DOI•
Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs
01 Dec 2011-Iss: 32, pp 5-8
About: The article was published on 2011-12-01 and is currently open access. It has received 1252 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Working class.
Citations
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12 Sep 2019
TL;DR: In Ireland Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS): The Action Plan for Educational Inclusion was launched in May 2005 and remains the Department of Education and Skills (DES) policy instrument to combat educational disadvantage.
Abstract: In Ireland Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS): The Action Plan for Educational Inclusion was launched in May 2005 and remains the Department of Education and Skills (DES) policy instrument to combat educational disadvantage. The action plan focuses on prioritising the educational needs of working class children from disadvantaged communities. Qualitative studies into the DEIS initiative at primary school level which prioritise pupil voice are disappointingly limited. This thesis puts forward the argument that in the interest of a social justice perspective and inclusive practices it is essential that working class voices and experiences of those who receive the DEIS programme ought to be at the forefront of any review of the policy. Hence, this thesis draws from a narrative inquiry study of a diverse group of 41 pupils (aged 11 and 12) from three DEIS Urban Band 1 primary schools in a provincial city in Ireland. The pupils engaged in one on one interviews, pair interviews and created drawings to portray their school experience. The study explores how pupils navigate school whilst trying to keep a sense of self and the implications of this on their identity, wellbeing and engagement. The study highlights the power of the school as the dominant culture in producing acts of symbolic violence and what I refer to as punished habitus that inculcate feelings of inferiority and self-doubt in working class pupils. Pupils proffered the notion that to be successful in school the only viable option was to conform to the middle class norms and behaviours. This enforced compliance to the institutional habitus led to an anxiety of self-management as pupils indicated altering their identities to allow for habitus-field congruency. This led to a constant self-monitoring of behaviours. I introduce the concept of resigned habitus to explore this abandonment of their originary habitus at the school gate. This study challenges the deficit model of working class culture and presents a more nuanced understanding of how class is experienced and internalized in DEIS primary schools, and by doing so, shines a light on the affective dimension of schooling.
11 citations
Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."
...Belonging to the working class has long been associated with negative educational outcomes (Willis 1977)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the factors influencing students' decisions to enter the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) program and found that the role of school organisation in student's learning careers and educational decisions was highlighted.
Abstract: Across many countries, young people are differentiated into academic and vocational tracks, a pattern that is closely related to their social class background. The Irish secondary system has been largely undifferentiated, but the introduction of a pre-vocational programme, the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA), has brought an element of tracking into upper secondary education. This article explores whether allocation into the LCA track reflects processes similar to those highlighted in international research. It goes further than these studies by explicitly recognising the role of school organisation in influencing student's learning careers and educational decisions. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the determinants of track placement in the Republic of Ireland. Using in-depth qualitative case study interviews with students from Irish post-primary schools, this paper examines the factors influencing students' decisions to enter the LCA programme. This paper explores the extent to which individual...
11 citations
Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."
...Social reproduction theory views tracking as an institutionalised and unjust form of discrimination which excludes children from working-class backgrounds from an important means of social mobility (Bowles and Gintis 1976; Willis 1977)....
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...The programme allowed them to distance themselves from the dominant academic school culture and allow them to develop counter-culture which favoured labour market participation over academic attainment (Willis 1977)....
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...He acknowledges, however, that there were other influences, which centred around preserving his peer group and working-class background, impacting on his decision (Willis 1977)....
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06 Oct 2015
TL;DR: This article found that the issue of underachievement is systemic within the mainstream educational curriculum with a gap existing between what young people think they need and what policy makers perceive to be required.
Abstract: This research arose from my professional concern, as a teacher, in boys’ underachievement in secondary schools, an issue that has occupied a central position in educational debate in recent years. My study focused on how the 14-19 curriculum changes, introduced by the last Labour Government, might have some enduring relevance to the debate on boys and achievement. The first two research questions considered perspectives on achievement and interventions aiming to benefit boys while the final question related to experiences of the 14-19 curriculum. Review of the literature led me to employ a critical theoretical framework
The methodology used was qualitative in nature in which I adopted a post-modern interpretivist perspective. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with young people and with their teachers in a number of English schools and colleges with some accompanying policy document review. Semiotic analysis was also employed to examine the use and implications of language and how this can alter perspectives of all those involved in education. Analysis of the data related to the key categories underpinning the research questions and using a methodology informed by grounded theory. Key issues arising related to the concepts of ‘choice’, ‘practicality’ and ‘being treated as adults’.
In conducting the research I was most interested in finding out whether and how policy intentions can translate into practical outcomes and how the needs and voices of young people can be articulated for their benefit and for that of the wider society. My findings suggest that the issue of underachievement is systemic within the mainstream educational curriculum with a gap existing between what young people think they need and what policy makers perceive to be required. I propose that there is need for renewed attention specific to learners aged 14-16 which will enable the development of skills and enhance life choices so that achievement is better understood, inclusive and accessible.
11 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Reyes and Stanic's model can still be of use within mathematics education, its users must consider its underexplored assumptions by answering why teach mathematics, questioning the delineation of difference, and allowing for agency as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Calls for mathematics for all and the discourse of equity have become normative in the field of mathematics education. The 1988 publication of Reyes and Stanic’s Race, Sex, Socioeconomic Status, and Mathematicscould serve as a marker for this new emphasis. This essay reconsiders their model to orient research; it is the response of the silenced interviewer in conversation with the model’s authors. It is argued that the enforced passivity of mathematics educators has contributed to the twenty years of persistent iniquities in mathematics classrooms. While the model can still be of use within mathematics education, its users must consider its underexplored assumptions by answering why teach mathematics, questioning the demarcation of difference, and allowing for agency. Bringing equitable notions of these assumptions makes possible an approach to public education in which a mathematics education would emerge.
11 citations
Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."
...Willis (1977) observed this in the lads of his study, through their resistance (Laurie and George’s agency) they reinscribed the dominance of the social system....
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...George read a passage of the paper that refers to Paul Willis’ (1977) classic work Learning to Labour....
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...Paul Ernest (2000) troubles many of these same assumptions our field leaves underexplored....
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...Paul Bové (1990) turns us toward analyzing the discourse of the setting....
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...It is Paulo Freire’s (2002/1970) praxis that reminds me that knowledge without reflection and action is meaningless.3 But given the decades of stagnation, I question whether we as a field Brian R. Lawler welcomes discussion at blaw@charter.net....
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Dissertation•
01 Feb 2018
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an ethnographic account of the lives of a handful of Rwandan twelve to fifteen-year-olds over their first two years as students at a Catholic-led, public secondary boarding school on the outskirts of Kigali.
Abstract: This thesis offers an ethnographic account of the lives of a handful of Rwandan twelve to fifteen-year-olds over their first two years as students at a Catholic-led, public secondary boarding school on the outskirts of Kigali. The wider context is Rwanda as both a post-conflict state, in which schooling is thought of as a tool for shaping collective memories and constructing a shared civic identity in the name of ‘reconciliation’; and as a developmental state, in which schooling intends to make young people useful human capital for accomplishing national development goals. The focus of the thesis is on how the young Rwandans in the study (re)interpret and appropriate the discourses they encounter in the school and beyond as they perform their identities and imagine their futures. Told in the students’ own words, with particular attention to the creative production of alternative (non-elite) discourses at grass-roots, the thesis tells a story of anxiety and uncertainty as students struggle to navigate the many ambiguities in their lives and to truly believe the government’s promise of a bright future.
11 citations
References
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01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: The concept of community of practice was not born in the systems theory tradition as discussed by the authors, but it has its roots in attempts to develop accounts of the social nature of human learning inspired by anthropology and social theory.
Abstract: The concept of community of practice was not born in the systems theory tradition. It has its roots in attempts to develop accounts of the social nature of human learning inspired by anthropology and social theory (Lave, 1988; Bourdieu, 1977; Giddens, 1984; Foucault, 1980; Vygotsky, 1978). But the concept of community of practice is well aligned with the perspective of systems traditions. A community of practice itself can be viewed as a simple social system. And a complex social system can be viewed as constituted by interrelated communities of practice. In this essay I first explore the systemic nature of the concept at these two levels. Then I use this foundation to look at the applications of the concept, some of its main critiques, and its potential for developing a social discipline of learning.
1,082 citations
Book•
27 Jun 2011
TL;DR: In this article, the Flatlands of Oakland and the Youth Control Complex are discussed. But the focus is on the role of black youth in the criminal justice system and community institutions.
Abstract: Preface Acknowledgments Part I Hypercriminalization 1 Dreams Deferred: The Patterns of Punishment in Oakland 2 The Flatlands of Oakland and the Youth Control Complex 3 The Labeling Hype: Coming of Age in the Era of Mass Incarceration 4 The Coupling of Criminal Justice and Community Institutions Part II Consequences 5 "Dummy Smart": Misrecognition, Acting Out, and "Going Dumb" 6 Proving Manhood: Masculinity as a Rehabilitative Tool 7 Guilty by Association: Acting White or Acting Lawful? Conclusion: Toward a Youth Support Complex Appendix: Beyond Jungle-Book Tropes Notes References Index About the Author
909 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines the transition to adulthood among 1.5-generation undocumented Latino young adults and finds that for them, the transition from K to adulthood involves exiting the legally protected status of K to...
Abstract: This article examines the transition to adulthood among 1.5-generation undocumented Latino young adults. For them, the transition to adulthood involves exiting the legally protected status of K to ...
663 citations
TL;DR: In this article, student engagement research, policy, and practice must become more nuanced and less formulaic, and the ensuing review is structured accordingly, guided in part by social-ecological analysis and social-cultural theory.
Abstract: Student engagement research, policy, and practice are even more important in today’s race-to-the top policy environment. With a priority goal of postsecondary completion with advanced competence, today’s students must be engaged longer and more deeply. This need is especially salient for students attending schools located in segregated, high-poverty neighborhoods and isolated rural communities. Here, engagement research, policy, and practice must become more nuanced and less formulaic, and the ensuing review is structured accordingly. Guided in part by social-ecological analysis and social-cultural theory, engagement is conceptualized as a dynamic system of social and psychological constructs as well as a synergistic process. This conceptualization invites researchers, policymakers, and school-community leaders to develop improvement models that provide a more expansive, engagement-focused reach into students’ family, peer, and neighborhood ecologies.
528 citations
TL;DR: The Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study (LISA) as discussed by the authors used a mixed-methods approach, combining longitudinal, interdisciplinary, qualitative, and quantitative approaches to document adaptation patterns of 407 recently arrived immigrant youth from Central America, China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico over the course of five years.
Abstract: Background/Context: Newcomer immigrant students are entering schools in the United States in unprecedented numbers. As they enter new school contexts, they face a number of challenges in their adjustment. Previous literature suggested that relationships in school play a particularly crucial role in promoting socially competent behavior in the classroom and in fostering academic engagement and school performance. Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the role of school-based relationships in engagement and achievement in a population of newcomer immigrant students. Research Design: The Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study (LISA) used a mixed-methods approach, combining longitudinal, interdisciplinary, qualitative, and quantitative approaches to document adaptation patterns of 407 recently arrived immigrant youth from Central America, China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico over the course of five years. Based on data from the last year of the study, we examine how the role of relationships mediates newcomers’ challenges with academic engagement and performance. We identify factors that account for patterns of academic engagement and achievement, including country of origin, gender, maternal education, English language proficiency, and school-based relationships. Findings: Multiple regression analyses suggest that supportive school-based relationships strongly contribute to both the academic engagement and the school performance of the par
356 citations