Research in higher education has revealed that only a small proportion of students complete assigned reading during semester. The current studies examined students' reading practices, and sought to explore potential factors underlying these practices. Three studies were conducted. Study 1 utilised a questionnaire to examine how long students spend…

In this paper, we explore some of the keywords around which the practice of school inspection is ordered in England. As part of a project that explores the role of inspection in governing schooling in England, Scotland and Sweden, we have examined some of the key sources through which Ofsted (The Office for Standards in Education, Children's…

This article considers the place of theory within education in two contexts -- Sweden and the UK -- and advances the argument that both governments and academics themselves have contributed to a 'theoryless' education. Examples are offered from the fate of education science in Sweden and, in the UK, from responses to the Research Excellence…

This paper begins by considering some of the performative dilemmas associated with the enactment of children's rights by adults. In particular, it is argued that the mobilisation of children's rights often tends to involve multiple forms of "complexity reduction" (Osberg and Biesta, 2010), the net effect of which is to limit children's…

This article draws on theoretical contributions from Michel Foucault, Nikolas Rose and from within the new sociology of childhood to open up for critical analysis and debate contemporary policy and practice initiatives involving the introduction of formal psychotherapeutic education programmes in schools. While the primary focus is the UK, the…