Troubling notions of risk: dissensus,dissonance, and making sense of students and learning

This article troubles constructions of ‘at-risk students.’ Utilizing Rancière's discussion of dissensus, the author first argues that what is at risk are not students but contemporary common sense notions of schooling. From this perspective, students' labeled as ‘at risk’ ways of knowing and being that interrupt ideas and ideals about the purpose and function of schooling. In order to make this argument, the author links Rancière and others' discussions of the importance of dissensus to questions of sense-making, the dangers of resonance in consensus, and the possibilities in the dissonance of dissensus. These assertions are then further complicated by the assertion that education is a necessarily risky endeavor and that all students should be placed at risk of learning. Understanding all students as at risk is significant as it simultaneously provides a space for students' complex constellations of identity to be treated with dignity in learning experiences and creates a less punitive context in which differences are less likely to be conceptualized as deficits.     

Positioning young refugees in Australia: media discourse and social exclusion

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article was to examine how media attention affects the social exclusion of young refugees negotiating their way towards settlement in Australia. Emerging stereotypes and prejudices against young male refugees require new ways of understanding the impact of global, national and local issues on their social exclusion. The article brings together the impact of (a) the global politicisation and backlash against refugees, (b) Australians negative perception of refugees and (c) the increased reporting of young African-Australian and Pasifika-Australians as the perpetrators of youth violence. The article recognises the overlapping dimensions of social exclusion for young refugees and considers their ‘spatial’, ‘relational’ and ‘socio-political’ exclusion. The examination of media reporting of a landmark legal case of discrimination and racial profiling reveals a discourse of media attention that has perpetuated the social exclusion of a group of young African-Australian refugees living on a Melbourne public housing estate. The sensationalist and prejudicial media connection of the landmark legal case, youth violence and young African-Australians living on the Flemington Estate demonstrates the challenges young male refugees face in negotiating their settlement in Australia. This article makes a contribution to understanding the multi-dimensional nature of youth exclusion in contemporary times.     

Neoliberalism and the marginalisation of social justice: the making of an education policy to combat social exclusion

The paper analyses how the establishment of neoliberalism, as the new global orthodoxy, in the field of education implies a substantial subjugation and marginalisation of policies and practices informed by the values of social justice and equity. The evidence from a case study on an inclusive education policy enacted to combat social exclusion and dropout in a disadvantaged inner-city area in the south of Italy are presented. The study shows how neoliberalism is increasingly re-defining the domains of validity, normativity and actuality according to an economic rationale; within these domains the actors frame the problems of social exclusion and dropout and choose the solutions to address them. It is argued that the overall framework of discourses of human capital, individualisation, school improvement, performativity and standardisation impedes any contextualised, multidimensional and critical approach to social exclusion as well as the pursuing of any egalitarian outcomes, be they (re)distributional, cultural or associational outcomes.     

Educational inclusion/exclusion of Turkish immigrant youth in Vancouver,Canada: a critical analysis

This empirical research analyses an understudied population, Turkish immigrant youths' educational experiences of inclusion/exclusion in Vancouver. My information was gathered from in-depth interviews and participant observation with the first- and second-generation, Muslim and non-religious female and male Turkish immigrant youth from working and middle-class families. The findings of this study indicate that teachers' racism, linguicism and general Islamophobia are the factors of discrimination against Turkish immigrant youth in the education market. The findings suggest that cultural background, immigration status, class and religious affiliation are significant elements in students' relations to the school culture and their educational experiences of inclusion/exclusion in Canadian schools.     

Individualisation and social exclusion: the case of young people not in education,employment or training

The characteristics, experiences and long-term prospects of young people outside the labour market and education have attracted widespread international attention in recent decades, and the specific category of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) has been a policy concern for the UK Government since 1997. This paper examines the analytical and empirical basis of our knowledge of NEET young people, in the light of more general conceptualisations of social exclusion and the individualisation of social risk. It relates the NEET category to a conception of social exclusion in which the central policy focus is on moving young people across a boundary between participation and non-participation, and inequalities within education and employment receive less attention. This focus, allied with discourses of individualisation, obscures the structural basis of inequality in education and training. However, the paper argues that the research evidence shows that individualised approaches based on personal and cultural characteristics of NEET young people are inadequate to understand this group and frame policy. The paper proposes that stronger versions of social exclusion need to be used in constructing solutions which acknowledge the basis of NEET issues in wider social inequalities.     

Marking time,making methods: temporality and untimely dilemmas in the sociology of youth and educational change

Abstract

This article explores how temporality and temporal regimes might be engaged in qualitative research in the sociology of education, proposing that such questions matter in relation to how research is done, not only to the topics and themes researched. The article shows how temporality enters into research designs, practices and imaginaries, arguing that research methodologies mobilise intersecting temporalities. Debates in the philosophy of history regarding the collision of temporalities are canvassed, and approaches are outlined for conceptualising temporality in reference to qualitative studies. To illustrate these arguments, an account is offered of theoretical and methodological approaches framing a new qualitative longitudinal study of young people and secondary schooling in Australia; to highlight the historicity of methodologies, comparisons are also drawn between this study and an earlier related longitudinal study undertaken in the 1990s. The article concludes by inviting a re-consideration of the possibilities for a renewal of historical sociology of education.     

The affective lives of doubled-up Latinx youth: Influences of school experiences,familism, and ethnic identity exploration

Doubled-up Latinx youth experience many daily challenges associated with ethnic minority status and residential instability. Doubled-up youth share housing with noncustodial caregivers such as friends and/or extended family members primarily because of economic hardship and a breakdown in available parental support. Using data from baseline and 10 days of twice-a-day surveys, this study examined how in-school positive experiences, familism (i.e., a perspective that gives precedence to the family), and ethnic identity (i.e., affirmation, exploration, and resolution) influence after school positive (e.g., feeling joyful/happy) and negative (e.g., feeling stressed/anxious) affect among doubled-up Latinx youth (70% female; M_age = 16.5). Results indicate that in-school positive experiences were associated with more after school positive affect and less after school negative affect. In addition, youth with higher levels of familism reported experiencing less after school negative affect. However, gender moderated the relation of ethnic identity exploration and experiences of after school positive affect. Specifically, females with higher levels of ethnic identity exploration reported relatively lower levels of after school positive affect compared with males. Overall, study findings highlight the importance of both person-level and varying contextual influences on the affective lives of doubled-up Latinx youth.     

The constraints of youth: young people,active citizenship and the experience of marginalisation

ABSTRACT

This paper charts the experiences of a group of young people and their involvement in a local government initiative to engage young people in public decision-making. Activated through a youth leaders’ council that sought to influence and inform local government decision-making, the participating young people were given responsibility for enacting focus projects in collaboration with local government personnel. However, this method of simply bringing young people together with local government decision-makers did not automatically alter the way that decisions came to be made and ironically resulted in interactions that went some way to further reinforce existing perceptions of young people as incapable in situations of public administration. This paper reports on a case example detailing an interaction between the youth leaders and local government councillors, and will suggest that the experience of the young people involved in the youth leaders’ council can be understood against a dynamic of ‘constraint’.     

The Revised SEND Code of Practice 0–25: effective practice in engaging children and young people in decision‐making about interventions for social,emotional and mental health needs

A key principle upon which the Revised Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice 0–25 (2015) is based is children's involvement in decision‐making that affects them, and a significant change is the removal of the term ‘behaviour’ and an emphasis on social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs. To ensure that child involvement is a practical reality for children with SEMH needs, staff in schools benefit from a range of evidence‐informed strategies for engagement and participation. This article describes an approach to the provision of learning mentor services for children with SEMH in a primary school based on partnerships between the children and staff in establishing and measuring change. Limitations are noted and suggestions for future developments are also made.