‘Go,go on and go higher an’ higher’. Second‐generation Turks’ understanding of the role of education and their struggle through the Dutch school system

With reference to capital theories and rational choice theory, this paper aims to understand how abilities and schooling ambitions are intertwined with social class, gender and ethnicity. By drawing on 16 in‐depth interviews carried out with highly educated second‐generation Turks in the Netherlands, the paper discusses the resources, opportunities and educational attitudes of young people, together with the role of the school system and that of teachers in perpetuating ethnic inequalities in schooling, with special emphasis on gender differences in schooling ambitions.     

Transforming America’s Universities to Compete in the “New Normal”

The challenges faced today by U.S. colleges and universities have been accelerated by the current economic downturn, but they are not the result of it. Consequently, we should not expect a sudden reversal of fortune when the economy rebounds. Changing demographics and spending priorities coupled with increasing competition and demands for accountability mean that universities face a “new normal” in which they must embrace a clear vision of the future, including access and opportunity for all learners and a culture of entrepreneurship and service.     

Attitudes of parents of young men towards the inclusion of sexual orientation and homophobia on the Irish post‐primary curriculum

The ‘Exploring Masculinities’ (EM) programme was piloted in 22 Irish single‐sex boys’ post‐primary schools during the late 1990s. Following objections from some influential journalists and an organisation representing parents whose sons attended Catholic secondary schools, the Minister for Education and Science put the planned dissemination of the programme on hold. The concerns of the objectors included the proposed treatment of sexual orientation and homophobia in the context of the school curriculum. The authors researched the views of a national sample of the parents of young men regarding the inclusion of social and personal education issues on the school curriculum. The vast majority of parents would welcome the inclusion of all EM topics including sexual orientation and homophobia, the focus of the current paper, on the school curriculum. However, parents did express concerns in relation to the adequacy of teacher development for dealing with such sensitive topics and possible conflict between school and parental values.     

Magic Women on the Margins: Ec-centric Models in Mary Poppins and Ms Wiz

This paper offers a comparative analysis of two characters belonging to the tradition of empowered “spinster” in children’s fiction, namely Mary Poppins and Ms Wiz, from the perspective of gender politics and child/adult interactions. A distinction is made between the figure portrayed in P. L. Travers’ texts and the Disney film starring Julie Andrews, which turned the magic nanny into a cultural icon. These two renderings of the powerful, single woman, in turn, are contrasted with Terence Blacker’s postmodern depiction of the good witch in the “Ms Wiz” series, with a view to tracing the evolution of the ostracised female wizard, a character inherited from folklore that has its origin in the Great Mother archetype. As is demonstrated, each representation of the supernatural woman modifies the manner in which the feminine influences the patriarchal order.     

Business Informatics and the Information Systems Perspective: Implementing the IS 2010 Curriculum

This article describes how the Business Informatics program at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) has evolved and, in so doing, has addressed the call from the IS 2010 Curriculum Design Committee listed below. The article initiates this discussion with a discussion of the basic systems perspective that underlies the information systems discipline. The next section presents a review of the creation of a College of Informatics (COI) at NKU that included the strategic decision of structurally moving the Information Systems Department from the College of Business. The authors then document the perceptual shift this decision created as the Information Systems Department changed its name to Business Informatics and took on the goal of expanding the discipline beyond the business domain with partnerships across campus. A short discussion on the progress made in implementing this vision is detailed. The article closes with a discussion of problems and opportunities generated.     

Teaching Statistics – Despite Its Applications

Evidence‐based policy requires sophisticated modelling and reasoning about complex social data. The current UK statistics curricula do not equip tomorrow's citizens to understand such reasoning. We advocate radical curriculum reform, designed to require students to reason from complex data.