Noise Rather than Numbers: Access to higher education in three European countries

This paper explores a number of special alternative arrangements for adults to access higher education in England and Wales, France and Germany and examines the impact on these arrangements of the relationship between the state and higher education in the three countries. The similarities and differences are analysed along two key dimensions: complexity-simplicity and rigidity-flexibility and the absence of clear statistical data in all three countries is accounted for by the way in which the various stakeholders justify their actions. Finally, Weiler's theory of compensatory legitimation is drawn on to assess the effectiveness of the policy innovations and to explain why the noise around them has been louder than the numbers involved might warrant.     

One School's Experience of Engaging with a Comprehensive Anti-Bullying Programme in the Irish Context: Adolescent and Teacher Perspectives

In this article, the authors report on the evaluation of an anti-bullying programme, the cool school programme (CSP), conducted in a secondary school in Ireland. The study explored how participation in the anti-bullying programme affected students and teachers in one second-level school. The programme focused on students' faith in the teachers' ability to deal with bullying effectively, their willingness and confidence in telling a teacher about bullying and whether they felt safe in school. Teacher confidence and behaviour with regard to bullying were also explored. The study found that 91 per cent of students felt that teachers took bullying seriously. Eighty-nine per cent thought that teachers knew how to deal with bullying and 75 per cent felt able to tell a teacher if they were bullied. Eighty-seven per cent said there was a better atmosphere in their class. Ninety-three per cent of students felt safe in school. Seventy-two per cent of teachers reported greater confidence in their ability to manage bullying and 84% reported increased vigilance. Ninety-four per cent thought that students felt safer in the school. Sixty-nine per cent said there was a better atmosphere in the school. Most felt that the programme was now part of the school culture (94%) and would continue in the school (97%). The authors acknowledge that relying on reported levels of bullying may not give a complete picture of the impact of an anti-bullying intervention. They argue that researchers may need to take into consideration teacher approachability, challenging the culture of silence, responding appropriately and ensuring student safety in school when evaluating programmes.     

Constructing and Deconstructing Masculinities through Critical Literacy

ABSTRACT This paper is set out in three parts. The first is a theoretical discussion about the ways in which we become gendered through the particular discursive patterns made available to us in our culture(s). The second provides a detailed analysis of a classroom in which the teacher, Mr Good, is working with the boys in his class to try to get them to take themselves up as literate in ways that might more usually be eschewed by boys who achieve hegemonic masculinity. The third part develops a definition of critical literacy that follows from the first two parts and which is relevant to the teaching of literacies to boys.     

Gender Issues in Parental Involvement in Student Choices of Higher Education

This article explores gender, social class and ethnic issues in parental involvement in students' choices of higher education. It draws upon interviews with students and their parents, who were a small group of an Economic and Social Research Council-funded study of students' higher education choice processes in the UK. Gender was highly significant in several respects, illustrating changes in higher education over the last 20 years, whereby more women than men now enter higher education. Most of the interviewees were female. They were mothers and daughters who were thinking about higher education. The article explores first how gender is inflected in choice processes--from whether students choose to involve their parents in the study, to their parents' characteristics, to the forms of involvement revealed. Different facets of involvement are considered--interest, influence and support, investment and intrusion. Secondly, the article provides illustrations of girls' collaborative approaches to the choice processes, in which some of their mothers also engage. This is contrasted with boys' perspectives and those of fathers who were interviewed. This illustrates how gender is woven through social networks across the generations. Parental involvement varied in terms of gender, educational and social backgrounds, or notions of 'institutional' and 'familial habitus'. Finally, the authors reflect upon why gender is salient in how young people and their parents think about their involvement in choosing universities and relate this to changes in higher education policies and practices.