Showing papers in "British Journal of Sociology of Education in 1993"
TL;DR: In this paper, Gewirtz, Bowe and Cribb argue that the arguments made for markets and against public monopoly schooling are partial and flawed, and that the failure to address the bases and effects of inequalities of the market is given particular attention.
Abstract: The market alternative in education is gaining ground in policy‐making circles on both sides of the Atlantic. Parental choice and school competition are seen as ways of achieving reform and raising standards while at the same time reducing State intervention into education planning. This paper interrogates the arguments made for markets and against public monopoly schooling; and it is argued that on both counts the claims of advocates are partial and flawed. The failure to address the bases and effects of inequalities of the market are given particular attention. It is argued that markets in education provide the possibility for the pursuit of class advantage and generate a differentiated and stratified system of schooling. 1I am indebted to my colleagues Sharon Gewirtz, Richard Bowe and Alan Cribb, and Barry Troyna, Manfred Weiss and two referees for their contributions to the arguments in this paper. The paper also benefited from ongoing discussions with Richard Bowe and Sharon Gewirtz related to two re...
509 citations
TL;DR: The authors The Sociology of School Effectiveness: Vol. 14, No. 3, No 3, pp. 333-345, with a focus on the social aspects of education.
Abstract: (1993). The Sociology of School Effectiveness. British Journal of Sociology of Education: Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 333-345.
136 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that "competency" should be understood in terms of a change in the social control of expertise in society involving a move from a relatively autonomous form of liberal professional community to more direct State control.
Abstract: This paper is concerned with the rise of the ‘competency’ movement in education and beyond. It argues that ‘competency’ should be understood in terms of a change in the social control of expertise in society involving a move from a relatively autonomous form of liberal professional community to more direct State control. This, in turn, is located within a broader analysis of the nature of regulation in late modern societies and draws upon the recent work of Guldens and Bernstein in order to analyse the positioning of expertise between its primary theoretical base in higher education and the social relations of everyday life with which it is concerned. The move by the National Council for Vocational Qualifications into the area of graduate level occupations ('NVQ level 5') is discussed with reference to the role of ‘functional analysis’ as a methodology for translating expertise into ‘competencies’ and controlling professional practice.
115 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify and illuminate these processes through the experiences and perceptions of women academics themselves and explore issues such as recruitment and selection, probation, career development, appraisal, positions of power and the roles of women in the academic profession.
Abstract: Women constitute a very small minority of the full time academic staff in British universities and are concentrated in the lower grades. Statistical evidence points to the fact that an important reason for this is that discrimination exists within the academic profession. However, there is very little empirical information on the nature of this discrimination and the institutional processes that serve to maintain it. The study reported here seeks to identify and illuminate these processes through the experiences and perceptions of women academics themselves. A total of 43 women were interviewed at length using a semi‐structured interview schedule, exploring issues such as recruitment and selection, probation, career development, appraisal, positions of power and the roles of women academics. It is suggested, in this paper, that we can begin to understand some of the factors which limit women's access to, and success within the profession by examining the evidence of women who have survived within the system.
102 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, critical events are defined as constructivist learning theory and relationships that generate distinct forms of communitas, and the conditions favourable to the occurrence of critical events include legitimation within the curriculum structure, a facilitative school ethos and, above all, a critical agent.
Abstract: From time to time, education is marked by critical events. In contrast to routine processes and any gradual cumulation of learning, these bring radical change in both pupils and teachers. They also have a confirmatory and preservation function in sustaining teachers’ beliefs, interests and commitment, and aiding strategic redefinition. They could have a wider influence through a ‘community of interactive professionals’. The critical events studied are marked by constructivist learning theory and relationships that generate distinct forms of communitas. They go through fairly well‐defined stages from initial conceptualisation to final celebration, with a rhythm of learning between structure and freedom developing. The conditions favourable to the occurrence of critical events include legitimation within the curriculum structure, a facilitative school ethos and, above all, a critical agent.
100 citations
TL;DR: The authors compare Bourdieu's notion of habitus with Bernstein's concept of code in an attempt to show how the apparent similarities mask more deeply seated differences in the way the concepts are conceived and used.
Abstract: This paper compares Bourdieu's notion of habitus with Bernstein's concept of code in an attempt to show how the apparent similarities mask more deeply seated differences in the way the concepts are conceived and used. We argue that Bernstein is following an essentially structuralist agenda of the kind that Bourdieu has set himself against. To this end, Bourdieu seeks to overcome the rigidities of ‘rules’ (which lie at the heart of the idea of Bernstein's code), with the more flexible notion of ‘strategy’ which incorporates the idea that structure and agency are implicit in each other rather than being dichotomous entities.
97 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that interview accounts are as mundane and pragmatic as any other kind of self-talk, and that people use identity for practical ends to make sense of their conduct, to establish allegiances, to justify moral positions and defend educational ideals.
Abstract: The paper considers the status of autobiographical interview data in life history and biographical research. Interviews tend to be treated, it is suggested, as ‘sacred’ texts‐‐as contemplative and authoritative versions that are as free as possible from the biasses and desires that ordinarily animate (and ‘contaminate') personal stories and anecdotes. It is argued here that, on the contrary, interview accounts are as mundane and pragmatic as any other kind of self‐talk. People use identity for practical ends‐‐to make sense of their conduct, to establish allegiances, to justify moral positions and defend educational ideals. The paper ends by examining a fragment from an interview. Using concepts from discourse and conversation analysis it shows how a teacher, Karen, constructs a particular professional identity and thus engages in an act of mundane autobiography.
54 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss girls' ways for gaining influence and control in school, taking as a point of departure the prominent position of boys in the classroom as demonstrated in previous research.
Abstract: Taking as a point of departure the prominent position of boys in the classroom as demonstrated in previous research, this paper discusses girls’ ways for gaining influence and control in school. Dr...
48 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that the pedagogic device of technocratic masculinity is socially constructed to relay power/knowledge relations in the classroom and that a group of male students manage to gain a position of power because they select, sequence, organise and transmit technological knowledge forms.
Abstract: In this paper concepts from Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse are used to analyse student communication in the computer setting of the classroom. The perceptions of the classroom teacher and year fwe students, four girls and seven boys, about social relations in the classroom are the focus of analysis. It is argued that the pedagogic device of technocratic masculinity is socially constructed to relay power/knowledge relations. In the case study a group of male students manage to gain a position of power because they select, sequence, organise and transmit technological knowledge forms. The boys’ control over power/knowledge relations in the computer setting is strengthened by the support of the classroom teacher, who acknowledges the boys’ claim to computer expertise. Through the dual actions of a group of boys and the classroom teacher, a fiction about computer knowledge and competency is socially constructed in the classroom. Within the fiction of the technological patriarchy regulating classroo...
34 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored how the Foucaultian concept of power/knowledge is central to an understanding of the production of individuality through the use of dividing practices in schools, including the examination and psychological testing procedures which, as technologies of modem power, combine hierarchical observation and normalising judgement in the process of individuation.
Abstract: This paper explores how the Foucaultian concept of power/knowledge is central to an understanding of the production of individuality through the use of dividing practices in schools. Dividing practices include the examination and psychological testing procedures which, as technologies of modem power, combine hierarchical observation and normalising judgement in the process of individuation. An analysis of the discourse of two dividing practices used extensively in schools in Queensland, Australia provides a genealogy of the exercise of disciplinary power in schooling in the cause of governance.
34 citations
TL;DR: The Demise of Sociology of Education in Britain this article, a book about the history of education in the UK, was published in 1993, with the title "Demise of sociology of education".
Abstract: (1993). The Demise of Sociology of Education in Britain? British Journal of Sociology of Education: Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 105-112.
TL;DR: The difficulties in conceptualizing and presenting research, in particular doctoral work in education, in the current climate of intellectual theorising, is discussed in this article, where it is argued that many researchers experience a phenomenon described in the paper as "post-modernist tension" when trying to write in an atmosphere of theoretical and methodological uncertainty.
Abstract: This paper outlines the difficulties in conceptualising and presenting research, in particular doctoral work in education, in the current climate of intellectual theorising. It argues that many researchers experience a phenomenon described in the paper as ‘post‐modernist tension’ when trying to write in an atmosphere of theoretical and methodological uncertainty. The author elaborates the ‘symptoms’ of post‐modernist tension, and makes a critique of some elements of contemporary social theorising. Nevertheless, the author acknowledges the usefulness of contemporary social theory in challenging traditional research, despite its density and inaccessibility to many researchers
TL;DR: The authors applied concepts drawn from contestation theory to data from two Australian women's learning centres, and found that much of this informal learning is generated by conflict between people within the centres.
Abstract: Adult education research has tended to concentrate on the pragmatics of facilitating learning and developing educational programmes in institutionalised settings. Critical, contextual analysis of adult learning, and studies of informal learning, are both relatively neglected in the adult education literature. Applying concepts drawn from contestation theory to data from two Australian women's learning centres, this paper suggests that, while women gain considerable knowledge from adult education courses conducted in community centres, the informal, incidental or embedded learning that takes place as women participate in these centres is also very significant. This experiential learning enables women to make sense of and act on their environment, and to come to understand themselves as knowledge‐creating, acting being. It appears that much of this informal learning is generated by conflict between people within the centres.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the emerging consensus around post-compulsory education and training and argue the notion of settlement needs to be developed to incorporate concepts of race and gender.
Abstract: The paper explores the emerging consensus around post‐compulsory education and training. It argues the notion of settlement needs to be developed to incorporate concepts of race and gender. It suggests a settlement is developing amongst the major political parties and other constituents who have a stake in post‐compulsory education and training. These constituents share a common analysis of the problem facing education and training. Whilst these different groups have varying strategies to address the problem these are held under the sway of a capitalist logic. Post‐Fordist arguments celebrate the progressive possibilities that inhere in a high skill, high trust economy; however, such optimism is easily co‐opted and colonised by capitalist interests.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the possibilities of postmodern research practice for women in the field of education, and discuss the role of women in postmodernism in women's empowerment.
Abstract: (1993). Feminism and the Possibilities of a Postmodern Research Practice. British Journal of Sociology of Education: Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 327-321.
TL;DR: This paper explored the relationship between the understanding of gender equity and gender issues in education held by academic staff in an institute of higher education, and their views on the importance of incorporating gender into the curriculum.
Abstract: This paper explores some of the relationships between the understanding of gender equity and gender issues in education held by academic staff in an institute of higher education, and their views on the importance of incorporating gender into the curriculum. The paper discusses findings pertaining to how academics approach gender issues in their teaching in their relationships with students and with other members of staff. In so doing the question is raised—what messages are trainee teachers receiving about gender issues? The findings also discuss some of the pedagogical implications arising from the absence of theoretical perspectives or orientations in relation to gender in preservice teacher education.
TL;DR: The authors traces the problems from early studies of youth culture through to more recent school ethnographies and concludes by stressing the relevance of critical concepts like class and culture within contemporary debates emerging from the ‘new’ educational settlement.
Abstract: The ethnographies of youth culture and schooling produced by the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies and its followers had a major impact on educational sociology during the late 1970s and 1980s. Despite this invaluable contribution, important theoretical and methodological problems emerged in their treatment of class and culture. In particular, the untheorised presence of the ‘new middle class’ and a confusing notion of ‘dominant culture’, weakened the coherence of their analyses. This article traces these problems from the early studies of youth culture through to more recent school ethnographies. It concludes by stressing the relevance of critical concepts like class and culture within contemporary debates emerging from the ‘new’ educational settlement
TL;DR: Theories of organisation actually become ideologies, legitimisations for certain forms of organisation as mentioned in this paper, and the limits that they impose upon the conception of organisations actually close down the possibility of considering alternative forms of organization.
Abstract: Theories of organisation actually become ideologies, legitimisations for certain forms of organisation. They deploy arguments in terms of rationality and efficiency to provide control. The limits that they impose upon the conception of organisations actually close down the possibility of considering alternative forms of organisation. This is nowhere more clearly evident than in the current application of management theories to schools. Such theories marginalise empirical studies of school practice and dismiss the folk‐knowledge’ of teachers as irrelevant. They are as significant for what they exclude as for what they include (Ball, 1987, p. 5).
TL;DR: The origins of Roman Catholic voluntary-aided schools are examined in this paper, in order to explore how the British state has dealt with its largest labour migrant group: the Irish.
Abstract: The origins of Roman Catholic voluntary‐aided schools are examined in order to explore how the British state has dealt with its largest labour migrant group: the Irish. The argument developed is that ethnic minority issues, in particular those of integration and segregation, were at the heart of the institutionalisation of religious schools as part of the state education system in Britain. The divisions of 19th century British society embodied in religion, class, and national identity were expressed as anti‐Catholicism and anti‐Irishness. In Liverpool between 1835‐41 an educational experiment took place to introduce the ‘Irish System’ to the corporation schools in the city. The defeat of this experiment by an Tory/Anglican alliance which powerfully linked hostility to Catholicism with the ‘Irish Question’ ended prospects for a national, interdenominational system of education. The resulting compromise ensured that the children of Irish Catholics were segregated and differentiated from the rest of the work...
TL;DR: The authors considers the view that technology as a reconstituted subject in the National Curriculum in England and Wales functions to a large extent as a means of naturalising evolving work practices and specific worker awarenesses required within the technological production process.
Abstract: Technology is changing not only our material reality, but also our social roles and power positions within the social structure. Whilst its increasingly widespread applications in industry, on the one hand, facilitate production processes they also contribute to the marginalisation and displacement of particular groups of people within the labour force (Sivanandan, 1989; Pollert, 1988). Thus, technology can “embody specific forms of power and authority” (Winner, 1986, p. 19). This article considers the view that Technology as a reconstituted subject in the National Curriculum in England and Wales functions to a large extent as a means of naturalising evolving work practices and specific worker awarenesses required within the technological production process. It also serves to legitimate real and symbolic differences created between the new ‘technical’ knowledge elites and the functionaries within the production process. The accommodation in the technology curriculum of new structural changes occurring wit...
TL;DR: The authors discuss evidence suggesting that negotiations between these professionals may focus upon teachers' attempts to define the nature of their professional activity as "skilful" and one consequence of this may be the deskilling of outside professional "experts".
Abstract: This article reports our recent ESRC funded research on the identification of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties under the procedures of the 1981 Education Act. It is argued that the concepts of ‘deskilling’ and ‘proletarianisation’ provide a useful framework of analysis when examining the role of teachers and other professionals involved in the assessment process. However, we discuss evidence suggesting that negotiations between these professionals may focus upon teachers’ attempts to define the nature of their professional activity as ‘skilful’. One consequence of this may be the deskilling of outside professional ‘experts’.
TL;DR: This article examined the structural causes of the competition in the Japanese education system and found that the structure of the labour market has a strong influence on competition in Japanese education, especially in the school system.
Abstract: The serious problem in Japanese education today is the excess of competition. Although that helps the high standard of Japanese education, it also brings about many difficulties for young people. The competition in the school system is, in general, closely related to the competition in society as a whole, especially in the labour market. The structure of the labour market has a strong influence on competition in the school. For example, the British segmented labour market divides the competition by occupation, and it helps the diversified structure of post‐compulsory education/training. Meanwhile, in the Japanese labour market, which is characterised by Japanese‐style employment, the competition is little divided by occupation, and this helps the unitary structure of competition in the school. Comparing Japan and Britain, this paper will examine the structural causes of the competition in the school system.
TL;DR: In this article, an alternative view of the purpose of inter-racial contact is proposed such that the value of contact be judged in terms of whether it helps diminish the tendency to indulge in unsupported generalisations.
Abstract: This paper is centrally concerned with criticism of inter‐racial contact as a means of improving race relations. It aims, amongst other things, to highlight the damaging implications of the criticism on practices hitherto thought useful in combating racial prejudice. The main focus of the paper is the charge that a reduction in prejudice towards individual members of a group does not transfer to the group as a whole. It is argued that whilst there is much evidence to support this charge, the acquisition of positive attitudes towards an entire racial or ethnic group is not an aim that educationalists should seek to realise. In the light of this objection, an alternative view of the purpose of inter‐racial contact is proposed such that the value of contact be judged in terms of whether it helps diminish the tendency to indulge in unsupported generalisations. To promote this goal it is urged that wherever practicable, inter‐racial contact, under specified conditions, should form part of a programme that emph...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used data obtained from research into the setting up of representative committees in state schools in Victoria, Australia, and found that temporal factors were a major consideration in the minds of teachers.
Abstract: This paper details data obtained from research into the setting up of representative committees in state schools in Victoria, Australia. The aim of the research was focused on how successfully these new administrative structures were operating. However, during the conduct of the research project and when analysing the data later, it became obvious that temporal factors were a major consideration in the minds of the great majority of teachers. The research suggests that there may be inherent contradictions in trying to impose the time/space administrative structure of a representative committee system on top of the traditional, time‐tabled, clock‐regulated structuring of teachers work.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Sultana et al. as discussed by the authors present a historical and critical perspective on vocational schooling in Malta, focusing on education and national development, and propose a framework for the evaluation of educational institutions.
Abstract: Les AA. resument et analysent le livre de R.G. Sultana « Education and national development : historical and critical perspectives on vocational schooling in Malta ». La premiere partie de l'ouvrage est un recapitulatif historique exhaustif des origines et de la poursuite de l'enseignement professionnel a Malte sur les deux derniers siecles. La seconde partie est davantage critique : a partir de donnees de recherche sur les ecoles de commerce a Malte, l'auteur etudie si les objectifs economiques, educatifs et ideologiques de l'enseignement professionnel peuvent etre atteints.
TL;DR: The authors examine aspects of Honejford's discourse in its own terms, including his notion of racism, his concern with tolerance and coherence, and his account of what he refers to as the human character.
Abstract: The paper begins with a brief reference of some of the inaccuracies in accounts of the so called ‘Honeyford affair’. The main purpose of the paper, however, is not to compare differing accounts, but rather to examine aspects of Honejford's discourse in its own terms. These aspects include his notion of ‘racism’, his concern with ‘tolerance and coherence’ and his account of what he refers to as ‘the human character’.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the redefinition of special education over the last decade, in both mainstream and special schools, drawing on other sociological analyses of curriculum redefinition and realisation and conclude that the increasing convergence of policy and curriculum frameworks for both special and mainstream education requires an integrated approach to future research and analysis.
Abstract: Special education has been somewhat neglected in the sociological study of curriculum change, despite the value of sociological perspectives on policy and provision for special educational needs. This article considers the redefinition of special education over the last decade, in both mainstream and special schools, drawing on other sociological analyses of curriculum redefinition and realisation. Particular attention is given to the professional interests involved and the contexts within which change has taken place. The article concludes with a review of the implications of recent legislation for the redefinition of special education. It is suggested that the increasing convergence of policy and curriculum frameworks for both special and mainstream education requires an integrated approach to future research and analysis.
TL;DR: In this article, parents and educational politics are discussed in British Journal of Sociology of Education: Vol. 14, No. 4, No 4, pp. 439-444.
Abstract: (1993). Parents and Educational Politics. British Journal of Sociology of Education: Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 439-444.