Literacy,poverty and schooling: what matters in young people's education?

This paper draws upon several decades of literacy research in schools in high‐poverty environments to explore what matters in young people's education. In dialogue with themes from Kevin Marjoribanks' work, such as student aspirations, family environments and teacher expectations, key insights are summarised. Referring to longitudinal case studies and a current ethnographic project, the interplay between literacy, poverty and schooling, and young people's aspirations and education outcomes is explored. Although the work of educators in high‐poverty communities continues to be highly demanding, there are some schools and teachers making a durable positive difference to learner dispositions and literate repertoires. Teacher expectations and discursive practices are crucial in this process.     

Information disclosure on MySpace – the what,the why and the implications

This paper reports the results of the first academic study of the use of a major social networking website, MySpace, by children. The study examined the degree of, and reasons for, information disclosure by children in high schools in Sydney, Australia. Social networking sites such as MySpace are a huge Internet phenomenon, some with hundreds of millions of users and often the most visited Internet sites on a daily basis. They are particularly attractive to, and used by, children, perhaps eclipsing email as a preferred communications medium. This study shows that, by and large, children are acting responsibly in embracing this new technology, however, there are a significant number potentially at risk, possibly due to their lacking individual personal privacy values. The paper concludes with a call for parents and teachers to become more familiar with social networking and to help their charges understand the implications of its use.     

Constructing and addressing differences in inclusive schooling – comparing cases from Germany,Norway and the United States

ABSTRACT

The central concern of this article is to compare the constructions of differences in inclusive school settings between countries with different school systems. The focus is to find out how constructions of differences generate participation and (dis)advantages and, thereafter, how the constructions are related to the structure of the school system and its formal rules. The aim is to contrast constructions produced by teachers who work in a multi-tracked school system with those from single-track ones. Grounded in Karl Mannheim’s [1980. Strukturen des Denkens. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp] theory on the sociology of knowledge, the analysis targets the practical expressions of constructing and addressing differences. The investigation is based on group discussions with teachers. The comparative results suggest that teachers construct differences between students in different ways, linked to the formal school-based context in which they work. While German teachers construct ‘total identities’ based on achievement and limit students’ participation in teaching settings, their colleagues from Norway and the US conceive of accomplishments built on trust with teachers and the need to feel participation in class. The outcomes indicate that the construction of differences and teaching are related to the structure of school which go along with expectations towards the students.     

Inequality,capabilities and poverty in four African countries: girls’ voice,schooling, and strategies for institutional change

Children’s adaptive preference and capabilities are considered in relation to literature on children’s voice, agency and adult adaptation. Data collected for projects on gender and schooling in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria are analysed to show how adaptation and distinctions between absolute and relative poverty are helpful in interpreting why children in some locations identify particular obstacles and solutions while others are silent on these. Children comment on constraints on capabilities differently in areas of relative and absolute inequality. School conditions, earnings, and the implementation of legal frameworks on early marriage and pregnancy highlight forms of structural and relational coercion that constrain capabilities. The findings suggest a relationship between relative inequality and children’s capability to aspire and consider change. This points to the significance of improving learning materials, opportunities for travel and exchange, and teacher confidence and support in schools that serve the poorest children.     

Feminism and ‘the schooling scandal’

In this paper I outline an approach towards policy analysis that takes governmentality as its point of theoretical orientation and begin to apply this approach to my research into the recently raised compulsory school‐leaving age in Western Australia. I aim to demonstrate the methodological potentials of this approach by giving examples of the thinking and practices that shape and condition the policy. I commence by situating the school‐leaving age policy within a broader field of reforms occurring under the general banner of neoliberalism and argue that the policy is primarily concerned with the conduct of students classified at ‘educational risk’, and with transforming these students to become more visible, participative and engaged in their schooling. By focusing on the policy rationalities and technologies, and drawing on Foucault’s notion of governmentality, I explore the forms of knowledge and practical strategies that are deployed in this policy field. I contend that this particular deployment narrowly constructs young people’s experiences of schooling in ways that do not allow for a broader debate about their declining school attendance and what should be done to address it     

Relative‐change theory: examining the impact of patriarchy,paternalism, and poverty on the education of women in Kenya

Forty‐five years have passed since Kenya gained independence and almost 30 years since the feminist revolution ushered in a global gender and development agenda. While Kenya’s development agenda had a functionalist orientation aimed at modernisation, the outcome of efforts to promote education development cannot be understood without an examination of the context of women. Although development agencies acknowledge the need for empowerment of women, the interests of change agencies are accommodated within the bounds of patriarchy, poverty, and paternalism. This situation is best explained by examining the education experience of women through a relative‐change theory prism. From this perspective, change is actively pursued within limits, that is, options for change in the social, cultural, and political context are acknowledged but limited. As a result, whatever education development efforts have been put into place to benefit women in marginalised situations, the outcome has fallen short for the majority of women.     

Multiplying the origins of mass schooling: an analysis of the preconditions common to schooling and the school building process in Sweden, 1840–1900

The emergence of mass schooling is undoubtedly one of the most significant transformations that took place during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This article takes a new approach to this fundamental issue by analysing the historical conditions required for the construction of school buildings and the advent of mass schooling, in the 1840–1900 period. Using the school building process as a point of departure, the growth of schooling is tied not only to well-known factors such as industrialisation, state formation processes and the decentralisation of school systems, but also to the expansion of the market economy, modernisation of the credit market, liberalisation of the real property market, changes in local tax systems, and the expansion of the building materials market. Thus, a broader and largely novel explanation of the emergence of mass schooling is accomplished.     

Widening the discussion on HE leadership – leader dispositions and talents

What inherent personal leader qualities or dispositions do senior staff in universities say are necessary? What assumptions do we make about leadership in our universities and are they helpful? Are university staff surveys useful in giving both the leadership and staff a clear understanding of staff satisfaction levels related to how they are managed and led? This article looks at these important aspects of university leadership, gathering together HE leader/academic views, study findings and survey pointers to suggest dispositions and talents those in leadership positions should demonstrate in providing the right environment for staff.     

Supersurveillance,democracy, and co-operation – the challenge for teachers

The paper explores pedagogies of surveillance and counter pedagogies of radical democracy and co-operative practice and their implications for continuing professional development (CPD). Teachers have had to respond to an increasing naturalisation of surveillance in schools. However, this naturalisation can be countered by drawing upon the emergent development of the co-operative education movement in the UK. I argue that critical to developing effective pedagogies of radical democracy and co-operation is the formation of a “public space” of discussion and debate about courses of action. This will be illustrated through research drawn from a co-operative school and its use of information technologies. Although the intentions are to improve standards of learning, the hidden curriculum implicit in the use of the technologies can lead to “supersurveillance.” Teachers, I argue, have a critical role in the deconstruction of the naturalisation of supersurveillance and both pre-service and CPD urgently need to address this.     

Zafar,so good: middle‐class students,school habitus and secondary schooling in the city of Buenos Aires (Argentina)

This article examines how students from the ‘loser’ sections of the middle class dealt with the game of secondary schooling in a ‘good’ state school in the city of Buenos Aires (Argentina). It engages with Bourdieu’s theory of social practice and, in particular, with its concepts of game, habitus and cultural capital. It argues that middle‐class students embody a school habitus, which I call zafar. Zafar (a Spanish slang word) refers to students’ dispositions, practices and strategies towards social and educational demands of teachers and their school. Zafar propels middle‐class students to be just ‘good enough’ students, and promote an instrumental approach to schooling and learning. Although this paper offers an account within which the reproduction of relative educational advantage of a group of middle‐class students takes place, it also poses questions about their future educational and occupational opportunities.     

Logics,rhetoric and ‘the blob’: Populist logic in the Conservative reforms to English schooling

A lot has been written about the lasting implications of the Conservative reforms to English schooling, particularly changes made by Michael Gove as Education Secretary (2010–2014). There is a lot less work, however, on studying the role that language, strategy and the broader political framework played in the process of instituting and winning consent for these reforms. Studying these factors is important for ensuring that any changes to education and schooling are not read in isolation from their political context. Speeches particularly capture moments where intellectual and strategic political traditions meet, helping us to form a richer understanding of the motives behind specific reform goals and where they fit into a political landscape. This article analyses speeches and policy documents from prominent politicians who led the Conservative education agenda between 2010–2014 to illustrate how politicians mobilised a deliberate populist strategy and argumentation to achieve specific educational goals, but which have had broader social and political implications. Concepts from interpretive political studies are used to develop a case analysis of changes to teacher training provision and curriculum reform, illustrating how politicians constructed a frontier between ‘the people’ (commonly teachers or parents) and an illegitimate ‘elite’ (an educational establishment) that opposed change. This anti-elite populist rhetoric, arguably first tested in the Department for Education, has now become instituted more widely in our current British politics.