Educational transitions in the UK are related to social background characteristics such as social class and, to a lesser extent, ethnicity and gender. This thesis presents a case study of admission to the University of Oxford to understand why, conditional on application, admissions patterns into selective higher eduction in Britain show an advantage for already privileged strata of society. Specifically, net of attainment, the professional middle class, white, male and state school applicants fare particularly well in securing offers for undergraduate study at Oxford. With the exception of the state school effect, the admissions privilege advantages already privileged strata of society. In the first empirical section, the analysis of purposefully generated survey data on 1,929 applicants for admission to the University of Oxford finds that quantifiable measures of merit fail to fully explain differential admissions patterns. The logistic regression models also uncover that while applicants from the private sector initially have similar gross chances of gaining an offer to their state school educated peers, they actually face a penalty in the selection process when taking into account their higher levels of prior academic attainment. Furthermore, the analysis shows that while measures of cultural capital, motivation, aspiration and learning style are meaningfully related to selection decisions, they do not explain the lower transition rates for ethnic minority applicants, those from non-professional class backgrounds, female applicants and private school applicants. The second step in the empirical investigations then aims to understand the generative mechanisms behind these findings from the perspective of the decision makers in the selection process. This section draws on interviews with 25 admissions tutors and the observation of eight admissions meetings. The analysis here finds that selectors view the admissions exercise as involving risks and uncertainties. Also, many participating tutors routinely considered schooling in their selection decisions and discounted the performance of applicants who had come from very high achieving schools but who were not top achievers within this peer group. The mechanism of homo-social reproduction in decisions involving uncertainty is then put forward as a possible explanation for the unequal transition patterns. Finally, the third empirical analysis section investigates links between degree performance in final university examinations and admissions relevant factors. This section includes the degree performance of Oxford students as well as those who subsequently embarked on their degree course at universities other than Oxford. The most striking finding is that among the Oxford graduates, female and private school students are less likely to achieve first class degrees than their male and state school educated peers. One interpretation of this finding is that the discounting that selectors apply in the admissions process for these applicants is not only justified but may not even go far enough. But it is also possible, in particular with regard to the female effect, that the Oxford study environment or the examination system, or both are more conducive to male achievements. This thesis contributes to sociological theory by showing that existing models of educational transition have paid insufficient attention to the role of gatekeepers and their individual preferences in generating aggregate selection patterns. Incorporating selectors as actors in transition models increases our understanding of unequal access to educational institutions and the challenges faced in striving towards equal opportunities in an education based meritocracy. The findings presented here have implications for other fields of sociological inquiry that need to account for the role of individual decision makers such as labour market research. The work presented here has implications for policy making regarding selection processes within the University of Oxford and British higher education more generally. It could also aid university systems such as Germany, that are moving towards selective admission, to think about the challenges of designing truly equitable selection processes.

This study explored the perception of risk of adults with learning difficulties who had been assigned reputations for challenging services. Adopting a standpoint epistemology the research sought to give voice to the alienated knowledge of adults with learning difficulties who had experienced exclusion from the community on the basis of the perceived risks they posed to themselves or others. The concept of risk was used as a lens through which to uncover the situated knowledge of research participants and to consider the extent to which this knowledge was reflected in risk and disability theory and practice. The research was informed by a broad range of theoretical approaches to risk ranging from the technico-scientific tradition exemplified by the psychological school and socio cultural perspectives drawn from the disciplines of anthropology, philosophy and sociology. Influences were also drawn from the range of academic disciplines that inform disability theory. The research was undertaken within a social constructionist framework and adopted a participatory methodological approach. Data collection and analysis spanned a two year period and processes of constant comparative analysis (Charmaz 2006) were applied to explore underlying concepts and relationships. The study evolved over its duration and the reflexive processes that informed the emergent methodology are incorporated in the findings. Consideration was given to the ethical dilemmas associated with adopting the dual roles of a practitioner and researcher. Through the core themes of voice, harm and relationships the views of research participants challenge the existing hegemony and offer an alternative perspective on the concept of risk. Participants provided an alternate rationale for behaviour as a form of communication rooted in a context of oppression and resistance. Reframing behaviour as actions of resilience and resistance offers valuable insights that should inform the development of risk and disability theory and practice.

Drawing on twelve months of fieldwork in suburban Hyderabad, India, this thesis contributes to emerging debates on the Indian new middle classes and postcolonial middle classes more generally. I challenge images of a homogenous middle class enjoying the benefits of liberalization by highlighting the diversity in wealth, lifestyle and access to opportunities within this class sector. Contrary to the pervasive image of a hedonistic and morally corrupt new middle class, I assert the centrality of moral discourses to the construction of middle-class identity in Hyderabad. Middle-class Hyderabadis engage in moral discourses of ‘respectability’ and ‘open-mindedness’ in relation to caste, consumption, education, and women’s public and domestic roles. These discourses of morality are central to the reproduction of class and gender inequality as successfully balancing the demands of respectability and open-mindedness is particularly difficult for those with fewer resources such as the lower middle class and for women who are expected to embody authentic Indianness in their demure comportment, ‘traditional’ attire and commitment to ‘Indian’ family values, but are also liable to being judged ‘backward’ if their clothing and lack of education and paid employment are seen to be in conflict with fashion and open-mindedness. The focus on balance and compromise in middle-class Hyderabadis’ narratives echoes other work on postcolonial middle classes that has emphasised people’s efforts to adhere to local notions of respectable behaviour that are central to national identities while also attempting to align themselves with a ‘modern’ global consumer culture. In contrast to much of this literature, however, I challenge the notion that modernity and tradition, the local and the global are objects of desire in and of themselves and instead argue that they function as important reference points in discourses that legitimate the dominant position of men and those of upper class-caste status.

This study adopts an auto/biographical approach to explore episodes in the life of the teacher, author and humanitarian activist Francesca Wilson (1888-1981). It is concerned with the process of researching and telling aspects of her life history as a means of contributing to the emerging historiography of women educator activists and Quaker women in international humanitarian relief in the first half of the twentieth century. It is structured around the concept of place as an interpretative device, and explores how three particular cities - Vienna (1919-22), Birmingham (1925-39), and Murcia (1937-39) - influenced her sense of identity and self and the trajectory of her subsequent life and activism on behalf of displaced people. Among the methodological aspects considered are issues of ‘truth’ and authorial voice, archival ambiguities and silences, and the role of networks and their representation in the archive. The study analyses her use of life histories for political and educational purposes, a theme that in itself raises other issues. Consequently, the use and exhibition of children’s art as a vehicle for giving ‘voice’ to displaced children is also considered, alongside an examination of the visual and textual representation of children by humanitarian activists and non-governmental aid agencies.

This thesis explores the issue of imaginative writing of deaf children. Thirty deaf children aged 9-11 years were recruited form Hearing Impaired Units and mainstream schools. Thirty hearing children were matched on academic performance (according to teachers) and chronological age and recruited from the same classes as the deaf children. Three sets of imaginative stories were collected from the above groups at three points during one academic year. A mixed methodology was employed in order to investigate imaginative writing of deaf children. For the evaluation of children’s stories an “Imagination Story Scale” was developed based both on the literature review and on the in-depth analyses of four children’s imaginative stories. The scale consists of four categorised divisions (story structure, story plot, linguistic imagination, originality) and one additional division (overall assessment). Assessments of both deaf and hearing children’s stories using the scale revealed little variation between deaf and hearing children’s scores in the scale, indicating that deaf children do have imagination and are able to express it in writing. However, differences were observed between the scores for the different topics (for both groups of children) suggesting that the topic of the stories influenced their scores. Imaginative writing of deaf children was not predicted by: age, gender, degree of hearing loss, type of communication used at home, or use of activities to promote children’s imagination either in the classroom or at home. Teachers’ opinions of deaf children’s imagination were explored through interviews. The Teachers of the Deaf tended to under-estimate deaf children’s ability to demonstrate imagination in their writing by comparison with the stories that the deaf children produced.

This thesis explores the effects of residential schools on EBD pupils I two residential schools. Major sources of data for this interactionist study are the transcripts of interviews with pupils attending the schools, questionnaires and observation. After examining the social and psychological correlates of EBD and the therapeutic approaches of pioneer workers in the residential field, the claimed ‘institutionalizing’ effects of residential care are considered. Data from this study are analyzed with reference to these conflicting viewpoints. The study supports the view that the residential experience can benefit pupils by providing: * respite from negative influences in the family, home based peer school and peer group * opportunities for positive pupil achievement * encouragement to form rewarding interpersonal relationships with adults and fellow pupils at the schools Negative effects of stigma and loss of family contact are also noted. The concept of ‘re-signification’ is introduced to describe the process whereby the schools, through organizational and interpersonal means, promote improvements in pupils’ self images and the development of non-deviant identities, in contrast with the negative labelling effects of mainstream schools as reported in this and other research.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the links between risk and protective factors or experiences in the lives of looked after children (LAC), and their subsequent levels of resilience. In order to inform this study a literature review was undertaken. A consistent finding, through this review, was that LAC named a significant adult in their lives as providing an important protective factor. However, previous research has concentrated on what protective factors are pertinent for adolescents, and not whether the same protective factors are significant for younger children. Therefore, this exploratory study explores the experiences of 10 LAC aged 9 to 11 years. Through the administration of a scale from the Resiliency Scales (Prince-Embury, 2007) and semi-structured interviews, it was concluded that LAC who were found to have high to average resilience levels reported having a significant adult, stable care placement and good relationship with social worker. This raises important implications for future Local Authority (LA) practice. The foster carers of each LAC were also interviewed, and all reported that awareness training for school staff would comprise a useful step toward enhancing levels of resilience in LAC. Carers stressed their opinion that schools are generally ill prepared to deal with behaviours commonly exhibited by LAC. From an EP perspective this raises an important discussion regarding future practice; these findings indicate that it may be necessary for EPs to engage in more systemic work when supporting LAC.

Esta investigação estudou o processo de escolarização do social a qual foram submetidos os negros da cidade de São Paulo nas primeiras décadas do século XX por meio da análise de dois jornais do conjunto denominado da imprensa negra paulista: O Clarim da Alvorada e Voz da Raça. A perspectiva utilizada na pesquisa compreende o processo de escolarização como um conjunto de fazeres e ações promovidas por sujeitos que acreditavam em uma educação construída segundo as suas demandas. O processo de educar/instruir deveria estar relacionado às reivindicações bastante peculiares do grupo ao qual se destinava e vir acompanhada de transformações materiais, distribuição de riqueza, justiça e igualdade social. Neste sentido, a partir da leitura e análise dos artigos, editoriais, seções, propagandas dos periódicos procurou-se desvendar qual o projeto editorial de cada um dos jornais e suas principais implicações na formação da população negra paulista. A importância do associativismo negro como força propulsora das conquistas sociais e a conscientização do negro da importância da construção de uma identidade negra no início do século XX formam elementos analisados neste trabalho. / This research studied the social education process to which they were subjected Blacks from the city of São Paulo in the early decades of the 20th century through the analysis of two newspapers named the black paulista press: \"O Clarim da Alvorada\" and \"A Voz da Raça\". The perspective used in the research understands the process of schooling as a set of practices and actions promoted by subjects who believed in an education built according to your demands. The process to educate/instruct should be related to the peculiar demands of the group to which it was intended and come with material transformation, wealth distribution and social justice and equality. In this sense, from reading and analysis of articles, editorials, advertisements, sections of journals we tried to unravel what the editorial project of each one of the newspapers and its main implications in the formation of the black population. The importance of black associations as driving force of social achievements and black awareness of the importance of building a black identity in early twentieth century form elements analyzed in this work.

A Participative Action Research methodology was used to investigate whether six young people with severe learning disabilities were able to express their views and aspirations during their transition planning meeting. Although the young people were able to make choices and communicate their views and aspirations in an often assertive manner, this did not guarantee that they were meaningfully included. Professionals and school staff were unaccustomed to including the young people which meant that they often used language that excluded them. The social positions of stakeholders and their associated power relationships were already well established, which meant that the professionals held the most privileged position during the transition meetings. It was unclear how the professionals would relinquish their power to ensure the young people were meaningfully included. This study proposes that the structure of transition planning should change if meaningful inclusion is to take place.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 144-151). Also available in print.