In a single intensive nursery case study, using in depth interviews, group discussion and self completed daily diaries, this article reports on staff accounts of the emotional aspects of their interactions with young children. The findings show how much the staff achieved through their empathy for children and families and the establishment of…

Reporting on a study of mature women training to work in childcare, this article demonstrates how some women choose to be part-time mothers, workers and students, wanting "the best of both worlds". It presents a theory of integrated lives that contrasts with customary deficit models and shows how a series of reciprocal links bind the…

Under-representation in UK higher education of students from less privileged social backgrounds is an enduring problem. While there are examples of productive participation, the pattern of collective trajectories of this group differs sharply from that of traditional entrants. The onus falls largely on students to adapt to established practices…

Reason is a heterogeneous word with many meanings and functions. Instrumental reasoning is the "useful but blind" variant that, for Horkheimer, presupposes "the adequacy of procedures for purposes more or less taken for granted and supposedly self-explanatory". The paper argues that the root of instrumental reasoning is to be…

This paper explores whether teachers' habits and assumptions about their practice can be enhanced by continued professional development through nurturing self-awareness of lived experiences. Within the paper a practical understanding of critical reflection as a process is explored and particular attention is given to Moon's assertion that one…

The present study examined adult age and sex differences in self-reported aspirations and personal meaning. Young, midlife, and older adults (N = 2,557) from the United Kingdom or United States completed an online survey of their aspiration striving, aspiration importance, and personal meaning (subscales of Purposeful Life, Exciting Life,…

The aim of my critical literature review is to identify studies where students are engaged as partners in teaching in higher education and to analyze how tutors and tutees benefit from peer teaching. Thirty studies were included for review. Thirteen countries are represented and two thirds of the studies conducted in the United States of America…

Gender inequalities in schools have implications for life chances, emotional well-being and educational policies and practices, but are apparently resistant to change. This paper employs Judith Butler's conceptualisation of performativity in a study of young people and consumption to provide insights into gendered inequities. It argues that how…

In the face of what has been characterised by some as a "crisis" in curriculum--an apparent decline of some aspects of curriculum studies combined with the emergence of new types of national curricula which downgrade knowledge--some writers have been arguing for the use of realist theory to address these issues. This article offers a…

This paper explores some of the unresolved tensions in higher education systems and the contradiction between widening participation and the consolidation of social position. It shows how concepts of capital derived from Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam provide a powerful basis for critique, but risk a deficit view of students from less privileged…

In this article, the author discusses three books whose shared concern is what constitutes an "individual". Each, in its own way, challenges the idea that "identity" is fixed or uncomplicated. The books, in trying to find the underlying cause of what makes up an individual's "identity", advocate strongly the need…

Income varies considerably within countries and the locations where conflicts emerge are rarely typical or representative for states at large. Yet, most research on conflict has only examined national income averages and neglected spatial variation. The authors argue that civil conflicts are more likely to erupt in areas with low absolute income,…

Service learning is experiential education that encourages students as socially responsible and active citizens working in and with members of the community. We consider how these ideas illuminate the ambitions of a unique service-learning opportunity known as "Converge", a university partnership with a health care provider that brings…

This paper illustrates how critical use of Basil Bernstein's theory illuminates the mechanisms by which university knowledge, curriculum and pedagogy both reproduce and interrupt social inequalities. To this end, empirical examples are selected from the findings of the ESRC-funded project "Pedagogic Quality and Inequality in University First…

This article argues that educators should be aware of the way that Christian beliefs interact with the structure and practices of secular education policies and that established secular social theory can help them to do this. Drawing on an example from empirical research, the author models how concepts associated with Bourdieu's social theory can…