This book presents an ethnographic study of the experiences of teenage boys in an Australian high school. It follows a group of thirteen to fifteen year olds over a period of more than two years, and seeks to understand why so many boys say they hate school yet enjoy being with one another in their daily confrontations with the formal school. The study acknowledges the ongoing significance of the "boys' debate" to policy-makers and the media, and therefore to teachers and parents, but move...

Foucault, Power, and Education invites internationally renowned scholar Stephen J. Ball to reflect on the importance and influence of Foucault on his work in educational policy. By focusing on some of the ways Foucault has been placed in relation to educational questions or questions about education, Ball highlights the relationships between Foucault’s concepts and methods, and educational research and analysis. An introductory chapter offers a brief explanation of some of Foucaul...

Is language sexist? Do women and men speak different languages?Gender, Language and Discourse uniquely examines the contribution that psychological research - in particular, discursive psychology - has made to answering these questions. Until now, books on gender and language have tended to be from the sociolinguistic perspective and have focused on one of two issues - sexism in language or gender differences in speech. This book considers both issues and develops the idea ...

In this ground-breaking new work, Dan Goodley makes the case for a novel, distinct, intellectual, and political project – dis/ability studies – an orientation that might encourage us to think again about the phenomena of disability and ability.Drawing on a range of interdisciplinary areas, including sociology, psychology, education, policy and cultural studies, this much needed text takes the most topical and important issues in critical disability theory, and pushes them into new ...

Explaining theory and research in an accessible but thorough manner, Gender and Social Psychology critically evaluates the contribution that psychology has made to the study of gender, examining key issues such a family roles and parenting, inequalities in education, jobs and pay, and the effects of media representation of the sexes.

The theories and analyses of post-structural thinkers such as Michel Foucault can seem a long way from practice in early childhood services. In recent years, however, many early childhood researchers and practitioners have found this work important and this fascinating book brings together a range of research and case-studies showing how teachers and researchers have brought post-structuralism to the classroom. The book covers such issues as:becoming post-structurally reflect...

This book challenges contemporary criminological thinking, providing a thorough critique of mainstream criminology, including both liberal criminology and administrative criminology. It sets a new agenda for theoretical and practical engagement, and for creating a more effective and just criminal justice system.

This text explores the social status of children, through consideration of their positioning in a range of social settings and in sociological theory. It focuses on children as social actors in constructing the social order and participating in it.

This text examines the negative practices of schools which are resulting in school systems failing students. Such practices include intrusive authoritarian administrative structures and procedures; inappropriate discipline; unrealistic expectations; and placid exceptance of exclusionary practices. Indeed, educational systemic violence includes any practice or procedure that prevents students from learning, thus harming them.Taking a close look at ways in which current social proble...

Feminism and ‘The Schooling Scandal’ brings together feminist contributions from two generations of educational researchers, evaluating and celebrating the field of gender and education. The focus throughout is on the years of compulsory schooling, examining key concepts in gender and education identified and developed by international thinkers in educational feminism. Topics covered include:social class, ethnicity and sexuality in relation to experiences in school;

Explanations of how identities are constructed are fundamental to contemporary debates in feminism and in cultural and social theory. Formations of Class & Gender demonstrates why class should be featured more prominently in theoretical accounts of gender, identity and power.Beverley Skeggs identifies the neglect of class, and shows how class and gender must be fused together to produce an accurate representation of power relations in modern society. The book quest...

The first edition of The Making of Curriculum was published in 1988 and reviewers hailed it as a seminal work in the field. In that work Goodson explored a number of aspects of the so-called traditional subjects and described the way they develop over time to a point where they can be promoted as 'academic' disciplines. He showed that the claim to be academic was in fact the result of a substantial political contest covering a century or more. The traditional subject was, in short, invente...