With reference to Bernstein's theories concerning the pulls and tensions of competing pedagogic identities, this article draws on original research to suggest that a culture of pragmatism may be currently rooting itself in English schools. This culture is understood partly as an instrumental response to rapid and extensive educational reform, and…

It is widely acknowledged that there are important ties among pupils, parents and schools affecting children's educational outcome. Using NELS: 88, a nationally representative sample of eighth graders in the United States, this study explores the role of schools in their academic performance. The study suggests that, with other things equal,…

Not long after the political transition in 1997, Hong Kong witnessed a spate of top-down education reforms that had been conceived within the neoliberal ideology of economic globalisation. Neoliberalism is particularly pervasive here, because of the underdevelopment of representative politics and of critical, social democratic discourse in…

This article examines some impacts of neoliberal education policies during the current period of the intensification of neoliberal capital. Section 1 examines the relationship between education and capital, identifying three plans capital has in relation to education. It sets out some of the major aspects of neoliberal policy developments in…

This article is concerned with the development of social scientific knowledge (exemplified by the case of sociology of education) and its relationship to education policy. It draws on and contrasts the experience of the author in working at the interface between theory and policy in two very different contexts: the United Kingdom in the 1970s and…

This article discusses two projects supported by the Higher Education Active Community Fund, which involved student and staff volunteers in working with local communities and community-based organisations in two London boroughs. Oral history methods were used to investigate and represent the experiences of elderly people living in Borough A and…

This article focuses on teachers' dual frustrations caused by contradictory requirements in Korean education reform policies since 1995. It summarizes recent education policy reforms in Korea and links them to the intensification of teachers' work through the extension of its range, and the possibility that teachers' work will be deskilled by…

This article uses feminist methodologies of critical and personal reflections to consider the contributions that feminist sociology and sociology of education have made to developments in the pedagogies and practices of higher education, particularly professional and postgraduate education. First, the article reviews the contributions of women and…

This article argues that a problem for the contemporary sociology of education is that it has operated within a "secularisation of consciousness paradigm". This has limited both the depth and the scope of its intellectual enquiries. Sociological analysis which elides a religious dimension not only presents an over-simplified view of social…

The article takes as its starting point my recent ethnography of the Welsh National Opera Company, and the forthcoming monograph "Everyday Arias: making opera work". In the course of that work I revisited the theme of performance: the ethnography of performance and the performance of ethnography. I discuss briefly the everyday work of the opera…

This article reviews trends in school-to-work transitions since the 1970s and argues that educational expansion (more young people extending their school and college careers) is a large part of the problem, rather than an actual or potential solution to young people's transition difficulties. The causes of educational expansion are identified as…

The article explores the relationship between sociology and sociology of education in the United Kingdom (UK), with specific reference to the development of a sociology of higher education. Though the article is mainly concerned with the UK, the broader issues raised, about the status and location of the sociology of education in relation to…

The article aims to reveal teachers' dispositions concerning stability and change in the field of schooling and to suggest some possible connection to the social space. Forty teachers who attended a principals' training course were asked to write educational fantasies regarding their "dream school". A content analysis of the fantasies showed…

Quietly, without attracting too much attention from educational sociologists in Europe, a massive process has been underway for five years that is expected to revolutionize European higher education to an unprecedented extent. Launched by a number of European governments and subsequently taken over by the European Commission, the so-called Bologna…

The "drop-out" of working-class students from universities has been identified as one of the most pressing issues for the higher education (HE) sector in the United Kingdom. This article draws on the initial findings of a major research project that explores the meanings and implications of such withdrawal from HE amongst young working-class…