In this study, I use "currere" to examine excessive entitlement in my own high school education. By "excessive entitlement," I emphasize teachers' actions and systemic conditions related to an excessive educational mindset justifying (and manifesting) self-infallibility. Teachers displaying excessive entitlement might take for…

Chinese higher education policy texts appear to suggest that training 'para-diplomats' is a goal of China's international student recruitment. However, few studies have considered the ways such policies are recontextualised and implemented at the institutional (meso-) level and become integral to students' career pathways after graduation. To…

Garth Boomer's ideas in "Negotiating the Curriculum" (1992a) resonate with discussions of shifting teacher and student roles and relationships in the "student voice" movement. Boomer (1988) critiqued his earlier conception of power in "Negotiating the Curriculum," asserting that he would "now like to write a book…

The aim of this paper is to investigate children's views and experiences of democracy and pupil participation in relation to everyday school life, and to let their voices be heard on these issues. The data for this paper was derived from two ethnographic research projects conducted in three elementary schools in Sweden. In the classes investigated…

In this article the author draws on the concept of positioning to examine how language is used during one particular fifth-grade writing lesson to construct both the lesson and the participants. The author's analysis of the classroom interactions makes visible how participants colluded to position one student in particular, Larnell, as a "bad, bad…

The aim of this qualitative case study is to investigate how learning in "democratic participation" is constituted by the social interaction and conversation pattern in school democratic meetings in a Swedish primary school. According to the findings, a pupil control discourse and the Initiation-Response-Evaluation pattern dominates the…

Using classroom observations and teacher interviews, this study examined how three young children, considered classroom leaders by their teachers, created complex dilemmas for their teachers through their interactions with teachers and peers. Findings showed that the children's powerful influence on their peers could be both positive and negative,…

Socialisation theories have traditionally focused on how children are socialised in a rather unidirectional manner, according to a transmission model. However, more recent research and theories show that children are not just passive recipients, but active agents in their socialisation process. At the same time, children are subordinated to adult…

Contends that traditional moral education's lack of critical perspective has resulted in its unwitting perpetuation of the status quo. Proposes adopting a critical postmodern approach addressing the fundamental interrelationship between language and power. Recommends sharing knowledge, power, and ideas between teachers and students. (MJP)