A new Monday morning and beyond

In this concluding chapter of our book we begin by reflecting on Willis's (1977) seminal work about how kids from low SES communities come to believe that school is not for them. Willis had talked about Monday morning in his final chapter as a metaphor for the limited possibilities that classrooms offer for many poor communities. We are hoping that the same metaphor can reflect a sense of optimism for a 'new Monday morning' as captured in the classroom stories of this book. The teachers you have met offer their students a genuine hope that getting up and going to school can be both challenging and engaging in the here and now, as well as giving them a chance for a more successful educational future. We finish this book by suggesting that this chance is manifest through three key themes: measure of a teacher; the call to engage; intellectual challenge. The themes are presented here both as a summary and as a set of provocations for educators to take forward as they open up an educational fair go for students living in poverty.