Making Sense of Mass Education gives a comprehensive overview of the cultural contexts of education, addressing and debunking important myths in the field. This book is an approachable text for undergraduate and postgraduate readers studying the Sociology and Philosophy of Education. The text covers the rise of mass schooling as a disciplinary institution, including the governance of subjectivity and the regulation of childhood and youth. It examines cultural forces on the field of educati...

This book examines a range of ethical complexities associated with precarious work across educational sectors internationally.Our aim is to examine the experiences of the increasing reliance on casual and temporary employment in education settings for all educators. This volume brings together academic chapters, focused on the affective, ethical, and practical challenges faced by all educators working in highly casualised contexts, while working to provide quality education for all...

Making Sense of Mass Education provides a contemporary analysis of the ideas and issues that have traditionally dominated education research, challenging outdated preconceptions with fundamental theory and discussion. It takes a demythologising approach in assessing these issues and their relevance to schooling and education in Australia. This text examines the cultural context of education and the influence of external media and new technologies, and highlights the many forms of discrimin...

Data Culture and the Organisation of Teachers’ Work provides an in-depth look at how the political and media scrutiny of teachers, pupils and schools now organises teaching and learning. Spina also examines how educational data is used in schools, and where it fails to take account of the everyday experiences of school leaders, teachers and students.Drawing on primary research, and discussing practice in relation to the National Assessment Programme: Literacy and Numeracy ...

‘Making It’ as a Contract Researcher examines the contemporary experience of research employment in universities from the perspective of a significant yet often invisible group: temporary or contract researchers, who make up a substantial, and ever-growing, proportion of the academic research workforce. A critical, pragmatic and international account of the contemporary research career, this book explores the question of what it means to ‘make it’ as a contract researcher in acade...

This is an open access book.This book offers the first overview of the ‘wicked problems’ literature, often seen as complex, open-ended, and intractable, with both the nature of the ‘problem’ and the preferred ‘solution’ being strongly contested. It contextualises the debate using a wide range of relevant policy examples, explaining why these issues attract so much attention.There is an increasing interest in the conceptual and practical aspects of how ‘wicked problems’ are ...

This book brings together key themes in Childhood Studies to provide an accessible yet scholarly introduction for students and practitioners.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.This important book offers practical advice for using evidence and research in policymaking. The book has two aims. First, it builds a case for ethics and global values in research and knowledge exchange, and second, it examines specific policy areas and how evidence can guide practice.The book covers important policy areas including the GM debate, the environment, Black Lives Matter and COVID-19. Each chapter as...

Co-production and co-creation occur when citizens participate actively in delivering and designing the services they receive. It has come increasingly onto the agenda of policymakers, as interest in citizen participation has more generally soared. Expectations are high and it is regarded as a possible solution to the public sector’s decreased legitimacy and dwindling resources, by accessing more of society’s capacities. In addition, it is seen as part of a more general drive to reinvigorat...

The new edition will provide readily accessible material for public health educators and practitioners, in a number of professions, who are increasingly being required to address the challenges emerging from the inter-related impacts of the social and environmental factors impacting on health in an era of globalisation.

The new edition of this established core textbook continues to give an insightful, authoritative and accessible overview of competing theoretical positions on the sociological study of childhood. The book explores the ways these theories inform key themes, including education, work, identity and agency.The study of childhood has taken on an increasingly global focus in recent years, honing in on how issues of rights, protection and development shape the lives of children and those ...

Does flexible working really provide a better work-life balance?Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, flexible working has become the norm for many workers. This volume offers an original examination of flexible working using data from 30 European countries and drawing on studies conducted in Australia, the US and India. Rather than providing a better work-life balance, the book reveals how flexible working can lead to exploitation, which manifests differently for women and men, such a...