Search

The World Archaeology volume 'The Cultural Biography of Objects' (Marshall and Gosden 1999) retains its currency ten years after its publication and the ideas highlighted in it continue to be developed. However, the relative success of biographical studies which rely on anthropological or historical information compared with biographical studies of prehistoric objects is evident. Through the example of a British Iron Age mirror this paper explores ways of redressing the difficulties of applying a biographical approach to prehistoric objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the proceedings of a historical conference on everyday life in early modern England hosted by the University of Warwick, England on February 21, 2009. Details are given highlighting the central focus of the conference on the historiography theories of E. P. Thompson, citing presentations by Dave Rollison, Phil Withington, and Craig Muldrew.

This paper challenges the overly positive image of the contribution made by religious education in England and Wales to the attainment of liberal educational aims that was recently presented in this journal, in the context of a review symposium on a festschrift celebrating the work and achievements of the influential British religious educator, Professor John Hull. An alternative reading is pursued that provides a more accurate and fair interpretation of the evidence. There is a discussion of the ideological character of British religious education and a consideration of the reasons why assertions of its 'success' by religious educators are currently so vocal. Critical attention is focused on two particular issues over which the influence of Hull on contemporary policy and practice is acknowledged: that of his dismissal of the accusation that multi-faith religious education confuses pupils, and that of current strategies in religious education to promote inter-religious and intercultural understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with segregation and school selectivity in secondary schools with a religious character in London, England. Analyses of the characteristics of pupils at religious and non-religious schools reveal that the former tend to cater predominantly for pupils from particular religions and/or denominations and ethnic groups, so fostering segregation. In addition, they educate, in the main, pupils who are from more affluent backgrounds and with higher levels of prior attainment than pupils in non-religious schools. Moreover, the evidence suggests that some 'elite' secondary schools are 'selecting in' and 'selecting out' particular pupils. A range of different admissions criteria and practices are identified which appear to foster school selectivity. It is argued that there may have been a distortion of mission for at least some religious schools given that they were originally set up to educate the poor. Implications for policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent policy in England has suggested that educational outcomes will be raised if schools specialise in particular subjects. In contrast, calls for the reform of 16-19 education have suggested that these outcomes will be improved if students become less specialised in their studies. At present, there is a limited evidence base from which to judge these arguments. In particular, we do not know the extent to which students' achievements in 16-19 education are higher when they choose subjects which play to their perceived strengths. We also do not know whether students are more likely to choose to study subjects taught by more effective departments. That is, outcomes may be affected by the relative strengths of students or departments in circumstances where there is freedom to choose. In this paper we provide evidence of the existence and strength of these relationships. This evidence suggests that reducing the scope within schools for specialisation or competition will reduce average student attainment and these effects ought to be taken into account when evaluating alternative curriculum policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wetlands of medieval Britain represented a valuable regional resource, and contributed to the success of some of the wealthiest monasteries in Britain. Drainage systems and transport mechanisms created an interdependent regional economic environment that needed administrative elites to manage and maintain its resources and ensure the continued survival of urban communities. This paper will compare recent excavations at Swavesey and Burwell and demonstrate that, while the letter of Wittfogel's classification of a 'hydraulic society' is not applicable to medieval England, aspects of it can be used to understand regional communities and wetland environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Culture, Health & Sexuality is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper argues that before Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) can begin to contribute to the realisation of inclusive possibilities in and for education, critical attention must be given to the ways educational difficulties and space are considered and produced within educational institutions. A detailed study of a sixth form college in the south of England is drawn upon to elucidate the ways in which fixed and exclusionary perspectives on educational difficulties can entwine with prescriptive views of and approaches to educational space to marginalise LSAs and the students who received their support. Inclusive conceptualisations of both educational difficulties and space are developed to illuminate the potential of the LSAs to make unique and useful contributors to educational institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper problematises the official discourse of economic competitiveness and social inclusion used by the 2007 Education and Skills Bill to justify the proposal to extend compulsory participation in education and training in England to the age of 18. Comparisons are drawn between this attempt to raise the age of compulsion and previous attempts, which took place in a significantly different socio-economic context. It is argued that the needs of those most likely to be affected by the current proposal – young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) – are subordinated to the needs of an English economy that is increasingly based upon low-skill, low-pay work relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era when financial markets were only beginning the move from personal to impersonal relations, this paper examines the role of Jewish brokers in the market for Bank of England stock at a time when their status as recent immigrants, subject to constraints due to religion and ethnicity, made them unlikely intermediaries beyond their own communities. Using formal network analysis, an examination of their activity during the first half of 1720 suggests a marginal role. However, as the Bubble began to burst a few Jewish financiers became disproportionately involved as purchasers of a stock clearly on the decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past thirty years have seen major shifts and improvements in manufacturing productivity, bringing greater output but fewer jobs. As a result, manufacturing is now less visible in “post-industrial” societies. Nevertheless, manufacturing still matters in developed market economies but our understanding of manufacturing has failed to evolve with developments in the management and organization of production processes. This paper explores the lock industry in the West Midlands (UK), a traditional low-tech manufacturing sector. West Midlands lock companies that produced standardized, mass-produced products have experienced intensive competition from low-cost producers. Many of these firms have downsized their operations in the UK. Nevertheless, this is only one response to intensified competition. Lock firms located in the West Midlands are unable to compete on price and have shifted away from the production of mass-produced locks to concentrate on high value-added niche markets. The firms have developed inimitability strategies based around design, expertise, specialization, customization and nearness to market that assist them in maintaining their revenue and profit streams. Niche manufacturers have been far less susceptible and relatively immune to foreign competition and they continue to diversify product ranges by targeting specialist end-users. The emphasis is on producing high-quality locks in small batches that can be produced just-in-time to meet customers' requirements. The continued survival of these lock firms is based upon a strategy that includes the development of product-based competitive advantage combined with locational advantage and supported by efficient, responsive and customer-focused manufacturing processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarises the findings of a study on second trimester abortion in England and Wales in 2005. Second trimester abortions constitute a relatively small proportion of the total number of legal abortions performed in these countries yet attract quite substantial public, and particularly media, attention. Discussion of these abortions has, however, been conducted within a context of little understanding of the factors which explain why they happen. This paper starts with a brief introduction to the policy context for provision of second trimester abortion, and a summary of existing research in the area. It then presents the results of a survey of 883 women on their own reasons why they had abortions in the second trimester. The key concept is that of "delay" and reasons for delay in seeking or obtaining abortion at five stages in the pathway to abortion. No clear, single reason emerges. Amongst the main reasons identified are uncertainty about what to do if they were pregnant, not realising they were pregnant, experiencing bleeding which may have been confused with continuing to have periods, and changes in personal circumstances. The paper ends with a consideration of the implications of the results for education, policy development and service provision. Cet article résume les conclusions d'une étude sur l'avortement du deuxième trimestre en Angleterre et au Pays de Galles en 2005. Les avortements du deuxième trimestre représentent une proportion relativement modeste du nombre total d'avortements légaux pratiqués dans ces pays, mais ils attirent beaucoup l'attention du public et en particulier des médias. Le débat sur ces avortements s'est néanmoins déroulé dans un contexte où les facteurs qui les expliquent sont mal compris. L'article commence par une brève présentation du contexte politique pour la pratique de l'avortement du deuxième trimestre, et un résumé de la recherche dans ce domaine. Il expose ensuite les résultats d'une enquête ayant demandé à 883 femmes leurs raisons pour avoir avorté au deuxième trimestre. Le concept clé est celui de « retard » et des raisons du retard de la demande et de l'obtention de l'avortement à cinq étapes de la voie vers l'avortement. Aucune raison claire et unique n'est apparue. Parmi les principales raisons identifiées, figurent l'incertitude sur la conduite à tenir en cas de grossesse, le fait que les femmes ignoraient qu'elles étaient enceintes, des pertes de sang leur ayant fait croire qu'elles continuaient à avoir leurs règles, et des changements dans leur situation personnelle. L'article s'achève en examinant les conséquences des résultats pour l'éducation, la définition des politiques et la prestation des services. En este artículo se resumen los resultados de un estudio sobre el aborto en el segundo trimestre, realizado en Inglaterra y Gales, en 2005. Los abortos de segundo trimestre constituyen una proporción relativamente pequeña del número total de abortos legales efectuados en estos países; sin embargo, atraen considerable atención pública, particularmente de los medios de comunicación. No obstante, el debate sobre estos abortos ha transcurrido en un contexto de poco entendimiento de los factores que explican por qué ocurren. Este artículo comienza con una introducción concisa al contexto de políticas para la prestación de servicios de aborto en el segundo trimestre, y un resumen de las investigaciones realizadas al respecto. Después, se presentan los resultados de una encuesta entre 883 mujeres sobre sus propios motivos para tener abortos en el segundo trimestre. El concepto clave es el de "demora" y las razones para aplazar la búsqueda u obtención de servicios de aborto en cinco etapas en la ruta hacia el aborto. No surge ninguna razón clara y única. Las principales razones mencionadas fueron: incertidumbre sobre qué hacer si estaban embarazadas, no darse cuenta de que estaban embarazadas, experimentar sangrado, que pudo haber sido confundido con continuar teniendo la regla, y cambios en circunstancias personales. Para concluir, se analizan las implicaciones de los resultados para la educación, la formulación de políticas y la prestación de servicios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Reformation, the established Church had monopolised the English burial trade. In London, in the 1830s, burial conditions posed a serious threat to public health and a number of limited liability companies were licensed by Parliament to provide new facilities for the interment of the dead on the edges of the city, before the main responsibility was then transferred to local government. The paper examines the changes in government thinking that lay behind these policy shifts and explains why private sector capitalists were unable to meet the various expectations of customers in the London burial market, its own stakeholders and society more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information about the Progressive Bookshop, which served as a source of literary items during the 1920's in London, England. According to the article, the shop is said to have been distributing books which are not legally available in public among its trusted clients which includes the works of D.H. Lawrence entitled "Lady Chatterley's Lover." In addition, it states that the book shop was owned and managed by Charles Lahr throughout the inter-war decades, wherein the British government is strictly enforcing its censorship laws.

The article presents the findings from a survey of over 400 young people in metropolitan areas in the Netherlands and England concerning their views on identity and school history. The research explored pupils’ ideas about which facets of history were of interest to them, what history they believed should be taught in schools, and their views on the purposes of school history and history in general. The coding of the data made it possible to delineate between those from different ethnic minority backgrounds, boys and girls, age and level of education and first or second generation of migration. The study revealed significant differences between young people's ideas about history and identity, and those advanced by politicians and policy makers in the Netherlands, England and elsewhere. The concluding section of the paper considers the implications of the findings for policy makers in the field of history education in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has a central place in the identification and definition of World Heritage Sites, and increasingly in their ongoing management and conservation. Using the example of Stonehenge in central southern England, attention is drawn to the formulation of a research framework as a means of providing a transparent and structured approach to the planning and execution of high quality research. Ultimately, however, research has to be useful and socially relevant in terms of the outputs produced. In the second part of the paper some of the wider issues of knowledge creation are explored and a scheme proposed for the conceptualization of archaeological knowledge or scientia as four overlapping fields: narrative knowledge, strategic knowledge, indigenous knowledge and contemplative knowledge. It is suggested that World Heritage Sites should not only be exemplary situations for the pursuit of research but also be closely identified with the creation and maintenance of different kinds of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of Foundation Degree qualifications in the UK (HEFCE, 2007) has lead to a more active view of employer engagement with Higher Education. Many full time Foundation Degree students are now taking up work placements with employers as part of their study. As a result, a three-way conversation between learners, employers and tutors needs to take place on an ongoing basis throughout placements. An online environment utilising blogs, e-portfolio and online work-based contracts can facilitate this 'conversation'. Employers can be further supported through provision of online materials to support the process of mentor training. This paper reports on an HE Academy, ICS funded mini-project to create such an environment at Hull College for students on the Foundation Degree course in Software Design and Development. The project is still underway, and is in the middle of its year-long span. The environment has been chosen, developed and tested. The next phase will be to use the system for work-placement study. This paper outlines the use of Elgg as a means of maintaining communication with students, employers and tutors and encouraging reflection during Foundation Degree work placements. We aim to present the experience of using the online environment at the 8th Annual Conference of the ICS HE Academy in August. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports the findings of a project to develop an online information literacy tutorial at the DCMT Library, Cranfield University. This case study is intended to highlight some of the issues raised in designing and developing a tutorial for a specific target audience and to describe the actual tutorial package. The paper describes the research and specification phases of the project and includes an in-depth discussion on the tutorial design and lessons learnt to date. Discussion on the tutorial design includes commentary on the navigation, themes associated with specific tutorials and the tools used to engage the user, including a generic search engine. A summary of the lessons learnt are: * Allow more time and place more emphasis on early planning activities; * Involve end users often and earlier; * Define the learning outcomes more clearly; * Ensure the project maintains good communication and mediation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Numeracy Strategy was introduced in England in 1998 to reform mathematics teaching in all primary schools. The strategy has been widely implemented and this paper investigates some of the changes that are evident after the first five years. Reporting a comparison between studies in 1998 and 2003 of pupils’ calculating strategies for division, this study shows a small improvement overall but lack of the uniformity that may be expected from a national Strategy. Structured written recording, progressively developed from more intuitive understanding, was not evident in much of the pupils’ work. In some schools there was success with the new ‘chunking’ written method, identified in the Framework as ‘informal’, while in less successful schools, pupils continued to use various informal and inefficient strategies. While in 1998 success of boys and girls was not significantly different, in 2003 the boys were more successful. The boys made more use of informal working and mental strategies, while the girls relied on more structured written methods and in the schools where girls did better they used mostly the chunking algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores changes in the pre‐school education market in England since the Labour Government came into office in 1997. It focuses in particular on quality, availability and affordability and in so doing explores issues of equity. It will be argued that whilst overall levels of pre‐school educational provision have increased, there are still not enough places, costs are too high for some and the quality is variable. In the light of research evidence indicating greater cognitive and social progress in certain types of pre‐school provision, it is argued that there is a particular need to improve access to such forms of provision as they can enhance the educational and social outcomes of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. A number of policy changes are proposed in order to enhance the quality, availability and affordability of pre‐school education for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the incidence of the diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) among White and Asian children with reference to data obtained from thirteen local education authorities (LEAs) in England. It begins by outlining some of the theoretical debates associated with the definition, diagnosis and prevalence of ASD. The empirical component underpinning this work uses logistic modelling to ascertain whether the proportion of children with a statement of special educational need (SEN) for ASD is different for Asian and for White children and whether the proportion of children with a statement of SEN for ASD varies between LEAs. The discussion speculates as to possible reasons for the differences found and identifies areas for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the interaction between fieldworker and “tradition bearer” over an extended period of time, in the context of an ethnographic study of singing traditions in the southern Pennines of England. Using examples, it examines the negative as well as the positive aspects of the exchange, with particular emphasis on mutuality and reciprocity. It charts the development of key relationships and the ways in which they have come to maturity and achieved equilibrium. Careful thought is given to the role of the fieldworker in respect of active/passive, interventionist/non-interventionist stances. Aspects of performance, commercialisation, networking, promotion, and media relations are discussed. Following a consideration of ethical and moral issues, including exploitation and advocacy, the paper suggests a working model of partnership as a way forward for future productive field-based research into traditional expressive arts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the ways in which sixth‐form students in Milton Keynes negotiate their identities and the symbolic significance they attach to leisure activities in the process of doing this. The paper draws upon qualitative, young‐person‐centred interviews with sixth formers in state and private schools. We address the investments of sixth formers in constructing themselves as autonomous individuals and argue that they do so from a position of middle‐class subjects‐in‐the‐making. Through an inversion of Willis’ (1977) (focus, our concern is to make explicit the implicitly middle‐class identities sixth formers were forging. We argue that the identity‐work of sixth formers plays a part in the reproduction of school‐based class inequalities by pathologising working‐class students while constructing themselves as bourgeois liberal individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study situates Green’s educational philosophy and practice in the context of his overall approach to philosophy. In Green’s view, education should aim at the realisation of the common good, but what Green means by this term is closely connected to his views on human nature, ethical endeavour and indeed the evolution of human history. These ideas are central to his main philosophical works. For Green the common good is to be found in the achievement of qualities of mind or character which involve the individual making the best of himself/herself. The content of education and particularly the development of reason assist centrally in this process. Access to resources and education are important conditions for achieving the common good, but since they involve scarce resources and competition for them, they are not part of the common good as such. The paper goes on to link these ideas with Green’s account of citizenship and his involvement with school and university education in Oxford. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encouraging pupils to develop a sense of European identity is one of the implicit aims of the ‘European Schools’. This paper reports on a small case study that was carried out in 2004 that investigated how the European School at Culham attempts to develop in its pupils a sense of European identity. In particular, the study looked at the secondary school’s organizational features, its curriculum, extra-curricular activities and teachers’ conceptions of European identity. The research findings reveal that above all else, pupils’ sense of European identity is encouraged indirectly through the many opportunities the school provides for these children from diverse European backgrounds to integrate and interact with one another. Teachers at the school believe that it is through such interactions, which take place both in the classroom and through extra-curricular activities, that pupils learn about each others’ cultures and languages and develop a feeling of being European. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically discusses recent attempts to estimate long-term trends in the stillbirth rate for England and Wales. It assesses the available historical evidence for the level of late-fetal mortality, drawing especially on examples from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. A theoretical fetal–infant life table for a high-mortality population is also outlined as a means of analysing the relationship between segments of the conception-to-first-birthday mortality curve. Finally, new estimates of the stillbirth rate for England and Wales are proposed, based on variations in the early neonatal and maternal mortality rates during the 1930s. These estimates are substantially lower than the earlier estimates and are more in keeping with the available evidence from northern Europe. The implications of the revised estimates for interpretations of historical changes in mortality patterns are also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite there being significant numbers of state maintained Catholic schools in England, they have until recently proved to be of interest only to a minority of researchers, usually those directly involved in their promotion. New Government initiatives encouraging further diversity in the provision of schools have proved controversial and, in reopening the religious debates of the 19 th and early 20 th centuries, have prompted interest in the academic performance of Church schools. This paper takes a longitudinal approach in reviewing information already in the public domain, as well as presenting new evidence based on national examination performance data. Standards of academic attainment at Key Stage 4 in Catholic schools compare favourably with national norms. Such schools are particularly effective with more socially disadvantaged pupils and, as such, appear to offer much to the common good of society. Further areas for research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes some of the more prohibitive aspects of HIV prevention among gay men in England. It argues that much current HIV prevention work assumes that prohibition is the most appropriate means of governing gay male sexual practice--most particularly in relation to the treatment of unprotected anal sex or bare-backing . The prohibitive approach constructs an opposition between the good gay citizen who privileges health maximisation and the evil irresponsible bare-backer who embodies the transgressive pleasure of unprotected sex. It becomes impossible to represent bare-backing outside of this cycle of prohibition and transgression without being re-inscribed within it through the sickness of low self-esteem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the discourses of morality drawn on by secondary school teachers in England to describe their attitudes to pupils' developing sexual identities. Although teachers recognized their own formative role in the sexual socialization of pupils and identified homophobic attitudes among boys, they were ambivalent about how far they could intervene in homophobic bulling in school. However, they failed even to recognize the widespread misogynistic bullying of girls by boys as a problem. Teachers expressed anxieties about girls' ownership of sexual knowledge and sexual agency while perceiving boys to be sexually immature and less ‘responsible’. We explore possible reasons for teachers' neglect of misogynistic bullying and their labelling of girls as sexually precocious. We argue that the discourses shaping teachers' attitudes to sexual morality and sex education were largely embedded in a form of liberal individualism that impeded them from confronting the structurally reproduced relations of gender domination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the methods by which candidates are selected for the Oxford Medical School in the light of the literature on assessment in general and candidate selection in particular. We review changes in the process that attempt to capture the best of evidence-supported practice while preserving or enhancing the features identified as being peculiar strengths of the Oxford learning environment. These changes aim to improve fairness, reliability and validity, while permitting candidate-specific approaches that allow for differences of prior experience and opportunity. Over the last three years, the outcome has been a marked convergence between the approaches to selection in Oxford with commonly accepted standards of assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes findings from an in-depth case study of young people's sexuality and learning about sex. Focus groups and unstructured interviews were conducted with young women and young men aged 15-16 years in a school in the north of England. Analysis focused on disjunctions between reported sexual behaviour in a park and in a bedsitting room, and the content of school sex and relationship education. Tensions between the accounts are considered for their impact on learning about sex, sexual negotiation, subjectivity and inter-generational understanding. Despite some negative experiences in sex education, the young people interviewed desired the affirmation and support of adults, and recommend sex and relationship education as the most appropriate vehicle for providing this. The value added outcomes of participation in the study, including consciousness and awareness raising, and the opportunity for reflection and debate and selves as 'experts', enhanced young people's view that non-judgemental and meaningful advice and guidance are possible in formal learning contexts. Implications for future forms of sex and relationship education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By linking information from a number of databases, it was possible to investigate some factors that influence the relative progress of pupils from age 14 to age 16 attending comprehensive schools from two English Local Education Authorities (LEAs). In particular, the characteristics of the neighbourhood that the school was located in and the quality of teaching were included in the models. It was found that the quality of teaching was better in neighbourhoods of low child poverty. In addition, it was found that child poverty was also related to relative progress over Key Stage 4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes English and French modes of regulation of the educational system, stressing the contrast between them (regulation by process versus regulation by outcomes), while their goals and organisation prove rather more convergent over the last 30 years. It tries to assess the correspondence between those two ways of operating and what we know about the functioning of organisations like schools. From that point of view, the French system fits the economic theory of organisation less well than the English one, so that some contradictions and tensions are predictable. Last, it looks for some relationship with indicators of effectiveness, equity and social satisfaction towards school in the two countries. No clear relationship emerges at the present time, but the analysis may help predict some problems that lie ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives as full an overview of the patterns of provision made in England for disaffected and excluded pupils and those said to have emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) in England as the available data allow. It draws upon government statistics, local education authorities' (LEAs') first 'Behaviour Support Plans' and related literature. The BSPs were intended by the English government, but sometimes failed to give, comprehensive accounts of current local provision and future inter-agency plans. However, when analysed alongside government figures, certain features become clear. While in 1998 local education authorities were attempting to move towards prevention and on-mainstream-school site interventions, the need for off-site special units ('Pupil Referral Units') continued to increase and the numbers of pupils in EBD special schools remained roughly constant. Despite national pressure to move towards the inclusion of all pupils, LEAs continued to find it impossible to educate a small percentage of pupils with behavioural difficulties on mainstream sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses Pierre Bourdieu's multi-faceted understanding of the higher education process by considering the evolution of this domain since the end of the 1970s both in France and England. Following a brief review of Bourdieu's main interpretations of higher education, several theoretical shifts in his thought and practice over time are identified that have sought to accommodate the rapid changes that have occurred in the higher education sector in recent years. This theoretical repositioning is used to reflect on ideas of homological reasoning advanced by Bourdieu and others, and their limitations in the cross-national comparative exercise. Using the findings of her own comparative study of the evolution of the French and English higher education sectors, the author tests some of the conceptual tools developed by Bourdieu mainly during the 1960s and 1970s, and discusses claims for their universal validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to two ongoing debates among demographers. One deals with the immediate and deferred health effects of childbearing in the past, and the other with competing explanations--the frailty and insult accumulation hypotheses--for differences in individual health later in life. The study population consists of working women who lived at four locales in England and Wales in parts of the period 1778-1929 and who were under observation for incapacitating sickness during and after their childbearing years. Mothers within the study population are contrasted with a comparison group made up principally of non-mothers. The mothers began their reproductive careers with an advantage in health that was especially evident in the duration of sickness episodes. Even though individual births were less hazardous than individual sicknesses at the same ages, the cumulative effect of childbearing appears to have eroded the mothers' advantage. By ages 50-74 the mothers resembled the comparison group in health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights the conference on the social and cultural history of England during the early modern period at the University of East Anglia in England on April 24, 2002. English reformation and revolution; Presence of historians; Enumeration of events.

The views of a range of teachers towards South Asians in schools and colleges in Birmingham are explored in this paper. Based on 23 teachers, often senior in nature, from 11 educational institutions (9 schools [1 independent, 2 selective, 6 comprehensive] and 2 further education colleges), analysis of attitudes is in relation to gender and religion; socialisation and language differences between South Asian groups; and teacher ethnicity and antiracist multicultural education policy. It was broadly found that teachers viewed the education of South Asians based on the modus operandi of the educational institution they represented as well as the way in which differing South Asians based on socio-economic status, ethnicity and gender were thought to act and behave. There are implications for how South Asians are perceived as individuals as well as groups by teachers, as well as how schools can make a real attempt to improve existing home–school relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines influences on post-neonatal mortality in Derbyshire (England) in the early twentieth century, by applying multivariate hazard analysis to a rare individual-level data set. The data allow detailed patterns of breastfeeding and weaning to be examined. The role of feeding is given special attention as a mediator between mortality and the other environmental, social, and demographic factors considered. Twins and illegitimate children were more likely to have been hand-fed, but this could explain only a small fraction of their increased vulnerability. Artificial feeding was associated with increased risks of death from diarrhoea, respiratory disease, and wasting diseases, lit is suggested that the link with wasting diseases was predominantly the result of the greater likelihood of congenitally weak children being hand-fed. Most of the variation in post-neonatal mortality, particularly from respiratory disease, was explained by environmental influences -- population density, altitude, and the presence of mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the gendering of architectural space by examining exchange rituals in spaces of courtship, such as assembly rooms, that provided places of public gathering outside the family home for making marriage arrangements. As a specific example, I take Almack's Assembly Rooms, King Street, St. James's, a place of aristocratic entertainment and leisure during the early nineteenth century. At Almack's, activities of exchange, consumption, and display were articulated in relation to courtship and marriage. Such activities were carefully controlled by the patrons whose concerns over the possible transgressions that aspects of private family life might indicate in public company, were represented as issues of the private in terms of exclusivity and intimacy, and the public in relation to display and masquerade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neonatal mortality and stillbirths are recognised to be subject to similar influences, but survival alter a successful live birth is usually considered in isolation of foetal wastage. Moreover, individual-level data on age-specific influences and causes of death in a historical context are rare. This paper uses an unusual data set to compare the influences on neonatal mortality and stillbirths in early twentieth century Derbyshire, England. Multivariate hazard and logistic analyses are performed to examine the relative roles of various social, environmental, and demographic factors. The influences on and causal structures of neonatal mortality and stillbirths emerge as broadly similar, with previous reproductive history linked to a considerable amount of variation. The clustering of endogenous deaths was much greater than the clustering of exogenous and post-neonatal deaths, probably reflecting the cause-of-death structure and the relatively healthy social and environmental position of early twentieth century Derbyshire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avebury is one of the largest Neolithic monuments in the British Isles. Enormous earthworks define a vast enclosure on the Wessex chalkland, and within its boundaries are settings of standing stones which reach into the sky. The sheer size of this place is difficult to comprehend on the ground, and to enter the enclosure is to move into a space that contrasts entirely with the surrounding landscape. On one level, Avebury is a monument of chalk and stone. On another, these materials served to define spaces and create experiences which are less often the subject of archaeological analysis. This paper will consider how an appreciation of aesthetics might begin to dissolve these differing approaches to the material evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent concern with the apparent 'under-achievement' of boys in England's comprehensive schools has led schools to review the potential of single-sex classes as a means of improving performance. This paper reviews the arguments for such a strategy, in the context of one school where such an approach has underpinned the organisation of the school through the last three decades. We examine the rationale behind the original decision to implement single-sex teaching, consider the evolution of the curriculum through time, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this mode of organisation from the varying perspectives of parents, students and teachers. We consider whether the strategy has contributed to an improvement in the achievement levels of girls, and discuss the extent to which single-sex teaching has the potential to have a positive impact in raising boys' performance. In reviewing the evidence, we conclude that the single-sex mode of teaching in the school is effective in contributing to high achievement levels, in many contexts providing a conducive and supportive environment for students' learning. We suggest that such groupings may offer more advantages for girls than for boys; we argue that the potential of the system will only be fully realised when it is explicitly recognised that girls and boys do respond differently, in certain contexts, to different teaching-learning styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper examines and compares recent citizenship education policy documents from France and England and explores the extent to which they encourage inclusive or exclusive concepts of national identity and citizenship. Current policies are being developed in a context of perceived disillusionment and political apathy amongst the young. Whilst citizenship education has traditionally aimed to prepare young people to take their place in adult society and a national community, today the notion of a single national identity is increasingly questioned. Using framing questions from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) survey of civic education, we examine programmes of study in each country to determine the extent to which they promote human rights as shared values, make positive references to cultural diversity, and conceptualise minorities. We consider the potential of citizenship education thus defined to contribute towards the development of justice and equality in society and challenge racism and xenophobia. We note the strengths and limitations of each approach to education for citizenship and suggest what each might gain from the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that, whether it is officially accepted in education policy and school curricula or not, where bilingual children are present in classrooms, so are their languages, and those languages are put to use in their learning. The increasingly sophisticated technologies of sound and visual recording have opened up new possibilities in revealing the sub rosa world of pupil interaction, and the part that languages play in the construction of pupil identities in the classroom. A detailed study of children at work in one inner city primary classroom illustrates the way in which pupil identities are jointly constructed through interaction. Children are not passive pawns in the socialisation processes of the school, but active participants, taking up different positions within the alternatives open to them through both pedagogic and peer discursive practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an endeavour to compare the teaching-efficiency of individual secondary schools in England, the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) published measures of pupils' progress in learning attainments between the ages of 14 and 16, based on the results of obligatory nationwide tests in a range of school-subjects at each of those ages (SATs and GCSE). The results were subsequently used by commentators to suggest that grammar schools do not make as much progress between those ages as comprehensive schools; and that pupils who are high-attainers at age 14 do better in their subsequent two years if they attend a comprehensive school rather than a grammar school. The present paper examines the robustness of the measuring rods for these purposes; it concludes that they are hardly adequate but, insofar as they are used for these purposes, the results indicate precisely the opposite: namely, greater average progress (greater 'value-added') for grammar schools, and for high-attaining pupils in grammar schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collection of ethnic and racial statistics has become common in a growing number of institutional settings. Yet contemporary approaches to race and ethnicity suggest that the very process of compelling people to assign themselves to one of a small number of racial or ethnic 'boxes' is, at best, essentialist and, at worst, racist. This article will explore this problematic terrain, and venture a pathway through it, with the aid of findings from a study of ethnic minority English and Welsh student teachers' attitudes to ethnic classification. The discussion comprises three parts. The first sets out to provide a brief theoretical analysis of the genesis of ethnic monitoring within the modern state. It is concluded that ethnic monitoring may usefully be regarded as a problematic necessity, a process that itself needs constant monitoring. With this agenda in place, we move on to assess the implications of our findings on student teachers' attitudes to ethnic monitoring. Their pointers for reform are discussed in the third and final section of the paper, where the policy implications of research are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT. The simple equation of industrialisation and urbanisation contains much truth: recent national surveys confirm that rapid coal-based industrial growth spawned massive urban development in Britain. And yet at the local level a wide diversity of growth experiences reflect a complex and overlapping nexus of growth stimuli which defy attempts at generalisation. In taking a regional perspective, this paper seeks to occupy a productive middle ground in this ongoing debate. Placing urban growth in northwest England into its real economic and geographical context, it recognises the complexities of urban growth but transcends the narrowness of the particular. In so doing, it challenges some of the certainties of industrial urbanisation, emphasising instead the importance of rural industry, urban commercial functions and interplace linkages. Most fundamentally, it argues for a more nuanced understanding of the geography of causality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses data on Further Education (FE) colleges in England to examine the relationship between resources and performance. We model the relationship between inspection scores and resource levels to investigate whether colleges with greater expenditures perform better in terms of their inspections scores. Our findings, similar to others using different functional specifications, are that there is no evident positive link between unit resource levels and performance, but that a positive link between size and performance can be substantiated. The implications of this for policy and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning is high on the political agenda for post-compulsory education and training in England. Official discourses about learning assume a predominantly individualist stance, despite the development of theoretical models that stress the contextual and situated nature of learning. In a study following 50 young people through further education over 4 years, it became apparent that the institutional culture of the colleges had a significant impact upon students’ dispositions towards their learning. In this paper, we explore the nature and significance of this impact in a case-study sixth form college: an under-researched sector of educational provision. This is followed by a brief discussion of the implications of our analysis for issues of access, widening participation and inequality in relation to current proposals to reform age 16–19 educational provision in England. We conclude by identifying some of the questions about the fine-grained nature of that college culture that our data does not permit us to address directly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]