Can Metal Detectors Replace the Panopticon?

‘We’ve Got Some Underground Business Selling Junk Food’: Qualitative Evidence of the Unintended Effects of English School Food Policies

“…A student explained: The dinner ladies started coming in and selling crisps and stuff […] I bought crisps, yeah, they came and they were selling for something like 20 p[ence] a crisp packet [from] a Walker's packet, a big [multi]packet and they were selling the little crisps out to anyone who wanted it. (Female,14,The Crescent) This example of the external school lunch supervisors resonates with Devine's (1995) research on private security guards deployed in American high schools, who came from the same deprived communities as students, had little stake in the school, and either failed to prevent, or actively engaged in, drug dealing or sexual harassment on school premises once teachers were no longer present.…”

Where next with theory and research on how the school environment influences young people's substance use?

“… teachers and school appearing irrelevant to many students' lives and aspirations (Devine, 1995, Fletcher et al, 2009a, Fletcher et al, 2009b;  relationships with teachers being weak (Devine, 1995, Fletcher et al, 2009a, Gordon and Turner, 2001);…”

“… peer structures being clique-ridden (Milner, 2006);  students not participating in decision making (Plano Clark et al, 2002, Waldron, 2005;  teachers focusing on cognitive work in the classroom to the detriment of protecting and supporting students outside classes (Devine, 1995, Fletcher et al, 2009b; and  schools prioritising the education of those with potential for high attainment while marginalising others (Bonell et al, 2012b, Fletcher et al, 2009c Much of this research emphasises teachers' authoritarian styles and inattention to students' overall development as drivers of disengagement and substance use, supporting the idea that eroding boundaries within a school may reduce substance use and other risk behaviours (Gordon and Turner, 2004).…”

“…Furthermore, not all qualitative studies suggest that it is overly authoritarian schools with too rigid boundaries that inadvertently encourage increased student substance use. Some qualitative research suggests that schools with inadequate systems of protection for students and insufficient teacher authority within and outside classrooms may predispose students to engage in substance use and other risk behaviours, particularly when interacting with neighbourhoods characterised by high levels of gang membership, violence and drug use (Devine, 1995, Paulle, 2013. Other research suggests this can occur because students may engage in substance use as a strategy for self-preservation, showcasing 'tough' identities in their schools and local neighbourhoods in order to foster close relationships with potentially threatening peers and achieve 'safety in numbers' (Dance, 2002, Fletcher et al, 2009b.…”

The contradictions of suppression: Notes from a study of approaches to gangs in three public high schools

“…Second, there was the impact that the demographic makeup of the security officers had on the stratification process. Devine (1995) has noted that the increasing reliance on security personnel to keep the physical peace in public schools has led them to become in some cases the primary socializing agents for students. He found that "many students bond with the guards who know them by name, ask them about their grades, admonish them about dangerous behavior, and offer religious wisdom--all this, of course, outside of the orbit of job descriptions" (p. 172).…”