This article considers ethnographic data collected during undergraduate students' transition to higher education. Drawing on communities of practice theory, the research focuses on the psychological process of identity as a trajectory, considering how reconciliation and negotiation of identities across and between communities influence transition.…

Inspired by scholarly calls to focus more intently on the influence of context on leaders' construction and negotiation of identity, this paper draws on evidence from our Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) project in London, New York City and Toronto. Throughout the paper, we strive to illuminate how the city-based context influences how…

This article explores perceptions of the role of education as a potential medium of transformation and a vehicle to challenge and renegotiate symbolic and cultural notions of gender identity. Drawing on data collected at two time points over 10 years, it considers four young women from working-class backgrounds in England who aspired to and then…

Taking the English National Curriculum as its main example, this article argues that an overly nationalistic, normative and "fact-based" citizenship education curriculum is failing to engage the dimensions of young people's identities which they experience as deeply meaningful. There is thus a chasm--albeit a false one--between official…

Acts of terrorism, moral panics, and negative stereotypes contribute to racialised and Islamophobic ascriptions of Muslimness in Western contexts. In educational institutions such representations occur in the curriculum, in conflict between peers, and in prejudiced and discriminatory behaviour of teachers. For adolescents identified or…

Successive governments have pledged to enhance the quality of apprenticeship in Britain so as to achieve "parity of esteem" with academic study. Yet, at the same time, the discourse of the academic-vocational divide has dominated the academic, policy-maker and practitioner debates. This paper draws on two recent studies designed to…

This article explores the extent to which young people in predominantly middle-class environments identify with Europe and considers the influence of European education policy, school ethos and curricula. We compare data drawn from individual and focus group interviews with students aged 15-17 at a state school and a European School in England.…

Adult participation in higher education has frequently entailed mature students studying part time in lower-ranked institutions. In England, higher education policies have increasingly emphasised higher education provision in vocational further education colleges, settings which have extensive adult traditions but which mainly teach…

This article contributes to ongoing discussion of the Bourdieusian concept of cultural capital and current attempts to elaborate this concept and its derivatives. The paper identifies "identity capital", the capacity to create a narrative of social and self-awareness by constructing a flexible sense of self. This concept explains…

Within physical education and sport, girls must navigate discourses of valued athletic and gendered bodies that marginalise or "other" non-normative performances through systems of surveillance and punishment. The purpose of this paper is to share girls' perspectives on how these discourses affected their gender performances and activity…

This paper offers an alternative proposition to that of Lewis on identity and professional identity in higher education (HE). The proposition is provided from the narratives of 26 individual interviewees who deliver HE in college-based higher education, a viewpoint not considered by Lewis, who tends to adopt a more generalist view. Where Lewis…

This article reports findings from a qualitative (interview) study of the identity conflict experienced by five international students at a university in the south of England for whom real and perceived challenges to national self-image were shown to be unsettling. The article suggests that our cultures of origin are centrally important to our…

Traditionally, the status of workers in early childhood services in England has been low. Foundation degrees and the Early Years Professional Status (EYPS, from September 2013 Early Years Teacher Status) were established with a view to improving the skills and standing of early years practitioners. There appears however to be an ongoing…

The dyadic nature of the teacher-child relationship is recognized as a significant factor in young children's learning experiences. However understandings about how teachers' own personal and professional identities and experiences influence their construction of teacher-child relationships are under researched. This article extends upon earlier…

This article examines the ways in which being a member of a federation governing body impacts upon the governor identities of individuals. Using an ideographic case study based upon a single academy federation, the investigation employs a framework for identity analysis to analyse qualitative in-depth interviews with members within governing…