Suchergebnisse

I: The rhetoric and the reality of 'boys' underachievement' -- 'Boys' underachievement' : the evidence -- 'Boys' underachievement' : the explanations -- II: Theorising boys and masculinities in the early years -- Vygotsky, Bourdieu and the social contexts of young children's development -- III: Case studies of young boys and schooling -- Worlds apart : introducing South Park and North Parade -- Home-school relations in South Park -- 'Fish in water' : the schooling habitus of young middle class boys -- Home-school relations in North Parade -- 'Fish out of water' : the schooling habitus of young working class boys -- IV: Implications for practice -- Conclusions : working with young boys

This article provides a case study demonstrating the active role that 5‐ to 6‐year‐old boys in an English inner‐city, multi‐ethnic primary school play in the appropriation and reproduction of their masculine identities. It is argued that the emphasis on physicality, violence and racism found among the boys cannot be understood without reference to the immediate contexts of the local community and the school within which they are located. In making this argument the article draws upon and applies the concept of the habitus and develops this with the notion of 'distributed cognition' as proposed in sociocultural theory. Some of the implications of this analysis for working with boys in early years settings are discussed in the conclusion. Copyright © 2006 The Author(s).

The work of Pierre Bourdieu is drawn on to develop a theoretical frame for overcoming traditional essentializing & totalizing understandings of racism in the sociological literature. It is shown that critical scholars generally appropriated an essential black subject to challenge the values & assumptions of sociological research on race & racism during the 1980s. However, a critique has developed around the claims made for those who have been included in this totalizing black experience. Further, two other issues have yet to be addressed in the literature: the relation between macro- & microlevel racial processes & the notion of racism as something more than a false ideology that exists at once institutionally & in the minds of individuals. Bourdieu's notions of habitus, field, & capital are employed in the presentation of a theoretical framework of practice designed to account for these issues & developments. It is argued that this frame considers how competing forms of capital & multiple identities are mobilized & struggled over within multiple social fields. While it has been only briefly discussed, this framework promises to move beyond the limited frame set by the reification of the essential black subject found in much of the sociological literature on racism. 74 References. D. M. Smith

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of a free book gifting programme, called "Bookstart+", in improving family reading outcomes.Design/methodology/approach– Bookstart+ consists of a pack of books and reading materials provided to families at their two-year-old child's statutory health visit. The pack is accompanied by a short priming demonstration, delivered by the health visitor, on shared reading. The evaluation took the form of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) with 460 families from the client lists of 115 health visitors.Findings– The study found evidence of: a positive significant effect on parents' attitudes to reading and books (Cohen'sd=+0.192,p=0.034); no significant effect on parental attitudes to their child reading (d=+0.085,p=0.279); and a negative effect, approaching significance, on public library usage (d=−0.160,p=0.055).Research limitations/implications– The attrition rate was high, with only 43.9 per cent of the target families completing all of the research. However, this level of attrition did not lead to any significant differences between the control and intervention groups on their pre-test measures.Practical implications– The study provides recommendations for free book gifting service provision in relation to pack contents and delivery.Originality/value– This paper contributes to the limited international RCT evidence on free book gifting programmes.