‘Who cares?’ Gender, care and secondary schooling: ‘Accidental findings’ from a seclusion unit

Abstract

A breadth of research explores gendered professional identities, practices and spaces across a range of UK educational institutions. One focus has been on links between gender, care and education in early years settings and primary schools, although less attention has been given to caring within secondary schools. Drawing on qualitative research conducted in London within an in‐school seclusion unit, this article brings together a Lefebvrian conceptualisation of space with feminist theorisations of care to explore how the unit (conceived as a space of control, discipline and punishment) also became an unlikely space of care. In doing so, the article explores complex intersections between gender and care and how everyday caring practices in schools are inextricably linked to and embedded within broader institutional and spatial agendas and processes.

‘I have neither his voice nor body’: upper secondary schoolteacher students experiencing gendered division of labor

“…Instead, the experiences presented and analyzed in this study have been ones that the interviewees themselves initiated when talking about experiences from and perceptions of teaching. The findings presented in this study to some extent can be described as 'accidental' (Barker 2019;Braun 2011). Such a procedure is often be seen as problematic because the subject can hardly be said to have been completed during the interviews, and more precise interviews were able to unmask additional themes that helped to deepen the answers to the question.…”

The problem with international students' ‘experiences’ and the promise of their practices: Reanimating research about international students in higher education

“…This argument pairs with Montgomery’s (2010) analysis, which suggests that bonds among international students form a community of practice which is indispensable for supporting each other. This work could be extended by linking it with the burgeoning scholarly interest in care and feminist contributions that illuminate the value of unpaid activities (Barker, 2019; Madge et al, 2009; Raghuram, 2012). Greater attention to the significance of care in educational settings, for example, will illuminate everyday acts of solidarity and mutuality among the international student body.…”