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Nationally and internationally equity in education has become a key goal. In Norway, a White Paper has been tabled to address how equity can be improved through education. In this paper the pedagogic and knowledge orientation of the initiatives are analyzed and discussed in relation to two models of equity: “equity through equality” and “equity through diversity.” The paper finds that although contradictions are present, the Norwegian ministry clearly favors the equality model. The author claims that the presented policies can be understood as a response to the global educational trend that Apple refers to as “conservative modernization.” This can further be related to Bernstein's “Totally Pedagogised Society,” where the adaptable, trainable individual is a key notion. The paper concludes that the lack of attention given to the diversity of citizens may be a major shortcoming, as lack of recognition is in many ways what causes educational failure in the first place.

This paper presents a theoretical discussion of recent policy efforts to raise the qualification levels of the Australian early childhood workforce. Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical tools enable the e...

Here we examine New Labour’s education policy concerning social justice and the organisation of educational provision with reference to social capital as policy vocabulary. The central focus is on policy discourses and practices in relation to networking between schools and other partners. We identify three policy phases for reducing inequalities and social exclusion, while supporting human capital formation: (1) EAZs in the late 1990s; (2) refocusing on specialisation and beaconisation, 2000–2003; and (3) transformations signalled by the diversity and choice agenda of the White Paper 2005, academies and trusts. We detect a drift in policy targets and aspirations from the early idealised ‘new and exciting’ kinds of educational participation and democracy, returning to more traditional professionalist arrangements in specialisation/beaconisation, and currently moving in the direction of post‐democratic governance in the academies programme, while doing little to challenge processes of stratification of edu...

In this paper I introduce a creative and substantive alternative to the term paper, student-written sociological short stories. Students choose a topic and use sociological theories and research to outline a plot, characters, dialogue, and settings. Guidelines based on symbolic interactionism help students construct and write the story. Put simply, these guidelines instruct the student-as-author to imaginatively experience the characters' thoughts, feelings, interactions with others, and movements in settings. A literary style is presented to help students record these imaginative experiences in literary form. The paper also discusses grading, common mistakes, teacher involvement, student response, and the assignment's pedagogical value.

Purpose This paper aims to present an analysis of a “county lines” safeguarding partnership in a large city region of England. A critical analysis of current literature and practice responses to “county lines” is followed by the presentation of an analytical framework that draws on three contextual and social theories of (child) harm. This framework is applied to the partnership work to ask: are the interconnected conditions of criminal exploitation of children via “county lines” understood?; do interventions target the contexts of harm?; and is social and institutional harm acknowledged and addressed? Design/methodology/approach The analytical framework is applied to a data set collected by the author throughout a two-year study of the “county lines” partnership. Qualitative data collected by the author and quantitative data published by the partnership are coded and thematically analysed in NVivo against the analytic framework. Findings Critical tensions are surfaced in the praxis of multi-agency, child welfare responses to “county lines” affected young people. Generalising these findings to the child welfare sector at large, it is proposed that the contextual dynamics of child harm via “county lines” must be understood in a broader sense, including how multi-agency child welfare practices contribute to the harm experienced by young people. Originality/value There are limited peer-reviewed analyses of child welfare responses to “county lines”. This paper contributes to that limited scholarship, extending the analysis by adopting a critical analytic framework to a regional county lines partnership at the juncture of future national, child welfare responses to “county lines”.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to extend a theory of health promoting schools (Markham and Aveyard, 2003) that draws heavily upon Nussbaum’s Aristotelian interpretation of good human functioning (Nussbaum, 1990). This theory of health promoting schools proposed that health is grounded in the meeting of identified fundamental human needs and the realisation of identified essential human capacities (Markham and Aveyard, 2003). Design/methodology/approach The extension of this theory is achieved through the application of influential social theories with practical tenets to Nussbaum’s insights (Nussbaum, 1990). This extension includes additional essential human capacities, a description and definition of how good human functioning may be recognised, potential limitations of the capabilities approaches and a discussion of major factors inhibiting good human functioning. Findings The potential contribution of the outlined framework to discussions of health and health promotion is highlighted in two ways. First, this paper considers how the outlined framework may contribute to discussions of quality of life, morbidity/premature mortality and health-related behaviours. Second, this paper briefly considers how the outlined framework may contribute to discussions of public health policy, and the planning, delivery and evaluation of health promotion initiatives. Basic exemplar pre- and post-questionnaires for a hypothetical health promoting community development programme are offered. Originality/value This paper attempts to contribute to discussions of the application of Nussbaum’s Aristotelean interpretation of good human functioning to both public health and health promotion.

The concept of social capital has become in recent decades one of the most powerful ideas in social science. Having its roots in sociology and economics, it has consistently “settled” in almost all fields that deal with human functioning—pedagogy, social work, social anthropology, history, health sciences. This multiplicity of approaches and uses stems, on the one hand, from the diversity of topics and issues to which the term “social capital” is applied. On the other hand, it is the result of different theoretical sources of social capital conceptualization. As a consequence, different researchers, when using the term “social capital”, have in mind slightly different elements of social reality. It has consequences in the educational research, and leads to a large number of studies using the category of social capital in relation to school, but their results do not seem to form a coherent picture, sometimes even leading to contradictory conclusions. The question arises whether it is possible to build a synthesized analytical perspective, using the notion of social capital in such a way as to make this category a really useful tool for analyzing educational reality. The paper is an attempt to present such perspective by development of two ideal types of the structural conditions for education (schooling). First, the author presents the understanding of social capital in regard to education in four theoretical contexts: James Coleman’s theory of exchange, Robert D. Putnam’s theory of civil society, Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural structuralism and the network theory. Next, the text presents different analytical strategies resulting from the adoption of a given theoretical perspective. In the last part of the paper attempt was made to construct two ideal types of structural conditions for education, which seem to be possible to read from the results of research conducted with the use of different conceptualizations of social capital.

Objectives This paper reviews why tensions between service and education persist and highlights that this is an area of medical education research (MER) that, to date, lacks a robust body of theory-driven research. After carrying out a review of the literature on service-education tensions in medical education and training, we turn to consider how theory can help provide new insights into service-education tensions. Methods We conducted a search of the literature on service-education tensions since 1998 to examine the use of theory in studies on this topic. Results We identified 44 out of 603 relevant papers. Their focus fell into four broad categories: time residents spent on 'service' and 'education'; perceptions of the balance between service and education; considerations of how best to define service and education, and the impact of structural and systems changes on education/training. Of the papers reporting primary research, the dominant methodology was the bespoke survey. Rarely were the precise natures of tensions or how different factors interact to cause tensions examined in detail. Discussion Through discussion and reflection, we then agreed on the applicability of four sociocultural theories for illuminating some examples of service-education tensions. We present four sociocultural theories: Holland's figured worlds, Kemmis et al.'s practice architectures, Lave and Wenger's situated learning and Engestrom's cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT or AT). We describe each and then briefly illustrate how each theory can support new ways of thinking and potential directions for research focusing on education-service tensions. Conclusions The use of theory in research studies will not resolve service-education tensions. However, what theory can do is illuminate and magnify different aspects of service-education tensions, to generate new insight and knowledge that can then be used to inform future research and changes in practice.

CONTEXT 'Complexity' is fast becoming a 'god term' in medical education, but little is known about how scholars in the field apply complexity science to the exploration of education phenomena. Complexity science presents both opportunities and challenges to those wishing to adopt its approaches in their research, and debates about its application in the field have emerged. However, these debates have tended towards a reductive characterisation of complexity versus simplicity. We argue that a more productive discussion centres on the multiplicity of complexity orientations, with their diverse disciplinary roots, concepts and terminologies. We discuss this multiplicity and use it to explore how medical education researchers have taken up complexity science in prominent journals in the field. METHODS We synthesised the health sciences and medical education literature based on 46 papers published in the last 18 years (2000-2017) to describe the patterns of use of complexity science in medical education and to consider the consequences of those patterns for our ability to advance scholarly conversations about 'complex' phenomena in our field. RESULTS We identified four patterns in the use of complexity science in medical education research. Firstly, complexity science is described in a variety of ways. Secondly, multiple approaches to complexity are used in combination in single papers. Thirdly, the type of complexity science used tends to be left implicit. Fourthly, the complexity orientation used is much more commonly located using secondary source citation rather than primary source citation. CONCLUSIONS The presence of these four patterns begs the question: Do medical education scholars understand that there are multiple legitimate orientations to complexity science, deriving from distinct disciplinary origins, drawing on different metaphors and serving distinct purposes? If we do not understand this, a cascade of potential consequences awaits. We may assume that complexity science is singular in that there is only one way to do it. This assumption may cause us to perceive our way as the 'right' way and to disregard other approaches as illegitimate. However, this perception of illegitimacy may limit our ability to enter into productive dialogue about our complexity science-inspired research.

Learning design is growing in importance but is not yet widely adopted by teachers. This paper describes the development of a scenario-led learning design process, divided into two stages, which was implemented with over 500 teachers altogether from 15 European countries. Activity theory is used to explore the contradictions that arose when such changes were introduced into the established activity system of lesson planning. Data were collected through interviews and questionnaires from a small sample of participants including national coordinators (stage 1: n = 8; stage 2: n = 13) and teachers (stage 1: n = 13; stage 2: n = 23). These participants perceived that the scenario-led learning design process, involving a wide range of stakeholders, was collaborative, supportive and innovative (compared to previous lesson planning practices). However, a number of contradictions were identifiable between: (1) the shift to collaborative learning design from teachers preparing their lessons alone; (2) the new tools and the existing rules of the national/regional education systems; (3) the time required to both understand and implement learning design, and the impact of competing demands. This paper discusses the challenges faced when attempting to scale-up European school teachers’ development of digital pedagogy. The structured (yet flexible) approach was welcomed and the tools promoted teacher reflection but, as commonly noted, the complexity and time-constraints were major issues. © 2018 British Educational Research Association

This paper posits a move “toward the concrete” as a specific combination of curriculum studies and Cultural Studies, placing it squarely within the frames of postqualitative research (Lather & St. Pierre, 2013; St. Pierre, 2011, 2013b, 2014). In addition to examining the theoretical legacies of the aforementioned fields, this paper focuses on four areas, posited by Helfenbein (2003), in which Cultural Studies can inform postqualitative educational research: materialism, (anti)antiessentialism, social constructivism, and radical contextuality. In doing so, this paper contends that for researchers, a sound theoretical base is needed if one is to engage in postqualitative research and offers toward the concrete as one such possibility.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to draw on the outcomes of an Higher Education Academy funded project, Literacies for Employability (L4E) to contribute to discussion of the interface between university learning and workplace settings and the focus on employability that dominates the English context. The paper will be of interest to colleagues from any discipline who have an interest in critical (re)readings of employability and practical ways of engaging student in ethnographic approaches to understanding workplace practices, particularly those with an interest in professional, work-based, or placement learning.Design/methodology/approachL4E is grounded in social theories of communication from Sociology and Education that understands literacy as a complex social activity embedded in domains of practice. These ideas recognise workplaces as domains that are highly distinctive and diverse contexts for literacy (rather than generic or standard) and that to be successful in particular workplace settings students must be attuned to, and adaptive and fluent in, the nuanced literacy practices of that workplace. However, evidence suggests (Lea and Stierer, 2000) that HE students (and teachers) rarely experience overt teaching about literacy in general or workplace literacies in particular.FindingsThis project developed a framework to scaffold and support this process across the disciplines so that students can develop the attitudes and behaviours they will need to be successful in the workplace.Originality/valueThe approach chimes with recommendations from Pegget al.(2012) that employability is most effectively developed through a focus on more expansive, reflexive approaches to learning and through “raising confidence […] self-esteem and aspirations” (Pegget al., 2012, p. 9).

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Evidence from large-scale studies of primary and secondary students’ technology practices at school over the last decade show disparities in student practices and suggest that schools need to do more to cater for all students. Research that explores the influence of social and cultural factors may be useful for understanding such inequality in student practice. Bourdieu’s theory of practice [(1977). Outline of a Theory of Practice. London: Cambridge University Press] is proposed as an example of a sociological theory that can be adopted in educational technology research to move towards understanding the wider complexities of technology practice. To encourage discourse and application of Bourdieu’s sociology in the field of educational technology research, this paper provides an introduction to the theory, a review of its application in research of primary and secondary students’ technology practice and relevant conceptual work. The paper presents a conceptual framework based on Bourdieu’s theory that has been developed through two recent studies, and review of empirical and conceptual works and invites its application in future research so that it can be critiqued and further developed.

Creativity is a commonly used word in education circles, yet it is also seen as something that is being undermined by contemporary agendas of standards, testing and an increasingly strong focus on core subjects that are used as indicators of school performance, which are impacting the work of teachers. This paper starts from Ball’s 2006 paper ‘The Teacher’s Soul and the Terrors of Performativity’ and argues the importance of developing strong senses of identity and agency in student teachers as part of the teacher’s ‘soul’, as a positive response to the pressures, or ‘terrors’ of a performative, standards based agenda. Having discussed the background of creativity and performativity, the relationship between identity, agency and creativity is explored through the lenses of three theoretical perspectives; Bourdieu and his idea of habitus; Foucault and his ideas about power, discipline and subjectivity; Lacan and Ruti and perspectives from psycho-analysis, foregrounding the notion of ‘lack’. In the discussion of this sequence of perspectives, the argument is for a trajectory in which the view of the human subject becomes less deterministic and more agentic. The paper is framed within a virtues ethic and in applying Noddings’ (2003) argument, creativity can be seen not so much as a virtue in itself, but the confident and agentic working out of creativity in practice allows educators to work virtuously within a performative culture and with an ‘ethical commitment’ to creativity.

Background/ContextWorking towards social justice in education requires students’ voices to be heard and understood. This is especially the case for students from marginalized populations. Prior research has shown the value and importance of students’ voices for school retention, academic success, school inclusivity, and student buy-in. However, more research is needed on how adults understand and interpret students’ voices and implement their understandings in school practice and policy.Purpose/ObjectiveThis paper uncovers the danger of misinterpreting students’ voices due to assumptions about concepts such as success and social justice. I explore this issue by interpreting first-generation Quechua (indigenous) students’ voices about success in the Peruvian Andes through four different paradigms concerned with social change, social reproduction, and social justice. The discussion places into dialogue feminist theory, critical theory, postcolonial theory, and development theory in order to highlight the implications of each interpretive framework for responsive education policy. I show how interpretations based on each theory offer divergent school policy options, the danger of a single theory for interpreting student voice.ParticipantsThe coresearchers for this paper are 14 young women from Quechua communities who are the first in their families to attend secondary school. Working with them are a woman from a Quechua community, a woman from Central Europe, and a man from the United States.Research DesignA collaborative ethnographic case study utilizing student voice methods. The students developed the theme and topic for research during a student-led seminar. Based on the students’ questions, the adults helped facilitate the creation of an interview protocol with the students. The group answered the questions on the protocol and used the protocol to interview the students’ parents. We held three total focus group discussions to develop the protocol, discuss findings, and interrogate ideas of success.Conclusions/RecommendationsThe results highlight the vastly different interpretations and policy implications of students’ voices based on each theory—highlighting how social justice is a complex concept that requires discussion across theoretical orientations. The findings also show points of overall congruence, and cross-theory trends. Recommendations are for educational leaders and researchers (teachers, parents, administrators) to refect and think about empirical information from multiple theoretical frameworks in order to become more aware of the influence of one's own assumptions in educational decision-making.

This article re-examines the contents of Singapore’s Thinking Schools Learning Nation (TSLN) and Teach Less Learn More (TLLM) educational initiatives, introduced and implemented to promote change and to prepare Singaporeans for a twenty-first century knowledge-based economy. Adopting a critical realist perspective that enables investigations into complex social systems, the paper highlights the concepts, change process and possible outcomes of change proposed by realist social theory. An explanatory critique responding to the question, ‘What social structural changes were implemented by the TSLN and TLLM initiatives, and why?’ is developed, tracing the programmes of change in TSLN and TLLM. Findings reported in 2013, by a local large-scale research project, has made claims about the ineffectiveness of the initiatives in bringing about desired changes in classroom instructional practices. The critique questions—given Singapore’s recent and consistent successful performances in international benchmarking tests—whether it is only in the classroom that educational change that matters, counts. It suggests that despite making strong statements about the limited effectiveness of the TSLN and TLLM initiatives, many programs introduced and adopted by primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions, especially under TLLM, were left unexamined by the research project. The explanatory critique theorises that two kinds of changes have taken place—the reorientation of pedagogical practices in post-secondary institutions and extensions of what already exists in the primary and secondary sections. The paper concludes by highlighting some implications the explanatory critique have for research into educational change in general, and for educational change in Singapore.

This paper presents insights into the leadership implications of recent shifts in a range of policy contexts towards notions of collaboration and partnership. The paper draws on empirical research ...

Traineeship within English professional football (soccer) has attracted much attention in recent years yet few studies have explored in any real depth the everyday workings of trainee footballing lives. This paper features the findings of two small-scale qualitative studies of football traineeship both of which were carried out at high profile English professional football clubs, one in 1993–94, the other in 2010–11. The paper uncovers the nuances of trainee experience in line with a series of theoretical assertions surrounding organizational discipline and control. It concludes by suggesting that while debate surrounding the design and delivery of traineeship within professional football has intensified over the past two decades, little appears to have changed with respect to the fundamental dynamics of organizational regimen.

Interprofessional education (IPE) is perceived to be one strategy to reduce professional compartmentalisation and improve collaborative practices. The unequal power relations existing between the various professions who need to collaborate for IPE remains largely unexamined and it is only in recent years that sociological theories have been employed within the interprofessional field. This paper uses selected findings from an exploratory case study into IPE conducted at the University of Malta and then examines these findings from a Bourdieusian perspective. The first part of this paper introduces the breath of theoretical perspectives employed for IPE and then goes on to provide an overview of Bourdieu’s theories of social practices. The second part outlines the context of this case study and presents selected findings. The third section discusses how these findings were examined using Bourdieu’s concepts helping us demystify the various ways in which health care professions worked and interacted...

Inspired by scholarly calls to focus more intently on the influence of context on leaders’ construction and negotiation of identity, this paper draws on evidence from our Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) project in London, New York City and Toronto. Throughout the paper, we strive to illuminate how the city-based context influences how race/ethnicity is experienced and described. We use social identity theory, organisational fit and in-group prototypes to frame school leaders’ explicit discuss race/ethnicity when reflecting on identity. We describe our data gathering process using our Professional Identity card-sort Tool, which guided leaders’ reflections on identity. The analysis details how we extracted and interpreted evidence from leaders who were explicit about the interrelationship between their own personal racial/ethnic identification and its alignment or misalignment with their school-level communities. We explore how different city contexts influence leader experience of in-groups and out-groups and the related leadership challenges and opportunities. In conclusion, we reflect on the influence that structures, policies and communities have on how leaders experience identity and the possible implications for their work. We also explore the value of attending to potential context-based identity-driven experiences for school leader development and support.

This paper explores the ways in which figurational sociology can offer a useful lens through which to understand the ongoing use of fitness testing as a means to physically educate young people. We contribute to a theoretical discussion around how physical education teachers have come to think about and enact fitness testing so pervasively. Applying a figurational lens: (a) encourages us to view fitness testing as a historically rooted practice; (b) sensitises us to the importance of social interdependencies and habitus when trying to understand their prevalence; (c) helps us to go beyond the labelling of fitness testing as ‘disciplinary’ and encourages us to identify the (un)intended consequences of fitness testing, and how these are enabling and constraining and for whom. Using a figurational lens we identify scientisation and shaming as two social processes that can help us understand why physical educators use fitness testing as a context for learning despite a lack of evidence to suggest its worth. The theorising articulated in this paper, together with the sociological work it follows, can help us move forward in terms of pedagogical possibilities for physical education.

Human being since its evolution is continuously struggling to combat inherent prowess of violence and conflict as a part of biological species which is falling in an ambivalent position in the ecosystem. It was realized long years back that only peaceful coexistence can ensure the prolonged journey of humanity without any turmoil. But this realization and its implementation have always been a herculean task for those who tried to do it through different forms. In fact, they have to sacrifice their lives also for doing the same. The prevailing long history of wars, revolts, conflicts all across the world are the glaring examples in this regard which have tried to subvert the desire for peace among the peace loving people in a very indifferent manner. In due course of human evolution, various modes were taken to instill the significance of peace in the humanity. Religion, music, painting, folktales, architecture, etc. are used prominently to spread the message of peace by highlighting the repercussion of violence in different forms. But it has been seen that the impact of all these modes were not as pervasive as desired. Despite of their intensive usages in different cultural settings in its own specific ways, the intensity of violence and conflicts could not be minimized and the climax can be seen in the form of two world wars which have been fought within such a short span of time. Immediately after the wars, the search for another mode was started and it was found that education can be that mode through which the goal of peace can be achieved and sustained for a long period of time through adoption of correct strategies and techniques. In the course of due deliberations, proper frameworks have been created in the education systems of different countries of the world to minimize the occurrence of violence along with promoting peace. This paper is attempting to highlight those efforts and to critically present the case for the effectiveness of education as a catalyst for peace building through the model. The paper got concluded by emphasizing on the changing aims of education revolving around to gain true peace through different channels.

Objectives This paper reviews why and how theories of agency can be used as analytical lenses to help health professions education (HPE) scholars address our community's wicked problems. Wicked problems are those that resist clear problem statements, defy traditional analysis approaches, and refuse definitive resolution (e.g. student remediation, assessments of professionalism, etc.). We illustrate how theories of agency can provide new insights into such challenges by examining the application of these theories to one particular wicked problem in HPE: interprofessional education (IPE). Methods After searching the HPE literature and finding that theories of agency had received little attention, we borrowed techniques from narrative literature reviews to search databases indexing a broad scope of disciplines (i.e. ERIC, Web of Science, Scopus, MEDLINE and PubMed) for publications (1994–2014) that: (i) examined agency, or (ii) incorporated an agency-informed analytical perspective. The lead author identified the theories of agency used in these articles, and reviewed the texts on agency cited therein and the original sources of each theory. We identified 10 theories of agency that we considered to be applicable to HPE's wicked problems. To select a subset of theories for presentation in this paper, we discussed each theory in relation to some of HPE's wicked problems. Through debate and reflection, we unanimously agreed on the applicability of a subset of theories for illuminating HPE's wicked problems. This subset is described in this paper. Results We present four theories of agency: Butler's post-structural formulation; Giddens’ sociological formulation; cultural historical activity theory's formulation, and Bandura's social cognitive psychology formulation. We introduce each theory and apply each to the challenges of engaging in IPE. Conclusions Theories of agency can inform HPE scholarship in novel and generative ways. Each theory offers new insights into the roots of wicked problems and means for contending with them.

This paper uses Deleuzoguattarian schizoanalysis to interrogate concepts of social justice in relation to the crisis of neo-liberal capitalism by referring to the work of the Situationist International movement, the posthuman philosophy of Giles Deleuze and FA©lix Guattari as well as Afrofuturism. Providing an array of new theoretical responses as well as pedagogical models that directly engage with social justice issues, Deleuze and Guattari offer an immanent model for a politics and pedagogy that is primarily concerned with becoming. I argue that finding new ways of dealing with the notion of change, or in terms of Deleuzoguattarian philosophy, becoming, is critical to making sense of contemporary concerns around issues of decolonisation as well as the move toward progressive transformation in education. This paper argues, furthermore, that addressing issues of social justice requires a type of shizoanalytical approach that is future-orientated and aligned with posthuman and not postmodern concerns. A schizoanalytical approach, as I will argue, intersects not only with critical posthumanism, but also with the new materialist and affective turns in current scholarship, drawing together varied environmental, political, and social concerns that pertain to the practice and scholarship of contemporary pedagogy in South Africa and elsewhere.Â

The research focuses on the complexities associated with contemporary rural primary school leadership. The paper draws on in-depth ethnographic research undertaken in two contrasting English rural primary schools and their surrounding community over a period of three years and in particular the experiences and perspectives of the two head teachers from these schools. The paper is conceptually informed by the work of Bourdieu [1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul] and his work around field, habitus and capital as a means of understanding practice. The paper contends that as the neo-liberal economic field increasingly contaminates the field of schooling so a contextual understanding of the complex and shifting social space which a head teacher occupies, including their habitus and the capital they deploy, is of central importance to understanding practice.

Excavating what Jeffrey Cohen [2015. Stone: An ecology of the inhuman. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press] calls ‘lithic ecomateriality’, in this paper we illustrate how rocks have traditionally been conceptualized through three tropes: rocks as insensate; rocks as personified; and rocks as transformative. We take up the concept of inhuman to challenge human-centric taxonomies of rocks and animacy. If rocks are not lifeless, or only considered as ‘resources’ or ‘threats’, to humans, then thinking with rocks as vital extends our ethical and political response. In the final section of the paper, we consider archives, not as a logical form of organizing knowledge, but as material, vital, and affective. We argue that when stones and archives are examined as something more than stable things – as interfactual, transcorporeal, and transmaterial co-compositions – different ethical relatings to the inhuman world become possible.

This paper invokes the conceptual framework of Bourdieu to analyse the mechanisms, which help to maintain inappropriate authorship practices and the functions these practices may serve. Bourdieu's social theory with its emphasis on mechanisms of domination can be applied to the academic field, too, where competition is omnipresent, control mechanisms of authorship are loose, and the result of performance assessment can be a matter of symbolic life and death for the researchers. This results in a problem of game-theoretic nature, where researchers' behaviour will be determined more by the logic of competition, than by individual character or motives. From this follows that changing this practice requires institutionalized mechanisms, and change cannot be expected from simply appealing to researchers' individual conscience. The article aims at showing that academic capital (administrative power, seniority) is translated into honorary authorship. With little control, undetected honorary authorship gives the appearance of possessing intellectual capital (scientific merit). In this way a dominant position is made to be seen as natural result of intellectual ability or scientific merit, which makes it more acceptable to those in dominated positions. The final conclusion of this paper is that undemocratic authorship decisions and authorship based performance assessment together are a form of symbolic violence.

The author engages critical media education and norm-critical pedagogy to map out possible methods of critical engagement of students during interpretation of the pedagogical facets of The Boxtrolls (film - 2014). The paper discusses rich analytical material that may be explored by employing The Boxtrolls story. The paper considers the application of social theories in an exploration of the film. Freirean critical consciousness may help to expose conflict, power distribution, social stigma and social divisions. Social structures of oppression, politics of exclusion, masses ruled by fear, prejudice, misunderstanding and violence are explored using the theoretical frameworks of M. Foucault, B. Bourdieu, Z. Bauman and R. Braidotti. The moral values depicted in the film are set against excessive consumption, class divisions, selfishness and deficient parental skills; these are analysed as educational tools for all scholastic levels. Evil is punished and values of friendship, trust, cohesion and cooperation (key ingredients of social capital) are victorious. There is also the opportunity for redemption and social rehabilitation, revealing the complexity of humans and their intersectional positioning. Whilst the human condition and the story are universal, the means of conveying the message reflect technological and societal change.

Previous research about college students’ social media usage emphasizes social media practices, often ignoring the content that students’ post. Increasing knowledge about the language that college students use to describe their intimate relationships can inform student affairs practice. Using a digital ethnographic data collection approach and queer theoretical framework, this paper explores the dominant discourses about race, sexuality, and relationships circulated in a mobile social networking application. This paper used content analysis to describe the meaning of text and images produced by college-aged youth in the US. Through this analysis of social media content, I contend that college students engage in the complex representations and reproductions of sociocultural norms about bodies, sexuality, and relationships and that these representations and reproductions influence campus climate. I develop implications for student affairs administrators.

This paper demonstrates how classroom trouble warranting teacher intervention can stem from transgressions in different layers of the complex moral order regulating classroom interactions. The paper builds from Durkheim’s treatment of schooling as the institution responsible for the inculcation of a shared moral order, Bernstein’s distinction between the instructional and regulative discourses in any pedagogic setting and the concept of verticality in the instructional discourse to illuminate how curricular knowledge might apply across different contexts. This paper proposes a similar vertical dimension of moral gravity in the regulative discourse, such that some moral expectations apply across any context, while others are highly contextualized. This paper then applies this frame to data from classroom observations conducted in prevocational pathways for 16 years olds created under Australia’s “earning or learning till 17” policy. This paper describes the variety of moral premises teachers invoked in different teacher/class combinations, according to their level of moral gravity to display the dominant use of highly contextualized moral premises seeking institutional compliance, and minimal use of broader moral frames for these students on the brink of entry to the adult world.

This paper discusses teacher resistance to recognizing some perspectives of difficult histories. The paper focuses on the following question: How does affect contribute not only to the formation of teacher resistance, but also to its disruption in ways that enable the productive reclaiming of teachers’ engagement with traumatic histories? To address this question, the paper first revisits the notion of difficult knowledge, highlighting its affective dimensions and its relevance to teacher resistance. Then, it argues that the role of affect in resistance demands a different way of conceptualizing ‘teacher resistance’ to acknowledge how affect is entangled with both the micro- and macro-political dimensions of resistance. In the light of this reconceptualized notion of teacher resistance, the paper theorizes the notion of ‘affective disruption’ by using Judith Butler's social theory. Finally, the notion of ‘pedagogy of discomfort’ is revisited to demonstrate the new openings created by a reconceptua...

Utilizing potential cross-pollinations of theoretical insights taken from approaches to educational and social research that have mostly emerged outside of the university and been generated by critical theorists and most recently indigenous researchers as work that has not only challenged the epistemological and ontological foundations of the Western social science canon but have systematically contested the coloniality of neoliberal globalization in policy and practice, the primary purpose of the paper is to foreground the contributions that these critical perspectives can bring to reconceptualizing participatory action research (PAR) as a vehicle for energizing social networks that are anti-capitalist and anti-colonial. First, the paper outlines some of the key principles that have guided the development of critical or radical approaches to PAR methodology and practice over the past five decades. We then move onto discuss the impact of neoliberal thought on educational and social research in the contemp...