In modern times education and training are key factors determining placement of individuals
and career opportunities over a lifetime. Hence how opportunities for education are
distributed and the role of social origin are central concepts. This perspective moderates this
article about individuals seeking advancement through education and training. It focuses
attention on the resources and potentials that facilitate upward social mobility and hence on
the questions as to which conditions children youth and young adults are able to overcome
disadvantages relating to their origin and successfully complete an educational career. We
shift the focus of social research that has to date has concentrated on identifying
deficiencies risks and deficits. The term educational advancement is used as a core bracket to
incorporate those barriers that are placed in the way of children of working-class parents and
from disadvantaged migrant families. This outlook reveals that educational advancement is not a
snapshot of a young adult but is a process that begins much earlier. Our exploration of the
subject covers social backgrounds empirical insights on life contexts among those seeking an
education and who come from a wide range of groups of origin and the sources of anxieties about
advancement that are common among those seeking advancement as well as the societal
implications for educational and social policies that can be derived from these insights. This
article does not present theories about individuals seeking educational advancement but rather
presents the various topics and issues. The selection of topics and participating authors is an
attempt to consider the important findings within the disciplines involved in the field and
thus to meet the demands for an interdisciplinary perspective.
