ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors provide an overview of the conditions experienced by children in the four schools in which they conducted their research, under the headings Place, Policy and People. They describe the conditions associated with place by tracing the socioeconomic histories of the neighbourhoods served by these schools, and some of the experiences of people who live there. In the case of young people who live in poverty, the stakes are higher, because they rely more on education than their affluent peers to improve their life chances. In practice across the developed world, poverty and inequality have typically remained quite marginal to the work of school systems. The pedagogy of poverty requires that teachers who begin their careers intending to be helpers, models, guides, stimulators, and caring sources of encouragement transform themselves into directive authoritarians in order to function in urban schools.
