Keith Kintrea, Ralf St Clair and Muir Houston of Glasgow University have produced a report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on research into ‘The Influence of Parents, Place and Poverty on Educational Attitudes and Aspirations’. Contrary to the assumptions of policy, young people’s aspirations are found to be high overall but there are some surprising differences in the pattern of aspirations and in aspirational change between three UK cities (including Glasgow). The research provides new insights into how attitudes and aspirations are shaped under varying local circumstances of disadvantage, and suggests that the fundamental challenge is not to just to raise aspirations but to help young people find more ways to realise them.