Worldwide, an increasing number of students seek private supplementary tutoring, known as 'shadow education.' Various studies report social class differences in the use of shadow education. High-SES families may invest in shadow education as a form of concerted cultivation, seeking to improve their children's school achievement. In this study, we…

The well-established yet under-theorised body of 'Traditional International Schools' warrant much greater sociological analysis and inquiry as 'elite' educational institutions. This paper uses Basil Bernstein's "Sociology of the School" to discuss the 'expressive culture' of such schools, representing an idealised model of conduct,…

This article attempts to bridge a divide between the empirical use of Bourdieu's concepts and the theoretical discussion of field theory with regard to education. I ask how a school can be 'international' where education is predominantly embedded in nation-states. First, I introduce field theory and its applications to globalization and education.…

Many elite schools proclaim a commitment to racial and other aspects of student diversity and inclusion. Pursuing this commitment is highly complex and contentious given the traditions of exclusion elite schools are founded upon. This paper examines some of these contentions drawing on research conducted at Cherry Tree Academy, an elite pre-K-12…

This paper investigates datafication in schools through an analysis of the enactments of quality assurance and evaluation (QAE) policies in Brazil. In doing so, I question how data permeates and changes school environments, school actors' conduct and their imaginaries. QAE policies encompass large-scale assessments, indicators, rankings and other…

In this article, we investigate how the shift towards inclusive education in Danish schools changes and affects the ways in which educational-psychological advisory service (in Danish, PPR) units and school staff collaborate. Since inclusion is generally a matter of ensuring that every child can be accommodated within the mainstream school system,…

This paper examines the justification for a culturally responsive educational initiative to raise the educational underachievement of Maori students in New Zealand. The initiative is justified by claims that the recognition in the classroom of a student's cultural identity will lead to the student's educational achievement. Using an account of a…

Muslims are folk-devils that mark the ubiquitous moral panic. For some, the idea of the "Muslim problematic" signifies a long and worrying trend of creeping "Islamification" of state schools. For others, the discourse of the "Muslim problematic" reflects the ongoing racial patholigisation of Britain's minoritised…

Research points to sections of the middle-class repopulating the "ordinary" urban public school and whilst there are key differences in how they are navigating public school choices, from "seeking a critical mass" to resisting traditional methods of choice and going "against-the-grain", or collectively campaigning for…

Gifted education is leading an interdisciplinary paradigm shift moving education out of its historic role of entrenching systemic inequities. It is a crucible for pioneering investigations of optimal human development and provides a vehicle for increasing social equity. We review changing conceptions of intelligence, motivation and creativity, and…

Schooling is now considered the major factor underlying the development of cognitive abilities. However, most studies on the effect of schooling on cognitive development have been conducted in free and generally supportive western environments. The possible variability of schooling effects between educational systems differing in the quality of…

With the relaxation of the system of command in China's public schooling sector and the decline of ideological coercion in the post-Mao era, the Chinese state has reshaped its control over individual teachers. Much effort has been made to analyse the state's influence on teachers' academic activities at school, but little attention has been paid…

In the new millennium model of low definition curriculum, teachers have professional latitude to deliver prescribed disciplinary content through a range of pedagogical and assessment orientations. The rhetoric is that with carefully crafted practice, the goal of high quality/high equity learning outcomes can be achieved for all students. This…

The article analyses the main benefits of a Portuguese programme, launched in 1996, which was designed to support schools in segregated districts (TEIPs). The first part of the article presents a theoretical framework, before moving on to the main features of the TEIP programme in contemporary Portuguese society and education. An explanation of…

The paper reflects upon the principles and practice of an alternative educational system operating in rural Mexico in the light of Bourdieu's theory of cultural and social reproduction. Bourdieu's theory seeks to explain processes of reproduction of power relations within schools and society; whereas alternative educational systems seek to expand…