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The aim of the paper is to examine current and evolving supply side transition policy initiatives in the light of (a) particular demand side needs of urban young people classified as those most disadvantaged and potentially marginalized; and (b) the emerging realities of accessing and operating within particular examples of high value-added knowledge work arenas of the new urban economies in the UK. The paper is a synthesis of qualitative research undertaken by the author over the last five years that has examined notions of transition, development and learning for both young people and adults as they attempt to navigate their pathways in, and through, the new economies of the post-industrial urban context. The paper communicates the importance of a number of sociocultural theoretical concepts as a way of illuminating transition choices, actions and opportunities for disadvantaged young people. These concepts also enable a broader set of critical questions to be asked about current 14–19 transition policy and practice, particularly with regards to Connexions and the Careers Education and Guidance in England 11–19 National Framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently the job of teaching is being reconstructed through a technicist and managerial account which bleaches out the 'authentic' voice of the teacher. This paper is an attempt to recover the commitments which a particular group of teachers (urban teachers) bring to their work and explore the way their perspectives are infused with their class histories, class consciousness and their teaching experiences. The paper is divided into two main sections. The first part briefly examines the contested classed position of teachers and argues that there is a need to distinguish between economic and subjective class identities. The second part draws on a small data set of interviews conducted with seven experienced and long-stay inner-city teachers and argues that (these) teachers do what they do because of their classed identities and subjectivities. While these sorts of teachers may always have been in a minority (Grace 1978), nevertheless they are still out there teaching in the city. Through their perceptions, values and sometimes their actions, they are contesting normalizing discourses of what it is to be a teacher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]