In this paper we offer a unique contribution to understandings of schooling as a site for the production of social class difference. We bring together the rich body of work that has been conducted on middle-class educational identities, with explorations of the centrality of the feminine in representations of class difference from the field of…

This paper aims to explore and develop a theoretical approach for children's rights research in education formed through an encounter between the sociology of childhood and John Dewey's educational theory. The interest is mainly methodological, in the sense that the primary ambition of the investigation is to suggest a fruitful and…

This paper reviews the existing literature to discuss how critical race theory has been applied as a theoretical framework to higher educational research in the United States and what its contributions are. To provide necessary context, I will discuss race and racism in the United States, the background of US higher education in relation to race,…

This article is a brief personal reflection on the state of research into the relation between education and social mobility. Quantitative methods are both essential and advancing in this field. Sociologists seek scientific solutions but achieve ethical neutrality only with difficulty because all are tempted to bias from social and political…

This article presents the authors' review of "Globalizing education, educating the local: how method made us mad," by Ian Stronach. In the opening chapter of their highly influential 1997 book "Education Research Undone: The Postmodern Embrace," Ian Stronach and Maggie MacLure draw upon the work of Derrida to argue for practices within which…

This article explores the impact of quality assurance and enhancement initiatives on teacher identities in higher education. Data from an interview-based study of a research-led institution in the United Kingdom are drawn upon to consider the implications of quality--for example, whether it has captured the inner assumptive worlds of higher…

Global and national agendas to improve the "quality" of Education For All have brought focus to pedagogic processes in developing country contexts. How can development research pay attention to the social and political significance of pedagogical projects and understand the micro-processes of classroom reform? This paper considers how Basil…

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the changes that took place in school mathematics knowledge for pupils aged six and seven (first grade of Greek elementary school) and its pedagogical approach, which took shape following the reforms of the mathematics curricula in 1982 and 2003. Our analysis is based on Bernstein's theoretical…

This paper expresses serious reservations regarding the increasingly popular Bourdieu-inspired notions of "institutional habitus" and "family habitus" in education research. Although sympathetic to the overall theoretical approach and persuaded of the veracity and importance of the empirical findings they are used to illuminate, it argues that,…

A special issue of the "British Journal of Sociology of Education" has been devoted to an examination of Disability and Inclusive Education. The authors of the papers in this issue have all made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge and understanding in these fields of study. Overall, they have provided a comprehensive, valuable…

This article responds to criticisms, put forward by Harrison and Waller in this issue, of an earlier paper by Noble and Davies. In particular, we argue that our interpretation of earlier quantitative research is correct, that Harrison and Waller have misconstrued the purpose of our previous paper and the analysis it contains, and that they…

The reviews of papers for refereed journals are rarely a source of exhilaration, only occasionally a pleasure and frequently dispiriting. Using peer reviews of research containing Chinese concepts, this paper explores different ways of thinking about knowledge, its evaluation and transfer. Bourdieu's concepts of fields of power, position taking,…

This paper contributes to arguments for the potential of Giddens' structuration theory in educational research. It illustrates how "conceptual schemes" from structuration theory were applied to the author's empirical research on a type of alternative educational practice in India, "private school outreach". It shows how Giddens' concepts of…

There is a large body of research in studies of schooling, particularly ethnographic case studies, which posits that collective action among students undermines engagement in school and contributes to educational inequality. In this paper I review studies of engagement from a social identity theory perspective. To what extent can collective action…

This paper examines the class distribution of young people, aged 16-17 years, in colleges of further education (FE) using data from the Youth Cohort Study. It finds that, contrary to popular perceptions of FE colleges as being for "other people's children", middle-class students as well as working-class students are well represented. However, this…