“Not like that,not for that,not by them”: social media affordances of critique

This paper has two objectives: to explicate the sociotechnical conditions that facilitate critique on social media platforms (specifically: Tumblr); and to operationalize a “working theory” from Foucault’s conceptualization of critique. We analyze resistant practices observed (in ethnographic study) in a Not Safe For Work (NSFW) community on Tumblr, arguing that the potential for critique arises there at the intersection of platform architecture and use cultures. Specifically, we show how critique emerges from shared practices of ethics, most visibly enacted through what we call voluntary vulnerability and paying it forward. This potential for critique is arguably at risk with Tumblr’s recent NSFW ban.     

Designs of duty: Using exhibits to build partnerships

Exhibits in academic libraries are drivers for outreach. Many exhibit programs center on national traveling exhibits often because they are well done and already completed. The only input necessary from a host institution is space and a small amount of time to put up the exhibit. Locally made exhibits create a stronger connection to the community, but they are more expensive in terms of time for research and creating the exhibit, and money for printing. The adage “many hands make light work” accurately describes the local exhibit creation process when multiple groups come together. Partnerships between libraries to share exhibit content broaden the Pool of exhibit possibilities and raise awareness of exhibit programs for all partners. In this case, an exhibit at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that focused on veterans and their service-related tattoos was picked up and built upon by Eastern Illinois University. This case study covers multiple libraries, both academic and public, sharing an exhibit about veterans and their tattoos, providing outreach opportunities to veteran and service member populations at all participating libraries     

Considerations for the Occasional Project Manager

Performance improvement professionals who occasionally manage projects can benefit from applying the discipline of project management. This article offers a checklist of proven techniques that lend themselves to most projects. Many techniques are applicable even in organizations lacking a project management culture. These techniques do not assume formal project management training. The checklist draws on common elements identified through a review and analysis of key sources that outline the ingredients for project success, such as communication, stakeholder engagement, executive support, and risk management.     

Producing the docile body: analysing Local Area Under-performance Inspection (LAUI)

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of the Office for Standards in Education (OfSTED), declared a ‘new wave’ of Local Area Under-performance Inspections (LAUI) of schools ‘denying children the standard of education they deserve’. This paper examines how the threat of LAUI played out over three mathematics lessons taught by a teacher in her first year in the profession. A Foucauldian approach is mobilised with regard to disciplinary power and ‘docile bodies’. The paper argues that, in the case in point, LAUI was a tool mediating performative conditions and, ultimately, the docile body. The paper will be of concern to policy sociologists, teachers, school leaders, and those interested in school inspection.     

‘I’m strong within myself’: gender,class and emotional capital in childcare

Emotions have received increasing attention in educational circles in the last decade. Drawing on Bourdieu, feminist scholars use emotional capital to illustrate the ways gendered inequalities can compound the disadvantages of social class. This paper examines relationships within childcare services in Australia, showing how emotional capital functions as a resource for staff. Data from interviews with childcare staff illustrate key aspects of emotional capital, such as reflexivity, resilience and embodiment. Findings show that investing in emotional capital is the key to a long-lasting commitment to childcare work, and should be valued accordingly.     

Academic staff performance and workload in higher education in the UK: the conceptual dichotomy

Higher education in the UK is under increasing pressure to manage the workload of its academic staff in a way that maximises the outputs from teaching and research. The emergence of this trend can be traced back to 1989 and the government legislation that introduced neo-liberal managerialism into the sector mirroring the laissez-faire approach to the economy that was prevalent at the time. This article examines the literature surrounding workload management and staff performance in the sector to try to establish whether the two have been conceptually linked. A desk-based narrative literature review was executed in order to scrutinise the literature and attempt to answer the main question: what does ‘performance’ mean in relation to an academic role and how is this related to an academic’s workload within the post-92 (referring to ex-polytechnics and colleges of higher education granted university title following the Further and Higher Education Act 1992) higher education sector? The results of the review show that the literature is dichotomous both in terms of the two areas being discrete and also in the conceptual stance taken by writers in each area. Whilst there are inferred links between workload management and performance, these have not been explored. The article concludes by outlining what further research is needed on the linkages between workload management and staff performance specifically, using socially-critical methodology.     

Education policy mobility: reimagining sustainability in neoliberal times

This paper is concerned with the twinning of sustainability with priorities of economic neoliberalization in education, and in particular via the mobility or diffusion of education policy. We discuss the literature on policy mobility as well as overview concerns regarding neoliberalism and education. The paper brings these analyses to bear in considering the uptake of sustainability in education policy. We ask to what extent sustainability as a vehicular idea may be twinning with processes of neoliberalization in education policy in ways that may undermine aspirations of, and action on, environmental sustainability. Toward the end of the paper, we draw on data from an empirical study to help elucidate how the analytic frames of policy mobility can inform our analyses of the potential concerns and possibilities of sustainability as a vehicular idea. In particular, we investigate how sustainability and related language have been adopted in the policies of Canadian post-secondary education institutions over time. The paper closes by suggesting the potential implications of the proceeding analyses for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers concerned with sustainability in education policy.     

The problem with international students' ‘experiences’ and the promise of their practices: Reanimating research about international students in higher education

The increasing number of people studying abroad has drawn significant scholarly attention to the experiences of international students. While these works have productively informed policy and practice regarding how international students may be better supported, they have not always considered the active ways international students contribute to higher education. This article suggests that adopting the notion of experience as a conceptual starting point is problematic because it only partially illuminates international students' agency and reproduces understandings of them as a vulnerable group. The more active notion of practice, by contrast, suggests a more agentive subject who is a pivotal actor in spaces of education. The main argument in this article is that the abiding focus on international students' experiences will be productively unsettled by orienting attention to their practices and theorising the notion of practice in more fluid and dynamic ways. After critically engaging with the existing literature, the article outlines four ways that a focus on international students' practices may reanimate debates. A focus on practice will: (1) show how international students actively contribute to spaces of higher education, including classrooms, campuses and other sites of sociality; (2) demand that researchers theorise agency in more expansive ways and consider the practices of a broader set of social groups; (3) encourage researchers to make use of a wider set of qualitative research methods; and (4) create a stronger political foundation from which to defend the interests of international students in a post-COVID-19 world.