Masking,mediators and agency: bilingual children and learning to read

This paper begins with a discussion of some of the key insights of recent sociocultural research that consider bilingual children and learning to read and culminates in a discussion of Syncretic Literacy Studies (SLS). It then presents data from an ethnographic study that focused on the learning experiences of a small group of Year Three Bangladeshi‐heritage pupils during 1 year of their schooling in order to problematise some of the claims made in recent sociocultural work and in SLS, particularly the focus on children's agency. The findings from the study suggest that (a) there are limits to children's agency that are not recognised in recent work and in SLS; (b) that identity has an important role to play: children can successfully mask what they cannot do as readers in order to present a particular identity in the mainstream classroom; and (c) that the access some children have to mediators may be limited and can change over time.     

Teachers and public engagement: an argument for rethinking teacher professionalism to challenge deficit discourses in the public sphere

In the context of public debates on teacher quality, both media and education policy texts construct deficit discourses about teachers, discourses that work together to inform public, commonsense understandings of teacher quality. This paper explores the interrelationships between discourses on teachers constructed on television and in policies in the Australian policy context. Critical discourse analysis was employed to trace the links between the discourses on teachers constructed in a television situation comedy and discourses in the policy documents that inform the Australian Government Quality Teacher Programme. The paper demonstrates the interdiscursivity of media and policy discourses on teacher quality by analysing the ways that the television sitcom constructed a particular version of teachers within the quality policy context. The analysis highlights the need for teachers to challenge these deficit discourses. The paper concludes by arguing for a rethinking of teacher professionalism in ways that include active engagement in public debates on education.     

A critical appraisal of four approaches which support teachers’ problem‐solving within educational settings

This paper critically appraises four problem‐solving approaches, based on a range of theoretical perspectives and procedures, which are currently used in educational settings to support adults to find solutions to complex problems that arise within classrooms and the wider school community. The four approaches are: Circles of Adults; Teacher Coaching; Collaborative Problem‐solving Groups; the Staff Sharing Scheme. The principle aim of all of these interventions is to enable school staff to generate solutions to problems so that children and young people who are causing concern are perceived in ways which lead to more constructive actions and outcomes. A second aim is to build the capacity of those working in schools by developing their skills and self confidence as problem‐solvers and decision‐makers; the assumption being that they will be more able to solve similar problems in the future largely on their own, without the need for extensive external support. The paper then considers the relative strengths and limitations of each approach in relation to practice.     

Literacy inequalities in theory and practice: The power to name and define

I analyse what exactly is being addressed when the notion of ‘literacy inequalities’ is cited in the context of international policy with regard to education in general and literacy in particular. Whilst literacy statistics are used as indicators of social inequality and as a basis for policy in improving rights, educational attainment, etc., I question to what extent literacy levels (or various accounts of ‘lack of literacy’) can be taken as offering a valid account of ‘inequality’ in the larger international context. Recent work on literacy from an ethnographic perspective has questioned the international categorisation of a single uniform thing called ‘literacy’, from which consequences can be drawn and has instead focused on local meanings and cultural variations in what counts. In particular I take issue with arguments rooted in economic generalisation on the one hand, by such authors as Amartya Sen, and on the other in moral universalism, in the work of such authors as Nussbaum.     

Constructing bullying in Ontario,Canada: a critical policy analysis

As the prevalence and negative effects of bullying become widely known, people around the world seem desperate to solve the bullying “problem”. A sizeable body of research about many aspects of bullying and a plethora of anti-bullying programmes and policies now exist. This critical policy analysis asks: how does Ontario, Canada’s bullying policy support and/or undermine critical democracy; and how does it reflect, support and further the interests of neoliberalism and/or neoconservatism? Findings indicate that the policy constructs the problem of bullying as a problem of individuals and a “behaviour for learning” problem. The policy also prescribes standardised responses to bullying incidents. We explore ways in which these constructions are undemocratic and unjust. The findings are particularly concerning because bullying policies are often viewed as innocuous by practitioners. This paper offers more than just critique by providing suggestions for how research and policies can become more just and equitable and how bullying policy may be enacted to support critical democracy.     

Preteen girls,magazines, and the negotiation of young sexual femininity

The focus on, and concern about, young girls and preteens or ‘tweens’ relates to the ‘sexualisation’ of girlhood and the notion that girls are ‘growing up too fast’ and becoming ‘too sexy too soon’. In both popular and academic accounts, ‘tween’ magazines and the increasingly ‘sexualised’ images in teen magazines have been framed as significant contributors to this process. Yet, research on the ways in which preteen girls read these magazines has been notably absent. In this paper, we examine the magazine consumption and reading practices of 71 preteen girls in a New Zealand study. We employ a feminist poststructuralist approach to explore the ways in which participants employ the interpretative repertoires of ‘too young’, ‘too old', and ‘just right’ to categorise ‘tween’ and ‘teen’ magazines based on their sexual content and mark belonging to and/or distance from the categories of child, ‘tween', and teenager.     

Towards mentoring as feminist praxis in early childhood education and care in England

Following our contribution to a study of mentoring in seven European countries, we explored epistemological and ontological inconsistencies within mainstream mentoring systems and their regulated practice in England. We considered how feminist mentoring praxis can unsettle conceptualisations of mentoring relationships and challenge inequity in the early education systems and the practice of teaching young children. Predominantly female, early childhood educators suffer from low status in England, and their working lives may be controlled and policed through inequitable systems. On entering the workforce, trainees encounter a reductionist policy milieu where mentoring structures and normative assessment arrangements contribute to inequity. Mentors play pivotal roles in inducting trainees into their worlds of work with young children. Mentoring relationships can determine whether trainees accept the status quo. Principles derived from feminist praxis enable mentors to practise an ‘engaged pedagogy’, co-constructing knowledge, subverting hierarchies and contesting taken-for-granted aspects of policy and practice.