This thesis focuses on three main areas of interest in ecumenical education. First, there is the historical and political context, without which the whole discussion would lack anchorage in the real situation. The evolution of Church schools within the national system of education in Britain has a direct relevance to the story. Secondly, questions concerning the nature and purpose of Church schools, both Anglican and Roman Catholic, in this country have concentrated the minds of Church leaders and educationists, particularly against the background of new curriculum developments and of financial stringency. Out of this discussion arise questions concerning the real possibilities for closer ecumenical cooperation in education between the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches in Britain, in the light of ecclesiastical directives to do together whatever is possible and permitted. The atmosphere has been changed following the Second Vatican Council and the exchange of visits between Pope John Paul II and Archbishop Runcie of Canterbury in 1982 and 1989. The third area for consideration is the possibility of ecumenical schools in which cooperation is more than amicable coexistence but takes a concrete institutional form: how do the converging discussions within the two communions on matters of theology, religious education, and the essential purpose of having Church schools at all, relate to the realities of educational practice at the 'chalk-face'? To try to illuminate these problems, two case studies have been selected from the various joint Anglican/Roman Catholic schools across the country, each evolving in its own peculiar environment. One was created by the amalgamation of an Anglican girls' and a Roman Catholic mixed secondary school in suburban Surrey; the other was integrated from its conception in the polarised community of Belfast. The contrasts reflect different historical, cultural, educational and ecclesiastical traditions between England and Northern Ireland. The similarities arise in that Lagan at Belfast adopted ideas implemented at Redhill where relevant to the Irish situation. The aim of the thesis has been to identify the key processes by which ecumenical education became more than just a hypothetical dream but rather a viable option for the future.

This thesis is about the changes a particular LEA implemented to funding for pupils with Statements of SEN in the light of a funding crisis affecting the whole LEA in 2003. It disproves the case that the Authority was making and which was even being made in academic literature, that SEN funding was imminently out of control. Instead it shows the deep-seated effect of neoliberalism on special education. It also argues that the Authority’s call for greater inclusion was used rhetorically to justify the funding changes and that inclusion became a means to move pupils with Statements who were educated outside the Authority back into schools within the Authority. It shows that changes in funding Statements marked a change in emphasis regarding decision-making about writing Statements – considerations about funding became more important than considerations about the best educational interests of the child. Finally, it argues that funding pupils with Statements was politically determined, not mainly financially driven, and that such funding became dependent on the number of pupils with Free School Meals and other indications of ‘deprivation’, rather than being based on the actual number of pupils with Statements per se. This, it argues, caused conflict amongst schools and, crucially, also calls into question how SEN and inclusion are themselves defined. This thesis is relevant to present debates about special education because the Coalition government is developing a new SEN Code of Practice and is implementing changes using similar arguments to those discussed in the thesis – the present government is claiming that there is a funding crisis, that ‘proxy measures’ should be used to count the incidence of SEN and that the ‘bias’ toward inclusion should be removed.

Since 1968, Basic Christian Communities (BCCs) have been promoted by the Chilean Catholic hierarchy as a defensive institutional response to increased religious disaffection and increased political radicalization among marginalized catholics, within a wider context which has featured both institutional reform of the Catholic Church and reformist social change in Chile. This climate of reform within the Catholic Church has given rise generally to increased flexibility in institutional and pedagogic contexts, and has given rise more particularly to a positive appreciation of popular religious discourse and practice, as seen in the emergence of liberation theologies and BCCs. Against this historical background, the aim of the thesis is to describe and understand the informal means of transmission of religious culture realized by a range of pedagogic practices in a highly selected sample of BCCs. In the opening section, the object of this research is introduced, and the main research perspectives are discussed. The main concepts of a language for a sociological analysis of the production, recontextualization and informal popular transmission of religious culture are defined. Significant theoretical issues are discussed in the light of pertinent research literature. A brief historical account of the field work and a wider discussion of methodology closes Part I. Part II considers the three fundamental fields: the Field of Production of Theological Discourse, the Recontextualizing Field and the Field of Pedagogic Practice of the BCC. An analysis is made of the deep level rules (theological codes) in institutional and pedagogic contexts within each field, together with a discussion of the role of the animator. A discussion of the interrelatedness of the fields will conclude Part II. Part III focuses on an analysis of eight Bccs selected as examples of types varying according to the social class position of the members and previous religious socialization. This analysis takes the form of a detailed description of twenty-two (22) meetings of the BCC which examines the theological orientation of forms of participation, of the representations of social relations and of strategies for change. A concluding chapter discusses similarities and differences among theological codes, and the relation of these to religious discourse and popular practice in contemporary Chile.

The thesis is about class relations, gender relations, and the relations between these analytically separable systems of social differentiation. A method of articulation is developed which focusses particular attention on the complexities of the connections between class and gender relations. It is argued that these complexities are constituted in the coherencies, incoherencies, contradictions, tensions and ambiguities between and within these categories of relations. These are explored within the production and education contexts, as well as in the context of the relationship between these two sets of social institutions. Basically this method explores the moving, informing and shaping of the structures of class and of gender relations by each other. The method of articulation, proposed in the thesis, is based on a structuration process approach. Analysis centres, in the first instance, on the differences and similarities between substantive expressions of gender relations and between substantive expressions of class relations. Analysis then proceeds to examining the pattern in which certain forms of gender, and certain forms of class, subordination/superordination, coincide. In other words, analysis explores a distinctive category of relations, constituted by emergent patterns at points of interconstitution of these analytically separable sets of relations. In short, this method analyses the structures of class and of gender relations as working on and through each other. This is conceptualized as structural agency. Connections between structural agency and human agency are explored as a component of the articulation of class and gender relations. The empirical focus of the thesis is a specific sphere of 'women's work and education'. That is, inter-connections between class relations and gender relations are explored by using the proposed method of articulation to analyse reproduction of secretarial labour power within education and the mechanisms which connect this vocational education with secretarial production. Secondary source data on secretarial labour processes are re-analysed through the method of articulation developed in the thesis. A major source of original data on secretarial education is a comparative case study of relevant courses in two sharply contrasting colleges. This case study compares in detail the institutional structures, cultures and processes of an elite private secretarial college with the procedures adopted in equivalent courses in a state college of further education. Articulation analysis of secretarial education indicates that both class and gender relations are reproduced in this sphere of vocational education. The perspective developed in this study suggests that challenges and confrontations, by secretarial teachers, students and workers, in respect of the class and gender constraints which they experience, contribute towards reproduction of these systems of social inequalities. As such, this study engages with those existing conceptual frameworks, and those analyses of the reproduction of secretarial labour power, which suggest that reproduction of class and gender relations is exclusively or primarily a feature of the acquiescence and accommodation, of relevant constraints on action, on the part of women students, teachers and workers in gender specific areas of education and work.

The aim of this research is to discuss the issue of transnational knowledge flow, with special reference to the transmission and transfer of studies, doctrines and ideas of British educational foundation disciplines into post-1970s Taiwan. These disciplines are philosophy of education, history of education and sociology of education. The key question is how and why it was that British educational foundation disciplines were introduced into Taiwan largely and widely from the 1970s. By analysing official documents and publications and interviewees’ testimonies, some research findings are explored. First, Taiwan’s National Scholarship Programme for Overseas Study played an important role to improve the knowledge borrowing and employing of British philosophies of education and sociologies of education into post-1970s Taiwan, while it did not have the same influence on the history of education. Second, Taiwan government lasted to support this scholarship for postgraduates to study overseas in educational foundation disciplines from the mid-1970s to the 1980s, while these grantees eventually changed to other educational subjects. After this period, more and more educationalists attained their doctorates on foundation disciplines in the UK since the 1990s, which produced the intensive academic exchange again between British and Taiwanese educationalists. Third, for Taiwanese educational philosophers, British Analytic Philosophy had its significant influence on the development of Taiwan studies of philosophy of education over these past forty years. For Taiwanese educational historians, they always had interests in some issues British educational historians were concerning. For Taiwanese educational sociologists, they attempted to recontextualise British educational sociologists’ theories and perspectives into Taiwanese educational settings, including research and practices. Fourth, on the process of the dissemination and transfer of British educational foundation studies into post-1970s Taiwan, Taiwanese educationalists criticised and reflected on this trend that borrowing and employing Western educational ideas into Taiwanese context is a suitable way or not.

This qualitative study examines global finance as a locus for two hegemonic processes associated with masculinity and spatial arrangements. It explores how the finance sector interrelates with the global city of London, and considers how structures and practices of global finance and the work and family lives of men employed in management in banking in London support, confirm or contest hegemony. It aims to reflect on ways these social practices may be re-¬‐configured to promote greater gender equality. Research comprises 7 case studies of fathers centred on semi-¬‐structured interviews with the men and their wives. It also draws on data from fieldnotes/observations of the City and family spaces, and online promotional material from 8 City banks. This thesis explores a gap in scholarship regarding the interrelationship of forms of hegemony linked with global finance in the City and family relations and social practices, and reflects on ways aspects of these local spaces are the product and producers of global forces. As the 2007/8 financial crisis highlighted, local practices can have serious far-¬‐reaching consequences. Analysis reveals the status of the men as bankers and fathers and their access to financial and political power is constituted and reinforced in work and family contexts in ways which confirm and normalise gender inequalities. Patriarchal work practices that favour forms of highly competitive working, and patriarchal family relations, are normalised. Social practices which interrelate with the global city, finance industry and family perpetuate the elite positioning of men working in management in City finance and feed into a cyclical process of privilege transference for their children. Potential crisis tendencies which might contest hegemony, particularly those relating to the 2007/8 financial crisis and hands--on caregiving ideals of fatherhood, are discussed. The thesis suggests, however, the processes of hegemony in global finance are strong and enduring.

This thesis attempts to adapt Hans-Georg Gadamer's conception of hermeneutic understanding such that it may be of service in the conceptualisation and promotion of liberal educational aims. The thesis takes as its starting point an account of the liberal aims of education which can be summarised as an attempt to transpose the political liberalism of John Stuart Mill into practical educational aims. The argument is made that, in the context of late modernity, these aims are in need of renewal and reinterpretation. In particular, traditional conceptions of the liberal educational aim of personal autonomy based on a model of informed desire satisfaction are argued to be inadequate. Whilst the model of informed desire satisfaction in general is endorsed, criticism is brought to bear on the attendant account of the cognitive requirements for living a liberally conceived flourishing life. Specifically it is argued that the information needed for living a flourishing life cannot be adequately understood as objective knowledge. Rather, knowledge of oneself, of others, and of the institutions and practices of one's society, is argued to be better described as a form of social scientific understanding. Furthermore, this understanding is argued to be hermeneutical in character. Following from the tradition of hermeneutic phenomenology pioneered by Heidegger and developed by Gadamer, an attempt is made to formulate a version of hermeneutic understanding that is philosophically acceptable and of potential practical value in the articulation and promotion of liberal aims of education. In response to the structures and processes associated with the practical and critical conception of hermeneutic understanding generated, some key liberal educational aims are rethought. Consideration is given to the means of promoting hermeneutic understanding in learners as a contribution to the fulfilment of these aims.

My thesis is that local police in Eugene and Lane County, Oregon, have been integral parts of a process of governmentality which was directed at the constitution and reconstitution of various forms of social order. In terms of class relations we find police mediating and managing a number of antagonisms. This management role took both coercive and consensual forms and was largely concerned with the historical regulation of the proletariat. We witness a more passive role for police in the field of patriarchy. Here law enforcement strategies were non-interventionist vis a vis domestic violence, rape and prostitution. This passivity tended to reproduce the sovereign powers of men over women. In order to grasp the historical function of policing I argue that we must consider its utility in terms of both class and gender relations. While selective policing served to ensure the ongoing governability of the increasing numbers of male wage workers, it also allowed men in general to remain as sovereigns within families. In Section I I draw upon Marxism, Feminism, Poststructuralism and Phenomenology to make explicit my theoretical and methodological approach. My recognition of the importance of human agency is reflected in my use of qualitative sources such as oral histories, government documents, newspapers and court archival material. These sources are augmented by a guarded quantitative analysis of census data, crime statistics and police annual reports. Sections II and III provide historical outlines of national, state and local levels of class (II) and gender (III) relations respectively. In Section IV I discuss the rise of local policing and its relationship to other forms of governmentality. This leads me into a detailed appreciation of the policing of class (V) and gender conflict (VI).

This thesis examines to what extent and by what means the Assistant Masters Association (AMA) was able to influence provision in relation to conditions of service for the secondary schoolmaster in England and Wales in the 60-year period from the AMA's foundation in 1891. A thematic approach is adopted with chapters devoted to the specific issues of tenure, salaries, superannuation, registration and training. Within each chapter there is a necessary concentration on the earlier period of the AMA's history when the impetus to create acceptable conditions of service was at its most imperative. The thesis draws upon much previously unused material from the Assistant Masters Archive, lodged at the University of London Institute of Education Library. The study builds upon and extends the earlier research of Baron, Tropp and Gosden, and provides an alternative interpretation to the more recent work of Lawn, Ozga, Grace, and others, which presents the behaviour of organized teachers in terms of employeremployee conflict. The strike, confrontational stratagem and the coercion of its membership are seen as alien to the AMA's philosophy. The AMA's participation with Joint Four, and its interaction with other teacher unions, are fully explored. The significant contribution of the AMA to enhanced provision across the spectrum of teacher employment is shown to be primarily the result of the Association's persistent, professional dialogue with government - both central and local - via carefully researched data and targeted argument.

This Thesis is a study of the phenomenon of PA.SO.K. - a political movement - which managed through a discourse without concrete class connotation to become hegemonic within a period of seven years from its founding in 1974 and to maintain hegemony in 1985. Employing the concept of articulatory -hegemonic practices an attempt is made to analyse, pinpoint and understand the transformations of PA.SO.K.'s discourse during the two periods 1974-1981 and 1981-85, when conventionally we close the discourse, emphasising the changes in the meaning of its component elements, their relations to the elements of the other discourses within the conjuncture and the transforming articulations between them. It is argued that the intelligibility of the discourse is revealed by the exhaustive mapping of the emergence of the interrelations of its key elements; that the continuous construction of the discourse has been found in a reciprocal relation to the events of the conjuncture and the opposed articulatory practices of the other Parties; and each element has acquired its meaning both by its opposition to one or more antithetical concepts and its position within the concrete discourse. It is also argued that gaining hegemony in 1981, as much as its maintainance with small loss in 1985, was the result of the degree of coherence of PA.SO.K.'s discourse in combination with the weakness of the practices of the other Parties. Within this framework of analysis the State and Education are examined as elements of a concrete discourse. Their identities are a correlation of this articulation and the relation between them, far from being a determined one, is the consequence of the articulatory-hegemonic practices within the conjuncture. It is argued that in and through PA.SO.K.'s articulatory practices the degree of socialization of education became greater and, consequently, so did its autonomy from the other branches of the state, compared with that it had acquired in the 1974-81 period within New Democracy's discourse.