Abstract/Summary

This chapter explores how the education system could be argued as reinforcing, as well as ‘interacting’, with notions of a gendered, social and ethnically defined self. Experiences of schooling also provide a powerful framework that young people use to form a sense of themselves, in this case, as that of educational ‘success’ or ‘failure’ The consequences of these will be considered in relation to how they can impact on educational confidence, engagement and aspirations. Ideas and suggestions are then offered as to how educators can support a re-framing of identities so as to support young people to develop the levels of resilience and self-confidence that are arguably the key skills for success in the 21st Century