Becoming a youth activist in the internet age: a case study on social media activism and identity development

This paper draws on a case study of one youth activist, and explores connections between social media activism, identity development, and critical education. Justin Rodriguez, a 17-year-old high school student in Newark, New Jersey, leveraged social media and texting as organizing tools and garnered support for a school walkout to protest education budget cuts. Drawing on the Listening Guide interview method and Justin’s narrative of his experiences, the study explores the question: Does social media activism have implications for how we understand the development of youth activist identities? The findings suggest Justin’s development as a youth activist was mediated, not produced, by social media activism; and Justin developed as a youth activist through various forms of interaction that included social media and face-to-face relationships. The paper also explores the supports provided by adult mentors that were important in Justin’s development as an activist, including education for critical consciousness and opportunities for Justin to participate in civic venues.     

Being mean: children’s gendered perceptions of peer teasing

Recent research suggests that social cognition may play a role in the connections among gendered experiences of teasing within the grade school classroom. Within the framework of social-cognitive developmental theory, this qualitative research study investigates how gender may influence young children’s experiences and perception of teasing within the context of peer relationships. The present study explored the role gender plays in 89 Canadian children’s (4–9 years of age, 39 girls, 50 boys) perceptions of peer teasing through participants’ drawings and accompanying narratives. Results indicate that gender may help shape girls’ and boys’ perceptions of peer teasing in the classroom and suggest the need for educators to build a school culture of kindness, peace, and compassion to enhance children’s social-emotional lives.     

陶行知和杜威教育思想比较及其启示

美国哲学家、教育家社威提出了“教育即生活”“学校即社会”和“从做中学”的实用主义教育观点.陶行知立足于中国国情和所处的社会时代背景,批判地吸收并发展了杜威的教育思想,提出“生活即教育”“社会即学校”和“教学做合一”等一系列更符合中国实际的生活教育理论.两者的教育思想既有紧密联系,又有明显区别,并具有现实的启示作用.     

Trajectories of smooth: the multidimensionality of spatial relations and autism spectrum

This paper examines how two men with autism spectrum (AS) experience educational spaces having attended public school in Nova Scotia, Canada. Smooth and striated space is mobilised as the main conceptual framework to account for the men’s affectivities when experiencing the educational terrain. The central aim when applying smooth and striated space is thinking through variation with attentiveness to the men’s situated movements. A discourse focusing on the men’s affective relations to school spaces counters over-coded special education frameworks that have largely centred on students with AS functionality in remedial educational settings. The concern when only knowing students with AS through normative functionality discourses is that it produces a homogenous line of thinking with limited attendance to their everyday situated worlds. Here, by attuning to the men’s spatial experiences we can begin to think in more open ways rather than AS subjects preconfigured to given positions.     

《一个青年艺术家的画像》中的后现代色彩

后现代思维的特征即否定性,是一种文学对文学的质疑,哲学对哲学的质疑。《一个青年艺术家的画像》以自传体的形式,叙述了斯蒂芬童年、少年至青年的心理历程,展示出一位叛逆青年对学校、国家以及宗教的质疑,最终走向自由的艺术之路。     

Games of subversion and sabotage: issues of power,masculinity, class,rurality and schooling

This paper presents a longitudinal insight into the experiences of ‘Adam’, a young boy who lives with his single‐parent father (a farmer and builder) in a rural working‐class community on the outskirts of a provincial town in Tasmania, Australia. Adam’s story juxtaposes my representations of him as an eight year old in 1999 and as a 12 year old in 2003. Such longitudinal analysis highlights how increasing mismatches between Adam’s home and school life, and mismatches between hegemonic masculinity and formal schooling, interact to amplify issues of school disengagement and alienation. Adam’s external expressions of masculinity, and in particular his concerted efforts to subvert and sabotage official school cultures and practices, are explored as issues of power, masculinity, class and rurality.     

Enhancing contextualized curriculum: integrated identity in young Shi’i Muslim Arabic-Canadian students’ social worlds

This research explored 10 young female Shi’i Muslim Arabic-Canadian students’ experiences associated with wearing the Hijab (headscarf) within their home, community, and predominantly White Canadian public elementary school environments. The in-depth case study sought to address the dearth of information about Shi’is’ experiences in schools through methodological strategies comprising 10 semi-structured interviews, two focus-group meetings and field notes. This qualitative study provides a transdisciplinary approach based on Phelan, Davidson, and Cao Yu’s social-world model encompassing religious, gendered, social, cultural and political differences that create social boundaries in study participants’ home, community and school environments. Specifically, this article focuses on participants’ school experiences and their strategies for preserving their religious identities. Research findings shed light on the interrelatedness of internal and external diversity within participants’ social worlds, the moral values of religious ritual stories, and the important role of contextualized curriculum in fostering equity and social justice.     

Unseen worlds. Looking through the lens of childhood

This case study records the voices of a group of young people from an isolated rural community as they reflect on their experiences of secondary school. The study was driven by a desire to develop an understanding of the human connections young people make (or not) at school, to help develop understandings of how schools can be better places for their students. The data reveal that the students report their school experience almost entirely as a social activity. In the context of this study it is argued that the emotional support and ‘protection’ that peer relationships seem to offer young people maybe a key element in motivating them to attend school and supporting their well-being. With the focus of schools directed by inspection, standards and marketisation agenda, the importance of these peer relationships to young people may not be fully recognised by school leaders. Acknowledgement of the importance of these interactions to the students and accommodation of these needs physically and pedagogically in school may well be a key to developing positive relations between all members of the school community.     

Social violence and the trivialising effects of youth in school bullying: Extended listening to South Australian young people on bullying and violence

School bullying attracts significant research and resources globally, yet critical questions are being raised about the long-term impact of these efforts. There is a disconnect between young people's perspectives and the long-established psychology-based technical definitions of school bullying dominating practice and policy in Australia. This dominant paradigm has recently been described as the first paradigm of school bullying. In contrast, this paper explores the potential for reorienting school bullying research towards the concerns of young people and away from adult-derived technical definitions. Borrowing from paradigm two, which emphasises the social, cultural and philosophical (among others) elements of school bullying, in this paper, I approach bullying under the broad banner of ‘social violence’. This approach addresses some of the inherent limitations of the first paradigm to conceptualise social and cultural dynamics. I argue that a ‘social violence’ approach reveals that the exclusionary effects of the social phenomenon of youth continue to be overlooked. Furthermore, the term ‘violence’ in bullying research could benefit from integrating contemporary sociological insights on this phenomenon. This paper draws on qualitative insights from a small group of young people in secondary schooling in South Australia gained through prolonged listening to peer conversations in a series of focus groups. In addition, 1:1 interviews were conducted pre and post the focus group series. I argue that these participants' insights reveal the exclusionary effects of youth and the employment of bullying to trivialise young people's experiences and concern for harm. There is a need to reprioritise young people's knowledge in school bullying research and the exclusionary effects of youth alongside other social forces.     

Building spaces of hope with refugee and migrant-background students

Within the Australian context, research into schooling experiences of refugee and migrant-background students has tended to focus on developing English language proficiency with little attention given to initiatives that contribute more broadly to students’ social and educational resources. Whilst not denying the significance of English language acquisition, this paper explores strategies, implemented at one school, designed to enhance social, cultural and educational outcomes for refugee and migrant-background students. We draw on a relational view of space informed by Foucault and Lefebvre, and Fraser’s theorisation of justice, to explore the school context, connections to students’ life-worlds, moving beyond trauma and teachers as knowledge producers. Findings suggest that contextualised forms of knowing and practices can work to build connections and educational resources for refugee and migrant-background students. Where human spatiality, including as this relates to schools, produces advantages and disadvantages, we conclude in arguing for further research that incorporates the perspectives and voices of refugee and migrant-background students and their teachers.     

“In Kindy You Don’t Get Taught”: Continuity and Change as Children Start School

Over the last decade, there has been increasing awareness of the importance of engaging young children in research about their experiences and considering ways in which children’s experiences, expectations and perceptions influence both their interactions and those of others. This has resulted from recognition of young children as active citizens, with rights to be consulted about matters that affect them and from the principles underpinning the sociology of childhood, which emphasizes children’s capabilities and agency. This paper explores young Australian children’s perceptions of school and learning, as expressed through drawings and conversations about school. Data from children in preschools and the early years of school highlight children’s expectations and experiences of school, including the importance of play, friendships, children’s dispositions, and academic expectations of school and teachers. Drawing on previous research that notes the long term importance of children’s attitudes and approaches, as well as their sense of belonging and identity, at the start of school, this paper has implications for adults engaging with children as they make the transition to school.     

Deweyan Democratic Agency and School Math: Beyond Constructivism and Critique

In this article, Kurt Stemhagen reconstructs mathematics education in light of Dewey's democratic theory and his ideas about mathematics and mathematics education. The resulting democratic philosophy and pedagogy of mathematics education emphasizes agency and the connections between mathematics and students' social experiences. Stemhagen considers questions about the disconnect between constructivist reformers and critical mathematics educators, and he positions Dewey's ideas as a way to draw on the best of both to create an active and more democratic school math experience.     

Experiences of university life for students with Asperger’s Syndrome: a comparative study between Spain and England

Research has consistently shown that young people with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) are likely to experience increased anxiety during new social situations; yet, studies have been regionally and culturally bound. The aim of this study was to explore how higher education students with AS experienced attending university in two European countries: the UK and Spain. The objective was to find out if experiences differed between the two countries in relation to contrasting support arrangements and what kinds of interventions might aid students’ social well-being at university, an important learning outcome for future practice. This small-scale comparative exploratory study incorporated life-history interviews with nine students with AS. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and subjected to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four superordinate themes significant to both groups of students in Spain and the UK emerged from the data: social relationships, ‘special interests’, ‘environment’ and ‘support mechanisms’. Students with AS need and want clear, unambiguous and structured information from academics; support to get to know others in ‘small special interest groups’; more designated ‘quiet zones’ across campuses; and above all, a move away from ableist notions of AS. To our knowledge, this is the only Spanish–UK comparative study of university students with AS.     

文化冲突下的成长之路——《三四郎》主题评析

明治著名作家夏目漱石的《三四郎》描述了一名青年从故乡来到东京求学,从憧憬到迷茫的心理体验。在其爱情故事的表层结构下,折射出了立足于东方思想和西方文明的冲突之下,青年知识分子的矛盾心理与迷惘。《三四郎》中的成长路径符合"分离—考验—互渗—再生"的成长小说原型叙事结构。文章结合具体的社会文化语境,通过分析主人公的主体性建构过程与不完整性,指出正是文化冲突给成长者带来了双重压力,使其成为一种典型的矛盾人物。     

School exclusion and educational inclusion of pregnant young women

This article analyses the school exclusion and subsequent educational inclusion of pregnant young women participating in a course of antenatal and key skills education at an alternative educational setting. It examines the young women's transitions from ‘failure’ in school to ‘success’ in motherhood and re-engagement with education. This article draws on participant observation- and interview-based research carried out with pregnant young women and staff at an alternative educational setting in London in 2007–2008. The young women's participation in the course represented a severing of past negative experiences in mainstream education, allowing a renewed focus on education alongside a positive maternal identity. The setting represented a form of inclusion, and the young women appreciated the focus on their social and emotional well-being, yet the limited academic provision in some cases continued to reinforce an educational exclusion.     

‘Becoming your best’: student perspectives on community in the pursuit of aspirations

Achieving equitable schooling outcomes for young people living in communities of low socio-economic status is a prominent issue that assumes focus in educational policy, theory and practice both in Australia and internationally. This paper draws upon the narratives of five secondary school students living in the northern urban fringe of Adelaide in South Australia, a region that is characterised by socio-economic challenge (Prosser et al. in Connecting lives and learning: Renewing pedagogy in the middle years, 2010). Specifically, the participants’ understandings and perspectives about community are used to examine their aspirations through the analysis of qualitative data obtained from a focus group, visual methods, a storying activity and semi-structured interviews. Discussion on students’ construction and pursuit of aspirations is framed by Appadurai’s (Culture and public action: 59–84, 2004, p. 67) conceptualisation of aspiration as a cultural capacity influenced by one’s social, cultural and economic contexts. This paper demonstrates that students from low socio-economic backgrounds have aspirations for their future which are influenced by their schooling experiences and the positive trust relationships they develop with teachers in community. As such, connections between place and learning are highlighted as critical factors in achieving more equitable schooling outcomes. The research identifies factors in ‘community’ that shape young people’s aspirations and ways in which young people can be supported in navigating toward their aspirations.     

Isolated learners: young mature-age students,university culture,and desire for academic sociality

The differentiated experiences of young mature-age students are under-researched and often unacknowledged in higher education literature and university policy. This article contends that, due to their age (early 20s to early 30s), many younger mature-age students feel ‘out of the loop’ and ‘alienated’ from university culture. The sample is drawn from a large first-year subject and analyses students’ written ethnographic reflections on their identities as students within university culture. Using interpretive theory and NVivo coding software to analyse the written assignments, the experience of isolation amongst the young mature-age demographic was a prominent and unanticipated finding. Students in this age range want academic-based sociality but do not identify as either school leaver or ‘mature-age’. They feel like isolated learners. We argue young mature-age students’ experiences of social isolation pose a significant barrier to full participation, negatively impacting their identities as students and their university transition. In Australia and internationally, governments and universities have increased their enrolments of young mature-age students, but their capacity to structure learning environments to suit them are limited without greater knowledge of their diverse experiences. Taking a cultural, socially situated view of learning allows insights into students’ experiences and suggests opportunities for understanding and supporting them.     

Turning points in a qualitatively different social space: young adults’ reflections of alternative provision

There is a wealth of evidence suggesting that after being marginalised and excluded from school young people who attend Alternative Provision settings report positive relationships and experiences of learning. There is however very little research which explores the longer term outcomes of attending this sort of provision. Retrospective life history interviews were undertaken with 18 young adults in their early to mid-20s who had attended Alternative Provision in England. Interviews focused on schooling, exclusion, attending Alternative Provision and the impact of this on what they had done since leaving school up to their present situation. Analysis showed that the experience of attending Alternative Provision frequently constituted a turning point in a young person’s life story. This was due to the qualitatively different kind of social space experienced there.     

Young people’s participation: is disaffection another way of having a voice?

In this study, young people, described by teachers as being disaffected, were encouraged to become involved in a public forum to discuss issues regarding participation, learning and training at their school as well as their aspirations about the future. The young people discussed their learning and social experiences, and reflected on existing models of participation and student voices as they operated in their school. Through focus group discussions and interviews, the young people expressed concerns about participation in school matters and critiqued the curriculum as irrelevant to their aspirations and employment needs. The young people favoured a form of participation that involves and sustains informal ways of having a voice and creates possibilities for being genuinely listened to. The findings suggested that to enable young people’s participation in learning and other aspects of school life, the curriculum, learning and pastoral support and the school‐to‐training transition require re‐thinking. Finally, the results reinforced the view that inclusion and participation are not unproblematic, requiring a nuanced approach.