Notes for further reading

Overview

The following suggestions for further reading concern the overarching theoretical framework of this chapter with its emphasis on the reciprocal relationship between the individual and society. Firstly we recommend two classic books. (Chapter 1 of Mills, and Chapters 4 and 5 of Berger are particularly relevant):

Berger, P.L. (1963) Invitation to Sociology: a Humanistic Perspective, New York: Doubleday.

Mills, C.W. (1959) The Sociological Imagination, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Reading 4.1)

For more recent, but equally stimulating, texts, try:

Giddens, A. (2001) Sociology, (4th edition.) Oxford: Polity Press.

Bauman, Z. (1990) Thinking Sociologically, Oxford: Blackwell.

We also recommend the introductory chapter of the following book, edited by Stephen Ball, which outlines some of the 'turning points' in recent debates about the sociology of education:

Ball, S. (ed.) (2004) The RoutledgeFalmer Reader in Sociology of Education, London: RoutledgeFalmer.

A more advanced way of following up this theoretical perspective is to look for texts concerning the approach known as ‘symbolic interactionism’. This is based on the work of George Herbert Mead who draws attention to processes of social interaction as the foundation of a person’s development of a ‘self’. Although Mead’s book, was written in 1934 it is still accessible and has now become a classic:

Mead, G.H., (1934) Mind, Self and Society, Chicago. University of Chicago Press.

Section 1: Social context

The following readings specifically attempt to trace links between individual actions and the wider social context:

Pollard, A. (1985) The Social World of the Primary School, London: Cassell.

Sharp, R. and Green, A. (1975) Education and Social Control, London: Routledge and Kegan, Paul.

Pollard, A. (1996) The Social World of Children’s Learning: Case Studies of Pupils from Four to Seven. London: Cassell.

Filer, A. & Pollard, A. (1999) The Social World of Pupil Career: Strategic Biographies Through Primary School, London: Cassell.

Whilst the following book has a specific focus on the intersection between gender and class it is also an excellent illustration of the interdependence between the individual and their social context:

Walkerdine, V., Lucey, H., and Melody, J. ( 2001) Growing Up Girl: Psychosocial Explorations of Gender and Class. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

For a readable analysis of modern British society, which illustrates aspects of this framework, see:

Halsey, A. H. (1986) Change in British Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bentley, T. (1998) Learning Beyond the Classroom, London: Routledge.

The following books explore the complex and changing relationships between the state and the processes and practices of education. Coffey emphasises the importance of educational experiences for the production of collective and individual biographies, while Smyth et al examine teachers’ work within the global economy.

Coffey, A. (2001) Education and Social Change, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Smyth, J., Dow, A., Hattam, R., Reid, A. and Shacklock, G. (2000) Teachers’ Work in a Globalizing Economy, London: Falmer.

The next group of suggestions are concerned with educational ideologies and reforms. If you wish to follow up the concept of ideology the following reading will help. It provides a very general introduction to a variety of themes relating to Education intended for a professional and non-professional audience and it contains a section on ideology in education in the UK.

Matheson, D & Grosvenor I. (1999) An Introduction to the Study of Education, London: David Fulton.

Two new books present educational ideologies from an international perspective. The first is concerned with ideologies from a range of leading thinkers from around the world, particularly those that challenge current assumptions about school effectiveness. The second examines educational ideologies within intergovernmental organisations:

MacBeath, J. and Moos, L. (2003) Democratic Learning. The Challenge to School Effectiveness, London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Spring, J. (2004) How Educational Ideologies are Shaping Global Societies, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

A classic text on educational ideology and curriculum, now in its 3rd ediition, is:

Apple, M. (2004) Ideology and Curriculum, London: RoutledgeFalmer.

The best book to read to understand New Labour’s approach to education was written by Michael Barber, a close adviser to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair:

Barber, M. (1996) The Learning Game: Arguments for an Education Revolution, London: Gollancz. (see also Reading 17.4)

A collection of contributions from key policy thinkers explores the impact of education reforms in four years of Labour government:

Fielding, M. (ed) (2001) Taking Education Really Seriously, London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Two books edited by Jim Docking provide an overview of current and recent education reforms:

Docking, J. (2000) New Labour’s Policies for Schools. Raising the Standard? London: David Fulton.

Docking J. (1996) National School Policy. Major Issues in Education Policy for Schools in England and Wales, 1979 onwards, London: David Fulton.

Lawton examines Labour party educational ideology since 1900 in the following book:

Lawton, D. (2004) Education and Labour Party Ideologies 1900 - 2001 and Beyond, London: Routledge.

Distinctions in each part of the UK are reviewed in:

Gearon, L. (2001) Education in the United Kingdom: Structures and Organisation, London: David Fulton.

Updated basic information is available from the annual review of Britain from the Office of National Statistics:

Office for National Statistics (annually) Britain: The Official Yearbook of the United Kingdom, London: The Stationery Office.

The issues are applied to primary education in:

Richards, C. and Taylor, P. H. (eds) (1998) How Shall We School Our Children? Primary Education and its Future, London: Falmer.

Richards, C. (ed) (2001) Changing English Primary Education: Retrospect and Prospect, Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham.

General reviews which locate education and primary school practices within a social and historical context are:

Clarkson, M. (1988) Emerging Issues in Primary Education, London: Falmer.

Cunningham, P. (1988) Curriculum Change in the Primary School since 1945: Dissemination of the Progressive Ideal. London: Falmer.

and for Europe as a whole:

Husen, T., Tuijnman, A. and Halls, W. (1992) Schooling in Modern European Society, London: Pergamon.

Galton, M. and Blyth, A. (1989) Handbook of Primary Education in Europe, London: David Fulton.

For Australia:

Henry, M., Taylor, S. Knight, J. and Lingard, R. (1990) Understanding Schooling, London: Routledge.

For the USA:

Spring, J. (1991) American Education: An Introduction to Social and Political Aspects, New York: Longman.

Keeping abreast of new developments and policies is a considerable challenge. However, there are a number of useful newspapers, magazines, journals and web sites for the UK:

Teachernet

Times Educational Supplement (weekly)
Child Education (monthly)
Junior Education (monthly)
Education 3-13. Association for the Study of Primary Education, (ASPE), Trentham Books (three issues a year)
NUT, (National Union of Teachers), online, including NUT News: www.data.teachers.org.uk/
National Primary Trust: www.rdiu.anglia.ac.uk/npt/index.cfm
ASPE (see above): www.aspe.org.uk

Legal requirements have also been changing rapidly and access to reliable, accurate and regularly updated sources of information can be invaluable. The National Association for Headteachers and the National Union of Teachers supply such services for their members in the form of ring-binders of information. An independent resource for all teachers, with a quarterly update routine and dealing with all legislation, management, staffing, special educational needs and day-to-day issues which occur in schools, is:

The Head's Legal Guide, London: Croner Publications.

In keeping with our emphasis on school cultures, defined as ‘sets of shared perspectives’, we offer a number of related suggestions for exploring and illustrating how school cultures, and sub cultures exist and how they operate:

Prosser, J. (ed.) (1999) School Culture, London: Paul Chapman.

Smyth, J., McInerny, P., Hattam, R. & Lawson, M. (1999) School Culture: The Key to School Reform, Adelaide: Flinders Institute for the Study of Teaching.

Maehr, M. and Midgley, C. (1996) Transforming School Cultures, Boulder, Colo: Westview Press.

Grace, G. (1978) Teachers, Ideology and Control, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Two books which focus particularly on school playground cultures are:

Bishop J.C. & Curtis, M. (eds) (2001) Play Today in the Primary School Playground, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Blatchford, P. & Sharp, S. (1994) Breaktime and the School, London: Routledge.

Taking a broader approach to school cultures, and the communities within which they are embedded, the following two books present analyses of cultural influences on school processes:

Connell, R.W., Ashden, D.J., Kessler, S & Dowsett, G.W. (1982) Making the Difference: Schools, Families and Social Divisions, Sidney: Allen & Unwin.

Humphries, S. (1982) Hooligans or Rebels?, Oxford: Blackwell.

The following two chapters, both from the same book by Woodhead, Faulkner and Littleton, are recommended to readers interested in the growing field of 'cultural psychology':

Trevarthen, C. (1998) The Child's Need to Learn a Culture, in Woodhead, M., Faulkner, D., and Littleton, K. (eds.) Cultural Worlds of Early Childhood, London: Routledge.

Cole, M. ( 1998) Culture in Development, in Woodhead, M., Faulkner, D., and Littleton, K. (eds.) Cultural Worlds of Early Childhood, London: Routledge.

A book by Gregory may help to expand your understanding of what it means for young children to enter a new language and culture in school:

Gregory, E. (1997) One Child, Many Worlds. Early Learning in Multicultural Communities, London: David Fulton.

Regarding the influence of educational resources, the following book discusses the effects of local management on the ways that schools have been managed and resourced since 1990:

Levacic, R. (1995) Local Management of Schools, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Section 2: People

The following suggestions develop further ideas about the roles, identities and influences of teachers:

Firstly two books discuss the impact of recent policy changes on school staff in primary schools:

Menter, I., Muschamp, Y., Nicholls, and P. Ozga, J. with Pollard, A. (1997). Work and Identity in the Primary School A Post-Fordist Analysis, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Woods, P., Jeffrey, B., Troman, G. & Boyle, M. (1997) Restructuring Schools, Reconstructing Teachers. Responding to Change in the Primary School, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Two books that celebrate the positive aspects of teaching especially against a background of current public criticism are:

Richardson, R. (2002) In Praise of Teachers. Identity, Equality and Education, Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham.

Brighouse, T. & Woods, D. (2002) The Joy of Teaching, London: RoutledgeFalmer.

We also recognise the increasing role of Learning Support Assistants and the following book gives LSAs a voice as they describe their pivotal work in a number of different classroom settings:

O'Brien,T. and Garner, P. (2001) Untold stories. Learning Support Assistants and their work, Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham.

The following books will develop further insights into the social and cultural practices of children and their families, in relation to educational processes. Jensen and Mckee’s book researches family change from the child’s point of view, including, for example, the child’s role in major familial decisions such as divorce, and moving house. Roffey and Carpenter explore the issues for the partnership between school and parents with regard to the early stages of behavioural difficulty and in early intervention strategies for children with special needs and disabilities. Freebody and Austin explore school as a location in which social and cultural ideas about childhood are both defined and performed.

Jensen, A. & McKee, L. (2002) Children and the Changing Family: Between Transformation and Negotiation, London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Roffey, S. (2002) School Behaviour and Families. Frameworks for Working Together, London: David Fulton.

Carpenter, B. (1997) Families in Context. Emerging Trends in Family Support and Early Intervention, London: David Fulton.

Freebody, P. & Austin, A. (2002) Schooling the Child. The Making of Students in Classrooms, London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Three books which provide a more general background to understanding changes in the composition and practices of the contemporary family are:

Silva, E.B.and Smart, C. (1998) The New Family? London: Sage.

Muncie, J., Wetherell, M., Langan, M., Dallos, R. and Cochrane, A.(1999) Understanding the Family, London: Sage.

Erera, P.I. (2001) Family Diversity. Continuity and Change in the Contemporary Family, London: Sage.

Teachers of 'looked-after' children may find the following publication helpful.  It compares policies and practices relating to children in care in six European countries:

Petrie, P., Boddy, J., Cameron, C. and Wigfell, V.(2005) Working with Children in Care: European Perspectives, Maidenhead: Open University Press.  

A number of recent publications have emphasised the importance of creating the spaces and means to listen to children’s voices:

Davie, R. & Galloway, D. (1995) Listening to Children in Education, London: David Fulton.

Hallett, C. & Prout, A. (2003) Hearing the Voices of Children. Social Policy for a New Century, London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Pollard, A. (2000) What Pupils Say: Changing Policy and Practice in Primary Education, London: Continuum.

Devine, D. (2004) Children, Power and Schooling: How childhood is structured in the primary school, Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham.

A classic text by Aries demonstrates that the concept of childhood is constructed according to its historical context.

Aries, P. (1973) Centuries of Childhood, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

The following more recent texts also provide a challenge to our assumptions about, and constructions of childhood. They incorporate a range of perspectives on the study of childhood, show how the concept of childhood is developing, discuss adult-child relations and examine contradictions in our attitudes to children and the impact of this on public policy.

Mills, J. & Mills, R. (1999) Childhood Studies: A Reader in Perspectives of Childhood, London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Moss, P. & Petrie, P. (2002) From Children’s Services to Children’s Spaces. Public Policy, Children and Childhood, London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Prout, A. ( 2002) The Future of Childhood, London: RoutledgeFalmer.

James, A. & Prout, A. (1997) Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood. Contemporary Issues in the Sociological Study of Childhood (2nd edition), London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Wyness, M. (1999) Contesting Childhood, London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Kehily, M.J. (2004) An Introduction to Childhood Studies, maidenhead: Open University Press.

There have been several recent publications examining the relationship between home and school and offering a critique of the rhetoric of partnership and its achievements and shortcomings in practice:

Edwards, R. (2001) Children, Home and School: Regulation, Autonomy, or Connection? London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Vincent C. (2000) Including Parents? Education, Citizenship and Parental Agency, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Bastiani J., & Wolfendale, S. (1996) Home-School Work in Britain. Review, Reflection and Development, London: David Fulton.

Whalley, M. (2001) Involving Parents in their Children's Learning, London: Paul Chapman. Sage.

Crozier, G. (2000) Parents and Schools. Partners or Protagonists, Stoke-on-Trent. Trentham.

Crozier, G. and Reay, D. (2005) Activating Particiaption: parents and teachers working towards partnership, Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham.

Stern, J. (2003) Involving Parents, London: Continuum.

Fitzgerald, D. (2004) Parent Partnership in the Early Years, London: Continuum.

The following book by Garner and Clough takes a specific look at fathers' involvement in their sons' schooling:

Garner, P. and Clough, P. (2007) Fathers and sons in and about eduation, Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham.

A recent book, offering a particularly innovative analysis of the changing relationships between childhood, schooling and consumer culture is:

Kenway, J., & Bullen, E. ( 2001) Consuming Children. Education- Entertainment- Adventure, Buckingham: Open University Press.