealth inequality in England from the late thirteenth to the sixteenth century, based on a novel database of distributions of taxable household wealth across 17 counties plus London. To account for high thresholds of fiscal exemption, a new method is introduced to reconstruct complete distributions from left‐censored observations. First, we analyse inequality at the county level, finding an impressive stability across time in the relative position of the English counties, perturbed only by the tendency of the South and South‐East to become relatively more inegalitarian. Then, we produce an aggregate distribution representative of England as a whole, and we detect an overall tendency for inequality to grow from medieval to early modern times due largely to North–South divergence in average household wealth. We discuss our results in the light of the recent literature on historical inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]