This volume and its companion, The new dynamics of ageing volume 2, provide comprehensive multi-disciplinary overviews of the very latest research on ageing. It reports the outcomes of the most concerted investigation ever undertaken into both the influence shaping the changing nature of ageing and its consequences for individuals and society.This book concentrates on three major themes: active ageing, design for ageing well and the relationship between ageing and socio-economic de...

"Part chronicle, part analysis and part advice manual, Social Scientists Meets the Media combines the thoughts of academics and media people to produce a vivid and valuable series of accounts that will prove of service to all academics seeking a wider audience but wary of the terra incognita they face in finding one" Ellis Cashmore, Staffordshire UniversitySocial Scientists know they are in a dilemma: their work may fall prey to sensationalism, but at the same time they don't want t...

Since its first publication, Action Research: Principles and Practice has become a key text in its field. This new updated edition clearly describes and explains the practices of action research and its underlying values, and introduces important new ideas, including:all professionals should be reflective practitionersthey should produce their personal theories of practice to show how they are holding themselves accountable for their educational influences ...

Do we have a literacy crisis?Fierce debates in the media over how to teach children to read and write have reached new heights in recent years. The intensity of the debates is not surprising as literacy education matters to everyone, but there is collateral damage. Public confidence in literacy teachers has been undermined and many believe we have a literacy crisis in our schools.The Literacy Wars explains the reasons for the often bitter disagreements between the ...

As adults, we are all continually involved in learning, with increasing numbers of us engaged in more formalized forms of learning; that is, in education or training. All those involved in the broad field of adult education and training will come into contact with many specialist ideas or concepts. It is often assumed of students that they already have a general understanding of these concepts, their meanings, applicability and inter-relationships. This is not always the case. This book ex...

At a time when education is considered crucial to a country’s economic success, recent UK governments have insisted their reforms are the only way to make England’s system world class. Yet pupils are tested rather than educated, teachers bullied rather than trusted and parents cast as winners or losers in a gamble for school places.Education under siege considers the English education system as it is and as it might be. In a highly accessible style, Peter Mortimore, an author with ...

This text explores the issue of what role, if any, higher education should play in intial teacher training. The authors argue for the continued involvement of higher education in teacher training and cover such areas as the 1994 Education Act, the role of universities and the schools consortia.

Researching Education from the Inside focuses on research projects that are undertaken by people who already have an attachment to the institutions or social groups on which their investigations are based. They can, therefore, be considered to be ‘insiders’. In some cases their insider positioning is primarily important because it gets them access to the particular people and/or the phenomena that they want to investigate. At other times, however, aspects of their own ‘insidership...

Class Strategies and the Education Market examines the ways in which the middle classes maintain and improve their social advantages in and through education.Drawing on an extensive series of interviews with parents and children, this book identifies key moments of decision making in the construction of the educational trajectories of middle class children. Stephen J. Ball organises his analysis around the key concepts of social closure, social capital, values and principle...

Social workers must develop a sensitive yet informed approach when working with service users from different social and cultural groups. In many aspects of life, including accessing human services, people are marginalised, ignored, stigmatised or discriminated against because of one or more aspects of their identity: age, sexual orientation, faith or belief, gender, race or ethnicity, social class, and disability.This book acts as a guide for students to develop their understanding...

Robert Dingwall and Philip Lewis's renowned compilation of diverse studies—written by internationally recognized theorists and empirical researchers into the sociology of the professions—was groundbreaking when first published in 1983 and has influenced scholars, practitioners, and professionals since. Not limited to one occupation or field, as are most such works, this collection examines across traditional fields the idea and practice of professions and professionals.The 2014 dig...

Stephen Ball’s micro-political theory of school organization is a radical departure from traditional theories. He rejects a prescriptive ‘top down’ approach and directly addresses the interest and concerns of teachers and current problems facing schools. In doing so he raises question about the adequacy and appropriateness of the existing forms of organizational control in schools. Through case studies and interviews with teachers, the book captures the flavour of real conflicts in schools...