Showing papers in "International Studies in Sociology of Education in 2002"
TL;DR: Carrington et al. as discussed by the authors explored the findings of a national survey of student primary teachers towards gender roles and schooling and found that the views of the students indicated accordance with the idea that primary schools are feminised and feminising environments.
Abstract: The move in the United Kingdom to recruit more men into primary teaching is to tackle boys under-achievement. One explanation that has been offered as to why boys' are under-achieving is the 'feminisation of primary schooling'. This article begins by exploring the findings of a national survey of student primary teachers towards gender roles and schooling. The views of the students indicated accordance with the idea that primary schools are feminised and feminising environments. The discussion here critiques these notions and argues that current educational policy is not moving forward in a direction that will actively challenge conventional stereotyping. Rather, the move is towards one where notions of masculinity and femininity will be reinforced through a 're-masculinisation' of primary schooling.[1] The research drawn upon in this article was undertaken collaboratively with Bruce Carrington and Ian Hall (University of Newcastle), and Becky Francis (University of North London). I would like to record m...
194 citations
TL;DR: For the last two decades the World Bank (WB) has increased its economic and ideological influence in setting the educational policy agenda of the so-called less developed countries (LDC).
Abstract: For the last two decades the World Bank (WB) has increased its economic and ideological influence in setting the educational policy agenda of the so-called less developed countries (LDC). The economic crisis of two poor regions of the world in the 1980s (Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America), the reduction of bilateral forms of educational aid, and the economic and political protagonism of the WB through Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), and loan conditionality have been important factors in locating the WB as a real subject of the educational globalization process. Since the 1990s, however, the WB hegemony in the economic, social and educational policies for development has been challenged by the evident failure of SAPS as a mechanism for achieving economic growth and the involvement of LDC in the global economy. In the educational field, direct and indirect effects of WB policies have had a negative impact on a number of indicators, while hitting especially the poorest sectors of society. Some au...
87 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the ways in which a set of policies has had what seem to be extensive and long lasting effects precisely because these policies are coherently linked to larger dynamics of social transformation and to a coherent strategy that aims to change the mechanisms of the state and the rules of participation in the formation of state policies.
Abstract: In this article, the authors describe the ways in which a set of policies has had what seem to be extensive and long lasting effects precisely because these policies are coherently linked to larger dynamics of social transformation and to a coherent strategy that aims to change the mechanisms of the state and the rules of participation in the formation of state policies. They describe and analyze the policies of the 'Popular Administration' in Porto Alegre, Brasil but, more specifically, they focus on the 'Citizen School' and on proposals that are explicitly designed to radically change both the municipal schools and the relationship between communities, the state, and education. This set of polices and the accompanying processes of implementation are constitutive parts of a clear and explicit project aimed at constructing not only a better school for the excluded, but also a larger project of radical and thick democracy. The reforms being built in Porto Alegre are still in formation, but the authors argu...
70 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored why middle-aged individuals in Spokane, Washington, USA, left successful careers and entered the field of education and revealed their perceptions of the teaching field.
Abstract: This article explores why middle-aged individuals in Spokane, Washington, USA, left successful careers and entered the field of education and reveals their perceptions of the field of teaching. After a number of years in occupations that were successful and well-respected and offered considerably more salary, these mid-life career transitioners started a new career that they considered a 'vocation.' Three separate interviews each were conducted with seven second-career teachers and the themes and perceptions of these individuals which emerged are presented. The themes and perceptions discussed in this article are: life-changing events which prompted the participants to change careers; the differences and similarities noted between past careers and teaching; the challenges faced by the second-career teachers (students and administrators); and the common personal mission of all participants. The article also offers insights on how administrators can help these second-career teachers fit into the field of ed...
42 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the structure and process of this identity passage and explored how the extreme emotions involved are socially structured. And they found that teachers undergo an identity passage during stress, during which a new personal identity is constructed, mostly through relocating and modifying the teacher role, or through re-routeing out of teaching altogether.
Abstract: During stress, teachers undergo an identity passage. In the first phase, many cherished aspects of the self are attacked and become separated from the personal identity until the individual becomes completely disorientated. During transition, rock bottom is reached, but also the beginnings of redemption appear through 'cocooning' and the influence of significant others. Self-renewal follows during which, for some, a new personal identity is constructed, mostly through relocating and modifying the teacher role, or through re-routeing out of teaching altogether. Using evidence derived from a series of detailed, longitudinal interviews with a group of 21 secondary school teachers, all clinically diagnosed as suffering from stress, the authors examine the structure and process of this identity passage and explore how the extreme emotions involved are socially structured.
41 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the way in which specific formations of the globalisation thesis have been used to reform the work of the teacher in the UK and explore ways of deconstructing some of the'myths' of globalisation.
Abstract: This article considers the way in which economic constructions of globalisation have dominated aspects of education policy in the United Kingdom (UK). Although these dominant discourses have been challenged and 'discredited' (Gewirtz, 2001), nevertheless, they continue to influence policy formation. One effect of these over-deterministic constructions of globalisation has been to present policy outcomes as inevitable and irresistible. Another outcome has been to displace and silence any subversions or resistances to the impact of globalisation. The first part of this article examines the way in which specific formations of the globalisation thesis have been used to reform the work of the teacher in the UK. The article then explores ways of deconstructing some of the 'myths' of globalisation. Finally, the article briefly considers some of the ways in which globalising 'policies pose problems to their subjects' (Ball, 1997, p. 265).
35 citations
TL;DR: This article examined how broader international transitions and changes in teacher education are manifested locally, as lived experience, in female teacher educators' working lives using cross-national data from Britain and Canada, and illustrated how broad international changes are redefining - particularly through the social regulation of gender conflicts in the workplace - the terms and conditions upon which women are expected to function as 'workers' in the changing contexts of teacher education.
Abstract: This article examines how broader international transitions and changes in teacher education are manifested locally, as lived experience, in female teacher educators' working lives .Using cross-national data from Britain and Canada, it illustrates how broad international changes are redefining - particularly through the social regulation of gender conflicts in the workplace - the terms and conditions upon which women are expected to function as 'workers' in the changing contexts of teacher education. Particular attention is paid to intensified research cultures, assessments of professionalism and fiscal restraints. Teacher education is seen as a key example where tensions surrounding female workers are often complex and contradictory, and where reforms have been implemented cross-nationally in a profession which maintains very specific historical and local patterns of work .Key theoretical questions include: how might women's accounts of work in changing teacher education contexts reveal something about t...
35 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the relationship between discourses of food refusal/slenderness and those of 'obesity'/'overweight' and examined their effect on curricular concerned with the education of the 'body' in schools.
Abstract: This article centres attention on the rising tide of eating disorders, essentially anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, afflicting young people, particularly young women globally, it seems. It explores the relationships between discourses of food refusal/slenderness and those of 'obesity'/'overweight' and examines their effect on curricular concerned with the education of the 'body' in schools First, the analysis points to the limits of reducing eating disorders to a problem of 'body image' or to what some have called the 'cult of slenderness' affecting, and exported from, 'Western cultures'. Secondly, it interrogates the ways in which 'obesity' and 'overweight' are socially constructed and suggests that these discursive corollaries to the cult of slenderness, when expressed in the curricular of schools, may be seriously implicated in the production of disordered eating and ill health. Finally, it is suggested that a shift in the focus of analysis from gender to issues of power and control may be a neces...
33 citations
TL;DR: In a world climate which is increasingly closing down as far as alternative political and social options are concerned, Cyprus as a small semi-occupied country with great European aspirations is facing a number of very serious dilemmas and teachers are faced with an extremely difficult task as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In a world climate which is increasingly closing down as far as alternative political and social options are concerned, Cyprus as a small semi-occupied country with great European aspirations is facing a number of very serious dilemmas and teachers are faced with an extremely difficult task. The citizens they are preparing have to be passionate enough to claim a Greek-Cypriot identity; have to be tolerant and accommodating enough to live and work with Turkish-Cypriots in a re-united country, which is the main political goal of the Republic of Cyprus; have to be open-minded enough to look to a European future; and have to be ready and able to function in a globalized context. How can such a citizen be 'formulated' when there appear to be immense contradictions between what is required for each goal? What are the priorities and how are they defined? This article will attempt to address these complex issues and arrive at some conclusions regarding teacher education for a very complex new world
33 citations
TL;DR: The authors used concepts from Bernstein's theory of curriculum and pedagogic practice to understand the micro-processes of schooling and locate and understand the type of pedagogy proposed for Palestinian schools by the Integrated Learning Project (ILP) whose introduction and trajectory in the wider social context is located, adopting Bernstein's model of cultural reproduction.
Abstract: This article uses concepts from Bernstein's theory of curriculum and pedagogic practice (1971, 1977, 1990, 1996) in order to understand the micro-processes of schooling and, in particular, to locate and understand the type of pedagogy proposed for Palestinian schools by the Integrated Learning Project (ILP) whose introduction and trajectory in the wider social context is located, adopting Bernstein's model of cultural reproduction (1990). Three means were employed for data collection: non-participant classroom observation; informal and semi-structured interviews; and interrogation of secondary sources, relying heavily on official and school documents. A conversational modality of interview with key persons responsible for planning, training and monitoring of the ILP was also used in order to provide contextual data about policy processes. What was revealed suggested that even though there were some changes in particular areas in school practice, it does not seem that they can be regarded as amounting a ch...
26 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the knowledge and global awareness of American upper-level undergraduate university students in a large teacher education program and found a high degree of inattention, insularity, and lack of awareness among the prospective teachers.
Abstract: This study examines the geopolitical knowledge and global awareness of American upper-level undergraduate university students in a large teacher education program. The context for the study involves the educational implications to which scholars and policy-makers increasingly call attention. Many of the perceived implications of globalization suggest a challenging and significant role for teachers in a time of change. On measures of geopolitical knowledge, awareness of prominent international leaders and organizations, and salient demographic characteristics of major countries this exploratory survey suggests a high degree of inattention, insularity, and lack of awareness among the prospective teachers. There is little evidence of widely shared geopolitical referents that would serve as the basis of informed discussion or teaching about the meaning and ramifications of the diverse tendencies of globalization.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the notion of globalisation by reference to several of its proponents and critics and argue that citizenship education that has a global dimension will necessarily be concerned with economic, social and political inequalities between citizens both within and between nation states.
Abstract: This article discusses the notion of globalisation by reference to several of its proponents and critics. Issues of citizenship education in an era of global electronic communications are examined and the author argues that citizenship education that has a global dimension will necessarily be concerned with economic, social and political inequalities between citizens both within and between nation states. Global divisions involve fundamental inequalities of resources, rights to residence and much else. Since globalisation invokes differing responses from citizens around the world and within nation states it is likely that global citizenship education will have varied effects.
TL;DR: This paper examined the extent to which the introduction of educational markets gave rise to changes in the social composition of secondary schools in England and Wales, and found that pupils with particular socio-economic characteristics tend to cluster in particular schools (termed segregation).
Abstract: This article contains a summary of the findings for a recently completed ESRC-funded project (R000238031). The purpose of the project was to examine the extent to which the introduction of educational markets gave rise to changes in the social composition of secondary schools in England and Wales. Using official statistics for this purpose, from the introduction of the Education Reform Act 1988 (ERA88) onwards, we measured changes over time in the tendency for pupils with particular socio-economic characteristics to cluster in particular schools (termed segregation). We considered a variety of reasons for the changes and regional differences in segregation that we encountered, and also began to relate these to changes in school output figures (i.e. public examination results). The project therefore moved from description and measurement to exploration and explanation. It also raised unforeseen methodological and research-capacity issues.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide insights into how a small group of academic staff, working within a college of higher education, experience their academic employment, focusing particularly upon how they respond to their perceptions of their work and how they are managed.
Abstract: This article provides some insights into how a small group of academic staff, working within a college of higher education, experience their academic employment. It focuses particularly upon how they respond to their perceptions of their work and how they are managed, at a time when psychological contracts are threatened as a result of managerial attempts to intensify work and reduce professional autonomy. Four principal responses - exit, reinterpretation of the effort-reward bargain, self-development and conformity - are discussed. The conclusion considers implications for the management of the academic employment relationship.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined three aspects of these developments: the manner in which the policy was initially established, the current situation regarding its development and implementation, and drawing upon the research they are undertaking in schools, they consider what the process of Threshold Assessmenthas felt like for various actors within the school context.
Abstract: Drawing on the author's current ESRC-funded research (The Impact of Performance Threshold Assessment on Teachers' Work), this article focuses on a current policy initiative in England, namely, the establishment of a performance management regime in schools and, in particular the Threshold Assessment. They examine three aspects of these developments. First, the manner in which the policy was initially established and the current situation regarding its development and implementation. Next, drawing upon the research they are undertaking in schools, they consider what the process of Threshold Assessmenthas felt like for various actors within the school context. Finally, they place this particular initiative within a global setting by drawing upon interviews recently undertaken in Australia and connecting these discussions to more general debates around 'globalisation'.We have progressively established a kind of 'Macworld' capitalism, where product choices whether for hamburgers or computers are increasingly ...
TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that the primary outcome of the World Bank loan projects is the redistribution of the resources of the so-called "recipient countries" to the transnational capitalist class.
Abstract: This article looks at globalisation as a process of replacement of the global political order of nation states with the global economic order of transnational corporations. It is argued that this process carries far-reaching consequences, in which a growing number of spheres, including education, are subjected to the interests of the global economic order. Under the disguise of global economic development activities the new world system strives towards maximising the short-term profits of the transnational capitalist class. Following Sklair's global systems theory, this article looks at the World Bank as a transnational organisation. Based on recent World Bank higher education reform loan projects in Eastern Europe, it is argued that the primary outcome of the World Bank loan projects is the redistribution of the resources of the so-called 'recipient countries' to the transnational capitalist class.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore some of the changes in governance which are taking place at global, national and local levels and which directly affect the work of professionals located in both policy and research communities.
Abstract: This article is concerned with exploring some of the changes in governance which are taking place at global, national and local levels and which directly affect the work of professionals located in both policy and research communities These changes are explored at the level of institutional relationships and premised on the view that groups and individuals are positioned differently in relation to policy and research Professionals bring with them their own personal values and world views of education which exist alongside those of the institution in which they carry out their professional activities, and both individual and institution are located within wider political frameworks and structures The article focuses on one agenda which is operating within the modernising government, that of 'joined-up policy' Drawing on my experiences as a researcher working within the policy community, I examine the ways in which this particular agenda is working and what it means in practice for those working in poli
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the dynamic of the relationship between the global and the local in education policy through a case study of recent policy initiatives in the small island state of Malta.
Abstract: This article examines the dynamic of the relationship between the global and the local in education policy through a case study of recent policy initiatives in the small island state of Malta. The main initiative has been the setting up of a Foundation for Educational Services, which is now competing with services previously offered by the state Division of Education. It is argued that whilst the global, in this case the transnational company (TNC) HSBC Bank and the supranational European Union (EU), has particular power and can develop opportunity structures, this power is never closed or complete. The local has the power to enter or exit the global discursive field, including specific practices and structures. When the local interprets its needs to coincide with the global, as with the Foundation for Educational Services, HSBC Malta plc and the EU, then there is evidence that some political, economic or cultural 'opportunism' leads to the development of 'glocal' policy making. In this process, new and p...
TL;DR: This article made social science matter: why social inquiry fails and how social inquiry can succeed again, and why social science can be made to matter again. But they did not discuss the role of social inquiry in the success of social science.
Abstract: Making Social Science Matter: why social inquiry fails and how it can succeed again BENT FLYVBJERG, 2001 (trans. Steven Sampson) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 204 pp., ISBN 0 521 77568 X, £13.95