Search

This paper presents an account of the development of the sociology of education in the UK, by means of an analysis of papers published in the field's flagship journal, the British Journal of Sociology of Education and its US equivalent, Sociology of Education. In particular, we examine the representation of two contrasting traditions in addressing social inequalities: 'political arithmetic'; and the more recent 'cultural turn'. We find that in the UK, the cultural turn dominates; whilst in the US, it is political arithmetic which does so. In accounting for these contrasting national profiles, we argue that they are underpinned by divergent social infrastructure and organisation. We also discuss some of the implications of the dominance of the cultural turn in the UK, specifically in terms of the relationship between the fields of academic research and policy and the development of a cumulative evidence base to address social inequalities in education.

There is overwhelming evidence of the benefits of out-of-school learning. It is likely to be particularly important for disadvantaged students who have fewer material and cultural resources in the home to supplement their classroom work. However, despite the research evidence and political moves to promote out-of-school learning, it would appear that the provision of such activities is increasingly threatened by resource constraints, regulation and risk aversion. The research reported here set out to investigate how schools experience these and other difficulties and how they differentially affect the provision of and participation in out-of-school learning activities. Data, collected through a UK-wide questionnaire survey and case studies in 12 schools, indicate that there is wide variation in the amount and quality of out-of-school learning opportunities that schools provide. The inequalities created by these varying levels and types of provision of out-of-school learning activities are compounded by uneven participation. Those schools reporting lower levels of participation were most likely to be those with the highest levels of free school meal eligibility. Particular groups of students that were seen to be 'missing out' on learning activities included those from poor homes and from minority ethnic communities (especially Muslim girls). In addition to self-exclusion from out-of-school visits, it would appear that school 'bans' on pupil participation are commonplace. These variable patterns of provision and participation reveal significant inequalities in students' experience of out-of-classroom learning. (Contains 3 figures, 16 tables, and 8 notes.)

The stable isotope ratios of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and sulfur from extracted wood of 87 samples of oaks from the United States were analysed. Relationships with climate variables and the stable isotope ratios of the 69 training dataset samples were investigated to a monthly resolution using long-term monthly mean climate data from NASA and the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit, in conjunction with forecast data for hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios in precipitation. These relationships were used to construct model isoscapes for oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and sulfur for US oak with the aim of using them to forecast isotopic patterns in areas that were not sampled and predict values in samples not used to construct the models. The leading predictors for isoscape generation were oxygen isotope ratios in January precipitation for oak oxygen isotope ratios, hydrogen isotope ratios in July precipitation for oak hydrogen isotope ratios, water vapour in April for carbon isotope ratios, and reflected shortwave radiation in March in combination with sulfate concentration in May for oak sulfur isotopes. The generated isoscapes can be used to show regions an unknown sample may have originated from with a resolution dependent on the rarity of the stable isotope signature within the United States. The models were assessed using the data of 18 samples of georeferenced oak. The assessment found that 100% of oxygen, 94% of hydrogen, 78% of carbon, and 94% of sulfur isotope ratios in the 18 test dataset samples fell within two standard deviations of the isoscape models. Using the results of the isoscapes in combination found that there were 4/18 test samples which did not fall within two standard deviations of the four models, this is largely attributed to the lower predictive power of the carbon isoscape model in conjunction with high local variability in carbon isotope ratios in both the test and training data. The method by which this geographic origin method has been developed will be useful to combat illegal logging and to validate legal supply chains for the purpose of good practice due diligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]