This book offers a vivid, critical exploration of young adults’ experiences of the contemporary night-time economy, drawing on rich ethnographic research from Stoke-on-Trent. Adopting recent conceptual advancements in ultra-realism, critical criminology and psychoanalytic theory, it examines how young people navigate relationships, substance use, violence and consumer culture through their night-time leisure rituals.Advancing our understanding of social harm, the book also exposes ...

A long-term study providing rare insights into the precarious career and ordinary working culture of professional footballers. Away from the celebrity-obsessed media gaze, the work of a professional footballer is rarely glamorous and for most players a career in football is insecure and short-lived.A former professional, Martin Roderick’s familiarity with the world of football is the foundation for this privileged research into a world that is typically closed to the public gaze an...

In The Working Class: Poverty, education and alternative voices, Ian Gilbert unites educators from across the UK and further afield to call on all those working in schools to adopt a more enlightened and empathetic approach to supporting children in challenging circumstances. One of the most intractable problems in modern education is how to close the widening gap in attainment between the haves and the have-nots. Unfortunately, successive governments both in the UK and abroad have gone ab...

Leading schools is becoming almost daily a more complex and demanding job. Connecting Leadership and Learning reassesses the purpose of schools, the nature of learning and the qualities of leadership that make schools authentic places of learning.Starting with a review of what we can claim to know – and not know – about learning, leadership and their inter-relationship, this book explores what it means to lead schools that place learning at the centre. Drawing on research ...

The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education confronts the silent ascendancy of a therapeutic ethos across the educational system and into the workplace. Controversial and compelling, Kathryn Ecclestone and Dennis Hayes’ classic text uses a wealth of examples across the education system, from primary schools to university and the workplace, to show how therapeutic education is turning children, young people and adults into anxious and self-preoccupied individuals rather than aspiri...

Children are cooped up, passive, apathetic and corrupted by commerce… or so we are told.Reclaiming Childhood confronts the dangerous myths spun about modern childhood. Yes, children today are losing out on many experiences past generations took for granted, but their lives have improved in so many other ways. This book exposes the stark consequences on child development of both our low expectations of fellow human beings and our safety-obsessed culture. Rather than pointin...

The Dark Side of Emotional Labour explores the work that the rest of society would rather not think about, the often unseen work that is emotionally disturbing, exhausting, upsetting, and stigmatising. This is work that is simultaneously undesirable and rewarding, work whose tasks are eschewed and yet necessary for the effective function of individual organisations and society at large.Diverse and challenging, this book examines how workers such as the doorman, the HR mana...

This book explores a wide range of theoretical perspectives that guide the practice of community and youth work and related occupational fields. It provides a range of practical activities to encourage readers to explore their own theoretical position, while critically engaging with the contemporary theoretical context that is shaping the development of community and youth work practice. Students will find this book an invaluable tool in developing their understanding of theory, and it wil...

Championing the therapeutic power of nature, this book explores why outdoor play therapy offers children more than being confined to a playroom and how practice can be moved into the natural environment in a safe and ethical way.By using outdoor environments, the traditional dyadic relationship between the therapist and the child becomes a triadic one in which the therapeutic process is enhanced and the environment for the play therapy is shared and therefore more 'democratic'. The...

An essential component of good practice in physical education is ensuring inclusivity for all pupils, regardless of need, ability or background. Now in a fully revised and updated new edition, Equity and Inclusion in Physical Education fully explores the theoretical and practical issues faced by physical education teachers today.The book amalgamates areas of critical debate within the world of physical education and is structured around the key topics of ability, special e...

At a time when education is considered crucial to a country’s economic success, recent UK governments have insisted their reforms are the only way to make England’s system world class. Yet pupils are tested rather than educated, teachers bullied rather than trusted and parents cast as winners or losers in a gamble for school places.Education under siege considers the English education system as it is and as it might be. In a highly accessible style, Peter Mortimore, an author with ...

Informal Learning in Youth Work offers fresh perspectives on all aspects of informal education in the youth work setting. Designed to develop the reader′s knowledge and skills, this comprehensive textbook explores key issues such as communication, power relations, ethics, gender exclusion, sexuality, race discrimination and social class. The author places particular emphasis on conversation as a key means of promoting informal learning and engaging effectively with young p...