Friday June 14th, 2024, 10am until 4pm at Glasgow Caledonian University

This will be a hybrid event, but in person attendance is strongly encouraged. (Participant sign up details will be available soon).

This conference at Glasgow Caledonian University - in conjunction with The Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit (SPIRU), the University of the West of England, and the Alliance of Working-Class Academics (AWCA) - aims to send a message that, in the context of a challenging environment for educational systems within and beyond Scotland, policymakers, researchers and practitioners must focus on creating innovative pathways and manage sustainable transitions to overcome complex challenges. This will include alleviating extreme poverty, hunger, high dropout or attendance rates, exclusion, isolation, alienation, and other contemporary issues as a consequence of inequality. This is set against a backdrop of increasingly punitive socio-economic measures against marginalised and underrepresented working-class individuals.

Therefore, with a focus on “education” the conference will investigate and develop effective responses to poverty and inequality in Scotland and beyond. The day will aim to feature a wide range of the latest research on the impact of poverty and inequalities on access and the pathways of working-class individuals in to, through and beyond education systems. This will include examining the differential impact of rising fuel bills, inflation and budget cuts on support services, students, families, and practitioners.

The conference aims to bring together working-class academics, practitioners and researchers from across a range of educational and public sector settings. It is open to everyone, especially those who are interested in themes of (post-school, school, and pre-school) education, sociology, psychology, criminology, and public health. We welcome anyone with lived experience of conference themes and those who wish to become more informed on issues related to social class, education and poverty.