During the past 15 years of his career, John Furlong's research and writing has focused--in part--on digital technologies and people's everyday experiences of education. While hardly a technology expert, his work has shown an acute awareness of the significance of computers, the internet and mobile telephony in making sociological sense…

The work of John Furlong on school and classroom ethnography is located in its context and its achievements celebrated. The paper focuses on class, ethnicity and gender issues as it explores the changes and continuities in the ethnography of education over the 66-year period covered. The qualities of a good ethnographer are playfully compared to…

This paper discusses one of Furlong's major areas of work, the theory and practice of teacher education. Taking up where our joint publication "Teacher Education in Transition: Re-Forming Professionalism?" (Open University Press 2000) left off, it examines how accelerated moves towards school-based teacher education, as well as increased…

In this paper we problematise the notion of authority as it appears in discourse relating to school discipline. The account of authority that dominates is narrow and restricted, and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for control. This prohibits full consideration of the range of relationships in which authority manifests itself. We draw on…

Sam Hillyard's (2010) recent article has the value of highlighting the issue of theory development in interactionism, ethnography, and the sociology of education. It also reminds of a fruitful, and unique, research programme in educational research that stretched from the early 1960s into the 1990s. However, in the author's view Hillyard's…

From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, schools micro-computing in the UK developed from being a niche "hobbyist" activity to a prominent, officially mandated element of the national education system. Drawing on in-depth interviews with key actors of the time, this paper outlines the initial varied interpretations of schools…

The paper sets out to examine the role that ethnographic work can and should play in the development of sociological theory, focusing on the case study of differentiation-polarisation theory. It provides a detailed discussion of the work of Hargreaves (1967), Lacey (1970) and Ball (1981) and assesses the degree to which their work was ethnographic…

This paper examines the sociology of education from the perspective of its recent history and attempts to assess the current state of the field. The authors argue that cognate disciplines such as economics and social policy have taken over some of the key questions that were once the preserve of sociology of education. This raises the question of…

A. H. Halsey has been a professorial fellow (now emeritus) at Nuffield College in Oxford University since his appointment in 1962 as Director of Oxford's Department of Social and Administrative Studies. This paper explores his contribution to education throughout his career, as an academic and as a national and international policy advisor, and…

The author reviews education in the context of social power and then examines the relationship between education and politics in England. (Author/RM)

Based on information printed in the journal, "Past and Present," it is argued that educational historians are placing too much attention on sociology and anthropology theories rather than examining the educational process itself. (ND)

This article examines the concept of progress within instrumentalist theories of education. Older and more wide-spread than liberal, reconstructionist, or child-centered theories, instrumentalist theories focus on the correctness of "fit" between an educational provision and the supposed needs of the particular society. (JDH)

Sociological theory is examined to explore the possibility of a more egalitarian society and the potential contribution of the educational process to social change. Also discussed are purported obstacles to equality: an ineluctible occupational hierarchy, pessimism concerning the importance of schooling, and alleged genetic differences. (EH)

Traces major trends in educational sociology since the late 1980s and reviews major findings from sociological literature of various periods. Emphasis is placed on interpretation of "Origins and Destinations: Family, Class and Education in Modern Britain," by A. M. Halsey, A. F. Heath, and J. M. Ridge. (Author/DB)

Examines the ways in which anxiety appears in children's narratives about their transitions to secondary school. Features a pilot study that focused on Year 5 and 6 children (n=90) in two London, England primary schools. Explores the positive functions of anxiety as part of a development process. Includes references. (CMK)