The aim of this article is to extend the explanatory power of Martin Thrupp's legacy within the framework of critical realism. Specifically, it argues that critical realism's methodological complement, the morphogenetic approach, provides a metatheoretical toolkit that can deepen and expand Thrupp's realist analysis of school contexts. The article…

Theories of learning typically downplay the interplay between social structure and student agency. In this article, we adapt a causal hypothesis from realist social theory and draw on wider perspectives from critical realism to account for the development of capacity to engage in reflection on professional practice in academic roles. We thereby…

At the current historical juncture in which differences and inequalities are surfacing greater than ever in the world, societies, and schools, the main goal of this essay is to revisit the aspects of structuralism that can potentially contribute productively to understanding the invisible structures and forces that everyone carries (mostly…

In the context of an anthropology curriculum, public high school students performed as informant-ethnographers of their own social milieu. Using the film and fieldwork techniques, students demonstrated that with training and sensitivity such studies could be more than simple academic exercises. (AUTHOR/NQ)

This paper explores one approach to principal evaluation based on the interaction of principals with the social system of schools. The paper examines some dynamics that shape a social-context/student-achievement connection and their application to principal evaluation. The first part provides a brief background on current principal-evaluation…

Describes the educational challenges facing Poland as it makes the transition from state socialism to a free market economy. Reviews probable changes to the country's agricultural workers, working class, intelligentsia, and the newly self-employed. Discusses the decline of the value of education beginning in the 1980s and the implications for…

Present attempts to transform the meaning and purposes of schooling through a radically reformed notion of leadership are examined in this paper. The first part presents a framework that explains the mechanisms through which school cultures are produced, reproduced, and transformed: pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, and discipline. The first…

Maintains that the number of immigrants from India to the United States has risen dramatically. Asserts that the cultural gap between the immigrant parents and their children is largely the result of their school experiences. Contends that it is important that teachers understand the effects of the educational system on students from other…

Reports on a study of how engenderment (socialization to gender) operates in both male and female single-sex and coeducational independent schools. Finds that teachers initiated most of the incidents in six categories of sex discrimination. Asserts that schools with active gender equity policies were the least likely sites of sexism. (CFR)

Asserts that Russian society and Russian schools are going through a profound crisis. Maintains that the best approach to solving social and educational problems is to restore and develop national principles and group cohesion. Criticizes the United States and Japanese educational systems and calls for Russia to follow its own path. (CFR)