DESCRIPTORS Academic Achievement; *Educational Discrimination;

This paper explores social-class consciousness and how it relates to education policy. Through autobiographical narrative, the paper examines how an original working-class background determined which route to follow in public education in post-World War II England and how that education molded her social identity and consciousness as a working-class person. The combination of historical context and intellectual self-inquiry portrays a social system that effectively uses education to continue itself at the social and political levels. These practices were (and still are) embodied in streams (tracks) that categorize students into potential candidates for grammar, secondary-modern, or technical schools. Stream placement is done through the 11-plus test (an IQ examination). Upon leaving school, the graduate would bring all the perceptions and notions of class into society whereby the system is promulgated through continued flawed policy. Educational research can identify, interrogate, and shed light on these practices, knowledge of which can contribute to improving the policymaking process. The paper ends by inquiring into the social and political value of educational research, its impact on educational policy, and how it should be effectively communicated to the proper audience. (Contains 33 references.) (RT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Paper presented t