Martin Mills – författare

Alternative and flexible education settings may come in different forms, but they generally have in common a focus on young people who have been disengaged from conventional schooling. One challenge of these settings, therefore, is to change the way education is offered in order to better engage these students. Much of the onus for this changed approach is on the staff: teachers, youth workers and other support staff. Therefore, the purpose of this book is to examine different aspects of the work of staff in these settings.Several common threads run through the chapters in this book, highlighting core aspects of the work of staff in these settings:• A strong sense of commitment to working with and for young people from marginalised backgrounds.• Validation of the relational and emotional nature of education, as a fundamentally people-centred enterprise.• The importance of explicit attention to critical reflection on staff members’ own positionality, assumptions and identity.• Collegiality as a crucially affirming part of school culture for staff.These elements are pertinent to educational settings everywhere. The chapters in this book serve as a reminder of what really ‘counts’ for our young people and their schooling.The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Teaching Education.

Alternative education caters and cares for students whose regular schools have failed and excluded them. Fifty years of international research reports that alternative settings are characterised by close and powerful staff–student relationships, a curriculum which is relevant, engaging and meaningful, and the strong sense of agency afforded young people by the opportunity to make decisions. Together, these three practices produce increased life chances for alternative education participants.However, despite these apparent successes, alternative education seems to have had little impact on mainstream schools. This collection of papers addresses the important question – what might regular schools and teachers learn about socially just pedagogies from alternative education practices? In providing answers to this question, authors interrogate the taken-for-granted wisdom about alternative education while also taking account of ongoing policy shifts, differing locations and populations, and persistent and intersecting patterns of raced, classed and gendered inequalities. They draw on a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to interrogate the ways in which alternative schools and alternative education both challenge and legitimate the kinds of schooling most of us expect for our own and other people's children. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Critical Studies in Education.

This book explores new questions and lines of analysis within the field of ‘gender and education’, conveying some of the style and diversity of contemporary research directions. It celebrates as well as assesses the achievements of feminist work in education, acknowledging this legacy while also ‘troubling’ and opening up for critical reflection any potential stalemates and sticking points in research trends on gender and education. The collection has a strong cross-cultural focus, with chapters exploring experiences of students and teachers in the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, Hawaii and South Africa. The chapters examine topics relevant to both boys’ and girls’ education and to forms of education which span different sectors and both informal and formal spaces. Issues examined include citizenship and belonging, affect, authority and pedagogy, sexuality and the body, racism, and national identity and new and emerging forms of masculinity and femininity. Across these varied terrains, each of the authors engages with theoretical work informed by a broad range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches from across the social sciences and humanities, drawing variously from postcolonial, queer, and new sociological theories of modernity and identity, as well as from fields such as cultural geography and narrative studies. This collection of thought-provoking essays is essential reading for scholars and graduate students wanting to understand the current state of play on research and theory on ‘gender and education’.This book was published in a special issue of Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education.

Many young people failed by the school system are those who face a range of social and economic challenges due to multiple forms of injustice. This book provides an insight into the educational practices that work to re-engage young people who have become disenchanted with traditional schooling. It examines the lives of students and workers who participate in education sites on the fringes of mainstream education, and includes a rich tapestry of personal experiences from those who have been failed by their schooling experiences.The book draws upon research of international relevance conducted in a range of ‘Flexible Learning Centres’ and ‘democratic schools’ in Australia and the UK; it suggests that improving the retention levels of young people in formal education will require schooling practices to change. Students who have become disengaged from mainstream schooling do re-engage in the learning process of many alternative schools, indicating that teaching practices and forms of organisation which work in alternative sites can also provide lessons for mainstream schooling, thereby encouraging a more socially just education system.Included in the book: contexts of contemporary schooling who chooses flexible learning centres and why democratic schools: students and teachers working together teaching in ‘the margins’ case studies: ‘oppositional alternatives’.All young people have the capacity to learn and to enjoy learning; they do not ‘fail school’, rather, schools fail them. The teachers, workers and students who have shared their stories provide significant insights into how we might change this situation, and the book will be invaluable reading for postgraduates and researchers in the fields of education, the sociology of education, school reform and social work.

Many young people failed by the school system are those who face a range of social and economic challenges due to multiple forms of injustice. This book provides an insight into the educational practices that work to re-engage young people who have become disenchanted with traditional schooling. It examines the lives of students and workers who participate in education sites on the fringes of mainstream education, and includes a rich tapestry of personal experiences from those who have been failed by their schooling experiences.The book draws upon research of international relevance conducted in a range of ‘Flexible Learning Centres’ and ‘democratic schools’ in Australia and the UK; it suggests that improving the retention levels of young people in formal education will require schooling practices to change. Students who have become disengaged from mainstream schooling do re-engage in the learning process of many alternative schools, indicating that teaching practices and forms of organisation which work in alternative sites can also provide lessons for mainstream schooling, thereby encouraging a more socially just education system.Included in the book: contexts of contemporary schooling who chooses flexible learning centres and why democratic schools: students and teachers working together teaching in ‘the margins’ case studies: ‘oppositional alternatives’.All young people have the capacity to learn and to enjoy learning; they do not ‘fail school’, rather, schools fail them. The teachers, workers and students who have shared their stories provide significant insights into how we might change this situation, and the book will be invaluable reading for postgraduates and researchers in the fields of education, the sociology of education, school reform and social work.

This book explores new questions and lines of analysis within the field of ‘gender and education’, conveying some of the style and diversity of contemporary research directions. It celebrates as well as assesses the achievements of feminist work in education, acknowledging this legacy while also ‘troubling’ and opening up for critical reflection any potential stalemates and sticking points in research trends on gender and education. The collection has a strong cross-cultural focus, with chapters exploring experiences of students and teachers in the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, Hawaii and South Africa. The chapters examine topics relevant to both boys’ and girls’ education and to forms of education which span different sectors and both informal and formal spaces. Issues examined include citizenship and belonging, affect, authority and pedagogy, sexuality and the body, racism, and national identity and new and emerging forms of masculinity and femininity. Across these varied terrains, each of the authors engages with theoretical work informed by a broad range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches from across the social sciences and humanities, drawing variously from postcolonial, queer, and new sociological theories of modernity and identity, as well as from fields such as cultural geography and narrative studies. This collection of thought-provoking essays is essential reading for scholars and graduate students wanting to understand the current state of play on research and theory on ‘gender and education’.This book was published in a special issue of Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education.

Alternative education caters and cares for students whose regular schools have failed and excluded them. Fifty years of international research reports that alternative settings are characterised by close and powerful staff–student relationships, a curriculum which is relevant, engaging and meaningful, and the strong sense of agency afforded young people by the opportunity to make decisions. Together, these three practices produce increased life chances for alternative education participants.However, despite these apparent successes, alternative education seems to have had little impact on mainstream schools. This collection of papers addresses the important question – what might regular schools and teachers learn about socially just pedagogies from alternative education practices? In providing answers to this question, authors interrogate the taken-for-granted wisdom about alternative education while also taking account of ongoing policy shifts, differing locations and populations, and persistent and intersecting patterns of raced, classed and gendered inequalities. They draw on a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to interrogate the ways in which alternative schools and alternative education both challenge and legitimate the kinds of schooling most of us expect for our own and other people's children. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Critical Studies in Education.

It has been argued that too much research is conducted for the 'world' of education research, and not enough for the 'village' of particular educational institutions like schools. In this edited book, the authors reflect on what it means for teachers to be engaged in and with educational research. What is happening in the ‘village’ of schools, and how is that related to what is happening in the ‘world’ of educational research? What might the distinction between the ‘village’ and the ‘world’ mean today, and is it still a useful one?The chapters in this book explore the prospects of teacher research in an age in which educational data proliferates, often used for accountability and surveillance purposes, and in which instrumentalist notions of 'evidence-based practice' dominate. They consider contexts ranging from Initial Teacher Education through to ongoing teacher professional learning in schools.This volume concludes with an argument for turning the conversation from research as an 'add-on' to something that can be, should be, and arguably is, a central feature of the everyday work of teaching. It aims to envision positive futures for the kinds of 'villages' and 'worlds' that may be possible when enabling meaningful and rich research with, for and by teachers.This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal, Teaching Education.

It has been argued that too much research is conducted for the 'world' of education research, and not enough for the 'village' of particular educational institutions like schools. In this edited book, the authors reflect on what it means for teachers to be engaged in and with educational research. What is happening in the ‘village’ of schools, and how is that related to what is happening in the ‘world’ of educational research? What might the distinction between the ‘village’ and the ‘world’ mean today, and is it still a useful one?The chapters in this book explore the prospects of teacher research in an age in which educational data proliferates, often used for accountability and surveillance purposes, and in which instrumentalist notions of 'evidence-based practice' dominate. They consider contexts ranging from Initial Teacher Education through to ongoing teacher professional learning in schools.This volume concludes with an argument for turning the conversation from research as an 'add-on' to something that can be, should be, and arguably is, a central feature of the everyday work of teaching. It aims to envision positive futures for the kinds of 'villages' and 'worlds' that may be possible when enabling meaningful and rich research with, for and by teachers.This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal, Teaching Education.

This book provokes a conversation about what supportive schooling contexts for both students and teachers might look like, and considers how schooling can contribute to a more socially-just society.

Autonomy, Accountability and Social Justice provides an account of recent developments in English state education, with a particular focus on the ‘academisation’ of schooling. It examines how head teachers, teachers and others working in diverse education settings navigate the current policy environment. The authors provide readers with insight into the complex decision-making processes that shape school responses to current educational agendas and examine the social justice implications of these responses.The book draws on Nancy Fraser’s social justice framework and her theorising of neoliberalism to explore current tensions associated with moves towards both greater autonomy for and accountability of state schooling. These tensions are presented through four case studies that centre upon 1) a group of local authority primary schools, 2) an academy ‘chain’, 3) a co-operative secondary school and 4) an alternative education setting. The book identifies the ‘emancipatory’ possibilities of these approaches amid the complex demands of autonomy and accountability seizing English schools. Informed by a consideration of market parameters and social protectionist ideals, this examination provides rich insights into how English schools have emancipatory capacity. Autonomy, Accountability and Social Justice makes a major theoretical contribution to understandings of how the market is working alongside the regulation of schooling and the implications of this for social justice. By drawing on the experiences of those working in schools, it demonstrates that the tensions associated with autonomy and accountability within the current education policy environment can be both productive and unproductive for social justice.

Autonomy, Accountability and Social Justice provides an account of recent developments in English state education, with a particular focus on the ‘academisation’ of schooling. It examines how head teachers, teachers and others working in diverse education settings navigate the current policy environment. The authors provide readers with insight into the complex decision-making processes that shape school responses to current educational agendas and examine the social justice implications of these responses.The book draws on Nancy Fraser’s social justice framework and her theorising of neoliberalism to explore current tensions associated with moves towards both greater autonomy for and accountability of state schooling. These tensions are presented through four case studies that centre upon 1) a group of local authority primary schools, 2) an academy ‘chain’, 3) a co-operative secondary school and 4) an alternative education setting. The book identifies the ‘emancipatory’ possibilities of these approaches amid the complex demands of autonomy and accountability seizing English schools. Informed by a consideration of market parameters and social protectionist ideals, this examination provides rich insights into how English schools have emancipatory capacity. Autonomy, Accountability and Social Justice makes a major theoretical contribution to understandings of how the market is working alongside the regulation of schooling and the implications of this for social justice. By drawing on the experiences of those working in schools, it demonstrates that the tensions associated with autonomy and accountability within the current education policy environment can be both productive and unproductive for social justice.

This edited collection challenges the urban-centric nature of much feminist work on gender and education. The context for the book is the radical reconfiguration of rural areas that has occurred in recent decades as a result of globalisation. From a range of diverse national contexts, including Kenya and South Africa, Australia and Canada, and the United States and Pakistan, authors explore the intersections between masculinity, femininity, and rurality in education. In recognition of the heterogeneity of categories such as ‘rural girl’ and ‘rural boy’ they attend to how educational exclusions can be magnified by differences in relation to social locations such as class, race, or sexuality. Similar critical insights are brought to bear as authors examine what it means to be a male or female teacher in rural environments. Contributors draw on data ranging from contemporary feature films to historical materials, along with detailed ethnographic work and participatory approaches, to produce a compelling narrative of the need to understand education as experienced by those who are not part of the urban majority. This book was originally published as a special issue of Gender and Education.

This edited collection challenges the urban-centric nature of much feminist work on gender and education. The context for the book is the radical reconfiguration of rural areas that has occurred in recent decades as a result of globalisation. From a range of diverse national contexts, including Kenya and South Africa, Australia and Canada, and the United States and Pakistan, authors explore the intersections between masculinity, femininity, and rurality in education. In recognition of the heterogeneity of categories such as ‘rural girl’ and ‘rural boy’ they attend to how educational exclusions can be magnified by differences in relation to social locations such as class, race, or sexuality. Similar critical insights are brought to bear as authors examine what it means to be a male or female teacher in rural environments. Contributors draw on data ranging from contemporary feature films to historical materials, along with detailed ethnographic work and participatory approaches, to produce a compelling narrative of the need to understand education as experienced by those who are not part of the urban majority. This book was originally published as a special issue of Gender and Education.

Alternative and flexible education settings may come in different forms, but they generally have in common a focus on young people who have been disengaged from conventional schooling. One challenge of these settings, therefore, is to change the way education is offered in order to better engage these students. Much of the onus for this changed approach is on the staff: teachers, youth workers and other support staff. Therefore, the purpose of this book is to examine different aspects of the work of staff in these settings.Several common threads run through the chapters in this book, highlighting core aspects of the work of staff in these settings:• A strong sense of commitment to working with and for young people from marginalised backgrounds.• Validation of the relational and emotional nature of education, as a fundamentally people-centred enterprise.• The importance of explicit attention to critical reflection on staff members’ own positionality, assumptions and identity.• Collegiality as a crucially affirming part of school culture for staff.These elements are pertinent to educational settings everywhere. The chapters in this book serve as a reminder of what really ‘counts’ for our young people and their schooling.The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Teaching Education.

In many English-speaking countries, teachers are encouraged to differentiate their classrooms, and in some cases, through various policy mechanisms. This encouragement is often accompanied by threats and sanctions for not making the grade. By exploring the ways in which one education system in Australia has mandated differentiation through an audit of teacher practices, this book provides a timely engagement with the relationship between differentiated classrooms and social justice. It covers tensions, for instance, between providing culturally-appropriate classrooms, including constructing engaging and relevant curricula, and lowering expectations for students who have traditionally been marginalised by schooling. The data for this book has been collected from the same group of teachers over a period of three years, and offers detailed insights into how a particular politics of differentiation has played itself out in the context of a ‘global reform movement’ that has focused on improving student outcomes.

In many English-speaking countries, teachers are encouraged to differentiate their classrooms, and in some cases, through various policy mechanisms. This encouragement is often accompanied by threats and sanctions for not making the grade. By exploring the ways in which one education system in Australia has mandated differentiation through an audit of teacher practices, this book provides a timely engagement with the relationship between differentiated classrooms and social justice. It covers tensions, for instance, between providing culturally-appropriate classrooms, including constructing engaging and relevant curricula, and lowering expectations for students who have traditionally been marginalised by schooling. The data for this book has been collected from the same group of teachers over a period of three years, and offers detailed insights into how a particular politics of differentiation has played itself out in the context of a ‘global reform movement’ that has focused on improving student outcomes.

This book provokes a conversation about what supportive schooling contexts for both students and teachers might look like, and considers how schooling can contribute to a more socially-just society.