The Civil Contract of Photography

A climate of political repression, formed by the Pitt Government in response to agitation by so‐called “radical” societies, surrounded debate on the Habeas Corpus Suspension Bill of 1794. Pitt employed rhetorical tactics such as manipulating evidence and disparaging motives in order to secure passage of this repressive measure. Pitt's tactics appear unjustified in the light of available historical evidence.     

‘I'm just there to ease the burden’: the parent support adviser role in English schools and the question of emotional labour

In 2005, the Department for Education and Skills announced a £40 million investment in a new school support worker role, the parent support adviser (PSA), for 20 English local authorities. A pilot project ran from 2006–2008 and resulted in the establishment of 717 PSAs in 1167 schools. The national evaluation of the project forms the evidential basis of this paper, with interviews conducted with 69 PSAs, 85 PSA line managers and 105 parents and a database recording casework with nearly 21,000 parents. This paper focuses on the nature of the PSA role as the first centrally funded parent support role in English schools. The theoretical framework provided by the concept of ‘emotional labour’ and the development of the concept represented by the 4Ps typology provides the conceptual structure. This paper argues that although the characteristics of the PSA role appear to place it within the category of work requiring emotional labour, PSAs and parents regard that aspect of the role in a positive light. For the PSAs there was little evidence that emotional labour necessary for the role of PSA led to dissonance between role and worker or alienation from the product of PSA labour.     

A Review and Meta-Analysis Examining the Relationship of Music Content with Sex,Race, Priming,and Attitudes

This meta-analysis (k = 35, N = 11,629) examines the effect that listening to music, particularly popular music, has on consumers. Results demonstrate that listening to music generates an effect on listeners consistent with the content of the music (average r = .210, k = 35, N = 11,629). This effect was similar when considering survey research (r = .227) or experimental research (r = .265). The tenets of excitation transfer theory received some support, particularly when considering the effects of music as a priming material (r = .399), demonstrating the impact of music as a means of establishing mood, and ultimately the subsequent reactions of individuals. One conclusion is that efforts toward media literacy or education may prove far more productive than media content restrictions when attempting to curb potential undesirable media effects. Additional implications for policy and theory are discussed.     

Making the case for a material-dialogic approach to science education

ABSTRACT

Science is concerned with understanding the world. As such, engaging with the materiality of that world is integral to both empirical experimentation and theorising within science. However, it has been recognised for some time that the way scientists learn about the world and the way that young people learn about science cannot be simply equated. This difference has been pronounced in recent decades by the dominance of constructivist and social-constructivist theories of learning, which focus on the development of concepts in the minds of people. Whilst these theories have yielded insight into the complexity of learning, the role of the material remains undertheorised, not only within practical science inquiry, but also in relation to the broader materiality of classrooms. Through a detailed critical literature review, this paper demonstrates the need for a stronger theoretical frame through which to understand the role of the material in the learning and pedagogy of science. Building upon the gaps and possibilities that this review reveals, we outline a new material-dialogic theory via a synthesis of Barad’s Agential Realism and Bakhtinian dialogic theory. The significance of this paper lies in offering a theoretical basis for more effective practice.     

Middle years and middle schools: an analysis of national policy

The terms ‘primary education’ and ‘primary schools’ were in use long before 1945. However, it was not until 1 April 1945 that primary education became the first of three statutory stages of the English education system. At that time, primary education faced an uncertain future because of the enormous problems it had inherited from the elementary school tradition. This article charts the early challenges that were faced during the years of World War II and immediate post-war period.     

The Three Educational Ideologies of the British Labour Party, 1997-2001

The dominant academic conclusion about Labour's education policy since 1997 has been that it is mainly a continuation of Thatcherism. This is inadequate. There are three strands of Labour practice in education: a renovated version of social liberalism, a form of weak developmentalism, and a type of new social democracy that is in the mainstream of European thinking on the left. One significant source of ideological diversity in government is now the devolved responsibilities for educational policy that are held by the Scottish Parliament and (to a more limited extent) by the National Assembly for Wales.