Book Reviews

ABSTRACT

Drawing on data derived from on-going research projects investigating the privatised inspection process recently introduced for all schools in England and Wales, the paper considers the role of school governing bodies. Reference is made to the part governors can play in school improvement, particularly in those schools deemed by the inspectors to be in need of 'special measures'. It draws upon the experiences of a small sample of such schools and their governing bodies to suggest ways in which governors are able to play an important role in increasing their school's effectiveness and contribute to its continual improvement.     

Mind the Gap: How Students Differentially Perceive Their School's Attendance Policies in Germany

Truant student behavior can be due to various reasons. Some of these reasons are located in schools. So far, little is known about how student perception of school rules is related to truancy. This study aims to identify types of school attendance policies and how these policies are associated with individual truancy. Self-reports from the German student sample of PISA 2012 (N = 5,001) were analyzed to evaluate truancy and student perception of school attendance policies. A linear regression model was specified to predict truancy. Two styles of school attendance policies as perceived by students could be distinguished: active and passive. Students who perceived their school's attendance policy to be active were truant less often than students who thought their school's attendance policy was passive.     

The case of the leaving certificate applied

This paper deals with the topic of child protection in Irish primary schools, and reports on a recently completed survey of newly qualified teachers’ knowledge of and familiarity with their school's child protection policies and procedures. The study was undertaken by means of a questionnaire survey, and conducted with 103 teachers from different schools. The child protection roles and responsibilities of schools are clearly spelt out in national guidelines. However, the findings from this research indicate that compliance with the requirement to inform new staff about the guidelines and ensure that they have read them is weak. This is evidenced by the data concerning the teachers’ reported knowledge of, and familiarity with, their school's child protection policies. Half of the respondents did not know if their school had a child protection policy or not. Of those who were aware of their school's child protection policy, only just over half had read it. Well under half of the respondents knew if there was a Designated Liaison Person (DLP) with responsibility for child protection in their school. Furthermore, nearly two-thirds of respondents reported uncertainty or lack of confidence in being able to identify suspected child abuse. The paper draws on international research on child protection in education to provide the context for a discussion on the factors that influence schools’ motivation and willingness to collaborate as key protectors of children's safety and welfare, and makes recommendations for policy makers, school managers and frontline staff.     

Becoming civil in Hong Kong: a tale of two schools

This chapter describes the study as it was conducted in Hong Kong in two case study schools. The first is a new school located in a recently developed area close to the mainland border. The second is a long established school, operated by the Anglican Church. The results suggested that the goals promoted by the government were not a strong feature of the schools’ implemented programs. Although the planned goals of civic education in the first school reflected the national policy, in practice, the emphasis was on prescribing correct attitudes and the maintenance of order and discipline. In the second school, there was no continuity between the school's goal and the national policy; however, there was a strong continuity between the school's goal and the perspectives of all stakeholders.     

Crossing boundaries: Exploring the theory,practice and possibility of a ‘Future 3’ curriculum

In this article, we examine a case of innovation in curriculum and pedagogy at a new school in the UK. We begin by outlining the 3 Futures model, which we use as a methodological heuristic in the case study of the school that appears to be both knowledge-led and learner-engaged; characteristics of the Future 3 scenario. In considering the school's curriculum, we also draw on a number of concepts from the work of Basil Bernstein: classification, framing and the idea of open schools, and a curriculum integration model developed by us to consider the degree of epistemic emphasis in the school's predominantly interdisciplinary curriculum. Together, these concepts provide the means to examine the organising principles of practice operating in the school, as links are drawn between the 3 Futures model, Bernstein's concepts and the data. We theorise this as a form of ‘opening up’, suggesting that even within the context of an interdisciplinary curriculum, access to powerful knowledge may be maintained in a whole-school approach where the demands of both knowledge and knowers are brought into balance. The school's approach and the theorisation we offer may provide insights for other schools embarking on a futures model for education and for twenty-first-century educational discourses more generally.     

Financial Delegation: its effect on the school and the role of the head

At the end of a decade of enhanced marketisation in schools, this article considers the subjective meanings attached to educational marketing by school teachers and the ways they construct and interpret teachers' 'idealised' and 'actual' involvement and contribution to school marketing. Through semi-structured interviews with 12 secondary school teachers from the south of England, the study revealed teachers' perceptions of and attitudes towards competition, marketing and education, their awareness of the marketing activities of their schools, the teachers' role in marketing the school and the perceived impact of the market upon teachers' well being. The results show that there is no coherent, organised view of education marketing among teachers in the study but rather that there are a number of inchoate voices amongst teachers concerning their role in school marketing. Broadly, two voices are revealed that reflect a cognitive dissonance which may exist among school teachers in the era of marketisation. This dissonance may stem from teachers' ideology-based difficulty in perceiving marketing as part of school life, while at the same time, they are aware of its importance to the school's success.     

‘It's like Spiderman … with great power comes great responsibility’: school autonomy,school context and the audit culture

This paper explores issues of school autonomy within the context of the performative demands of the audit culture. The focus is on a case study of Clementine Academy, a large and highly diverse English secondary school. Specific situated, professional, material and external factors at the school were significant in shaping Clementine's response to and take-up of the policy of academisation (a key reform within broader government mandates to create an increasingly autonomised education system). Factors such as the school's intake and history, its ethos and values, its access to human and economic resources and its status and power as an outstanding school supported its confident and ‘morally’ focused take-up of this policy. Clementine's privileged position in relation to these factors enabled the school to mediate and challenge some of the negative effects of the audit culture. This paper highlights the significance of considering these contextual factors in understanding the different ways in which schools are currently engaging their autonomy to cope with the demands of the audit culture.     

An Analysis of Private School Mission Statements

This article is a study of private school mission/vision statements using content analysis. Statements from private schools in British Columbia, Canada, that provided instruction to Grade 12 students were analyzed to explore the diversity that lies within the private school sector. The concepts that emerged from the analysis were grouped into five categories: concepts that declared the school's distinctive beliefs, concepts that presented the school's goals and objectives, and concepts outlining the environment, services offered, and parental involvement. It was found that there is considerable diversity between private school groups in the school distinctives and in the goals and objectives pursued by the schools.     

Connect-Text: Leveraging Text-Message Communication to Mitigate Chronic Absenteeism and Improve Parental Engagement in the Earliest Years of Schooling

ABSTRACT

Poor school attendance in the early grades is predictive of poor subsequent educational outcomes. We report on a pilot intervention aiming to reduce chronic absenteeism in kindergarten. We designed and implemented a two-way, text-based parent-school communication system to encourage daily attendance, provide parents with personalized feedback on their child's attendance, and provide support to mitigate challenges that threatened parents' ability to get their child to school regularly. The program was well received, with nearly all families registering for participation, and three-quarters of those receiving outreach responding and engaging with school personnel via text. The pilot school's kindergarten chronic absenteeism rate was substantially lower in the intervention year relative to prior trends. Further, in the intervention year, the pilot school's kindergarten chronic absenteeism rate (13%) was substantially lower than for that of a synthetically constructed comparison school (24%). We discuss implications for sustainability and scaling of an effort such as this.     

A Few Parents of Junior High Students Appeal: Support Outstanding Students in Applying for the Entrance Examination to Key Schools

Our own dispatch. A few students' parents in a certain middle school in Guangzhou city came to us the day before yesterday (July 6) to make a complaint. They said that school's leadership, in an effort to increase the promotion rate to institutions of higher education, tried to prevent top-notch graduates of the junior high division to sign up for the entrance examination to key senior highs. The parents called upon all schools of nonkey status to support their outstanding students in applying for the entrance examination to key schools.     

Application of the learning cycle to a course on play

Abstract

Laboratory schools play an important role in furthering the study of child development and education. Budget cutbacks at universities have threatened the existence of many lab schools, and a growing number are expanding to full‐day programming to develop more consistent sources of funding. As lab schools evolve we must consider how they can best sustain their teaching, research, and outreach missions while managing increased service demands. This article explores one lab school's struggle with balancing academic and service missions while moving to full‐day programming and the lessons learned in the process. Implications for other expanding lab school programs are discussed.     

Inclusion,exclusion and children's rights

Abstract

This case study examines the experiences of a student who was excluded twice from a mainstream school while preparing for GCSE examinations. The authors are the student and his aunt. The exclusions were for an indefinite period and were triggered as a result of the school's inability to respond adequately to recurring epileptic seizures. The student, who has Asperger syndrome and a statement of special educational needs, had not broken any disciplinary code. Teachers' understanding of the label ‘special educational needs’ is questioned. The SEN and Disability Act 2001 has far-reaching implications for school ethos and culture. Schools' failure to anticipate the needs of students with disabilities or SEN may well lead to unlawful discrimination. Inclusive schools will need to recognize that in meeting students' individual needs the institution itself may need to change. Barriers to genuine parent partnership in education must be overcome, and children's participation rights, as confirmed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, must be respected.     

Some effects of parent involvement in schools

This study examines the interrelationships among components of parent involvement at schools and investigates their effects on school outcomes. The study used data collected during an evaluation of California's Early Childhood Education Program. Varinbles included socioeconomic status, the frequency of school-parent communications, parent awareness of school events, amount of parent involvement at the school, parent influence in school decision making, the nature of parent-teacher relationships, parent satisfaction with the school, and student achievement in reading and mathematics. The results indicated that there are positive effects associated with parent involvement at schools, and the interrelationships between the endogenous variables suggested ways in which such benefits may be maximized.     

Leading Inclusive Reform for Students With Disabilities: A School- and Systemwide Approach

It is of great importance to maximize access to general education for all students with disabilities. This article focuses on how leaders create inclusive schools for all students—inclusive school reform. Inclusive school reform can result in all students with disabilities being placed into general education settings (including students with significant disabilities, students with mild disabilities, students with emotional disabilities, students with autism … all students) and providing inclusive services to meet their needs while eliminating pullout or self-contained special education programs. In this article, we outline a 7-part process, as well as a set of tools for schools to use to create authentically inclusive schools.     

Pluralism and its Purposeful Introduction to a Jewish Day School

Pluralism is an ambiguous term with a multiplicity of meanings. In recent decades there has been a proliferation of a newer category of Jewish Day Schools, the Jewish Community School. Jewish Community Schools distinguish themselves by positioning pluralism as a foundational concept of their school's ethos. Very little is known about how individuals within these schools understand the notion of pluralism. This case study uses in-depth interviews, documentary research, and school observations to determine how policymakers in one such Community School think about pluralism in general, and how this understanding influences their vision for the school's Jewish Education.     

The effects of a free school choice policy on parents’ school choice behaviour

Recently, European school systems have seen various attempts to ‘modernise’ their governance. Market and competition oriented reforms have not been central to governance innovation strategies in German speaking countries, however, their number and relevance is rising in recent years. A free school choice policy which abolishes “school districts” which legally define fixed school catchment areas was introduced in the school year of 2007/2008 in the Austrian city of Linz.The effects of the implementation of this policy on the primary school sector were studied by a standardised questionnaire administered to a representative sample of 3425 parents of five age groups of primary school children. The return rate was about 55%. By special measures during data collection a satisfactory representation of parents with migrant background was achieved.Three questions are discussed in the paper: (1) Is there a rise in segregation in schools as a result of free choice policy? (2) Is there a change in the composition of the student population in different schools as a result of free choice policy? (3) Is there a change in parent school choice behaviour of as a result of free choice policy?Our data indicates that segregation in primary schools with respect to ethnic and social family characteristics increases after the policy implementation, but the sample size is too small to find significant results. In addition, no significant change is observed in the social composition of schools. In accordance with the previous findings no significant modifications of choice behaviour occur for different ethnic or social groups after free choice. However changes in choice motives can be observed.     

The responsible parent and networks of support: A case study of school engagement in a challenging environment

Research, policy and practice on education in recent years has focused attention on the mediating role that parents play in children's schooling. Parents have been constructed as responsible agents; as consumers, investors and partners in the performance-oriented educational project. Much of the literature has looked at parent–school relations from the vantage point of parents, particularly parents in disadvantaged areas. Less has been written on how parent–school relations look from a school's perspective. In this article we draw on data from a case study English school in a socio-economically deprived area and explore the nature of the construct ‘responsible parent’ from the perspectives of teaching staff. We utilise data from semi-structured interviews with teaching staff in one case study school located on the outskirts of an English city. Through the data we outline teachers’ conceptions of parents and an emerging network of engagement incorporating parents as part of a broader social and education project in schools. We argue that a dominant construct, the responsible parent, has resonances with the ways that teachers conceptualise parents. At the same time, the case study school inhabits a dual institutional space: it is captured within a neo-liberal discourse on the responsible parent as a key conduit for an outcomes-oriented education project and also goes beyond the narrow confines of formal educational structures in offering ‘challenging’ parents social and emotional support in connecting with their children and their schooling.     

School demographic variables and out‐of‐school suspension rates: A quantitative and qualitative analysis of a large,ethnically diverse school district

This study examined out‐of‐school suspensions (OSS) in a large, ethnically diverse school district using both quantitative and qualitative procedures. Pearson product moment correlations and semi‐partial correlations were used to identify those school‐level variables that showed the strongest relationships to the duplicated OSS rate among elementary schools (n = 97) and secondary schools (n = 45). Additionally, interviews were conducted with administrators and student support personnel from the 24 schools in the district with the highest suspension rates and 24 demographically matched schools with significantly lower suspension rates. The majority of these schools served a high percentage of children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Although the correlational analyses indicated that student demographic variables (e.g., percentage of White students, percentage of Black students, percentage of students receiving free or reduced price lunch) were strongly related to a school's suspension rate, the school comparisons showed that not all schools serving a high percentage of children placed at risk have high suspension rates. Implications of the findings for school discipline reform are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

‘Homophobia Kills’: a disruptive moment in the educational politics of legitimation

This paper explores how students and, to a lesser extent teachers, have engaged with their school's politics of legitimation to participate in a disruptive moment in sex/sexual/gender relations within their school. Over a period of 3 years students have, with the support of some teachers, actively sought to make homophobia an issue of concern within their school. Their activities have served to disrupt the legitimacy of the heterosexist hegemony operating within the school's discursive arrangements. However, powerful normalising discourses worked through the school to contain this disruption. It is the interplay between discourses of legitimacy, disruption and containment which is referred to here as the politics of legitimation.     

A different type of charter school: in prestige charters,a rise in cachet equals a decline in access

This paper seeks to elucidate a specific type of charter school. While much has been written about school choice and the expanding charter school segment, a growing and important number of charter schools do not fit in to the common understanding of these schools. Distinct from many of their counterparts, prestige charter schools have the following two features: elements which foster a reputation similar to that of elite private schools and a student population demographically distinct from local public district schools – whereby the prestige charters serve a disproportionate number of advantaged families. The prestige elements include: founding by advantaged community members; parental involvement; wait lists; popularity with advantaged professionals; high test scores; and niche themes. The authors will show through two in-depth case studies that prestige charter schools work hand-in-hand with gentrification in urban neighborhoods, and result in racial and class segregation and inequality. This paper examines how these charter schools struggle when a rise in prestige coincides with a decline in access for low-income students. The authors recommend that given the current system of school choice, prestige charter schools must use tools and mechanisms to maintain demographic diversity and educational equity which is in the best interest of all children.