ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explains the young children's attainment and progress in school. More particularly, it is concerned with factors in the school and home that affect attainment and progress. Children's attainment depends a great deal on their own individual abilities and personalities, but to a large extent these characteristics must be accepted as given. The book discusses briefly some recent issues raised by educational researchers that may contribute to understanding ethnic and sex underachievement. It sheds light on the reasons for the differences in educational achievement of boys and girls, and for the underachievement of black British children of Afro-Caribbean origin. The gap between girls' and boys' educational attainment is of a different kind and magnitude to that between children of different social class and ethnic group. Until the age of 16, girls' overall educational attainments are slightly higher than those of boys.
