SCHOOL LEADERSHIP, INSPECTION AND VISIBILITY: PANOPTICISM AND POST-PANOPTICISM IN AN ENGLISH COASTAL AREA OF DEPRIVATION

This paper contributes to recent debates pertaining to neoliberal technologies of performativity including fabrication, panopticism and post-panopticism. These terms are discussed here in relation to constant visibility from recent school inspection arrangements in England and the impact of this on school leadership. Case study research within one seaside town was drawn from two schools, one, a state primary school and the other, a state secondary school, located within an area of deprivation. Both schools had been judged as requires improvement by Ofsted, but immediately before the fieldwork commenced, the secondary school received a judgment of good. Fourteen semi-structured interviews with thirteen leaders in a range of roles were undertaken to examine the conditions created by school inspection. Data is considered in relation to the features of panopticism and post-panopticism and shows leaders experience constant visibility, the pressures of performing to shifting expectations, and resultant staffing instability. This is not conducive to leaders working to improve schools, particularly those serving areas of deprivation

School leadership, school inspection and the micropolitics of compliance and resistance: examining the hyper-enactment of policy in an area of deprivation

This paper examines the influence of intense scrutiny from Ofsted on school leadership and policy enactment. Data was collected in a coastal area of deprivation providing the setting for a detailed case study of school leadership in a state secondary school and a state primary school - both with recent or ongoing experience of intense scrutiny from Ofsted. Seventeen interviews were undertaken with staff involved in leadership roles. The analyses of data and discussion form an understanding of how policy is enacted in relation to the dual responsibility that school leaders negotiate between the local context at Seatown and Ofsted. This paper suggests that Ofsted forces a privileging of a compliant and consistent enactment of policy – a hyper enactment of policy, that reduces the capacity of school leaders to address the significant social context of the school. Foucault’s work on self-disciplinary technologies provides insight into the micropolitical spaces which open up for some school leaders. The discussion on the micropolitics of compliance and resistance offers insight into the tensions pertinent to school leadership teams and explores issues relevant to those interested in policy and inspection activity, particularly those within areas of deprivation

An act of transgression: performing arts as a subject choice within a coastal area of deprivation

This paper examines the perceptions and aspirations of secondary school pupils interested in a career in the performing arts. The pupils in this case study were participating in drama-based courses and this research offers findings relevant for those working in schools, FE and HE, as well as the creative arts industries. This research is located within a coastal area of deprivation, Waveside, situated within England, UK. We have used fictional names for the towns, school and participants in this research, to offer anonymity. England’s coastal areas are often linked to deprivation. Within this context, a focus group of GCSE, A level and BTEC Drama pupils from Seagreen Secondary Academy, a secondary school in Waveside, provides the data that informs this research, with additional contextual narrative from the pupils’ teacher. The findings show that to study a performing arts subject is perceived by some pupils as an act of transgression. These pupils resisted neoliberal curriculum priorities resulting in tensions between school, parents and friends. Those acting as gate-keepers to professional actor training and other career opportunities within the arts, may need to review practices for recruitment and development support within marginalised communities

Making social relations and identities through consumption: A Botswana case study

This research utilises the concepts in Miller’s anthropology of consumption (1987; 1988; 1994; 1995a; 1998a; 1998b) to enable an analysis of social relations, including gender, through looking at what and how people consume. Goods not only express individual identity and status, but are used as a means of objectifying personal and social systems of value, which, in the lives of people living in a central ward in the village of Mochudi, Botswana, signify the importance of social relationships. An analysis of social change since the 1920s and 1930s when Isaac Schapera (1940, 1971) spent a period of fieldwork in the same location and wrote extensively on married life here, is undertaken through familial and life-course events. Informants took photographs of objects, the significance of which is explored through one-to-one enquiry. Generational and gendered differences in consumption choices point to the stage in life reached and lifestyle. An older woman is found to gain pleasure from the purchase of plastic chairs, ensuring she has enough for family or communal events, where all who turn up may expect to partake of a feast; it is through these chairs that social relations are objectified and her wish to be identified as a ‘good’ woman is fulfilled. Similar projections can be made with older men and desire for livestock – the ultimate signifier of masculinity and role of ‘provider’ - which are considered ‘useful’ as a means to sustain the social importance and inclusivity of communal gatherings. Young, single men and women are found to conform more to the stereotypical view of consumption as the development of individual identity (Miller 1998b:35). Yet here, within courtship relationships, material things are utilised as a means of expressing and assessing love. This may have become out-of-kilter, with young men under pressure to compete with gifts for the affections of women who ultimately can decide to walk away. Marriage is constructed around consumption. Time slips the distinction between courtship and engagement, co-habitation and marriage, or even leads to indefinite delay. Marital relations replace courtship gifts with ‘material acts of caring’ (Miller 1998b) such as provisioning on behalf of husbands, and washing of clothes by wives. The family home in the village draws people back for kinship events, such as weddings and funerals, which act to connect people together. White weddings, driven by the fantasy of the bride, are big consumptive events, and yet may be read as being less about conspicuous consumption than an objectification of love which carefully interweaves kinship, tradition and modernity. Through the crisis of AIDS, funerals have altered to reflect a sensitivity which places importance on sober and modest approaches, yet also combines this with a need to ensure the many people who attend are well fed. Large social gatherings reflect the Tswana value system in which consumption acts to reinforce social structure, gender identities and family and tribal belonging, and yet, over time, also acts to bring about change

IrSr_2Sm_{1.15}Ce_{0.85}Cu_{2.175}O_{10}: A Novel Reentrant Spin-Glass Material

A new iridium containing layered cuprate material, IrSr_2Sm_{1.15}Ce_{0.85}Cu_{2.175}O_{10, has been synthesized by conventional ambient-pressure solid-state techniques. The material's structure has been fully characterized by Rietveld refinement of high resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction data; tilts and rotations of the IrO_6 octahedra are observed as a result of a bond mismatch between in-plane Ir-O and Cu-O bond lengths. DC-susceptibility measurements evidence a complex set of magnetic transitions upon cooling that are characteristic of a reentrant spin-glass ground-state. The glassy character of the lowest temperature, Tg=10 K, transition is further confirmed by AC-susceptibility measurements, showing a characteristic frequency dependence that can be well fitted by the Vogel-Fulcher law and yields a value of \Delta_(T_f)/[T_f \Delta log({\omega})] =0.015(1), typical of dilute magnetic systems. Electronic transport measurements show the material to be semiconducting at all temperatures with no transition to a superconducting state. Negative magnetoresistance is observed when the material is cooled below 25 K, and the magnitude of this magnetoresistance is seen to increase upon cooling to a value of MR = -9 % at 8 K

Mineral Occurrence Database suggestions for revision and update 2005

The Mineral Occurrence Database contains over 12000 entries from all parts of Great Britain. It includes mineral occurrences associated with old mines and trials, unexploited more recent discoveries and panned stream sediment concentrates (mainly gold grains). It was developed in Oracle, using an Access interface with the user, in the mid 1990s. The database structure has been unaltered for many years. It now requires a thorough re-examination of all the entries to check their validity as well as a re-examination of the relationships between tables as some of the links have become corrupted and new data entry is either difficult or impossible. The database has an important role in the future with the increasing interest in mine waste and environmental contamination, as well as to assist any commercial mineral exploration companies if necessary. However, this can only be realised if the database is current, accurate and comprehensive in both coverage and content. The database has many problems and these are detailed in this report together with possible solutions. In addition, a number of suggestions are made for the update of the database, with estimates for the time required

Sequence variation in the haemagglutinin-neuraminidase gene of human parainfluenza virus type 3 isolates in the UK

The sequence variation in a 934 base-pair region of the gene encoding the haemagglutinin-neuraminidase of five human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV3) isolates was determined together with that of a prototype UK strain. All of the clinical isolates were from the Manchester area of the UK and were obtained in 1990. 1991 and 1993. The gene segment was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction using HPIVB-specific oligonucleotide primers. The nucleotide homology of the strains was high, around 99% and specific differences in the UK sequences when compared with that of the US prototype strain were identified. In addition, a number of isolate-specific differences were seen. No correlation was detected between the observed nucleotide mutations and the year of isolation, which supports the hypothesis that HPIV3 shows cocirculation of a heterogeneous population of viruses rather than varying with time in a linear fashion. However, the data suggested that geographically-defined genetic lineages of HPIV3 may exist

Concentrations and snow-atmosphere fluxes of reactive nitrogen at Summit, Greenland

Concentrations and fluxes of NOy (total reactive nitrogen), ozone concentrations and fluxes of sensible heat, water vapor, and momentum were measured from May 1 to July 20, 1995 at Summit, Greenland. Median NOy concentrations declined from 947 ppt in May to 444 ppt by July. NOy fluxes were observed into and out of the snow, but the magnitudes were usually below 1 μmol m−2 h−1 because of the low HNO3 concentration and weak turbulence over the snow surface. Some of the highest observed fluxes may be due to temporary storage by equilibrium sorption of peroxyacetylnitrate (PAN) or other organic nitrogen species on ice surfaces in the upper snowpack. Sublimation of snow at the surface or during blowing snow events is associated with efflux of NOy from the snowpack. Because the NOy fluxes during summer at Summit are bidirectional and small in magnitude, the net result of turbulent NOyexchange is insignificant compared to the 2 μmol m−2 d−1 mean input from fresh snow during the summer months. If the arctic NOy reservoir is predominantly PAN (or compounds with similar properties), thermal dissociation of this NOy is sufficient to support the observed flux of nitrate in fresh snow. Very low HNO3 concentrations in the surface layer (1% of total NOy) reflect the poor ventilation of the surface layer over the snowpack combined with the relatively rapid uptake of HNO3 by fog, falling snow, and direct deposition to the snowpack