Governments’ education policies are plagued with references to the ‘achievement gap’, regularly introducing new strategies aimed at closing it. The gap itself refers to disparity in performance on various educational measures between different groups, usually with a focus on pupils’ achievement on standardised tests. Gaps have been identified between different categories of social class, different ethnic groups and between boys and girls (Lee, 2002; Younger & Warrington, 1996). However, these factors differ in terms of the magnitude of the attainment gap. For example, Strand (2008) examined differences in pupil attainment at age sixteen by gender, ethnicity, and social class as defined by the occupational grouping of the head of the household. Findings revealed that social class accounted for the greatest gap in attainment during key stage 4 (the final two years of compulsory schooling in the UK) with the contrast between ‘higher managerial and professional’ and ‘long term unemployed’ parental occupation groupings forming the widest gap in assessment scores (standard deviation 1.34). The greatest contrast between ethnic groups lay between Indian and Black Caribbean groups with higher performance in the Indian group. However, this gap was less than half the size of the social class gap (standard deviation .65 compared to 1.34). Gender accounted for the smallest gap in performance with girls achieving higher than boys (standard deviation .23). If the gap in attainment is examined separately for social class, ethnicity and gender Strand’s (2008) findings depict a situation in which social class is by far the most influential factor in educational success and that the gender gap is minimal in comparison. Indeed, research repeatedly demonstrates greater success in the education system for middle class pupils than for working class pupils (e.g. Whitty, 2002). However, caution must be exercised when interpreting such findings; classifying groups in a crude manner, e.g., comparing all girls with all boys regardless of social class and ethnicity, fails to account for interactions between groups. A number of studies (Strand, 2008; Connolly, 2006) have found interactions between factors of social class and ethnicity and social class and gender in relation to pupil achievement. These interactions raise important considerations for researchers investigating the achievement gap, which to some extent echo the seminal issues studied in the Sixties and Seventies. This paper explores these considerations in direct relation to how teacher education in the UK, Europe and the US has sought to acknowledge and respond to them.

The method used is desk-based literature review. Studies that focus on the interaction of social class, ethnicicity and gender on pupil achievement will be accessed. Bronfenbrenner's (1979) model of human ecological development, specifically the macrosystem, will be used to explain the impact of interacting social factors on pupils. Commentaries on, and analyses of, the efficacy of teacher education in raising standards of achievement in Europe, the UK and US will be considered. The aim will be to analyse the extent to which teacher education is responding to policy developments around social justice and equality of educational opportunity, e.g. No Child Left Behind in the US, Every Child Matters in the UK, following a long period of almost total concentration on the technicality of pedagogy and standard tests as means of raising attainment.

The expected outcomes are the identification of key factors that teacher education needs to address within socially and culturally diverse societies which increasingly embrace a more wholistic and personalised approach to pupils’ education. Teachers need to be prepared for the reality that learners are the product of, and often victim to, complex social, emotional and economic conditions that cannot be ignored if the drive to improve attainment is to remain the goal for all pupils. The paper will develop a theoretical position in relation to what the research studies accessed indicate are necessary for European and US teachers to respond to that complexity and how it impacts on individual achievement.