In this paper I examine processes of racialization in a school in Copenhagen, Denmark. On the basis of the data produced in 2009, which is part of a larger study, I investigate themes of race as a difference-making and constituting category for subjective (human) becoming and racialization as contingent and negotiated processes (Butler, 1997). As…

The description and management of difficult behaviour in schools has interested educational practitioners and researchers worldwide, including in the UK. Concerns have been raised about the use and implications of more dominant discourses, namely those of behaviourism and zero tolerance, for understanding student behaviour. This article presents…

Schooling markets prioritize the needs of valued "customers". In Australia, this has resulted in a proliferation of learning interventions aimed at attracting and holding students perceived to fall into this category, and managing those who don't. In this paper, I attempt two main tasks: a description of the large-scale processes…

This article draws on material from the ESRC funded "Pathways into and out of crime" research programme (Grant number L330253001) to explore how a group of educationally disaffected young people negotiate and try to manage their desistance from offending. We argue that the ability to be reflexive represents a form of embodied cultural…

This paper argues that certain taken-for-granted features commonly found in schools can create regimes that are inimical to democracy and the principles of a liberal education for all. Schools in England can be theorized as particularly oppressive institutions that create the conditions that make their children the unhappiest amongst the…

The aim of this paper is to support critical and scholarly debates that relate to the increasing role of visual research in education, youth studies, sociology, and studies of mental health. Researching in fields where young people are central exposes many struggles, not least issues of how to represent students who end up on the margins. School…

Access to and participation in university education is a key equity issue, with increased efforts to widen the participation of secondary school-aged students from low socio-economic status (LSES) backgrounds in many countries worldwide. In Australia, programmes aimed at widening university participation generally target LSES children and young…

Students served in alternative and segregated settings tend to receive educational services that are not on par with their public school peers. To develop a better understanding of the problem, the authors conducted a national study of secondary psychiatric schools in the United States. Specifically, the authors administered a survey to…

In neo-liberal times educational policy and practice is being realigned more closely to the shifting imperatives of the market with damaging effects on the lives of young people. Whilst the rhetoric suggests that schools are safe, welcoming and caring environments for the benefit of all, the veracity is very different for significant numbers of…

Soon after it came to power in 2008, the Australian Government adopted six key targets relating to life expectancy, infant mortality, education and employment in its policy "Closing the Gap on Indigenous disadvantage". As it became apparent in 2011 that these targets were not being met, the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, in her annual report to…

A lack of sense of school belonging can be a destabilising aspect in disaffected students' lives, so much so that they will often seek an alternative sense of belonging outside of the school arena. Gaining out-of-school acceptance within the non-conforming, graffiti subculture is dependent upon proving one's worth through willing engagement in…

Among any cohort of American youths, some will use drugs and alcohol whereas others will not. Further, some youngsters will not only use these illegal substances but also abuse them, at times wreaking havoc with their lives and ruining their futures. The purpose of this study is to attempt to unravel this heterogeneity of substance abuse; that is,…

Inequality has long been a central topic in the social sciences. The same holds true with regard to sociological research on education. In this paper we argue that, due to fairly recent developments in the managerialisation and marketisation of the educational field, often associated with the rise of neoliberalism, the topic of inequality gains…

This research is located within the call for schools to raise the achievement of students from culturally, linguistically and economically diverse (CLED) backgrounds. It combines quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to compare and contrast preservice teachers' (PSTs) responses to "scenarios" that explore beliefs regarding students…

Research indicates that enrolments in separate special educational settings for students with disruptive behaviour have increased in a number of educational jurisdictions internationally. Recent analysis of school enrolment data has identified a similar increase in the New South Wales (NSW) government school sector; however, questions have been…