This paper explores hidden messages sent out by schools about Oxbridge, using Basil Bernstein's concepts of classification and framing. Research in three case-study schools captured these messages from their everyday practices and processes, including their events and activities, sorting mechanisms, interactions and resources. Whilst all of…

Inclusion is generally recognised as an ongoing, active process which reflects shifts in policies, practice and values as well as political choices made over long periods of time. Drawing upon research visits set 10 years apart, this study aims to examine how two schools with clear inclusive aspirations and intentions have weathered the last…

This paper is based on case-study research in four English secondary schools. It explores the pressure placed on English and mathematics departments because of their results being reported in annual performance tables. It examines how English and maths departments enact policies of achievement, the additional power and extra resources the pressure…

This paper problematises the official discourse of economic competitiveness and social inclusion used by the 2007 Education and Skills Bill to justify the proposal to extend compulsory participation in education and training in England to the age of 18. Comparisons are drawn between this attempt to raise the age of compulsion and previous…