The use of zero-hours contracts (ZHCs) has been associated with the transfer of risk away from corporate employers and towards individual employees. In universities increasing numbers of teaching staff are employed on such contracts. Academics from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds (BME) are disproportionately more likely to be employed on…

Following Bourdieu's tradition of examining the reproduction of the class structure, this article seeks to fill gaps in research on the class differentiation and educational situation of Polish communities in the UK. The article treats Polish post-accession migration to the UK as a social laboratory. Such an approach facilitates examination of…

The impact of self-fulfilling prophecy in education, and of attainment grouping on pupil self-perception, remain topics of longstanding debate, with important consequences for social in/justice. Focusing on self-confidence, this article draws on survey responses from 9,059 12-13 year olds who were tracked by subject ('setting'). They provided…

This paper is based on findings from an email interview study with 20 academics (17 women, 3 men) in the UK on short-term, insecure or 'casualised' contracts. The paper focuses on their perceptions of the effect their contract status has on the lecturer/student relationship: particularly in regard to student perceptions of their legitimacy and…

This paper explores how teachers respond to the requirement to promote 'fundamental British values' (FBV) to their pupils. It offers a preliminary analysis of data drawn from interviews with teachers and (mostly lesson) observations in schools. It argue that, first, the policy cannot be understood without a consideration of the multi-layered…

This article highlights the additional marginalisation of black female academics within the UK academy of higher education. The article engages with the narratives of eight such women as they navigate their careers as a minority-of-minorities within high-ranking institutions. The literature on black academic severe under-representation,…

This article builds on the established notion that schools are hierarchised through policy, accruing different amounts and types of symbolic capital, by examining how this is reflected in the habitus of the leaders of new, privileged school types. The article uses Bourdieu's concept of hysteresis, or a dislocation between the habitus which…

This is an attempt to review what I am now. To give some coherence to an incoherent academic life, written against the background of profound changes is what it means to be an academic. The paper begins in a welfare state primary school and ends in a global neoliberal university.

The data for this paper are drawn from a qualitative research project involving a number of alternative education sites in Australia and the United Kingdom. In this paper, we focus only on the motives and teaching philosophies of a sample of teachers who have chosen to work in alternative education sites despite, for some, the prospect of…

As the largest public sector institution in the United Kingdom, education is a key site for studying the context of "choice" and changes in the identities of professional workers in contemporary society. Recruitment and retention problems in education have led to the creation of new routes into teaching to attract career changers from…

This paper focuses on the educational experiences of a group of African Caribbean and mixed "race" young people from the perspectives of their parents. The discussion is set within a national context where children of African Caribbean origin are one of the lowest achieving minority ethnic groups in the UK and are disproportionately one…

Attempts to analyze, through questionnaires and interviews with students, parents, and teachers, some of the factors contributing to differences between male and female student scoring on the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). The GCSE is a British comprehensive, national core curriculum examination. Discusses the reasons why…

Reports on a study of "parent evenings," or parent-teacher consultations, examining the structure using audio-recordings. Identifies similarities with doctor-patient consultations. Argues that teachers do not maintain control of the conferences and that issues of power, identity, competence, and moral conflict are at stake. (CMK)

Reports on the impact of managerialist discourse on the lives of United Kingdom primary school teachers prior to and in the year following Office For Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspections. The study found teachers indicating that, one year after inspection, there has been no lasting impact on what they do in the classroom. (CMK)

Argues that the use of Total Quality Management, School Development Planning and Office for Standards in Education Inspections intensifies teachers' work and encourages schools and teachers to "fabricate" themselves for the purposes of evaluation. Uses data from a secondary school to illustrate these points. (DSK)