While investigation on family estrangement is growing within academic circles, research regarding the interconnection between experiences of estrangement and higher education (HE) is still limited. Sociological understandings of these issues are even scarcer, with policy interventions and practical guidance forming early interventions in HE. Set…

Family is widely regarded as a cornerstone of student support. When family support exist as an essential form of social capital making, rupture of family ties places students in a disadvantageous position. This paper focuses on estranged students' accounts of their experiences of higher education, highlighting how capital dynamics shape their…

Assessment and feedback are interrelated challenges for higher education, being perceived as key facets of the quality assurance of degrees, and yet commonly found to be sources of dissatisfaction for students. We performed a thematic analysis on the free-text comments of the National Student Survey for a large, Scottish, Russell Group university…

This paper draws on case study data from a study of independent schools in Scotland, to examine school space as a site of mediation of educational dis/advantage and in/exclusion. A threefold and scalar conceptualisation of space is used together with social capital theory to analyse staff and student identifications with relations within and…

This article focuses upon recent initiatives aimed at improving the management of disaffected students in Wales. Historically, schools in Wales over the last hundred years have consistently had to manage larger numbers of disaffected students, especially truants and school absentees, than in other parts of the United Kingdom. In her annual report…

This article begins by examining the Scottish Executive's published figures on exclusion from school to argue that while they show small reductions in the use of temporary exclusions from year to year, there is as yet no evidence of a substantial reduction. In addition it argues that the published data fail to give an accurate picture of the…