Bottom of the Class: Children's Stories of Low Attainment in Primary School
This book offers a much-needed look at the impact of our attainment-driven education system on those children considered ‘low attainers’. It reveals how difficult they find it to feel good about themselves, their capacity to learn and their futures, as well as shedding light on the role schools are playing in maintaining inequality and the illusion of meritocracy.

At the heart of Bottom of the Class are the engaging and thought-provoking stories of four children whom the author followed through three years of primary school. Concerned with friendships, getting ‘told off’ and struggling with schoolwork, they are in some ways very ordinary. Yet, caught between competing messages about who they ‘ought’ to be and their fears of failure, they are also extraordinary, showing impressive courage, creativity and integrity in the way they navigate their paths through school.

By bringing the voices of ‘low attainers’ into the centre of the debate around low attainment, this crucially important book is a must-read for anyone interested in educational inequality and school experience within education studies, policy studies, the sociology of education, initial teacher training and educational leadership.

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Bottom of the Class: Children's Stories of Low Attainment in Primary School
This book offers a much-needed look at the impact of our attainment-driven education system on those children considered ‘low attainers’. It reveals how difficult they find it to feel good about themselves, their capacity to learn and their futures, as well as shedding light on the role schools are playing in maintaining inequality and the illusion of meritocracy.

At the heart of Bottom of the Class are the engaging and thought-provoking stories of four children whom the author followed through three years of primary school. Concerned with friendships, getting ‘told off’ and struggling with schoolwork, they are in some ways very ordinary. Yet, caught between competing messages about who they ‘ought’ to be and their fears of failure, they are also extraordinary, showing impressive courage, creativity and integrity in the way they navigate their paths through school.

By bringing the voices of ‘low attainers’ into the centre of the debate around low attainment, this crucially important book is a must-read for anyone interested in educational inequality and school experience within education studies, policy studies, the sociology of education, initial teacher training and educational leadership.

54.99 In Stock
Bottom of the Class: Children's Stories of Low Attainment in Primary School

Bottom of the Class: Children's Stories of Low Attainment in Primary School

by Laura Quick
Bottom of the Class: Children's Stories of Low Attainment in Primary School

Bottom of the Class: Children's Stories of Low Attainment in Primary School

by Laura Quick

Paperback

$54.99 
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Overview

This book offers a much-needed look at the impact of our attainment-driven education system on those children considered ‘low attainers’. It reveals how difficult they find it to feel good about themselves, their capacity to learn and their futures, as well as shedding light on the role schools are playing in maintaining inequality and the illusion of meritocracy.

At the heart of Bottom of the Class are the engaging and thought-provoking stories of four children whom the author followed through three years of primary school. Concerned with friendships, getting ‘told off’ and struggling with schoolwork, they are in some ways very ordinary. Yet, caught between competing messages about who they ‘ought’ to be and their fears of failure, they are also extraordinary, showing impressive courage, creativity and integrity in the way they navigate their paths through school.

By bringing the voices of ‘low attainers’ into the centre of the debate around low attainment, this crucially important book is a must-read for anyone interested in educational inequality and school experience within education studies, policy studies, the sociology of education, initial teacher training and educational leadership.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781032826288
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Publication date: 06/27/2025
Series: Foundations and Futures of Education
Pages: 194
Product dimensions: 6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Laura Quick is an honorary research fellow at University College London and lecturer in Education at the University of Roehampton, UK. Previously a primary and SEND teacher, her research explores the relationship between schools, inequalities and social justice.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Diane Reay

1. Setting the scene

2. Researching children’s experiences

3. Sam: ‘A jigsaw with pieces missing’

4. Ellie: ‘It doesn’t matter about your work, it just matters about people doing good’

5. Clara: ‘Always convince yourself that you’re great’

6. Michael: ‘In the middle, that’s what I’m like’

7. Navigating school as a ‘low attainer’

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