On 21 November 2024, Dr Jessie Abrahams attended the Society for Educational Studies (SES) Book Awards after her newly released book, Schooling Inequality: Aspirations, Opportunities and the Reproduction of Social Class, was announced as the winner of the SES Debut Book Award 2024.
In her new book, Dr Abrahams explores how social class inequality is reproduced as an everyday matter through the structures and practices of secondary schools in England, with inequalities being found both within GCSE and A Level options.
Dr Jessie Abrahams pictured with her SES Debut Book Award 2024.
This is further explored within the book through drawing on Dr Abrahams’ research, which was conducted in three differing secondary schools in England and includes interviews with children from three year groups and career advisors.
Overall, Dr Abrahams’ research allowed her to uncover the aspirations, opportunities and experiences of young people from different social class backgrounds to shed light on the continuing inequalities which persist in the education system today.
One of the main aims of Dr Abrahams' book was to highlight that in challenging inequality, we are required to work at both ends of the class spectrum.
Dr Abrahams explains: ‘It is not enough to talk about improving educational outcomes for “disadvantaged” young people. What is needed to create equity is for the advantaged to be prevented from engaging in strategies which give an unfair advantage within education and society.’
Her own personal experiences inspired Dr Abrahams’ book and her decision to explore continuing class inequalities in the education system too.
Dr Abrahams said: ‘My research was inspired by my personal experience of attending the University of Bristol as a working class student. In that time, I was mixing with other students from very different backgrounds, and I was shocked at how different their experience of schooling was.’
‘I was also working on a research project in the Sociology department at the time where we were exploring the experiences of undergraduates from different backgrounds at the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England (UWE). The findings of that project also contributed to my curiosity to explore this subject.’
Dr Jessie Abrahams celebrating her award win with her mother Shelly Abrahams.
Since winning the SES Debut Book Award 2024, Dr Abrahams’ research is only gaining momentum; reviews are flooding in for her new book and even academic podcasts are being produced to discuss her findings.
‘Winning this award was a huge moment for me. I have worked for many years on this research and it just makes me so happy that the book is published and has received so much positive attention.’
‘I think what I am most proud of is the comments about this work being ‘analytically strong, yet also accessible’ and also how personal and relatable it is. People have felt moved by this work on an emotional level, which I am proud of.’