Ambivalent relations: the ‘tricky footwork’ of parental involvement in school communities

Parental involvement in schools, generally seen to be a good thing, is now closely linked through policy to the educational achievement of their children. In this Victorian case study, teacher and parent responses to policies advocating parental involvement are examined. It explores the intersections of gender and class in the context of changing home/school relationships characterised by policies and processes of institutionalisation, familialisation and individualisation that are shaping parental involvement. It suggests that the current discursive construction of parent/school relationships around partnerships for student learning fail to recognise the complexity of parent/teacher relations and its gendered nature. Feminist critical policy analysis framed by the sociology of the family inform our understandings of the ways changing discourses and practices currently are informing parental involvement in a culturally and socio‐economically diverse school.     

A reconstruction of the gender agenda: the contradictory gender dimensions in New Labour's educational and economic policy

This article reviews current interpretations of Labour's education policy in relation to gender. Such interpretations see the marginalisation of gender equality in mainstream educational policy as a result of the discursive shift from egalitarianism to that of performativity. Performativity in the school context is shown to have contradictory elements ranging from an increased feminisation of teaching and the (re)masculinisation of schooling. Also, whilst underachievement is defined as ‘the problem of boys’, the production of hierarchical masculinities and ‘laddishness’ by marketised schools is ignored. The policy shift towards performativity also masks girls' exclusion and the disadvantages working‐class girls face within the education system. The rhetoric of gender equality, although stronger in the field of post‐16 training and employment, is no less contradictory. The effects of New Labour are found in the aggravation of social class divisions within gender categories and the spiralling differences between male and female paths. Gender equality ideals in education are therefore shown to have a far more complex relationship to New Labour politics than previously thought.     

Determinants of educational exclusion: Poor urban girls' experiences in- and out-of-school in Kenya

The educational challenges girls face are often explained by economics. However, gender norms and identities, constructed historically but subject to change, also play a crucial role. In Kenya, little attention has been paid to the negative social constructions that keep girls from attaining the education they want. This article analyses the role of social construction among girls who are in and out of two secondary schools in Nairobi province, Kenya. Data were obtained from interviews with adolescent girls attending the schools, female dropouts previously affiliated with those two schools, and teachers at the schools. All the challenges that girls faced in attempting to secure secondary education were linked to social construction; they were deeply rooted in gender roles as defined by the cultural context and reinforced by socialisation. Based on the results, the authors hold that women must lead community efforts toward changes that will enhance their daughters’ educational opportunities.     

Individualisation in Swedish Adult Education and the Shaping of Neo-liberal Subjectivities

In this article we have analysed the ways a discourse on individualisation is taking shape within adult education in Sweden, how it operates, and what effects it has in terms of shaping student subjectivity. Drawing on a post-structural theorisation we analyse interviews with teachers and students in municipal adult education and folk high schools (FHS). The analysis illustrates how both institutions contribute to the shaping of individualised subjectivities, although differently. At the end, a general question is raised about what happens with the democratic function of adult education in general when a discourse on individualisation operates in the ways described and, more specifically, asks what is happening to FHS as an educational practice that upholds its self-image as a last bastion of a collective notion of learning and subjectivity and nurturing an educational practice of learning democracy?     

Teacher Perceptions of South Asians in Birmingham Schools and Colleges

The views of a range of teachers towards South Asians in schools and colleges in Birmingham are explored in this paper. Based on 23 teachers, often senior in nature, from 11 educational institutions (9 schools [1 independent, 2 selective, 6 comprehensive] and 2 further education colleges), analysis of attitudes is in relation to gender and religion; socialisation and language differences between South Asian groups; and teacher ethnicity and antiracist multicultural education policy. It was broadly found that teachers viewed the education of South Asians based on the modus operandi of the educational institution they represented as well as the way in which differing South Asians based on socio-economic status, ethnicity and gender were thought to act and behave. There are implications for how South Asians are perceived as individuals as well as groups by teachers, as well as how schools can make a real attempt to improve existing home-school relations.     

School effects and ethnic,gender and socio-economic gaps in educational achievement at age 11

There are long-standing achievement gaps in England associated with socio-economic status (SES), ethnicity and gender, but relatively little research has evaluated interactions between these variables or explored school effects on such gaps. This paper analyses the national test results at age 7 and age 11 of 2,836 pupils attending 68 mainstream primary schools in an ethnically diverse inner London borough. The groups with the lowest educational achievement and poorest progress were both Black Caribbean and White British low SES pupils. White British middle and high SES pupils made substantially more progress than White British low SES pupils, significantly increasing the SES gap over time. However low and high SES Black pupils made equally poor progress age 7–11. School effects on pupil progress were large, but there was no evidence of differential school effectiveness in relation to SES, ethnicity or gender. Low SES pupils in the more effective schools performed significantly better than high SES pupils in the less effective schools, but all pupils (both low and high SES) benefit from attending the more effective schools and so these schools do not eliminate the SES gap. The limits to change that may be achieved by schools alone are discussed.     

Educational renovation in a South African ‘township on the move’: A social–spatial analysis

This article presents an account of the ways education reform has been mediated in one South African township. It suggests that the normative policy intentions of the reforming post-apartheid state have been reworked in light of the specific social configuration of the township and its schools. It employs social–spatial lenses to understand the formative interaction between the township's social configuration processes and the institutional identities of its schools and teachers. The article shows how educational reform has been renovated in light of the spatially networked processes that played out in and around the schools. It suggests that the effects of educational policy reform can best be understood by the uses to which it has been put in this localised terrain.     

Self-esteem: A cross-cultural comparison of British-Chinese,White British and Hong Kong Chinese children

Total raw self-esteem scores of 1303 children, including Chinese children in Britain and Hong Kong and White British, were assessed by using the Self-esteem Inventory developed by Coopersmith (1967). Across all samples, the results show little differences between children of different ages, whereas statistically significant differences occur in the independent variables of ethnic groups, gender and educational aspiration. Despite the social disadvantages that the UK Chinese may face, they have significantly higher self-esteem than their Hong Kong Chinese counterparts, but have little differences from their White peers. This indicates that they are likely to have positive feelings and academic confidence in being themselves and as part of the host society. In contrast, Hong Kong children tend to have low levels of self-esteem, which may be caused by the more self-effacing and modest values in Chinese culture, a traditional authoritarian style of education or highly competitive pressures created by schools, families and society.     

‘Who cares?’ Gender,care and secondary schooling: ‘Accidental findings’ from a seclusion unit

A breadth of research explores gendered professional identities, practices and spaces across a range of UK educational institutions. One focus has been on links between gender, care and education in early years settings and primary schools, although less attention has been given to caring within secondary schools. Drawing on qualitative research conducted in London within an in-school seclusion unit, this article brings together a Lefebvrian conceptualisation of space with feminist theorisations of care to explore how the unit (conceived as a space of control, discipline and punishment) also became an unlikely space of care. In doing so, the article explores complex intersections between gender and care and how everyday caring practices in schools are inextricably linked to and embedded within broader institutional and spatial agendas and processes.     

Integrating gender concerns

This paper focuses on the education of girl children in India. It attempts to understand how gender identity influences the quality of their learning experiences. Reviewing available studies it explores how gender is contextualized within schools and pervades classroom processes, specifically in relation to ‘official’ school knowledge as well as the hidden curriculum of teacher attitudes and peer interaction. It points to the need for a gender perspective to inform school policy and classroom practices and also be integrated in teacher education. It suggests that unless gender concerns are seriously addressed, the number of girls who enrol in schools may increase, but they are unlikely to receive an education that is equitable.     

Single‐sex Education for Girls: heterosexuality,gendered subjectivity and school choice

Single‐sex education for girls constitutes a focal point around which issues of gender, choice and educational decision‐making coalesce. My concern is not to enter the debate about the merits of single‐sex education for girls per se, but to examine the relationship between discourses of femininity and discourses around single‐sex schooling to see how they interact in the choice of single‐sex schools by girls and their parents. In this paper, I explore the ways in which aspects of feminist poststructuralist theory can be used to offer a more dynamic and complex account of the processes of school choice than that assumed by neo‐liberal theorists. The theory I develop is illuminated by interviews with three girls and their parents, from different social‐class backgrounds, at the point at which they were making decisions about which secondary school to apply for. A focus such as this enables me to do two things: firstly, to develop a more adequate understanding of the relationship between gender and educational decision‐making; and secondly, to critique the underlying theory of instrumental rationality, and its relationship to school choice, which has underwritten the marketisation of education in Aotearoa/New Zealand.     

(En)gendering responsibility: a critical news analysis of Argentina's education reform, 2001–2002

Education reform continues around the globe, though questioned and critiqued in relation to goals of democratizing educational decision-making. Newspapers are one site of contestation and negotiation where struggles over global reform discourses are contextualized in ‘obvious’ and ‘natural’ local language. In this article, I argue that gender discourses are a powerful heuristic employed to push particular education agendas and particularly gendered ones that do not necessarily reflect education reform goals for democratizing educational decision-making or improving equity. I analyzed Argentina's education reform in two national newspapers from 1 November 2001 to 1 November 2002 to reveal the role of gender in reform mediation at the national level. The findings and their interpretation illustrated how educational institutions and actors were situated in a gendered hierarchy with responsibilities and authority. Evoking masculine and feminine roles, representations, and identities in everyday ‘natural’ language lent a familiarity to seemingly abstract and neutral global education reform goals, replicating context-specific educational decision-making processes.     

Freedom’s Children: A gender perspective on the education of the learner-citizen

Drawing on Ulrich Beck’s theory of “freedom’s children”, the present contribution examines contemporary concerns about educating young people for citizenship as well as educating them about citizenship. Under the first theme, the author focuses on the citizen as learner, highlighting some of the gender- and class-related inequalities that are typically associated with individualisation. Under the second theme, she looks at the learner as citizen in view of the fact that citizenship education courses often prepare learners for a gender-divided world — even though the processes of individualisation have themselves significantly reshaped contemporary gender relations. In light of current challenges facing citizenship education, the study concludes by reflecting on gender-related dimensions of individualisation and their implications for democracy and the learner-citizen.     

Freedom’s Children: A Gender Perspective on the Education of the Learner-Citizen

Drawing on Ulrich Beck’s theory of “freedom’s children”, the present contribution examines contemporary concerns about educating young people for citizenship as well as educating them about citizenship. Under the first theme, the author focuses on the citizen as learner, highlighting some of the gender- and class-related inequalities that are typically associated with individualisation. Under the second theme, she looks at the learner as citizen in view of the fact that citizenship education courses often prepare learners for a gender-divided world – even though the processes of individualisation have themselves significantly reshaped contemporary gender relations. In light of current challenges facing citizenship education, the study concludes by reflecting on gender-related dimensions of individualisation and their implications for democracy and the learner-citizen.     

The effect of support staff on pupil engagement and individual attention

Despite an unprecedented increase in classroom-based support staff, there are confusing messages about their appropriate deployment and a lack of systematic evidence on their impact. This article addresses the deployment and impact on pupil engagement and individual attention of support staff, commonly known as teaching assistants (TAs), in terms of: (1) a comparison between TAs and teachers; (2) differences between pupils with and without special educational needs (SEN); and (3) differences between primary and secondary schools. Systematic observations of pupil behaviour in 49 primary and secondary schools showed that support staff presence resulted in increased individualisation of attention and overall teaching, easier classroom control, and that pupils showed more engagement and a more active role in interaction with adults. This supports teachers’ positive view of support staff, but their presence also meant pupils’ contact with teachers declined and at secondary level there was less individual and active interactions between teachers and pupils.     

Early adolescents' and their parents' mental imagery in relation to perceived reading competence

This cross‐sectional survey study examined the relation between mental imagery (i.e., seeing images of a story ‘in the mind's eye’) and perceived self‐competence in reading. The study was conducted with a group of seventh‐grade to ninth‐grade students in the prevocational educational track of secondary schools in the Netherlands and their parents. Results showed a moderate relation between mental imagery and self‐competence beliefs, also after controlling for the quality of students' home literacy environment. Examination of gender differences revealed that girls outperformed boys in self‐competence beliefs. Furthermore, boys perceived themselves as better readers when their parents had higher mental imagery skills. No direct relation was found between parents' and adolescents' mental imagery skills. These findings imply that parents and teachers may need to be made aware of the importance of mental imagery strategies as it may enhance the reading experiences of boys as well as girls.     

Concrete and classrooms: how schools shape educational research

The notion of ‘the school’ as a set of institutional processes and practices that shape the possibilities of educational research forms the focus of this article. It is argued that the discursive and material practices that render schools agencies of cultural reproduction also have effects for what research can be undertaken in them and how. With reference to a series of ‘episodes’ that occurred during research about young people and sexuality in New Zealand, evidence for how schools shape research endeavours is provided. These examples present a complex picture of the way in which schools simultaneously police and are regulated by symbolic boundaries of gender and sexuality. How school disciplinary power works to effect what it is possible to claim about the voluntary nature of student research participation is also explored. It is argued that through the powerful discursive and material practices that occur in schools, these institutions can impede research that attempts to transgress dominant meanings about gender and sexuality.     

Schools for the twenty‐first century: School design and educational transformation

The Building Schools for the Future programme has been established to ensure that English secondary schools are designed or redesigned to allow for educational transformation. The programme represents the biggest single UK government investment in school buildings for over 50 years. For this reason, it poses a major challenge to those involved in the design of educational buildings. Inspiration is in part sought from exemplar schools around the world. The paper draws on a multiple case study of four such exemplar schools in Scandinavia that have been designed to address changes in the educational curriculum. The analysis depicts the degree to which the building design in each case supports the school approach to teaching and learning. The disjuncture between commercial and educational issues inherent in designing ‘good’ schools is highlighted. The findings show how it is important to find a balance between good design, commercial realities and educational approaches.     

Instructional systems design and public schools

A great deal has been written in the last several years about the use or lack of use of instructional systems design (ISD) in public schools. The general discussion has revolved around why ISD has not been accepted by public schools; why instructional design experts have not been hired by public school systems; and primarily what an educational technologist can do to change the situation. The focus of most discussions by educational technologists is: how can schools and teachers alter their practice to benefit from ISD? In this article, we maintain that one reason why ISD has not been adopted in schools is that there may not be a fit between the philosophies, needs, resources, and constraints of schools and the benefits of adopting ISD. We also argue that for ISD to have a significant influence in public schools, it must be accepted by teachers. The general question we ask in this paper is this: are we attempting to redesign schools and classrooms to accommodate our technologies with insufficient attention to the perceived needs of clients and to the consequences of adopting ISD? Our approach to answering this question was to search the literature to uncover perceived inconsistencies between ISD theory and practice on the one hand and teacher needs, wants, and practices on the other.     

Social and Developmental Aspects of Icelandic Pupils’ Interest and Experience of Icelandic Culture

The theme of this article is education as nation building in the Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Starting with an overview of their Social Democrat parties' ascension of to near hegemony immediately following the Second World War, and these parties' impact on education, we go on to sketch the interplay between general political trends and educational policies up to the present day. We examine the goals of educational policies, the governance of the primary school system and the instruments of governance. Five levels of governance are taken into account: central government, regional and local government, schools and, finally, what happens in the classroom. Attention is given to trends that the Scandinavian countries shared in particular periods and to the divergence between them. We conclude that the main trend up to now is towards deregulation, decentralisation and individualisation.