Conjoins policy questions, feminist theory, and discourse analysis to demonstrate the power of discourse in framing and managing gender policy that comes from marginal groups, challenges institutional privilege, and survives despite resistance and backlash. Descriptions of Australian gender policy were derived from participant observation,…

This paper is part of a research project into parental choice, social class and market forces carried out by a team in Zaragoza (Spain). The main objective was to evaluate parents' choice of school and the consequences this may produce in terms of social exclusion and inequality. Additionally, our aim was to determine whether certain populations,…

French schooling is characterized by rising levels of educational participation and perpetuation of class and gender inequalities. After exploring this issue, this paper considers the character of contemporary French youth (aged 18 to 24) and selected aspects of youth culture as these illustrate change and continuity in class and gender divisions.…

Examines origins and implications of consumership ideology (belief that market-driven governance policies alone can solve the U.S. education crisis) as related to the school choice movement. If consumership replaces citizenship as education's ethos and driving force, the public school system will vanish. Self-interest and competition will triumph…

Primary public education in France originated in the 19th- century "ecole republicaine." Since the 1960s, elementary schools have been integrated into a (universally attended) preschool to secondary school system. The elementary level is characterized by modernistic pedagogy, a child-development focus, and a psycho-affective…

During the 1980s, 35 percent of French pupils attended private schools at some point. The private sector (largely state-supported Catholic schools) offered a second chance that was not seized equally. Research shows public-sector recruitment was more democratic; private schools equalized results more successfully. (Contains 12 references.) (MLH)

Describes the key features of "third way" politics. Examines "third way" economic, social, and political values and objectives related to New Labor government post-compulsory-school education policies and initiatives, particularly New Deal Welfare to Work and the University for Industry. (Contains 68 references.) (PKP)

Indepth interviews with senior managers in six Australian universities revealed messy policy processes and considerable variation in quality policy practices. Quality policy's "big-picture" effect was to enhance national government control of higher education from a distance. A further effect was to increase inequalities among and within…

Examines how divergent values and belief systems operate within educational politics. Reviews five questions (concerning educational quality and equality, schooling's purpose, curriculum decisions, school policy making, and financial responsibility for schools) and their underlying value tensions within the research areas of micropolitics, school…

The English educational system is still being organized along social-class lines. Working classes have historically been "found out" in education--discovered to be inferior and less cultured and clever than middle classes. Findings from studies on higher education choice, secondary school transitions, and primary assessments underline…

This special issue journal on the politics of urban education contains the following articles: (1) "The Politics of Urban Education as a Field of Study: An Interpretive Analysis" (K. K. Wong); (2) "Urban Education as a Field of Study: Problems of Knowledge and Power" (J. G. Cibulka); (3) "Knowledge and Power in Research into the Politics of Urban…

In France, the sociology of pupils has focused on studying inequalities related to teacher expectations. Greater proportions of working-class students in secondary schools and colleges have forced a change in researchers' perspectives. Pupils are now defined by how they, as individuals, make sense of their school experience. (Contains 22…