Family background, adolescent's achievement and aspirations, and young adult's enrolment in Australian Universities

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

Les compétences professionnelles dans la transmission scolaire du savoir historique. 'Las competencias profesionales en la transmisión escolar del conocimiento histórico'.

Se identifican los principales problemas que aparecen en la enseñanza de la historia. El primero afecta a la transmisión del conocimiento entre profesor y alumno. La comunidad de historiadores, tras discusiones y debates, construyen un discurso científico solo apto para especialistas para a continuación reescribirlo en un discurso para principiantes. Otro problema, este específico de la enseñanza de la historia, es que la historia es producida también por multitud de agentes sociales a través de diferentes prácticas, como son celebraciones, ceremonias, monumentos, símbolos, novelas, canciones, etc. Esta historia no es científica. En las sociedades del siglo XXI diversos actores pueden intentar actuar intencionadamente sobre la historia. Uno de los más importantes es el Estado, que crea su historia oficial y la difunde, entre otros medios, a través de la enseñanza en la escuela. Así el profesor de historia se convierte en un instrumento de propagación del relato de los orígenes que el poder institucional quiere difundir en todo el mundo.

Televisión y adolescencia : valores y aspiraciones académico-profesionales. 'Television and adolescence : academic and professional aspirations and values'.

Resumen tomado de la publicación. Con el apoyo económico del departamento MIDE de la UNED

Sociology, Gender and Educational Aspirations: Girls and their Ambitions

This study helps develop an overall understanding as to why some students achieve where others don't. Debate on the effects of class on educational attainment is well documented and typically centres on the reproductive nature of class whilst studies of the effect of class on educational aspirations also predict outcomes that see education reinforcing and reproducing a student's class background.Despite a number of government initiatives to help raise higher education participation to 50 per cent by 2010, for the working class numbers have altered little. Using data from an ethnographic case study of a low-achieving girls school, the author explores aspirations and argues that whilst class is very powerful in explaining educational attainment, understanding educational aspirations is somewhat more complex. The purpose of this book, therefore, is to question and challenge popular assumptions surrounding class-based theory in making sense of girls' aspirations and to question the usefulness of the continued over reliance of such broad categorisations by both academics and policy makers

Young people with intellectual disabilities attending mainstream and segregated schooling: perceived stigma, social comparison and future aspirations

Mainstream schooling is a key policy in the promotion of social inclusion of young people with learning disabilities. Yet there is limited evidence about the school experience of young people about to leave mainstream as compared with segregated education, and how it impacts on their relative view of self and future aspirations. Sixty young people with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities in their final year of secondary school participated in this study. Twenty-eight individuals came from mainstream schools and 32 attended segregated school. They completed a series of self-report measures on perceptions of stigma, social comparison to a more disabled and non-disabled peer and the likelihood involved in attaining their future goals. The majority of participants from both groups reported experiencing stigmatized treatment in the local area where they lived. The mainstream group reported significant additional stigma at school. In terms of social comparisons, both groups compared themselves positively with a more disabled peer and with a non-disabled peer. While the mainstream pupils had more ambitious work-related aspirations, both groups felt it equally likely that they would attain their future goals. Although the participants from segregated schools came from significantly more deprived areas and had lower scores on tests of cognitive functioning, neither of these factors appeared to have an impact on their experience of stigma, social comparisons or future aspirations. Irrespective of schooling environment, the young people appeared to be able to cope with the threats to their identities and retained a sense of optimism about their future. Nevertheless, negative treatment reported by the children was a serious source of concern and there is a need for schools to promote the emotional well-being of pupils with intellectual disabilities.

Social capital and the role of trust in aspirations for higher education

This paper considers the role of social capital and trust in the aspirations for higher education of a group of socially disadvantaged girls. Drawing on data from a longitudinal, ethnographic case study of an underperforming secondary school, the paper considers current conceptualisations of social capital and its role in educational ambitions. The paper concludes by tentatively suggesting that whilst social capital is extremely helpful in explaining differences within groups, trust appears to be a pre-requisite for the investment and generation of social capital, as opposed to the other way around. The paper also suggests that young people are not necessarily dependent on their families for their social capital but are able to generate capital in their own right.