SCHOOLS, FAMILIES AND ACADEMICALLY ABLE STUDENTS - CONTRASTING MODES OF INVOLVEMENT IN SECONDARY-EDUCATION

Over the past few years, we have been gathering data on the educationa l careers of a previous researched group of students students who were identified as 'academically able' in their early teenage years. The 3 47 young men and women who have taken part in this later research atte nded 18 different secondary schools and are now in their mid-twenties. This paper attempts to make sense of their school experiences using B asil Bernstein's theorisations on the 'sources of consensus and disaff ection in education'. Despite a number of recent critiques directed at theories of 'socio-cultural determinism' in general, we argue that Be rnstein's framework provides a useful means to unravel some of the var ied biographies of our sample of students. More specifically, in this paper we compare and contrast different levels of student involvement at true of our 18 research schools. Data from these schools, our sampl e of students and some of their their parents are used to make connect ions between the cultures of the schools, family perceptions and subse quent forms of student involvement. Although these connections are by no means straightforward, we argue that they provide a way of understa nding many facts of our respondents' various orientations to schooling that are significant not on only their own educational careers, but a lso for future educational decision-making.