Caged birds and cloning machines: how student imagery 'speaks' to us about cultures of schooling and student participation

With the advent of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), there is an increasing requirement that schools ensure children and young people's views are voiced, listened to and taken seriously on matters of significance. Encouraging these shifts by law is one thing; changing the culture in schools is another. For a significant proportion of schools, actively engaging students' voices on how they experience education poses a significant challenge and crucial gaps may exist between the rhetoric espoused and a school's readiness for genuine student involvement. This ethnographic study illuminates tensions that persist between headteachers' espoused views of how students are valued and students' creative images of their actual post-primary schooling experience. If cultures of schooling are to nurture the true spirit of democratic pupil participation implied by changes in the law, there is a need to develop genuine processes of student engagement in which students and staff can collaborate towards greater shared understandings of a school's priorities.

Predicting physical properties of ionic liquids

<p>A simple method to predict the densities of a range of ionic liquids from their surface tensions, and vice versa, using a surface-tension-weighted molar volume, the parachor, is reported. The parachors of ionic liquids containing 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium cations were determined experimentally, but were also calculated directly from their structural compositions using existing parachor contribution data for neutral compounds. The calculated and experimentally determined parachors were remarkably similar, and the latter data were subsequently employed to predict the densities and surface tensions of the investigated ionic liquids. Using a similar approach, the molar refractions of ionic liquids were determined experimentally, as well as calculated using existing molar refraction contribution data for uncharged compounds. The calculated molar refraction data were employed to predict the refractive indices of the ionic liquids from their surface tensions. The errors involved in the refractive index predictions were much higher than the analogous predictions employing the parachor, but nevertheless demonstrated the potential for developing parachor and molar refraction contribution data for ions as tools to predict ionic liquid physical properties.</p>

Learning To Live Together

The rise of ethnic tensions has rendered the idea of pluralist societies more problematic than ever before. This article looks at the role played by adult education in helping to build peace in Northern Ireland, a society which is moving towards the stabilisation of its intercommunal conflict. A typology of peace education is put forward, outlining the various strategies adopted by those involved in adult learning or community relations work. Some general observations are added about the role of gender. Questions are then raised about how the impact of peace education progammes can be measured or assessed, and about the methodological problems facing all those attempting to draw conclusions about the role of education in conflict societies.

Consulting pupils in Assessment for Learning classrooms: the twists and turns of working with students as co-researchers

This is an invited paper to a special issue on pupil voice focusing on methodological issues arising from the ESRC/TLRP project on consulting pupils about assessment practices in their classrooms. The issue of consulting pupils about assessment has rarely been researched before but what this article illustrates are some of the difficulties, tensions and positive outcomes of engaging with students as researchers within a nationally funded (and therefore externally driven), university-based project. This study adds considerably to the body of knowledge in this area by engaging students in the process as researchers in different capacities within the project. Issues discussed include the use of student advisory groups, ethical negotiation, students undertaking videotaped classroom observations and their subsequent role in co-interpreting video excerpts and visual images. The paper has attracted considerable interest already through the ESRC pupil seminar series forum and also from a prior paper presentation to the European Educational Research Association in September 2006 in Switzerland to the Childrens' Rights SIG becasue of researchers' current interests in embedding democratic principles and practices within research with children and young people.

The 1996 ���Muslim holiday��� affair. Religious competition and state mediation in contemporary Mozambique

Political commentators often cast religious con? ict as the result of the numerical growth and political rise of a single faith. When Islam is involved, arguments about religious fundamentalism are quick to surface and often stand as an explanation in their own right. Yet, as useful as this type of explanation may be, it usually fails to address properly, if at all, two sets of important issues. It avoids, �� rst, the question of the rise of other religions and their contribution to tensions and con? icts. Second, it reduces the role of the State to a reactive one. The State becomes an object of contest or conquest, or it is simply ignored. Adopting a different approach, this article investigates a controversy that took place in Mozambique in 1996 around the ���of�� cialisation��� of two Islamic holidays. It looks at the role played by religious competition and state mediation. The article shows that the State���s abandonment of religious regulation ��� the establishment of a free ���religious market��� ��� fostered religious competition that created tensions between faiths. It suggests that strife ensued because deregulation was almost absolute: the State did not take a clear stand in religious matters and faith organisations started to believe that the State was becoming, or could become, confessional. The conclusion discusses theoretical implications for the understanding of religious strife as well as Church and State relations. It also draws some implications for the case of Mozambique more speci�� cally, implications which should have relevance for countries such as Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe where problems of a similar nature have arisen.

'The Judiciary and Constitutionalism in Transitions: A Critique'

The article critically analyses the role of the Nigerian courts in mediating resultant tensions in the post-authoritarian transition period. In doing this, I examine jurisprudence emanating from the courts on some serious inter-governmental disputes, as well as decisions bordering on individual and group rights, particularly those connected to the transition process. The dynamics of democratic transition in Nigeria after decades of military rule dictates the inevitability of these disputes. The military left a legacy of systemic distortion and institutional dysfunctions which constitute formidable challenges to the transitioning society. The article argues a case for a purposive jurisprudential approach to resolving the ensuing tensions which typically threaten the viability of the transition.

Young Women���s Positive and Negative Perceptions of Self in Northern Ireland

This paper represents analysis of one aspect of a larger research project examining the everyday lives and experiences of young women in Northern Ireland. As an introductory exercise within focus groups, 48 young women considered and discussed the good and not so good things about being a young woman in Northern Ireland. Through these accounts many issues emerged, some in direct contrast and contradiction to one another. The area focused upon for the purpose of this paper is the body, particularly with regard to body image (self-expression versus pressure) and becoming a woman (growing up versus menarche). The aim is to illustrate that what young women cite as being potentially positive aspects of growing up or being a young woman often have negative experiences and implications attached to them. In light of the advancements made by young women in Northern Irish society, an opening of opportunities and their awareness of the persistence of gendered messages regarding their bodies, many young women are of the belief that such messages have less impact upon them today and that gender is a barrier that can be overcome. It is illustrated and argued here, however, that dominant cultural messages regarding women���s bodies are more subtle, confusing and perhaps pervasive than they ever have been. As a consequence, this has created more pressure and confusion for young women and tensions exist in terms of young women���s beliefs and their actions. In light of these research findings, this paper considers practice implications for those working with and for young women.

El "Fedro" de Plat��n: un ejercicio de buena ret��rica enga��osa

En este art��culo me propongo mostrar que lo que S��crates hace con Fedro a lo largo de toda la obra no es otra cosa que utilizar la aut��ntica ret��rica (con su doble carga, dial��ctica y psicol��gica) que es descrita en la segunda parte del di��logo. Las tensiones, rivalidades y celos de la situaci��n inicial entre ellos expone un perfil representativo de relaciones entre interlocutores con perspectivas intelectuales opuestas. Es preciso disolver la resistencia emocional por medio de una serie de pasos graduales, estrat��gicos, y ���enga��osos��� (no se puede develar el propio juego desde el principio). Hay que partir de acuerdos, siquiera parciales, para continuar dialogando. Sin embargo, S��crates tambi��n introduce nociones nuevas acerca del amor, pero ��stas pasan desapercibidas a un Fedro obsesionado con la imitaci��n de su enamorado Lisias. Hasta que S��crates decide cortar el juego y cruzar el r��o. Este corte provoca un giro en ambos personajes: Fedro se dispone a escuchar lo que S��crates quiere contarle (el mito del carro alado) y S��crates se revela ante s�� mismo como un personaje capaz de ���encantar��� a Fedro con la belleza raps��dica del relato y superar su propio temor de convertirse en una bestia devoradora. Al final S��crates muestra su juego a Fedro y le ense��a c��mo ha sido posible llegar a un aut��ntico di��logo filos��fico, donde pueda tener lugar la ense��anza y el aprendizaje rec��procos.

Between ���the Housewife��� and ���the Philosophy Professor���: Music, Narration and Address in Ousmane Sembene's Xala

The acclaimed Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene conceptualised himself as a modern day griot (West African oral performer), producing often didactic films that address a diverse spectatorship. Examining Xala, this paper argues that this address cannot be fully understood without attention to the film���s complex music/image relationships, which refigure classical and modernist film aesthetics to mobilise a discourse that recalls oral performance. In this way, Sembene negotiates the tensions of address generated by a spectatorship that is situated in the culturally hybrid spaces between the literate and the oral, the urban and the rural, and the global and the local.

Grassroots mobilisations against waste disposal sites in Greece

The government of Greece has gained notoriety for its failure to implement EU environmental directives in general, and is criticised specifically for its lack of an effective plan for the safe disposal of waste. Local mobilisations against a series of planned 'Sanitary Waste Disposal Sites' (HETAs) in three municipalities of Attica are examined. Should such protests be classified as NIMBY (not in my backyard)? Or do they present broader claims of justice and equity? Qualitative analysis of the protesters' on-line campaign material reveals that while these mobilisations do demonstrate some NIMBY characteristics, such campaigns should rather be perceived as ad hoc mobilisations reflective of tensions of late modernity. The public's mistrust of science and concerns about democratic deficit and accountability, as well as different perceptions of risk, are prominent.

From Rights to Compassion: The D Case and Contemporary Abortion Politics

This chapter is concerned with exploring the dynamics of contemporary debate on women���s reproductive choices and rights in the somewhat transformed social, political and economic context of the Republic of Ireland. News coverage of the events of April and May 2007 provide the focus of attention, as the case of ���D���, a 17 year old in the temporary care of the state, seeking to terminate her pregnancy after a diagnosis of severe foetal abnormality, became yet again a focus of public debate on abortion access within the state. The analysis explores how the issues this case raised were framed in the public domain, in order to consider the shifting moral grammar shaping the debate. The paper explores the ways in which this case illustrates the ongoing tensions between changing characterisations of Irishness, and the social dynamics of access to reproductive rights, particularly for national minors in the care of the state.

Can Civil Society Succeed Where Elites Have Failed in the War on Sectarianism? Towards an infinitely demanding politics for the North

Caught between the well-armed imaginations of paramilitary organisations competing for the hearts and minds of a divided population, and state engineering of a liberal peace, civil society's impact on Northern Ireland's identity politics was limited during the thirty-year conflict. Specifically, the community and voluntary sector itself has tended to replicate as much as it challenged patterns of segregation in many of its own structures. With plans set out in the Northern Ireland Executive's Programme for Government (2008-11) to engage civil society in opening a new era of ���good relations��� work to counter sectarianism and racism, civil society organisations will face a complex terrain, facing scepticism about their contribution to peace-making before the Good Friday Agreement, and working in a post-Agreement environment marked by continuing elite and communal antagonism demonstrated by the crisis at the turn of 2009 over devolution of justice and policing powers to the Northern Ireland Executive. A significant aspect of the resolution was a belated agreement by Sinn Fein and the DUP on a new community relation strategy, Cohesion, Sharing and Integration. This article suggests that civil society has a significant role to play in encouraging communities to confront the contradictions and tensions that continue to haunt the political architects of the Good Friday Agreement by affirming a radical and contingent vision of democracy as democratisation at a distance from the identity-saturated politics of the state-region of Northern Ireland. It draws on the work of Simon Critchley, Emmanuel Levinas and Wendy Brown, to offer an approach to identity politics in post-conflict Northern Ireland, focusing on the future orientation of civil society.

���It ain���t easy being green���: Sustainable Development between Environment and Economy in Northern Ireland���

Given the relative lack of research on sustainable development in Northern Ireland, this paper focuses on the tensions between environmental governance and regulation on the one hand, and the ���post-conflict��� imperative for Northern Ireland to compete and grow as a regional economy without continued British state subvention and subsidisation. The paper outlines how this ���trade-off��� between ���environment��� and ���economy��� is essentially misplaced. It argues that this trade-off can be avoided if there is a shift in focus from an ���environment versus the economy��� policy position to one in which the ���triple bottom line��� (social, economic and environmental) of sustainable development becomes the over-arching policy agenda. Sustainable development, unlike either orthodox environmental or economic policy, also connects centrally with the unique ���post-conflict transformation��� agenda of Northern Ireland. For example, promoting a human rights civic culture, tackling socioeconomic inequality and social exclusion, and building a shared future based on supporting sustainable communities and an innovative model of a ���green(ing) economy��� goes beyond orthodox economic growth. However, it is clear from the Executive���s Programme for Government, failure to support the creation of an independent Environment Protection Agency, and above all the prioritisation of orthodox economic growth based on foreign direct investment that neither environmental protection nor sustainable development is or will be high on the political or policy agenda in Northern Ireland.

Masks as self-study. Challenging and sustaining teachers��� personal and professional personae in early���mid career life phases

Drawing on previous research identifying how teachers��� capacities to sustain their effectiveness in different phases of their professional lives are affected positively and/or negatively by their sense of identity, this paper illuminates three early���mid career teachers��� self-study inquiries, centring on mask work. The creative development of individual masks discloses teachers��� complex, occasionally<br/>dislocated narratives of personal/professional identity. Subsequent improvisation with their masks is shown to engage teachers emotionally with tensions and dissonances within and between their various personae and personal, professional and political contexts at each of their respective career life phases. Storylines ultimately become reframed and, in a number of instances, lay claim to reinvigorated commitment, self-determination and initiatives for change.

Community Cohesion and Social Inclusion: Unravelling a Complex Relationship

In a global context of an emphasis on identity politics and a ���cultural turn��� in social analysis, deep concern has been expressed about multiethnic Britain becoming a broken society with many ���sleepwalking��� into segregation and separatism. Given the close correspondence between areas of acute ethnic segregation and those of multiple deprivation, intercommunal tensions have included disputes about the equitable allocation of scarce urban resources across ethnicity. This creates the possibility that urban programmes may inadvertently accentuate intercommunal tension and confound efforts to synchronise cohesion and inclusion agendas. Following recent debates about the implications of increased diversity, influenced by arguments that multiculturalism has encouraged ���parallel lives���, an emergent policy framework emphasises more proactive integration to promote ���common belonging���. Criticism of this agenda includes its confusion between community and social cohesion, and its disproportionate focus on cultural aspects such as identity formation and recognition, relative to structural issues of income and class. In exploring this contested terrain in Britain, the article suggests that the longer-term debate about segregation, deprivation and community differentials in Northern Ireland can offer useful insight for Britain���s policy discourse.