Compensatory education, educational inequalities, social injustices, urban education, Bernstein

In England, as in many countries across the economically developed world, governments have seen the reform of the school system as a major strategy for promoting social justice. The focus has been on the continual ‘improvement’ of schools through increasing central control of curriculum and pedagogy, the introduction of high-stakes testing and accountability, and the creation of education quasi-markets in which schools compete to attract students. Whatever the achievements of these reforms, it is increasingly clear that they have been unsuccessful in overcoming the deeply-entrenched relationship between socio-economic disadvantage, low educational achievement and limited life chances. This paper argues that reform efforts need to be refocused so that the work of schools is aligned more fully with wider public policy efforts to address disadvantage. In particular, it advocates the development of ‘community focused’ schools which look beyond their gates to the social justice issues in the areas they serve. The paper shows how such schools have developed in different forms in many countries, and concludes by suggesting that their work can become part of an ‘area approach’ to promoting social justice.