This article reflects on government statistics that show that an increasing number of learners are being marginalised from mainstream education despite the UK's commitment to inclusion. Unclear definitions, rhetoric and a focus on placing the problem within the learner lead to an increasing demand for compensatory approaches. Instead, recognition…

The past five or so years have been marked by a proliferation of educational initiatives, programmes, and toys designed to introduce children to coding and to develop their skills and interest in computer science. This article takes a critical approach to this movement, focusing specifically on ways dominant discourse surrounding the coding…

Within the digital workforce, women are disappearing. While there are many factors that could be "blamed" for this phenomenon, this article takes issue with the sexist and patriarchal discourses that are deployed within the digital workforce. In many ways, sexist discourses are taken for granted within the digital workplace; and in that…

Men outnumber women in the enrollment of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate majors. Course syllabi are distributed to students during open enrollment and provide key insights into the courses. A critical discourse analysis of introductory engineering syllabi at a 4-year public university revealed limited to no…

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy reflects ideas about childhood, labour force participation, education, the economy and the role of the state. This article spans a period of political change in New Zealand from a left of centre government during the first decade of the twenty-first century to a right of centre government from 2009.…

Attention has been drawn to the persistent underrepresentation of underserved populations in gifted education programs. Though a small number of working-class students, students of color, recent immigrants, and students with limited English proficiency attend these programs, access to gifted education remains closely linked to White and…

Few early intervention efforts have improved the representation of women in computer science and engineering (CSE) disciplines, but pair programming has shown promise for reducing gender differences among college students. The current study is the first to examine this promising practice in middle school. In an effort to better understand what…

This article presents the results of a three-year study of "Gamestar Mechanic" (www.gamestarmechanic.com), a flash-based multiplayer online role-playing game developed for the MacArthur Foundation's digital media learning initiative by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Gamelab in New York. The game's objective is to help children…

There is extensive evidence of a "glass ceiling" for women across the labour market. Though schools have widely been described as "feminized" work environments, the under-representation of women at school management level is well established. Based on a study of women teachers' careers and promotion in the English school sector…