Learning Experiences, Effective Schools and Social Context

School effectiveness research and current government targets for raising standards assume a generic effectiveness attainable by any school through best practice models. This article explores some contrasts at classroom level, revealed in research based in schools differing both in measured effectiveness and in the socio‐economic characteristics of the intake populations. The findings, focusing particularly on lower‐achieving pupils in the early secondary years, indicated that tasks especially in English, classroom interactions and pupils’ responses to teaching approaches varied by social context. The social composition of the school population is a powerful determinant of the culture of learning within a school and this is reflected in pupils’ learning experiences.