Ofsted published a thematic review on 19 June that looks at what schools can do to create a positive school culture and to prevent and tackle bullying. 37 primary schools and 19 secondary schools were included. One aspect of the survey, ‘No place for bullying’, was inspectors’ focus on pupils’ own experiences and understanding of bullying and its effects. Inspectors asked pupils what they would do if they were bullied, whether they had been bullied while at their current school and how well they thought their school dealt with bullying. Continue reading “School inspections: do they tell us about sexual bullying in schools?”
Feminist ‘Failures’ and Classroom Concerns
I’ve been a part of a few feminist reading groups in different UK-US institutions: lately this has posed a question of what kind of ‘feminism’ are we reading, evaluating and doing in these classroom encounters? Who can be the feminist-in-the-classroom and what efforts, labours and recognition come into play here? How do these encounters travel beyond the classroom and where, then, do we locate feminism? At Rutgers, I was lucky enough to participate in the Happiness reading group, where researchers across the career stage were encouraged to present their work-in-progress and to share views, critique and inter-disciplinary thoughts on the subject of ‘happiness’; how to get it, whether and where it arrives, and what/who sustains this, with the group facilitating its production as well as its disruption. The explicit feminism/feminist(s) frequently arrived by virtue of certain bodies being in the room, declaring their presence and ‘outing’ their investments, often just by declaring their research interests. Happily or not, the feminist in the classroom cannot often be equally present or an unburdened absence (speaking only for herself) with the expectation too that she should take us, our feminism, to another level, revealing her feminist approach with her every articulation. Continue reading “Feminist ‘Failures’ and Classroom Concerns”
The Softer They Come: Elly Tams reviews ‘The Declining Significance Of Homophobia’
The Declining Significance of Homophobia is, according to its author, a ‘Good News story’ (p xxv). I capitalise ‘Good News’ for reasons that shall become clear. But focusing first on the main thrust of the thesis (and there is no reference to it but I am certain this is a book written out of a PhD thesis), the ‘good news’ is how teenage boys in the UK are less homophobic than in previous eras. Good news indeed. Continue reading “The Softer They Come: Elly Tams reviews ‘The Declining Significance Of Homophobia’”
LGBTQ Resources and Schooling
In the first initiative of its kind in Australia, the Victorian Government has provided $80,000 to the Safe Schools Coalition Victoria (SSCV), a partnership between Rainbow Network Victoria and the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA). Continue reading “LGBTQ Resources and Schooling”