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.
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TL;DR: The authors explored the enlarged but by no means unproblematic role of strong states and their provision and regulation of education policy in Asia and provided an overview of the major emphases and research trajectories taken up by education policy.
Abstract: Much of the scholarship around the workings of education policy has focused on the global West and has taken for granted the state’s limited abilities in the control of policies as both text and discourse. Drawing upon policy texts from the Singapore Ministry of Education and ethnographic data collected in a Singapore school, this paper explores the enlarged but by no means unproblematic role of strong states and their provision and regulation of education policy in Asia. The paper begins by providing an overview of the major emphases and research trajectories taken up by the field of education policy. This is followed by an elaborated account of the nature and politics of the strong state in Asia in general and particularly in Singapore. These theoretical and contextual remarks then pave the way for a closer look at how the Singapore state functions as a major mediator and recontextualizing agent of education policy. The discussion foregrounds the enlarged role of the state in prescribing, transl...
51 citations
Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."
...…instrumental discourse of academic achievement, such responses on the part of students are perhaps not without good sense; as Bernstein (1977) and Willis (1977) demonstrated, students often adopt a stance of deferred commitment, even resistance, to a pedagogic code in which they are unable to…...
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the approaches to risk that some teachers adopt when they are involved in facilitating outdoor activities and argued that this had a negative impact on the educational process by taking away opportunities for learning from the children.
Abstract: This article explores the approaches to risk that some teachers adopt when they are involved in facilitating outdoor activities. The research was carried out at a residential outdoor centre as part of a PhD study and a follow-up pilot project. The participants were primary school pupils, their teachers and the centre staff. For the purpose of this article, the term ‘teacher’ is used to refer to both visiting teachers accompanying the school groups and the centre staff. This research was eclectic. It took an ethnographic approach using participant observation and semi-structured interviews to collect a variety of data. Ethnography was considered as the most appropriate for this research because it puts an emphasis on understanding the perceptions and cultures of the people and organisations studied. The findings of the research have shown that, on occasion, teachers take a controlling approach when facilitating outdoor activities in order to manage the perceived risk of being in the outdoors. This tended to result in the disempowerment of the children and put the teachers in a position of power, which had serious implications for the pupils’ learning experience. By giving the children specific instructions, and mainly focusing on maintaining discipline during the activities, teachers do not allow their pupils to workout how to deal with risk. The article argues that this had a negative impact on the educational process by taking away opportunities for learning from the children.
50 citations
Cites methods from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."
...A qualitative approach was adopted, taking the form of an ethnographic study, which was considered to be sensitive to the individual and to the social processes (Davies 1984; Griffin 1985; Humberstone 1986; Willis 1977) in order to allow for an in-depth understanding of the phenomena explored....
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TL;DR: It is contended that boredom and troublemaking among rural youth are not simply age-appropriate forms of self-expression but instead represent manifestations of social position, political economic realities, and assessments of possible futures.
Abstract: We examine the experience of boredom and its relationship to troublemaking and drug use among rural youth in southwestern New Mexico. We draw on qualitative research with area youth to describe what they think about drug use and how they situate it within their social circumstances. We then locate youth drug use within globalized processes affecting this setting, including a local economic environment with limited educational and employment opportunities for youth. Drug use emerges as a common social practice that enables youth to ameliorate boredom, yet only some youth become known as troublemakers. Study findings offer insight into how dominant social institutions—schools and juvenile justice authorities—shape the construction of trouble from the perspectives of youth. We contend that boredom and troublemaking among rural youth are not simply age-appropriate forms of self-expression but instead represent manifestations of social position, political economic realities, and assessments of possible futures.
50 citations
Cites background from "Learning to Labour: How Working Cla..."
...The classic account offered by Willis (1977), for instance, describes the social world of working-class “lads” where excitement (enacted through substance use and law-breaking activities) was seen not only as an effective strategy to engage boredom but also a tactic to articulate class-based values....
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TL;DR: In this article, an ongoing debate between anthropologist Michael Stewart and sociologists Janos Ladanyi and Ivan Szelenyi is discussed, focusing on whether to approach Roma as a predominantly cultural group or economically deprived group.
Abstract: A frequent criticism of the media and the public's approach to Roma minorities is that they are portrayed in homogenising terms. Academics from Romani Studies have sought to highlight the heterogeneity of Roma minorities, describing them as a diaspora forming "a mosaic of small diverse groups" (Liegeois 1986: 49–50). This article questions whether this approach is effective enough to break away from homogenising terms, focusing on an ongoing debate between anthropologist Michael Stewart and sociologists Janos Ladanyi and Ivan Szelenyi. Both parties highlight heterogeneity as a fundamental aspect of Roma people (Stewart 1997; Ladanyi and Szelenyi 2006). Their dispute lies in whether to approach Roma as a predominantly cultural group (Stewart) or economically deprived group (Ladanyi and Szelenyi). Despite their different approaches, I show how both parties can still slip into talk about "the Gypsies" or "the Roma" as "a" different group of people. I argue that in order effectively to move away from homogeni...
50 citations
TL;DR: Andrew Pollard as mentioned in this paper, with Julie Anderson, Mandy Maddock, Sue Swaffield, Jo Warin and Paul Warwick, Continuum, London, 2008, 608 pp., £24.99 (paperback), ISBN 9.7808•2649•3408 This significantly revis...
Abstract: by Andrew Pollard, with Julie Anderson, Mandy Maddock, Sue Swaffield, Jo Warin and Paul Warwick, Continuum, London, 2008, 608 pp., £24.99 (paperback), ISBN 9‐7808‐2649‐3408 This significantly revis...
50 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