The bullied boy: masculinity,embodiment, and the gendered social-ecology of Vietnamese school bullying

This article considers the ways in which school bullying is both gendered and embodied. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in two lower-secondary schools in northern Vietnam, the article focuses on the experiences of one ninth-grade boy, who was regularly bullied by his classmates, and whose experiences of bullying appeared to be embodied for all to see. Inspired by Arthur Brittan’s notion of masculinism, Elizabeth Grosz’s use of the möbius strip metaphor for understanding embodiment, and Urie Bronfenbrenner’s conceptualization of the ecological environment, I argue that school bullying needs to be understood not only in terms of the interactions between individuals or groups of individuals, but also in terms of the specific gendered social-ecological environment within which those interactions occur.     

When bodies matter: significance of the body in gender constructions in physiotherapy education

This article examines which bodily performances indicate the significance of gender in the skills training of physiotherapy students. It is based on a qualitative study of first-year students' skills training in a Norwegian physiotherapy education programme. The study draws inspiration from Paechter's theory of the communities of masculinities and femininities, which argues that the material body is significant in gender construction. These findings indicate how, both historically and contemporarily, gender norms are strongly interwoven into students' bodily performances during their professional training. This bodily performance conforms to heteronormativity. Based on these findings, we argue that within critical educational studies of gender there is a need for theoretical frameworks that include a focus on the material body as a site of gender performance.     

Embodiment and becoming in secondary drama classrooms: the effects of neoliberal education cultures on performances of self and of drama texts

This article explores the effects of neoliberalism and performative educational cultures on secondary school drama classrooms. We consider the ways Deleuze and Guattari’s schizoanalysis and Butler’s concept of gender performance enable us to chart the embodied, relational, spatial and affective energies that inhabit the often neoliberal and heterosexually striated space of the drama classroom. These post-humanist analyses are useful methodological tools for mapping the complexities of student becomings in the space context of the secondary school. We also show how Foucault’s governmentality and Ball’s theory of competitive performativity are particularly salient in the context of immanent capitalism that shapes the desires of its subjects. These frameworks, when combined, can be useful in critiquing neoliberal educational assemblages and in indicating emerging deterritorializations and lines of flight in teachers and students.     

Agency in action: young Muslim women and negotiating higher education in Australia

This article draws on an analysis of the narratives of Australian young Muslim women to explore their higher education experiences and aspirations. The article aims to explore the notion of agency employed by Muslim female university students in relation to the ways they discover their own capabilities along their deployment of available financial, cultural and social resources under cultural and structural constrains. The women’s accounts suggest that pursuit of higher education is highly perceived as a key to girls’ success and economic independence in the present precarious neoliberal environment yet concerns over Islamophobia and gender and racial discrimination which may curtail employment opportunities are present. The research findings also suggest that educational outcomes entail complex forms of negotiation, bargaining and resistance, stressing the ways in which class, gender, ethnicity and religion interrelate.     

Mediating creativity and performativity policy tensions in dance education-based action research partnerships: insights from a mentor's self-study

This paper will present and critique the mediation of tensions arising as a result of the collision of creativity and performativity policies in English primary education, in the context of the three-way model of creative partnership being used for professional development in certain English schools. The paper will consider these partnerships from my perspective of research mentor to classroom teachers and dance artists engaged in dance-based action research (Creativity Action Research Awards 2). The paper focuses on two tensions arising in these contexts and their relationship to the creativity/performativity policy tensions: firstly process (with inherent potential for risk-taking, and critical appraisal) versus product (with inherent potential clarity) in the context of both the wider school performativity agenda and the performance expectation within dance; secondly, the necessary depth of enquiry to achieve ownership of creative activity by teachers and learners versus a desire for initiatives to demonstrate immediate results articulated in verbal, numeric or written form. The paper draws on my self-study of my role as research mentor within the CARA 2 initiative, to consider the manifestation and mediation of these tensions within actual three-way partnership practice, and the implications for current and future practice and policy.     

Changes in domain specific self-perception amongst young people with intellectual disability: a longitudinal study

This study examines the changes that occur in multidimensional self-concept of adolescents with a diagnosis of intellectual disabilities, across gender and category of intellectual disability (borderline, mild, moderate) groups. A sample of 54 young people completed the Harter Self-Perception Profile. Using a three-wave longitudinal study conducted during their first year in a segregated special second-level school, stability and change in multiple domains of self-perception were examined. Findings indicate that gender and level of cognitive function are important variables in changes in self-perception across time, highlighting the heterogeneous nature of the special school population.     

Proposals for improving the transition process of young people with intellectual disabilities in Spain: insights from focus groups of professionals,young people and their families

This research aims to present proposals that can improve the transition to adulthood of young people with intellectual disabilities (ID). Four focus groups were set up in three different cities in Spain, each comprising education and social work professionals, people with ID and family members. In total, 32 participants were included in the study. The discussions were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic content analysis. Improvements proposed by participants were organised into six themes: coordination between services and professionals; curricular approaches; participation by young people with ID; peer-relationship networks; family and administration. Participants highlighted the need to make the curriculum more flexible and foster curricular experiences related to social and workplace inclusion, as well as establish more continuity in guidance processes throughout the different stages of education and especially at the end of secondary education. Participants also suggested the need for young people with ID to have a more prominent role in their educational process, and strengthening their social networks by promoting their participation in community activities.     

Feminist pedagogy and social change: the impact of the caribbean institute in gender and development

This paper examines the utility of a feminist pedagogical framework in establishing and organising the Caribbean Institute in Gender and Development (CIGAD), which is a biennial intensive gender and development training programme that has taken place in Barbados since 1993. To highlight the major impact that CIGAD has had in educating and empowering Caribbean men and women, the authors will first discuss the importance of feminist pedagogies in teaching, learning and activism in this programme by locating them within an intersectional postcolonial/transnational framework. Secondly, the authors consider the ways in which feminist pedagogy and praxis have been central in training women and men in the Caribbean region in gender analysis, helping them recognise the important role gender plays in development planning and policy as well as how it can be integrated into their work to improve their communities. Finally, through a feminist dialogic, participatory and experiential approach, the authors assess the impact that the CIGAD has had on participants, and community development training will be discussed based on the monitoring and evaluation of the exercise completed in 2014.     

Gendered family lives through the eyes of young people: diversity,permanence and change of gender representations in Portugal

This article examines gender representations of family and parental roles among young people aged 11 to 14 years. It is based on the qualitative analysis of 792 essays written by Portuguese girls and boys attending compulsory education. The adolescents' texts express normative images and cultural representations about gender that are plural and indicative of several displacements and incongruences. When considering the most important representational patterns, both girls and boys emphasise what they conceive as a set of gaps between the culturally transmitted norms of gender equality and the concrete realities they observe in various daily circumstances, notably in the family, which is still marked by inequity and gendered dichotomised patterns.     

Towards equality: the voices of young disabled people in Disability Rights Commission research

Increased participation and success in education for disabled people will improve their social inclusion and benefit society in general. In this article Louca‐Mai Wilson discusses Disability Rights Commission research on education and its implications for policy and practice. Research findings are considered in relation to the need for the voices of young disabled people to be heard in research, policy and planning. A key finding was that young disabled people want to be regarded and treated as equal to their peers, with the same rights of access and educational opportunity. But schools and educational establishments vary in their willingness and capacity to address and remove existing access barriers. Inclusion is a key issue for many young disabled people; many feel isolated at school and college and often have lower expectations about their future than their non‐disabled peers. Inclusive practice and participation are key to ensuring that disability equality in education is achieved.     

The political dimension of consuming animal products in education: An analysis of upper-secondary student responses when school lunch turns green and vegan

Abstract

Addressing the consumption of animals as an educative and environmentally crucial question, this paper empirically examines the meaning of meat and animal consumption for learners in school settings. This study is based on focus groups with Swedish upper secondary students and is centred around their responses to a vegan month at their school as an initiative to emphasise the environmental consequences caused by human consumption of animal products. In order to make sense of the students´ responses in light of the disruption of animal products in the school restaurant, the school initiative is analysed as a dislocatory intervention. The analysis shows that ‘eating environmentally’ in education caused conflictual responses closely connected to political and gendered aspects of animal consumption. In conclusion, the author argues that a neutral or un-political position is not possible when animal consumption is on the educational table, and moreover, that there is a need to take political–conflictual responses seriously within education.     

A study on the inclusion of deafblind young people in mainstream schools: key findings and implications for research and practice

This article, written by Leda Kamenopoulou of Roehampton University, reports a research project on deafblindness and inclusion in education. Deafblindness is a rare and therefore significantly under‐explored disability. Even less systematic research has focused on deafblind young people enrolled in mainstream schools. The study presented here used a multiple case study and mixed methods design to explore the social inclusion and participation of four deafblind pupils in mainstream placements. Interviews were conducted with the pupils, their parents and selected teachers regarding their peer interactions and relationships. Semi‐structured observations of peer interactions during school breaks were also conducted to complement interview data, but due to space constraints, these are not discussed here. Findings from the interviews suggest that the young people were socially present in their schools, but all faced certain issues in terms of being fully included. Both barriers to and facilitators of social inclusion and participation are discussed with reference to implications for research and practice.