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Previous studies suggest that small rural schools experience a range of challenges relating to their size, financial difficulties and geographical isolation, as well as potential opportunities relating to their position within their communities. In Northern Ireland, these schools are situated within the comparatively rare context of a religiously divided school system. However, research on these schools in this jurisdiction is scarce. The notion of consociationalism is highlighted as central to an understanding of the prevailing schooling system and the peace process in Northern Ireland as a post-conflict society. Set against this backdrop, the paper reports on a survey of principals of small rural schools in Northern Ireland; the challenges they face and their engagement with the communities they serve. The findings reveal how these small rural primary schools, while encountering many similar challenges to such schools globally, continue to play a central consociational role in serving their respective divided communities. Their relationship with the Church is seen as particularly important. The findings raise important broader questions as to the extent to which the current system of schooling is able to contribute to the building of a more integrated society.

Small rural schools in many countries have historically been viewed as less desirable than their larger urban counterparts, being treated less favourably in the policy arena and facing a risk of closure or amalgamation. Within Europe, they have been the focus of a range of research studies and have been defined in different ways, based mostly on the number of pupils enrolled (typically around 100), but also their geographical isolation or small number of staff. However, the last notable attempt to review the literature in this area was carried out over 10 years ago. Since then, there has been a large volume of research conducted in many European countries. This rigorous scoping review has brought together what we know from research (published in English since 2000) on small rural schools in Europe. The most common themes identified were school leadership, the importance of context (including education policy and school closures/amalgamations), and school-community relationships. Case studies and ethnographic qualitative methods were the most popular, with a stronger use made of theoretical frameworks since the previous review. Nonetheless, the current review found still significant gaps in the literature including an under-theorization of certain topics and a lack of research with children.

Small rural schools have often been characterised as being at the heart of their communities. However, there is no clarity on what that means nor on the perceived meaning of 'community' within this context. The findings of the Small School Rural Community Study focused on the relationship between small rural schools and the communities they serve within the post-conflict context of Northern Ireland's religiously divided schooling system. Using survey data and qualitatively derived data from this three-year study, we explore the ways in which community is understood and conceptualised by school principals, staff, parents, pupils and community members, in five case study areas. Similarly to another research study, our findings suggest that community can be conceptualised as having four key dimensions: people; meanings; practices; and spaces. The study found that a range of 'community practices' happened in school and around school, and that these practices had attached meanings, with schools helping to develop a sense of belonging and pride in the community, sometimes even a sense of 'shared space'. Drawing on these key dimensions, the paper provides a theoretical framework of 'community' to expand our understanding of school-community relations and the potential value of small rural schools beyond simply the educational. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The case study explores the ways in which a prominent, private Canadian Muslim school provides an Islamic education while negotiating its place in an integrated, socially cohesive, multicultural society. The data are derived from an in-depth qualitative investigation utilizing documentary analysis, participant observation, and interviews (N = 22). The findings reveal the ways in which the school perceives the specific challenges in negotiating the tension between their aspiration to preserve Islamic values and wider socio-political pressures to integrate into Canada's multicultural society. The study concludes that both the nature of Islamic educational provision and Canadian multicultural policy require modification and change.

To-date qualitative research in the field of policy enactment has tended to focus on investigating existing national policy discourse and the ways in which this discourse is creatively reconstituted in school-based contexts of practice. In this paper, the focus is on uncovering the ways in which a school-based commitment to a specific policy--in this case creativity--is sustained and has a legacy even after national policy discourse and priorities have changed. By focusing ethnographically upon the legacy of policy at a school-based level, the paper sets out to illuminate the social actions teachers undertake to establish, nurture and protect their institutional and professional investment in and commitment towards creativity.

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.

The article uncovers the complex process of educational policy enactment and the impact this process has on teachers as policy actors as they undertake the task of introducing a new mathematics curriculum in a Canadian secondary school. The three year study based on in-depth qualitative interviews adopts a classic grounded theory approach of concurrent iterative cycles of data collection, conceptual categorisation and analytical abstraction, to identify six emergent concepts indicative of policy actor engagement with the policy process: (1) Professional and Emotional Investment; (2) Decisional Legitimacy; (3) Hierarchical Trust; (4) System Integrity and Viability; (5) De-professionalisation; and (6) Identity Safeguarding. Further, and significantly, the grounded theory analysis identifies the core concept of "Affective Disruption," conceived as an interruption to an individual's emotional equilibrium resulting from interference to their cognitive sense-making in relation to policy. It is proposed these six emergent concepts and "Affective Disruption" as a core concept are precipitated within policy actors in response to the tensions created by the process of policy enactment; the research findings moving towards what might be tentatively termed a policy social psychology.

This paper seeks to question what impact education vouchers have on the process of school choice. The context examined in the paper is the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme ("Voucher Scheme") introduced in 2007 in Hong Kong. Using a Straussian grounded theory method, data collected from 40 parent interviews are coded, analysed and developed into categories. The paper analytically situates the findings within a model, derived from the data, which is based on two properties: "orientation" and "time". "Orientation" differentiates and emphasises the significance of choice factors in relation to the school versus the family, and "time" is related to focus on the present versus the future. The paper subsequently presents the data related to these properties and reflects on the intricate dynamic of parents' school choice decisions under the Voucher Scheme.

This paper utilises the analytical concepts developed in the work of Basil Bernstein to reflect on the ways in which discourses such as social justice are especially vulnerable in teacher education in England. In particular, under new-managerial regimes the forms of knowledge which are emphasised and valued focus on the instrumental and performative. As a consequence, critical and vertical forms of knowledge associated with social justice in teacher education are either absent or marginalised and reframed away from an appreciation and awareness of the structural and economic causes of inequality. Moreover, the criteria needed to effectively introduce social justice as a knowledge base in teacher education are positioned antithetically to neo-liberalism--neo-conservatism, making them arguably impossible to achieve within the current system of education in England.

The paper draws upon ethnographic research of two contrasting English primary schools and their villages to explore the themes of belonging and exclusion in contemporary rural contexts. The paper first describes the schools and the villages. A second, conceptual section explores the meaning of rurality in relation to the themes of class, belonging and exclusion. The final section of the paper then weaves these sections together through an analysis of the experiences of three incomers to the villages. Collectively, the empirical data demonstrate that the rural sphere is shaped by historical and geographical circumstances, as well as the arrival of networked individuals.

In late modernity, the marketisation of public services has become a global policy phenomenon. In the case of schooling, this has resulted in parents discursively positioned as consumers of education making a choice between providers of education. To date the majority of research on parental choice has focused on the urban; this paper is concerned with the rural. Using ethnographic data collected through interviews (N = 24) and observations in one English village, it explores the ways in which parents engage with primary school choice. The research draws on Bourdieu's interrelated concepts of field, habitus and capital to discuss how the dispositions and resources parents had impacted upon the school choices they made. In presenting its findings, the paper distinguishes between the long-term residents ("villagers") and more recent arrivals ("newcomers") to suggest a differentiated commitment to place and schooling.

Responding to Thrupp's [2003. "The School Leadership Literature in Managerialist Times: Exploring the Problem of Textual Apologism." "School Leadership & Management: Formerly School Organisation" 23 (2): 169] call for writers on school leadership to offer "analyses which provide more critical messages about social inequality and neoliberal and managerialist policies" we use Foucault's [2000. "The Subject and Power." In "Michel Foucault: Power", edited by J. D. Faubion, 326-348. London: Penguin Books] theory of power to ask what lessons we might learn from the literature on school leadership for equity. We begin by offering a definition of neoliberalism; new managerialism; leadership and equity, with the aim of revealing the relationship between the macropolitical discourse of neoliberalism and the actions of school leaders in the micropolitical arena of schools. In so doing, we examine some of the literature on school leadership for equity that post-dates Thrupp's [2003. "The School Leadership Literature in Managerialist Times: Exploring the Problem of Textual Apologism." "School Leadership & Management: Formerly School Organisation" 23 (2): 149-172] analysis, seeking evidence of critical engagement with/resistance to neoliberal policy. We identify three approaches to leadership for equity that have been used to enhance equity in schools internationally: (i) critical reflection; (ii) the cultivation of a "common vision" of equity and (iii) "transforming dialogue". We consider if such initiatives avoid the hegemonic trap of neoliberalism, which captures and disarms would be opponents of new managerial policy. We conclude by arguing that, in spite of the dominance of neoliberalism, head teachers have the power to speak up, and speak out, against social injustice.

Previous studies suggest that small rural schools experience a range of challenges relating to their size, financial difficulties and geographical isolation, as well as potential opportunities relating to their position within their communities. In Northern Ireland, these schools are situated within the comparatively rare context of a religiously divided school system. However, research on these schools in this jurisdiction is scarce. The notion of consociationalism is highlighted as central to an understanding of the prevailing schooling system and the peace process in Northern Ireland as a post-conflict society. Set against this backdrop, the paper reports on a survey of principals of small rural schools in Northern Ireland; the challenges they face and their engagement with the communities they serve. The findings reveal how these small rural primary schools, while encountering many similar challenges to such schools globally, continue to play a central consociational role in serving their respective divided communities. Their relationship with the Church is seen as particularly important. The findings raise important broader questions as to the extent to which the current system of schooling is able to contribute to the building of a more integrated society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper commences with a theoretical exposition of the current UK government's policy commitment to the idealised notion of the Big Society and the social capital currency underpinning its formation. The paper positions this debate in relation to the rural and adopts an ethnographically-informed methodological approach to provide an in-depth look at two contrasting English rural primary schools and their relationship with their village communities. The empirical investigation seeks to explore the extent to which the potential for building social capital is evidenced in current rural school-community relations within these two locales. The findings reveal a highly differentiated countryside in which any attempt to essentialise the abilities of rural schools to generate social capital in order to build the Big Society should be avoided.

Modern definitions of professions connect professional knowledge to scientific studies and higher education. In the present article we examine the changing nature of this relationship in initial teacher education in two European countries: Sweden and England. The article is based on policy analyses from recent decades of teacher education reforms. The findings suggest a policy convergence through a shared policy return that has moved teacher education back toward a teacher training paradigm.

This article focuses upon the adoption and implementation of United Kingdom government support for third stream business-facing activities in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). The article, concerned with income generation and the creation and application of knowledge beyond the confines of the academy, draws on policy literature and qualitative data from research conducted in three contrasting HEIs. It reflects critically on the policy embrace of the third stream agenda in the UK, to suggest that despite increased UK government funding and policy pronouncements in support of such activities, the take-up and operationalisation at institutional level remains variable and piecemeal.

Research suggests that certain common policy presuppositions can be identified regarding teacher education programmes in advanced knowledge-based economies, most notably the relationship between formal education (schooling) and economic production, and the role of teacher education in respect to this relationship. This article draws on the work of Basil Bernstein to engage theoretically and critique the nature of that evolving policy relationship within the context of Sweden. While the article concentrates on developments in one country, however, it is contended that the findings are symptomatic of a wider European or even global trend in which the scientific foundation of teacher education is under threat. (Contains 3 notes.)

The article seeks to elucidate and academically position the genre of critical arts-based research in education. The article fuses Critical Race Theory (CRT), life history and performance, alongside work with undocumented American students of Mexican origin, to show how a politicised qualitative paradigmatic re envisioning can occur in which counter-histories and counter-stories can be co-created into a powerful, evocative, and transformative arts-based performance text: Undocumented Historias. The article reflects on how critical arts-based research in education can function as a means to legitimise, empower and promote the voices of the educationally and socially marginalised; evoking an experiential and sensual means of feeling and knowing by which researcher and researched may co-recover, interrogate and enrich an anti-colonialist critique of the dominant social order. (Contains 1 figure.)

Recent debates within UK rural studies have stressed the shifting interplay of economic, social, political and cultural forces, with a concomitant blurring as to what constitutes rural living, rural spaces and even rural occupations. This article situates the rural school within this social, cultural and political landscape and attends to the frequently heralded discursive policy conviction that "local schools are at the heart of many rural communities". The research applies an inclusive model of ethnography, drawing on participant observation, interviews and documentary analysis, to facilitate a multifaceted engagement, and holistic exploration of the role and place of the village school in two contrasting English rural localities.

Discourses within the UK Labour government's welfare policy agenda have consistently featured a reformulation of programmatic governance away from both centralised hierarchies and neo-liberal markets to a social policy strategy that highlights a commitment to inclusive partnership working. Significantly, this process of meaningful social engagement and empowerment is intended to be facilitated and sustained through the building and deployment of social capital. This article reports data from a three-year ethnographic study into the experiences of parents and professionals involved with the implementation of a "Sure Start" multi-agency health and education early years programme driven by these policy imperatives. Significantly, whereas previously published research from this study revealed the building of social capital, the findings presented in this article suggest with the policy shift to Children's Centres the social capital engendered to be in danger of erosion. In the concluding discussion, the article highlights the shifting dimensions of power at national, local and team levels informing this process of erosion, to suggest that social capital may be destroyed much more readily than it can be built. (Contains 5 notes.)

Research has documented the ways in which students of Mexican origin are not succeeding academically in the same proportion as the rest of the US population. This process of educational failure occurs in the context of overt and more subtle forms of racism experienced throughout their schooling and everyday lives. Undocumented Mexican students face even harsher educational challenges as they experience life in a post-September 11th environment of heightened xenophobic US nativism. The purpose of this three-year study was to acknowledge the "counter-stories" and learn from the "counter-life-histories" of undocumented college graduates of Mexican origin as they navigate across and between historical, socioeconomic, political and cultural boundaries, barriers and contexts. The research is grounded in the experiences, voices and perspectives of six individuals who graduated from a community college in Arizona. The study utilizes critical race theory (CRT) as an interpretive approach to both situate and challenge ahistorical, decontextualized, and one-dimensional explanations of Mexican-American underachievement and adopts a life history methodology to engage comprehensively with the perceptions of the interviewees.

The paper reflects critically on the use of arts-based approaches to (re)present ethnographic educational research data, positing that the use of these artistic genres while creating new opportunities for engaging and enacting the complexities of twenty-first century realities also pose new challenges particularly in relation to the application of a performative methodological rigour. In engaging with this issue, the author conceptually borrows in part from Boal to situate himself as "impresario-joker" and through this lens reflects critically on the performative process and performance ethic underpinning his work--as a non-artist researcher--to stage a piece of ethnographic educational research as performance art. The paper while supporting the potential of using the arts in the (re)presentation of ethnographic data, also acknowledges that the securing of its academic legitimacy requires the establishment of a performance ethic if it is to be taken seriously within the academy. (Contains 1 figure and 3 notes.)

An earlier article published in this journal sought to recover the views of professionals concerned with the delivery and implementation of a "Third Way" multiagency programme tackling the social exclusion of young children and their families known as Sure Start. The tentative findings suggested a "bottom-up" partnership perspective was held by professionals as they engaged in a process of "civic entrepreneurship" to build social capital within the local community. This article tells a further part of that story as through qualitative data it recovers the views of local parents involved with the programme. The findings are important as they suggest a meaningful change in the power relationship between parents and professionals. The parents report how the project built holistically on existing strengths within the community, how professionals valued, listened to, and acted on their views, how the project changed them personally, and how collectively they became increasingly involved with the programme and empowered in the social capital building process. The concluding discussion draws on the work of Granovetter (1973) on social capital and Zimmerman (1995) on empowerment to theoretically locate and discuss the findings. (Contains 3 notes.)

In 1993, the UK Economic and Social Research Council funded the Parental and School Choice Interaction (PACSI) Study into the marketisation of education, conducted by the author along with Philip Woods and Ron Glatter of the Open University. The findings from the PACSI study highlighted the localised and complex nature of markets in education and reported the ways in which senior school managers adopted a variety of strategies to respond to the local competitive arena in which they found themselves. In more than ten years since this study, the UK Government has changed from Conservative to Labour and policy discourses on choice and competition have been situated alongside those of collaboration and partnership. In this shifting policy landscape, the paper utilises analytical tools and findings from the original study to revisit one of the case study areas and examines the market environment in which senior school managers find themselves today. The findings reveal a stronger "parent as consumer" marketing orientation and responsiveness on behalf of schools and an environment in which competition and rivalry has intensified and continues to discursively predominate. (Contains 1 figure.)

Social policy-making in the UK under the Labour government has galvanized around the issue of social exclusion, identifying young children (0-4 years) and their families living in areas of high social disadvantage to be particularly at risk. This paper attempts to recover the experiences and views of professionals concerned with the delivery and implementation of a multi-agency programme tackling the social exclusion of these young children and their families known as Sure Start. The data are based on the analysis of documentation, attendance and observation at meetings, and 32 semi-structured interviews with members of the inter-disciplinary team responsible for the Sure Start programme's delivery. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using open coding from grounded theorizing. The paper, in reflecting on the problems and dilemmas of multi-agency approaches and reported in other research, considers how the preliminary findings from this study suggest the team have managed to accommodate and overcome these potential difficulties, to facilitate an integrated, holistic and user-centred approach to the programme. The paper concludes by considering the possibility that the team's approach may be conceptually located within an organizational social capital framework as posited by Nahapiet and Ghoshal.