Rethinking the possibilities for hegemonic femininity: exploring a Gramscian framework

In this paper I consider and challenge the ways in which hegemonic femininity has mainly been conceptualised in the gender literature. This approach has several limitations, including being strongly binary, positioning girls and women as Other and frequently essentialised. After suggesting some criteria for a more useful conceptualisation, I consider some of the alternatives, which I critique for their dependence on sexuality and sexual desire. I propose an alternative definition of hegemonic gender performances, avoiding binary distinctions, building on Francis et al.'s (2016) suggestion that a more directly Gramscian conceptualisation may be useful. Having outlined this alternative, I examine how it is played out in the specific context of one English primary school classroom

Neurodiverse Minds and Ethnographic Practice

Earthling and Autisman Once upon a time on a small, green quiet planet. Autisman: So – welcome to my home world. Earthling: Don’t you feel weighed down? It feels as if I’ve got weights strapped to my arms and legs. Autisman: Ah, but on your planet, I always feel as if I’m swimming around in space, weightlessly. Earthling: Okay. Now I understand you. I really understand. (Higashida, 2007:74

An Ethnography on the Experience of Autistic Children and their Families in Scotland

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Texts, power and design and technology: the use of national curriculum documents in departmental power struggles

One feature of the development of the design and technology curriculum within schools has been an ongoing debate, between the various groupings within it, concerning the nature, purpose and delivery of the subject. This paper considers the use of selective readings and interpretations of national curriculum documents as part of such power struggles within design and technology departments. Drawing on evidence from case study work in five schools, and focusing in particular on the reception of the 1992 proposals, it illustrates the way that individuals' attempts to provide 'definitive' readings of the various documents have a significant effect on power relations, both those internal to the department and with regard to external groups

Microhistory as Ethnographic Exploration

‘It is common to comparethe appointments of [mentalasylums] in the present day veryfavourably with those of the past.Perhaps too much is said of this.’ (Elizabeth Naish Capper, patient atthe Retreat, 1878

Gender, visible bodies and schooling: cultural pathologies of childhood

In this paper I consider two interrelated problems. The first concerns the issues and difficulties involved in studying how children think about their bodies, in the schooling setting. The second involves an attempt to bring together a series of phenomena around which gendered media and social panics are being constructed in the UK and elsewhere. I discuss the problems concerned with the practicalities of studying children’s bodies in a setting in which the body is effaced. I argue that the problems arising from this effacement are compounded by children’s embarrassment about their bodies, particularly in a situation in which bodies are supposed to be invisible. Related to this, I argue that children’s and young people’s bodies that are made visible in schools and other public or semi-public arenas are rendered pathological by that very visibility. I suggest that we can see all these metaphorically pathological bodies in terms of a failure of or resistance to the disciplinary institutions of the school and the family, and that such an understanding of ‘problematic’ bodies can help us to see what they have in common. I conclude with suggestions for future research

Being 'nice' or being 'normal': girls resisting discourses of 'coolness'

In this paper we consider discourses of friendship and belonging mobilised by girls who are not part of the dominant ‘cool’ group in one English primary school. We explore how, by investing in alternative and, at times, resistant, discourses of ‘being nice’ and ‘being normal’ these ‘non-cool’ girls were able to avoid some of the struggles for dominance and related bullying and exclusion found by ourselves and other researchers to be a feature of ‘cool girls’ groupings. We argue that there are multiple dynamics in girls’ lives in which being ‘cool’ is only sometimes a dominant concern, and that there are some children for whom explicitly positioning themselves outside of the ‘cool’ group is both resistant and protective, providing a counter-discourse to the dominance of ‘coolness’. In this paper, which is based on observational and interview data in one school in the south of England, we focus on two main groupings of intermediate and lower status girls, as well as on one ‘wannabe’ ‘cool girl’. While belonging to a lower status group can bring disadvantages, for the girls we studied there were also benefits

Polyphonie? Ausblicke auf einen anderen Geschlechterdiskurs in der Pädagogik

This is the English version of this book chapter. In it I argue for a heterophonic approach to curriculum and pedagogy

Beyond binary discourses: making LGBTQI+ identities visible in the curriculum

In this chapter I argue that changes in wider social understandings of gender and sexuality, including the increased acceptance and legal recognition of LGBTQI+ identities and relationships, along with changes in discourses around gender, require major changes across the curriculum. In particular, an increase in the number of children, young people and adults identifying in different ways as transgender require us to make significant changes in the curriculum to include LGBTQI+ parented families, and LGBTQI+ children and young people, fully into school communities. After an overview of historical debates about gender and education in England and Wales, I examine changes in assumptions about gender and schooling and discuss schools’ relationships to the heterosexuality. Through an analysis of school policies in two English Local Authority areas, I examine how school policies about what should be taught fail to represent the greater diversity about gender and sexual orientation in contemporary society, and conclude that there must be considerable change in both the official and hidden curriculum in order to rectify this

Integration of an online simulated prescription analysis into undergraduate pharmacy teaching using supplemental and replacement models

To describe student use and perceptions of online simulated prescription analysis following integration of supplemental and replacement models into pharmacy practice teaching. Strathclyde Computerized Randomized Interactive Prescription Tutor (SCRIPT) is a simulated prescription analysis tool designed to support a pharmacy practice competency class. In 2008-2009, SCRIPT scenarios were released to coincide with timetabled teaching as the supplemental model. In 2009-2010, SCRIPT also replaced one-sixth of the taught component of the class as the replacement model. Student use and performance were compared, and their perceptions were documented. In both cohorts, the majority of use (over 70%) occurred immediately before assessments. Remote access decreased from 6409 (supplemental) to 3782 (replacement) attempts per 100 students. There was no difference in student performance between the cohorts, Students reported group and individual use and 4 targeted approaches using SCRIPT. E-learning can reduce the staff time in pharmacy practice teaching without affecting student performance. SCRIPT permits flexible learning that suits student preferences