Cultural practices and transitions in education

This is an important collection of texts taking a critical perspective on the politics and practices of education. Authors from different disciplines, countries and cultures focus on equality and social justice. From starting points in cultural and feminist studies they analyse how differences and marginalities are constructed in different educational contexts.

The themes of the book – methodology, citizenship, transitions, girlhood and equality – are explored and illustrated using empirical examples from Nordic countries, the UK and USA. These chapters are inspired by the work of Tuula Gordon and Elina Lahelma who have for many years pursued and promoted critical ethnography and research into issues of gender, equality and transitions, and to whom the volume is dedicated. 
 
The book will be of interest and value for students, teachers, researchers and others interested in questions of equality and social justice in education.
 
The Tufnell Press, London & Finnish Youth Research Society/Youth Research Network, Helsinki
254 pages, 22 euros. 

Cultural practices and transitions in education

Tarja Tolonen, Tarja Palmu, Sirpa Lappalainen, Tuuli Kurki (Editors)

Contents and authors

Authors 

Preface 
 
Part 1: Methodology
 
Chapter 1
Collaborative reflections on collective ethnography
Tarja Palmu and Sirpa Lappalainen 
 
Chapter 2
The gaze in the classroom: Marginalisation with a focus on objectification and reciprocity
Anne-Lise Arnesen 
 
Chapter 3
Interviewing young people in institutional contexts — methodological reflections
Sanna Aaltonen and Päivi Honkatukia 
 
Part 2: Citizenship
 
Chapter 4
Cosmopolitanism, making the nation and the citizen as a salvation theme of turn of the twentieth century pedagogy
Thomas S. Popkewitz 
 
Chapter 5
Spaces for influence
Dennis Beach, Lisbeth Lundahl and Elisabet Öhrn 
 
Chapter 6
Changing discourses of employability: From the meritocratic to the enterprise discourse of abilities? A review of the current and emerging research on abilities
Katri Komulainen, Hannu Räty, Maija Korhonen, Päivi Siivonen, Riitta Kärkkäinen and Kati Kasanen 
 
Part 3: Transitions
 
Chapter 7
The expansion of higher education in the UK: Winners and losers
Janet Holland and Rachel Thomson 
 
Chapter 8
Fast-track youth and education—exploring meanings of adulthood and gender
Sinikka Aapola-Kari 
 
Chapter 9
Classed and gendered meanings of marginalisation in young people’s transitions
Tarja Tolonen 
 
Chapter 10
Value and values: Injustice, investment, judgement and caring
Beverley Skeggs 
 
Part 4: Girlhood
 
Chapter 11
All sexed up? Reflections on researching girls, sexuality and active girlhood
Mary Jane Kehily 
 
Chapter 12
Buttons, zippers and dresses: Constructing agency in day care
Elina Paju 
 
Chapter 13
Strawberry ice cream and other episodes: Tracing spaces for feminist agency during life transitions
Seija Keskitalo-Foley 
 
Part 5: Equality
 
Chapter 14
The interconnections between class, gender and agency in higher education
Kirsti Lempiäinen 
 
Chapter 15
Gender in Finnish school textbooks for basic education
Liisa Tainio 
 
Chapter 16
Gender awareness in research on teacher education in Finland
Jukka Lehtonen 
 
Chapter 17
Words that matter: Revisiting equality work in education
Kristiina Brunila