Education and social mobility: possibilities, reproductive structures, discourse and materiality

Schools have long been identified by sociologists as core institutions within society, responsible for contributing to the national, public good; contributing to the structural glue that holds together diverse national populations; developing the human capital that fuels the engines of the nation-state; and socializing young people into the structures that govern society. Sociologists of education have explored the relationship between schooling and social reproduction, particularly the ways that both micro and macro processes of social reproduction operate; the relationships between home and school in these processes; and the extent to which schools can in fact disrupt such reproductive tendencies. The final issue of 2021 is brought toget\her to further examine the relationship between education, social mobility, and social reproduction across a multitude of educational sites around the world and from the perspective of various stakeholders: Teachers, parents, and students. Collectively, the articles pose a set of key questions: How is educational success of young people related to the very spaces in which education takes place? How do young people understand what contributes to their own sense of educational success? How do parents across social class boundaries bolster those successes at home? How are belonging, diversity, and inclusion fostered and understood in different school settings? The first article focuses on the nature of the relationship between education practices and the design of school facilities. By illuminating notions of place and education as they pertain to an alternative high school in Israel, Amitay and Rahav help develop perspectives on how teaching and learning processes are affected by the architectural and physical layout, and various components of the school. By making the place and space of the school itself visible and linking it to the pedagogical characteristics of the educational environment, it becomes possible to envision the kinds of emancipatory spaces that would enable improved educational practices for at risk youth, including those that have left the general schooling system. INTERNATIONAL STUDIES IN SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION 2021, VOL. 30, NO. 4, 359–361 https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2021.1995778