Improving Schools in Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Areas ? A Review of Research Evidence

Variations in Teachers' Work, Lives and Effectiveness

“…The framework of input-processoutput has been commonly adopted, and the importance of context especially in terms of SES has also been widely recognised (Teddlie and Stringfield, 1993;Henchey, 2001;Muijs et al, 2004;Sammons et al, 1997;James et al, 2005).…”

Opening up towards children’s languages: enhancing teachers’ tolerant practices towards multilingualism

“…On the other hand, the leader should expect that teachers will continue to experiment and push their limits. Moreover, including teachers in decision making is beneficial for schools' capacity for change (Muijs, Harris, Chapman, Stoll, & Russ, 2004). Second, some basic conditions need to be fulfilled concerning the atmosphere at school to encourage innovation in teachers.…”

“…Thrupp (1999) looked at schools with a challenging pupil population, a population with a high proportion of minority pupils, and a population of pupils from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Research shows that these schools need to invest a great deal of energy and time to ensure the conditions are right: monitoring truancy, providing pupils with the material resources they need, guaranteeing a minimum level of security, and motivating pupils (Muijs et al, 2004;Thrupp, 1999). The presence of these obstacles might prevent schools from implementing innovative classroom practices -they may simply lack the conditions to start.…”

Pedagogy, empowerment and discipline: comparative perspectives of novice teachers in England and Turkey reflecting on ‘the other’

“…While both groups contained those who thought that students did not have any rights, members of neither group seemed to hold an emancipatory perspective that would accord with the views of Fielding (2008) or Mujis et al (2005). However, the British participants were more aware of legal frameworks, both international and national, that enshrined the rights of children to have a voice.…”

“…Indeed the highly gendered, classed and racialised cultural frameworks within which schools operate (Reay, 2006) articulate clearly what they consider to be effective and ineffective teaching and support for students, views that chime closely with the literature on effective teaching (Wragg et al 2000;Cooper et al 2000). So student voice can contribute to the effective management of schools to meet students' educational needs, especially when schools work in economically and socially disadvantaged areas (Fielding 2004;Mujis et al 2005). This paper investigates some English and Turkish novice teachers' reflections on the impact of social and political contexts on the curricula and pedagogic frameworks in which they worked, on their and 'the Other's' approaches to pedagogy and to student -teacher relationships in different social and political contexts.…”