Search results

Inclusive education is promoted internationally as the most effective way of educating all children. Concurring with this, parents increasingly seek out inclusive schooling for their child with disability, rather than placement in a special segregated facility. There is, nonetheless, enormous diversity between countries and regions in the form that this takes, depending upon local policies, contexts and government and school commitment to an inclusive approach. Listening to the voices of parents and self-advocates from different regions about their personal experiences when endeavouring to access an inclusive schooling option can provide greater clarity about the process and how easy it is for families to take this route. The following stories are told by four parents from different countries and one self-advocate about their journey to access an inclusive education for a child with a disability.

Pat Allatt is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Teesside, U.K.Tim Dant is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of East Anglia, U.K.Carolyn Dixon is a researcher and an independent artist.John Donnelly is Senior Lecturer in the Sociology and Criminology Division at the University of Northumbria, U.K.Alan Felstead is Professor of Employment Studies at the Centre for Labour Market Studies at the University of Leicester, U.K.Barbara Harrison is Professor of Sociology at the University of East London, U.K.Rosalind Hurworth is Director of the Centre for Program Evaluation within the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne, Australia.Nick Jewson is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Labour Market Studies at the University of Leicester, U.K.John Martin is Principal Lecturer in Economic and Social History at De Montfort University, U.K.Ruth Martin was the Research Assistant for the “Asian Leicester” project.Sarah Pink is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Loughborough, U.K.Christopher Pole is a Reader in the Department of Sociology at the University of Leicester, U.K.Andrea Raggl is a Research Assistant in the Department of Teacher Education and School Research at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.Michael Schratz is Professor of Education at the Department of Teacher Education and School Research of the University of Innsbruck, Austria.Matt Smith is a Lecturer in the Sociology and Criminology Division at the University of Northumbria, U.K.Sally Walters is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Labour Market Studies at the University of Leicester, U.K.

Purpose – To offer a thought-provoking reflection of my experiences ‘in the field’ at alcohol-infused sporting events. This chapter, in effect, is a piece of qualitative research on the ‘doing’ of quantitative survey research. This chapter provides important insights into the politics of collecting and representing data and the social boundaries within which those data are collected.

Design/methodology/approach – Between September 2011 and February 2012, I embarked on data collection for a research project that investigated the culture of alcohol promotion and consumption at major sport events in New Zealand. Specifically, I was interested in examining the public spaces where alcohol was promoted and where people consumed alcohol as part of the overall entertainment experience of sport mega-events. The discussion in this chapter presents an overview of the politics and performances of in-field research.

Findings – I discuss particular cultural, conceptual, methodological and ethical quandaries that coincide with undertaking such research. In doing so, I consider the situational standpoint, positional paradox and behavioural bind of my research experience.

Research Implications – This chapter contributes to the on-going scholarly dialogue that details the complexities of research management and strategies for studies exploring the sport-alcohol nexus, which will be of benefit to current and future qualitative researchers in their preparation to conduct fieldwork about sport and alcohol.

Limitations – The reflections offer details about the culture at specific events and scholars should be cautious of the extent to which they can be generalized from one alcohol-infused sport event to the next.

Building on the proposition that Bernstein's ideas are due for a revival in higher education research, the call for studies in which theory is put to use and for policy studies to engage in textual analysis, this chapter argues for the affordances of the theoretical underpinnings of Bernstein's pedagogic device and critical discourse studies in investigating connections between policy and practice. Drawing on the sociology of pedagogy and applied linguistics, this chapter aims to explore the theoretical complementarities of the chosen approaches for exploring how policy ideas move through time and space. A focus on the notion of recontextualisation enables an understanding of how influences beyond the discipline itself, including policy discourses, can shape learning, teaching and assessment practices. The illustrating case examines policy on learning and teaching and how these ideas are recontextualised from national policy through to institutional policy and individual practices. The critical or questioning angle of both approaches in seeing ideas, including policy, as never value-free but as situated within their sociopolitical context can shed light on how policy ideas make their way into universities and in whose interests.

The purpose of this study is to provide an educational model that addresses local community needs using sport-based service-learning.

Drawing from the experiences of a Sport and Community Development (SCD) class at the University of Tennessee, this chapter will detail the structure, philosophy, and framework of the course, while emphasizing the ways former students, community members, and community partners experienced cross-cultural community development through sport-based service-learning.

The findings of this study demonstrate that if implemented with careful consideration and reflexivity, sport-based service-learning can positively address the needs of the community while promoting analytical student learning through practical application.

This study is limited in that the SCD course has only been in existence for three years. Long-term implications of our efforts are only beginning to surface.

As recognized by the United Nations in the declaration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), there are serious challenges facing today’s global population. Whether it is extreme poverty and hunger, child mortality, disease, maternal health, obesity, or environmental sustainability, individuals are looking for answers as they relate to nutrition, health, and well-being (United Nations, 2008). The goal of this chapter is to introduce an educational model, philosophy, and framework that promotes the use of sport and physical activity, as a way to address the health needs of local communities, while simultaneously fostering community development and cross-cultural understanding.

Purpose – To outline new research on the ways in which older athletes incorporate drinking practices into their social and sporting identities. Drawing on research with older Australian athletes, the chapter asks us to re-imagine the sport–alcohol nexus to include new sites and subjects that can shed light on wider articulations of the pleasurable and problematic relationships between sport, alcohol and social identity.

Design/methodology/approach – In the first part of the chapter, key themes in sport and ageing research are discussed. In the second, issues of alcohol, older age and sporting identities are considered, drawing on research at the 2017 Australian Masters Games. This sets the scene for a fuller discussion and analysis of some of the missed opportunities in alcohol and sport research, and their implications for sport and social policy, health promotion and social care more broadly.

Findings – The chapter reveals several under-developed opportunities in a broader research agenda on sport and alcohol, including the role alcohol plays in conferring membership and belonging to the sporting communities of older athletes. The chapter suggests that a recalibration of popular understandings of sport, ageing and alcohol – both as separate and as inter-related concerns – may provide an opportunity for addressing wider social concerns with ageing more broadly.

Research limitations/implications – Discussion of ageing and alcohol, through the lens of sport, has important implications for an analysis of drinking practices and in sport, and for sport and social policy, health promotion and social care.

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to understand how, if at all, backchanneling technology supported an early career English teacher’s facilitation of literary discussions in his 10th grade classroom. Although emerging findings from studies of backchanneling in teaching contexts have illustrated its potential power, little attention has been given to how teachers learn to use the tool or reimagine their pedagogical roles as they use backchanneling for instructional purposes.

Design/Methodology/Approach – Discourse analyses of 16 face-to-face (frontchannel) and online (backchannel) transcripts of discussions exposed how participants used these two venues to interact simultaneously around a literary text. Methods from Nystrand’s (2002) dialogic discourse analysis isolated each teacher interjection in the contexts of each discussion.

Findings – The teacher used the backchannel to probe for elaborated student responses and model dialogic discourse moves. The teacher’s behind-the-scenes support limited his participation during frontchannel discussions, allowing for open discussion among students without the teacher’s consistent interjection, which disrupted the initiation-response-evaluation discourse structure that is pervasive in US schools.

Practical Implications – Although backchanneling technology can be used to archive records of students’ participation that could be useful for assessment purposes, the teacher’s skillful capacity to negotiate two discussions at once reconstituted his role during the discussion from facilitator to a fellow reader with his students as they explored meaningful questions that literature provokes – a less obvious and potentially more powerful affordance of this digital tool for instructional purposes.

Europe is comprised of geographically and politically diverse countries, with different cultures and languages, at different stages in their progress towards achieving inclusive education for diverse ranges of learners. This chapter discusses cross-country collaborative work conducted within the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education. The work supports countries in meeting commitments to Sustainable Development Goals in Quality Education, by developing and implementing more inclusive education systems. This collaborative approach is based on a shared vision and evidenced-based key principles to guide policy development. It highlights the challenges alongside the progress achieved in European Country contexts towards SDG 4 targets.

Differences between UK countries in HE policy and provision concerning the accessibility of HE study for students, and the costs of that study, have implications for cross-border study mobility. Those qualified for and wishing to enter HE are affected both by financial support for students and the provision of the HE service in terms of the number of places and the shape and history of the sector within their home country, and in comparison to other countries of the UK. In addition, funding policies for mobile students do not recognise social diversity and so have an unequal impact on students in relation to their socio-economic resources, a consequence of the territorial frame of reference and unequal devolution arrangements which work against a UK-wide social citizenship. Drawing on a quantitative analysis of student data, this chapter discusses the unequal conditions of access, opportunity and financial support for HE across the UK and how this may have a negative impact on the role of cross-border mobility in widening participation.