First published in 1982, this work is a critical survey of contemporary educational debates and themes which took on new urgency and importance at the time. In particular, it explores the problematic nature of ‘progressive education’ and ‘discipline’; the changes in the labour process and youth unemployment; the nature of the state and its relationship with schooling; the growth of state intervention and the specific forms of discrimination suffered by women and black people.

It argues that trends in education at the time can be explained by a Marxist analysis. It suggests...

First published in 1971, this book argues that schools at the time were underpowered, due partly to circumstances within contemporary educational institutions, but chiefly to their relationships with the wider social environment. It suggests that schools lacked bargaining power and that their position deteriorated because they had marketed an ever more standardized product.

The book focuses particularly on the bureaucratization of education and the growing conflict between teachers and academic administrators. It also examines the dangers of cyber-culture but rejects its hopes of...

In recent years education has become increasingly perceived as an area of risk. A number of highly publicised incidents have heightened awareness of the potential dangers to be found in teaching intuitions. Although there is now a substantial conceptual literature on risk and the meaning of the risk society, such ideas have not to date been rigorously applied to the educational sector.

The authors of this innovative volume, first published in 2005, address this gap, discussing the relevance of risk discourses of educational processes. This book will greatly interest both...

This book, first published in 1965, discusses the nature of the grammar school, its curriculum and teaching methods, comparisons with sixth form education, and the change in its organisation and attitudes during a time of rapid social change in 1960s Britain. This title will be of interest to students of history, sociology and education.

As a result of the Liverpool City Council's reorganization of its Further Education Service, the South Mersey College was established on September 1, 1986 through the amalgamation of the Riverside College of Technology and the Childwall Hall College of Further Education; two of the city's eight colleges of further education. This book provides an account of the development of the college over a four year period.

The book, first published in 1993, focuses specifically on the college curriculum, its organization and management structure and the quality and cost-effectiveness of its...

This book, first published in 1983, considers the whole problem of how social research can lead to improvement in practice in social policy and social work. In the first section, individual chapters discuss the political context within which research is commissioned and used, through consideration of the politics of comparative research and of the application of research findings to policy-making in the personal social services. The problems of putting policy into practice and using research in a systematic and predictable way for improving situation is also examined. This title will be of...

This practical and accessible book, first published in 1987, provides examples of ways in which schools can ease children through the stress caused by changes in family structure. Through case histories the authors illustrate the sorts of problems likely to produce stress for children during divorce. In the following chapters they deal with the stages of marital breakdown; children’s reactions to parental separation related to age; the law and legal processes associated with divorce; the role of the school and its organisation in helping children under stress, and the relevance of...

First published in 1992, this book looks at the interaction between ideals and reality, with the focus upon social inequality and education in modern society, as well as the possibilities for education to lessen the related problems.

The essays in this volume examine three forms of inequality in global society: aboriginal societies in modern industrial states; long-established communities that have been denied full status; and differences arising from recent population migrations. In doing so, it considers how education might support the efforts of all members of society to pursue...

First published in 1981, this work is based on the author’s research in the playgrounds of two Oxford schools. It describes the order amongst the apparent chaos by relating the playtime activities – the games, rhymes and taunts of five-to-ten-year-olds in first and middle schools – to children’s goals, problems and solutions. It shows how children learn and display in the playground a remarkably complex set of social skills and the study clearly demonstrates the importance of playtime for preparing a child to cope in the adult world.

First published in 1983, Teaching Under Attack examines the nature and direction of the attack on the education service, and on the teaching profession in particular. It examines the effects of cuts on UK schools and also considers how far the activities of teachers’ unions can counteract such trends. It looks at the issue of teachers’ strikes, the use of sanctions and the relationship between the profession and central and local government. In addition, it analyses the political context in which teaching operated at the time, considers in detail teachers’ pay, conditions of...