Bloomington, Aug. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Solution Tree announced today multiple additions to Dr. Andy Hargreaves’s worldwide virtual book tour in support of his June release, Moving. At a time when student inequity has been brought to the forefront due to remote learning, this candid and emotionally direct memoir deftly contributes to critical global conversations surrounding equity and social mobility.
The book opens in 1950s England, taking readers through some of the most pivotal moments of the author’s early life in a working-class community, while periodically fast-forwarding to the present day. Hargreaves reveals in intimate detail how his experiences of social class and class movement shaped him as a young child, as well as throughout adolescence and early adulthood. Offering humor and insights, Moving combines the author’s own underdog story of grit, resilience and even defiance with his acknowledgment of the importance of a strong public education and housing and welfare supports to his advancement. He connects all this to the larger literature and issues of inequity and social immobility affecting all disadvantaged groups in the world today.
“It’s time for all of us to do our very best to reduce inequality, increase support and foster more inclusive and responsive cultures in our schools, our universities and our societies,” explained Hargreaves. “If we do all this, social mobility will become a stronger possibility for more young people and a less alienating experience once they achieve it.”
The memoir includes a foreword written by Nicola Sturgeon, first minister of Scotland, who explains that she also experienced the kind of social mobility described throughout the book. Sturgeon shared that the book’s message to her as a political leader is that “social mobility is too important to be left to individual effort, ingenuity, luck or chance. Systems and governments must play their part as well.”
Harvard University’s Howard Gardner, creator of the theory of multiple intelligences, described Moving as “nuanced” and “heartfelt.” He added, “One comes to appreciate the motivations for Andrew Hargreaves’s lifetime mission of improving educational opportunities for less-privileged persons, as well as the approaches that he has taken in pursuit of that essential undertaking.”
Hargreaves’s upcoming appearances include virtual speaking engagements and interviews that will be broadcast from organizations in the United States, Canada, England and Australia, among other global locations. Key presentations are scheduled at the Albert Shanker Institute in Washington, D.C. on September 14, the British Columbia Principal and Vice Principal's Association on October 29 and the Australia Council for Educational Leaders in late 2020. In addition, a weekly virtual book study with Hargreaves will be offered through Solution Tree at no cost, beginning August 12 and running through August 26.