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This paper critically assesses Chris Shilling's claims that structuration theory provides a new and important direction for sociology of education. That assessment is conducted with particular reference to the long-standing research programme in the sociology of education, known as the differentiation-polarisation theory (d-p). The plausibility of the claim that d-p is positivist is examined, and the extent to which d-p meets the supposed inadequacies of sociology of education allegedly exposed by structuration theory is investigated. It is concluded that the novelty and importance of structuration theory for sociology of education and a fortiori education policy remains unproven. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I identify how developments in consumer culture, waged-work and health policy have informed our current interest in the body, before suggesting that Durkheim's and Mauss's methodological approach towards the external and internal dimensions of "social facts" provides us with a valuable basis on which we can analyse the impact of these factors on those subject to them. Building on their interest in the corporeal internalization of societal trends, and the centrality of body techniques to the habitus, I then outline a new "corporeal realist" framework that can assist us in analysing the education of bodies. This focuses on the relationship that exists between the general forms of body "pedagogics" dominant within a society as a whole and the specific types of body "pedagogies" evident in curricula and schools. Recognizing these different terms as referring to distinctive phenomena helps us avoid the assumption that schools simply mirror society, highlights the importance of exploring the interactions between society and school, and sensitizes us to the need to investigate how social norms and policy initiatives are variously filtered, mediated and re-contextualised within the educational field.

Supply teachers are playing a growing role in British and Welsh schools, because of staff shortages and in-service training demands. Using data from a comparative case study of cover arrangements in a local education authority and a district health authority, this paper identifies several major factors affecting the organization of supply workers. Includes 42 references. (MLH)