Succeeding against the odds: can schools ‘compensate for society’?

ABSTRACT

Education researchers, policy-makers and practitioners in the UK have debated the question of what, and how much, schools can do to mitigate the effects of parental background on educational outcomes over the last half a century. A range of programmes, strategies and interventions have been implemented, and continue to be implemented in an effort to ‘break the link’ between socio-economic disadvantage and low educational outcomes, but educational inequalities have persisted. This paper draws on theoretical and empirical research to offer a new analysis of compensatory education in England across three main phases since the 1960s.     

Mapping ‘Chinese’ Christian schools in Indonesia: ethnicity,class and religion

Schools are not “innocent” sites of cultural transmission. They play an active and significant role in transmitting values and inculcating culture. Schools also serve as a site for the maintenance of boundaries and for the construction of identities. Previous studies have recognized the relationship between education and identity. Building on existing literature, this study examines the ways in which Christian schools can be a site for the construction and maintenance of religious, ethnic and class identities of the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia. The study surveys four prestigious “Chinese” Christian schools in Jakarta. Through a brief but thorough profiling of the schools, the study explores the complexity of and identifies issues associated to religion, ethnicity and class, in relations to Chinese-Indonesians and the Indonesian society at large.     

‘Education is a life marathon rather than a hundred-meter race’: Chinese ‘folk’ comparative discourses on Finnish education

Over the past decade Finnish education has been praised worldwide for its students’ ‘amazing’ results in the OECD PISA studies. Thousands of pedagogical tourists – including policy-makers, researchers and educators – have visited the country to find out about the reasons behind the success and to borrow, often uncritically and un-reflexively, Finnish practices that can help them to become ‘good performers’ too. This has resulted in what we call ‘folk’ comparative discourses on Finland. China is no exception to the rule. In this article we examine a range of books about Finnish education published in the Middle Kingdom (China) for a general rather than narrowly specialist readership. We are interested in how these volumes construct certain images and myths about it and what these tell us about how the authors view Chinese education but also current societal discussions about it. Our approach is based on critical and reflexive interculturality.     

Theorising policy and practice in refugee education: Conceptualising ‘safety’, ‘belonging’, ‘success’ and ‘participatory parity’ in England and Sweden

Across the world, children are forced to leave their homes for far-flung destinations. This global phenomenon has particular impact in Europe, where there are now more child refugees than since World War II. Education plays an important role for children with extraordinary experiences seeking to build meaningful lives in their new context. This article offers a new theoretical approach to underpin reforms to educational policy and practice for refugees in schools in resettlement contexts in Europe. The new conceptual framing is grounded in empirical work in England and Sweden, and brings two theories together: ‘participatory parity’ (Fraser) and ‘resumption of an ordinary life’ (Kohli). Kohli’s concepts of ‘safety’, ‘belonging’ and ‘success’ have resonance with practitioners from Sweden and England as they work to meet the needs of their new arrivals. Fraser’s conceptual lenses of redistribution, recognition and representation highlight the barriers to achieving the right to inclusive education for refugee children in each context. The interdependence of both theories shapes a new framework. The theoretical understandings offered in this article have been developed with practitioners and add to the field by offering a robust moral and operational approach to shaping pedagogical principles for policymakers and educators working in resettlement communities.     

‘Hardworking,determined and happy’: first-year students’ understanding and experience of success

While all agree student success in higher education is important, there is less agreement on what it means to be a successful student. Student success is often measured by institutional reports of grades, student retention and qualification completion. More recently, broader definitions have emerged; however, these do not incorporate student perceptions of success. The current study addresses this gap by exploring how first-year students talk about their success. Drawing from weekly interviews of students at an Australian regional university, the data are analysed through the lens of a conceptual framework of student engagement. The findings demonstrate that success is inextricably linked with student engagement as well as other dimensions of the student experience. As expected, students assess their success extrinsically with institutional measures such as grades and feedback. In addition, their behavioural engagement was seen as a more immediate measure of their success, while happiness and satisfaction were necessary for some students to feel successful. Perceptions of success have important consequences for students in terms of increased positive emotions, self-efficacy and course belonging. Success for these students has multiple dimensions. These findings give rise to suggestions for a staged approach to supporting first-year student success. However, the student experience is complex and multifaceted and further research is needed with different student cohorts who may define and experience success in other ways.     

‘Power on’: Googlecracy,privatisation and the standardisation of sources

The paper aims to contribute to the sociological analysis of power through the study of the structuration and retrieval of information on the internet. The main argument of the paper is that, paradoxically, in an age when the availability of information has increased exponentially, there is a risk that diversity in the use of sources for the construction of knowledge becomes more restricted than in the past and that information search moves towards greater objectification and centralisation. Knowledge management systems increasingly shape the ways in which we think about the questions we ask and how we try to answer them, which raises fundamental and largely neglected questions for education policy. The paper illustrates these trends with particular reference to the use of Google and Google Scholar.     

‘In-between’ Asia and Australia: on the politics of teaching English as the ‘Other’

This article mobilizes story-telling to narrate my lived experience of teaching English as a minority academic in one Australian university. Positioning myself as living ‘in-between’ two cultures and as an ‘Other’, I tell my story of how I have been ‘racialized’ and ‘Othered’ because I do not look White, and my spoken English is distinctly accented; hence, my legitimacy of teaching English is held suspect. My story contributes to the theorizing of the sociology of the in-between with the argument that while living in-between culture can be a space of negativity, it can also be a space of empowerment if one exercises choice and agency by forging new spaces. I end my story-telling with a happy ending by presenting a contrasting story of how my run-away from Australia to (a new space in) Hong Kong to teach English has reaffirmed my cultural capital as I morph into a different ‘Other’.     

Understanding: ‘Knowledge’, ‘Belief’ and ‘Understanding’

The following paper is intended as an exercise in friendly criticism of one of Harvey Siegel's and Mike Smith's (Knowing, Believing and Understanding, this volume). I'm in substantial sympathy with the general thrust of their paper and my remarks merely provide some criticism of their discussion's conceptual coherence and clarity and a correspondingly slightly adjusted version of what they have to say. My focus is limited to the conceptions of knowledge, belief and understanding and their inter-relationships in terms of which they offer suggestions to science educators.     

Prioritising student voice: ‘Tween’ children's perspectives on school success

This paper presents the findings of a study of the perspectives of Australian, English and New Zealand ‘tweens’ in response to one question, ‘what makes people muck up at school?’ Arguing for the increased prioritisation of children's voices in educational planning and provision, this paper provides, in children's own words, their perspectives on school success and classroom dynamics.     

Discourse in a small class: the ‘diverge-converge pattern’ and ‘relaxed freedom’

In an attempt to uncover differences in student behavior as a function of class size, the author observed a small class and a large class for 15 hours each and conducted interviews with eight students who were members of both classes. Two trends emerged from these qualitative data. First, a ‘diverge-converge’ pattern was evident in the small class (absent from the large class) in which students were much more able to get back on task after becoming off-task or off-topic. Second, the atmosphere in the smaller class was more relaxed and had a very conversational tone.     

‘In and against the museum’: the contested spaces of museum education for adults

This paper focuses on museum and gallery education for adults in Dundee, Scotland. Dundee has recently experienced a shift from being mainly working class to an educational, cultural and tourist centre. Hence, an interesting field for the examination of the educational policies and practices of the city museums/galleries and the different fashions they receive and act upon wider developments in the museum world has emerged. Questions arising are how the new, open and accessible museum (and gallery) has changed the way education is constructed and offered in the museums in the city? What is the relationship of education with marketing and the new discourse of social inclusion and participation in museums and galleries? For example, one of the most pertinent findings was that, at least in Dundee, activity-based and individual learning has been over-valued, at the expense of a more social and dialogic educational experience that participants seemed to largely prefer and indeed propose as more meaningful to them. Although new ideas and participatory practices have improved attendance and the engagement of the local adult population, other issues, such as the new economic reality for museums and the close relationship of education with marketing are policies that were often treated with resistance, if not opposition, by the research participants.     

‘Why are you applying there?’: ‘race’, class and the construction of higher education ‘choice’ in the United Kingdom

Despite entering higher education in good numbers, candidates from some black and minority ethnic groups are concentrated in less prestigious institutions. A similar pattern is evident in candidates’ applications, raising important questions about the role of ‘self-exclusion’. Statistical analysis confirms that candidates from some minority ethnic groups tend to target lower-ranking institutions, but these differences are almost entirely explained by other variables, particularly academic attainment, type of school attended, number of A-levels taken and subject mix. It follows that some minority ethnic groups appear to be indirectly disadvantaged by patterns of schooling that do not prepare candidates for elite higher education. Similar processes are evident in relation to social class, although candidates from less privileged family backgrounds remain less likely to target high-status institutions even when other variables are taken into account.     

Teaching and learning with technology in higher education: blended and distance education needs ‘joined-up thinking’ rather than technological determinism

In higher education (HE), some of the distinctions between conventional, campus-based universities and those dedicated to distance education are being eroded through the use of information and communication technology. Despite huge investments in technology to enhance teaching and learning, there has been a considerable lack of clarity about what this actually signifies in practice. Implementation decisions are frequently technology-led rather than being focused on clearly defined educational goals. This article attempts to examine key issues and synthesise a number of important debates relating to teaching and learning with technology in HE. It examines some of the key factors influencing how technology is utilised in HE teaching and learning. It argues that decision-making by managers and teachers with regard to technology use needs to be founded upon evidence that takes account of all of those factors, not just a narrow selection of them. Rather than just considering technical issues and/or the idealised promises made about technologies, ‘joined-up thinking’ is required to integrate the multiple contextual factors that all influence how technology is actually used in teaching and learning.     

‘Supportive’, ‘real’, and ‘low-cost’: implicit comparisons and universal assumptions in the construction of the prospective college-based HE student

This paper first argues for the importance of continued analysis of marketising discourses in Higher Education (HE), both despite and because of their ubiquity. Secondly, the paper looks specifically at college-based HE provision in English Further Education (FE). Using the ‘possible selves’ concept alongside critical discourse analysis, the paper analyses the representations of prospective students on marketing web pages for HE provision in FE colleges. Arguing that the web pages reveal more than just the limited language of HE marketing strategy, the paper highlights common representations of the college-based HE student across policy, research and marketing sources. By exploring both the celebratory and the limiting nature of these representations, the paper therefore asks what the pages’ projections of future or prospective students can tell us about current understandings of English college-based HE.     

On paper,on air,on screen: ‘teledidactics’ and education at the margins, 1920–1950

In this paper, I examine the provenance of distance education or ‘teledidactics’ in Australia. I take as my case studies the New South Wales Correspondence School and the School of the Air and suggest that their emergence was underpinned by a desire on the part of educational and broadcasting bureaucrats to increase the equity of school provision by addressing the problem of educating remote populations. I argue that this problem was ultimately solved by drawing on elements of the medial ecology (as theorised by Friedrich Kittler) that emerged circa 1900 and that the machines associated with this ecology underpinned the realisation of educating such populations.     

Scholarship of teaching and learning: ‘what the hell’ are we getting ourselves into?

Academics must be encouraged to reflect on their teaching, to apply new pedagogies to support student learning and to report on the results of these actions, which really forms part of programmes relating to Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). However, there seems to be resistance among some academics to get involved in these programmes due to fear of change or discrimination. The purpose of this article is to highlight the perceptions of four academics from different engineering fields towards such a programme from a University of Technology in South Africa. A qualitative study is employed where a focus group interview was used to gather data which are correlated to the SoTL unicycle detailed in the article. A benefit of joining an SoTL programme includes ‘developing a teaching action plan’ while a key challenge relates to time concerns. An implication may be to stimulate awareness among non-participating academics about what an SoTL programme really engenders.     

‘Getting the pieces together’: negotiating the transition from pre-service to in-service teacher

For beginning teachers to make the transition to full professional membership they need to increase their professional knowledge of the art and science of teaching. This paper explores the difference in knowledge growth between beginning teachers who commence teaching in fragmented teaching situations in the first two years of teaching, and their colleagues who have stable, secure and continuing employment during this time. This paper argues that the employment context in which beginning teachers take up their profession has a significant, but hitherto largely unacknowledged, effect on the capacity of teachers to develop the craft of teaching (Elbaz, 1983 Elbaz, F. 1983. Teacher thinking: A study of practical knowledge, London: Croom Helm.  [Google Scholar]); on their continuing commitment to the profession; and on their self-confidence and self-image as teachers It is concluded that long-term, secure employment in one school, with full responsibility for a class of students and access to effective mentoring, is necessary if beginning teachers are to move beyond ‘survival’ to developing competency in the first two years of teaching.