Implementing English Further/Higher Education Partnerships: the Street Level Perspective

This paper reports on research into the operation of English further/higher education, with a focus on the role of partnerships in supporting the massification of higher education. The research draws on the bottom‐up policy implementation tradition to provide analysis of the effects on partnerships of a quasi‐marketised environment. The rationale and effects of market orientated policy are discussed with reference to empirical data from college staff and partnership managers. In employing the concept of the ‘street‐level bureaucrat’ as an agent of policy implementation, this research contributes to the interpretation of policy and partnership which has previously been unexplored within the further/higher education context. Conclusions are drawn with implications for the development of college higher education delivered in partnership.     

Gender Effects in Children’s Development and Education

This paper attempts to clarify several lines of research on gender in development and education, inter‐relating findings from studies on intuitive/informal knowledge with those from research on achievements and attitudes in science. It acknowledges the declining proportions of male teachers world‐wide and examination successes which indicate a reversal of educational disadvantage from female to male; as well as the recent evidence on the effects of the gender of teachers upon student success. An empirical contribution to the literature is offered, drawing from the gender‐related findings from research on children’s cosmologies in China and New Zealand with 346 boys and 340 girls (of whom 119 boys and 121 girls participated in the current study). The investigation focused on children’s concepts of the motion and shape of the Earth through observational astronomy and gave children opportunities to express their ideas in several modalities. The in‐depth interviews allowed children to share their meanings with gender differences becoming apparent (e.g. girls’ superior ability to visually represent their cosmologies and boys’ greater awareness of gravity). However, these differences were not universal across genders or cultures and marked similarities were apparent both in the content of children’s responses and in their reasoning processes. By comparing boy/girl cosmological concept categories and by tracking their developmental trends by age, statistical evidence revealed the extent of the similarities within and across these diverse cultures. The findings reinforce those from the authors’ knowledge restructuring and cultural mediation studies and provide support for the view that boys and girls have similar, holistic‐rather‐than‐fragmented, cosmologies which have features in common across cultures and ethnic groups.     

Theorising Inequality Today

This article is an assessment of some movements in the theorising of inequality over the last two decades, with particular attention to the Australian context and to the issue of gender as compared with class. It is argued that there has been a useful move from ‘inequality as disadvantage’ to one which focuses on difference, conflict and the characteristics of the groups previously seen as disadvantaged, but that these moves have been limited, partly by an over‐attention to inequality in analysing the content of schooling, and partly by an insufficient attention to inequality in relation to policy and practice initiatives. The discussion of specific examples and issues here suggests also that gender and class should not be treated as simply additive dimensions of a problem, and that analyses should be sensitive to the differing circumstances of countries which are often compared.     

Teachers on intercultural education

Opinions differ on the desirability of paying attention to intercultural education in schools and on the opportunities to do this. Theoretical agreement and conceptual clarity on the concept are hard to find. The theoretical debate on intercultural education is far removed from daily practice in the classroom. Ideally, experience‐related ideas and the insights of teachers should form part of the debate. In this article we present an example of measuring teachers' opinions on the concept of intercultural education. The research was carried out in The Netherlands with the help of a written questionnaire. Seventy‐four teachers participated. The researchers differentiated four accents in intercultural education, based on the literature. This differentiation was not reflected in the teachers' answers. They had a slight preference for a general pluralistic interpretation of intercultural education and, hence, for a particular pedagogical approach. We will explore this finding further in the discussion.     

Disaffected Pupils: reconstructing the sociological perspective

During the last 25 years, the study of disaffected pupils has been a central topic in the sociology of education. Yet despite its popularity in academic circles the impact of the sociological perspective on policy has been negligible; today the individualised, psychologically orientated approach stills holds sway in most parts of the educational profession. This paper suggests that part of this failure at least is attributable to theoretical inadequacies in the sociological research that has been carried out to date, much of which is based on a one‐dimensional notion of social structure and an over‐rationalistic view of individual psychology. Three key ‘educational structures’ are introduced (the production of ability, the production of values, the production of occupational identity) and a more appropriate model of human personality is outlined.     

Boys as only‐children and girls as only‐children—parental gendered expectations of the only‐child in the nuclear Chinese family in present‐day China

Studies on the effect of only‐child status on girls’ education indicate that the only‐child policy has had an unintended consequence of engendering a child‐centered culture with a strong belief and shared interest among the urban community in educating the only‐child regardless of the child’s sex. As the distribution of education by sex is frequently argued to be a key determinant for gender inequality, this finding seems to carry an unquestioned message that gender equality has been largely achieved for the only‐child generation. So far, however, few studies have examined parental gender‐specific expectations for their only children as an important factor in preparing boys and girls for their different school and social experiences. Based on data collected through semi‐structured interviews with 20 families in north China, this paper explores parental gender‐specific expectations of their only‐children. Parents’ SES is also considered in order to see how class may interact with gender in parents’ expectations for boys and girls as only‐children. The study reveals patterns of differences in parental expectations based on gender, and to a lesser degree, class. The author argues that it would be over‐optimistic to believe that only‐child status and the equally high academic aspirations parents hold for boys and girls have done away with all the deep‐rooted factors against gender equality in Chinese society. Drawing on Bourdieu’s social theory, the author discusses the implications of the findings and provides suggestions for policy efforts and further research.     

The magic roundabout: work‐related learning within the 14–19 curriculum

This article examines the cyclical nature of government policy vis‐à‐vis work‐related learning. First, it looks at the purposes and types of work‐related learning which exist in the 14–19 educational phase. Second, it describes the policy history surrounding work‐related learning, highlighting policy emphasis on recurring themes such as enterprise education, workplace socialisation, motivation and academic achievement. Third, the way in which work‐related learning has been organised is described. This leads to a discussion of whether and to what extent the multiplicity of purposes of work‐related learning set out by the government can actually be achieved. More importantly, it suggests that the organisational and policy aspects of work‐related learning are offered as ‘new and improved products’ every so often, and that more empirical research should be undertaken and thought given before the results of this agenda can be judged effectively.     

Research on Gender and Education in the Nordic Countries

Sex has for many years been an important independent variable in educational research, but the serious theoretical discussion of the variable as a dependent variable belongs mostly to the last three decades. A need for a conceptual reorientation has emerged which, for one thing, resulted in the replacement of the concept sex by the concept gender. The article in this section presents and discusses the necessity and the development of this theoretical reorientation in the Nordic countries, which has attracted many researchers and instigated inventive projects. In addition the article gives an overview of Nordic empirical gender research in or related to education: first the studies that opened up the field, then the development that followed. This presentation focuses on different subareas, such as studies of gender and ability, learning and achievement, studies of gender aspects of classroom interaction, studies of single‐sex learning arrangements, action research studies in order to expand the interpersonal and emotional skills repertoire of boys and girls, studies of gender identity. Although differences between the Nordic countries are clear, similarity is the dominant trait. At the end the article comments on recent viewpoints on the likely development of gender policy and outlines basic educational questions within the Nordic educational systems.     

Re/theorising gender: female masculinity and male femininity in the classroom?

Recent gender theorising has been enlivened by post‐structuralist accounts of gender as ‘disembodied’; the reading of gender performances as distinct from sexed bodies. However, there has been little application of such theoretical positions to empirical analysis in gender and education. This article employs two such positions – that of ‘female masculinity and male femininity’, and that of ‘gender monoglossia and heteroglossia’ – to data raised from a research project on high‐achieving pupils. It is argued that although cases of female masculinity and male femininity are identified, such labels can usefully be applied to only a very small number of pupils, and even here there are profound problems in the conceptual application. The concept of gender heteroglossia appeared applicable to a far larger number of pupils. It is argued that this latter concept offers a less rigid application, that can incorporate analysis both of continuing patterns of gender inequality (as reflective of gender monoglossia), and of individual, gender‐transgressive (heteroglossic) performances.     

The problem of education‐based discrimination

While the research, theory and policy literature on race, class and gender discrimination in education is extensive, the problem of education‐based discrimination itself has been widely overlooked. Indeed, the dominant ideologies of meritocracy and human capital (into which we are inculcated throughout our lives by schools, media and the state) proclaim that higher levels of education are and should be linked with greater reward. In a world where education is regularly invoked to legitimate inequality, it can appear nonsensical even to raise concern about education‐based discrimination as a matter of social injustice. We need, however, to challenge those who have taught us not to see what has essentially become an elephant in our living room. Otherwise, we will find ourselves unable ever to use our public systems of education for universal emancipation and empowerment.     

Disadvantaging the Disadvantaged: Bangladeshis and education in Tower Hamlets

This article describes the way in which policies in a local education authority actually worked to disadvantage a group of children already suffering gross disadvantages. During the 1980's 1LEA was unable to provide sufficient school places for children in Tower Hamlets, 95% of the resulting ‘out‐of‐school’ children being of Bangladeshi origin. The article records the efforts of the Tower Hamlets Law Centre to register a complaint on behalf of the children, and the way in which the local and central education authorities avoided their responsibilities to these children. It is suggested that such a situation would never have been tolerated in a white, middle‐class area. The article represents a contribution to the sociology of disadvantage in that it indicates the tendency of policy‐makers to ignore the economic and social structures which create disadvantage, and to focus on individual or family ‘pathology’ as a major cause of disadvantage.     

Examining the epistemology of impact and success of educational interventions using a reflective case study of university bursaries

This paper engages with the continuing emphasis given to evidence‐based policy and ‘what works’ approaches in educational research, highlighting some of the continuing epistemological challenges from a post‐positivist perspective. To illustrate these, it uses the case of bursaries awarded by universities to improve outcomes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds as an example of an education intervention designed to address structural inequality. The paper then discusses critical reflections arising from a project commissioned by the Office for Fair Access in England, which aimed to enable universities to evaluate the impact of the bursaries that they award. These reflections provide a lens to explore the limitations of experimental and quasi‐experimental designs in complex social fields. The paper concludes that we lack a strong understanding of the relationship between financial and educational disadvantage prior to and during higher education, and this undermines efforts to ‘prove’ that certain interventions will ‘level the playing field’.     

Social justice and its renewals: A sociological comment

Education Action Zones (EAZs) were launched in the United Kingdom in 1998 as 'the standard bearers in a new crusade … to modernize education in areas of social deprivation, and hailed as a third way in education.' In the light of the authors ' ongoing evaluation of a single EAZ, the article examines the extent to which the ambitious claims made by government have been realised. It assesses the extent to which EAZs can be viewed as part of the British twentieth-century theme in education of tackling inequality. It demonstrates that EAZ policy was riddled with tensions and paradoxes arising out of the eccentric mix of neo-liberal, social democratic and Third Way approaches to addressing educational inequality. The article concludes that EAZs suffered from three types of error: concept, process and outcomes, and hence were a mission impossible. The authors argue that EAZs may, hopefully, be a lesson in making the vision of resolving education inequality possible.     

The role of the family and the school in the reproduction of educational inequalities in the post‐Communist Czech Republic

Among the more relevant questions in educational research is how the governments and policy‐makers in transition countries address the high educational inequality inherited from the past and what policies they develop in order to reduce the strong effects of the background family and the type of school on students' achievements, their aspirations and their chances of succeeding in the most important educational transitions. This paper addresses one of the most topical issues in this area, namely the social selectivity of Czech basic and secondary education. Special attention is paid to the role of ‘multi‐year’ gymnasia. The results of analyses carried out on data from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2000 study corroborate the initial hypothesis according to which multi‐year gymnasia, introduced into the Czech educational system after 1989, represent one of the main sources of the variation in students' achievements at the end of compulsory education. However, this variation can be almost entirely accounted for by the specific socio‐economic background of the students. The same holds true for their future aspirations. The results of the analysis support the conclusions of the OECD Review of National Policies for Education from 1996.     

Moving the goalposts: Education policy and 25 years of the Black/White achievement gap

Drawing on a secondary analysis of official statistics, this paper examines the changing scale of the inequality of achievement between White students and their Black British peers who identify their family heritage as Black Caribbean. We examine a 25‐year period from the introduction of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), in 1988, to the 20th anniversary of the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 2013. It is the first time that the Black/White gap has been analysed over such a long period. The paper reviews the changing place of the Black/White gap in education debates and notes that, despite periods when race equality has appeared to be high on the political agenda, it has never held a consistent place at the heart of policy. Our findings shed light on how the Black/White gap is directly affected, often in negative ways, by changes in education policy. Specifically, whenever the key benchmark for achievement has been redefined, it has had the effect of restoring historic levels of race inequity; in essence, policy interventions to ‘raise the bar’ by toughening the benchmark have actively widened gaps and served to maintain Black disadvantage. Throughout the entire 25‐year period, White students were always at least one and a half times more likely to attain the dominant benchmark than their Black peers. Our findings highlight the need for a sustained and explicit focus on race inequity in education policy. To date, the negative impacts of policy changes have been much more certain and predictable than occasional attempts to reduce race inequality.     

Gendered education in a gendered world: looking beyond cosmetic solutions to the gender gap in science

Young people in countries considered to be at the forefront of gender equity still tend to choose very traditional science subjects and careers. This is particularly the case in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects (STEM), which are largely male dominated. This article uses feminist critiques of science and science education to explore the underlying gendered assumptions of a research project aiming to contribute to improving recruitment, retention and gender equity patterns in STEM educations and careers. Much research has been carried out to understand this gender gap phenomenon as well as to suggest measures to reduce its occurrence. A significant portion of this research has focused on detecting the typical “female” and “male” interest in science and has consequently suggested that adjustments be made to science education to cater for these interests. This article argues that adjusting science subjects to match perceived typical girls’ and boys’ interests risks being ineffective, as it contributes to the imposition of stereotyped gender identity formation thereby also imposing the gender differences that these adjustments were intended to overcome. This article also argues that different ways of addressing gender issues in science education themselves reflects different notions of gender and science. Thus in order to reduce gender inequities in science these implicit notions of gender and science have to be made explicit. The article begins with an overview of the current situation regarding gender equity in some so- called gender equal countries. We then present three perspectives from feminist critiques of science on how gender can be seen to impact on science and science education. Thereafter we analyze recommendations from a contemporary research project to explore which of these perspectives is most prevalent.     

Reflections on the Professionalisation of Adult Educators in the Framework of Public Policies in Portugal

The discussion in this article is based on recent research carried out by the author recently on adult education public policies and her participation in the Adult Learning Practitioners in Europe (ALPINE) project coordinated by Research voor Beleid (The Netherlands) and funded by the European Commission. The analysis presented here stresses the challenges faced by adult educators in Portugal in the last decades and the concerns about the emerging professionalisation process that started in the framework of observed adult education and training public policy.     

Education(al) research and education policy making: is conflict inevitable?†

The relationship between research and policy and practice in education is a long‐standing issue in many countries. Focusing on the UK Government, which is responsible for education in England, this paper looks at the criticisms of education research that have been made in recent years by government and related non‐departmental public bodies and stakeholders. It then looks in more detail at specific examples of the use that has—and has not—been made of research in developing policy. But rather than produce a balance sheet of pluses and minuses in policy makers' use of evidence, the paper emphasises the realities of the policy making process and the difficulties in establishing consistently and exclusively evidence‐based policy. At the same time, it argues that researchers should beware of allowing their work to be shaped entirely by the Government's call for research that is directly useful to policy by always prioritising applied or practice‐based approaches. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for BERA to promote all types of education research—regardless of its utility for policy makers—and, as part of this, for the education research community to ensure that appropriate quality criteria are available for all approaches.