The prime focus on the social processes of schooling within educational ethnography has tended to marginalise or eschew the importance of other 'informal' educational sites. Other social institutions, such as family, community, media and popular culture, work and prisons are salient arenas in which behaviours and lives are regulated. They all interrelate and are all implicated in the generation, management and development of social identities and the social and cultural reproduction of structures and relations. Individuals, though, are not merely shaped by these social institutions, their agency is evident in the way they creatively adapt and accommodate to the tensions and constraints of economic, educational and social policies. The maintenance of self in these situations requires identity work involving mediation, conflict, contestation and modes of resistance, which often contribute to a continual reconstruction of situations and contexts.

This volume of Studies in Educational Ethnography focuses on identity and agency in a variety of social institutions in educational ethnography. The contributors explore these themes in a wide range of international contexts including; Belgium, Sweden, North America, South Africa and England. They demonstrate the capacity of educational ethnography to provide accounts of participants' perspectives and understandings to highlight the agency of educational subjects.

What counts as ethnography and what counts as good ethnographic methodology are both highly contested. This volume brings together chapters presenting a diversity of views on some of the current debates and developments in the field. It does not try to present a single coherent view but, through its heterogeneity, illustrates the strength and impact of debate. The topics discussed include participant observation, research roles in fieldwork, access to places and people in research, ethical issues concerning anonymity and intimacy in research, generalization in ethnography, the use of video, developing stronger criteria for autoethnography, and the use of ethnography as a contribution to the generation and modification of indicators. Together the collection illustrates the strength and vitality of ethnography.

This book is about a unique school. It is a school that, despite the increasing pressure put upon it by changes in the curriculum and the organisation of education, has managed to successfully maintain the creative values that have won it international and governmental recognition.
Written for teachers and headteachers who want to encourage creativity in their schools and classrooms, the book describes:
* the school's culture of holism
* its use and appreciation of its grounds and environment for learning
* its innovative approaches to curriculum organisation
* its appropriation of national initiatives such as the literacy and numeracy hours
* its creative teaching and learning through the eyes of observers, teachers, children and parents
The success of Coombes School shows that it is possible to combine externally imposed prescription with a set of personal beliefs and values - making a real difference to the quality of teaching and learning. This is an inspirational read.

National Curricular need to be interpreted in terms of the cultures and experience of learners and adjusted accordingly, for example a literacy and history curriculum needs to include perspectives relevant to the local culture. Teachers, learners, families and communities mediate, appropriate, subvert, and challenge the processes of policy implementation, curriculum engagement and pedagogic practices to make educational experiences more meaningful. These articles exemplify the conflicts, the coping strategies and resolutions adopted by those at the policy implementation interface. Examination of these processes using ethnographic methods identifies and characterises these tensions and provides research findings that can be used to construct lasting solutions that are commensurate with complex situations.
The writers in this volume have carried out ethnographies that illuminate educational disjunctions, ambiguities and tensions, agency, strategic action and resolution. Their methodology enables them to show, in detail, how incongruencies arise, how contexts affect interactions, what kind of agency operates, and the circumstances leading to resolutions. Six articles focus on educational inequality, three on identity development and we include three that discuss methodological issues of partisanship in researching equality issues.

Creative teaching is an art form - aesthetic, intuitive and expressive. The proliferation of new educational policies in the early 1990s and the related increase in tensions and dilemmas facing schools, combined with the growing demand for a wider range of skills and knowledge among children meant that there was an even greater need for creative teaching than before the National Curriculum. Originally published in 1996, this book addresses this need by: exploring the features of creative teaching with a focus on the day to day practice of primary teachers; showing how teachers used emotion, created atmosphere and stimulated imagination to enhance their teaching; examining the ways in which teachers managed the National Curriculum and developed a new professional discourse in response to government pressures at the time. This book is a sequel to Creative Teachers in Primary Schools and builds upon this work providing new insights into the art of teaching.

Drawing on wide ranging research this book, originally published in 1997, explores how the policy changes of previous years were affecting primary teachers and their work at the time. Within the context of worldwide restructuring, the thoughts, feelings and activities of teachers in their daily work are examined. The core argument is that what used to be a complex but fulfilling job distinguished by professional dilemmas, which are amenable to professional skill, had become increasingly marked by tension and constraint, which frustrates teacher creativity. While some teachers found new opportunities in the 'new' primary school, many used strategical and micro-political activity in order to cope, while others fell victim to stress and burnout. The authors argue that teachers' own active involvement in policy change is required if their creative potential is to be realized. The book will still be of interest to teachers in primary schools, researchers and policy makers.

Creative Learning in the Primary School uses ethnographic research to consider the main features of creative teaching and learning within the context of contemporary policy reforms. In particular, the authors are interested in the clash between two oppositional discourses - creativity and performativity - and how they are resolved in creative teacher practice. The book complements previous work by these authors on creative teaching by giving more consideration to creative learning. The first section of the book explores the nature of creative teaching and learning by examining four key features: relevance, control, ownership and innovation. The authors devote a chapter to each of these aspects, outlining their properties and illustrating them with a wide range of examples, mainly from recent practice in primary schools. The second section presents some instructive examples of schools promoting creative learning, and how creative primary schools have responded to the policy reforms of recent years. The chapters focus specifically on: how pupils act as a powerful resource for creative learning for each other and for their teachers; how teachers have appropriated the reforms to enhance their creativity; and how one school has moved over a period of ten years from heavy constraint to high creativity. The blend of analysis, case-study material and implications for practice will make this book attractive to primary teachers, school managers, policy makers, teacher educators and researchers.

This book is about a unique school. It is a school that, despite the increasing pressure put upon it by changes in the curriculum and the organisation of education, has managed to successfully maintain the creative values that have won it international and governmental recognition.
Written for teachers and headteachers who want to encourage creativity in their schools and classrooms, the book describes:
* the school's culture of holism
* its use and appreciation of its grounds and environment for learning
* its innovative approaches to curriculum organisation
* its appropriation of national initiatives such as the literacy and numeracy hours
* its creative teaching and learning through the eyes of observers, teachers, children and parents
The success of Coombes School shows that it is possible to combine externally imposed prescription with a set of personal beliefs and values - making a real difference to the quality of teaching and learning. This is an inspirational read.

Since the 1992 Education Act inaugurated national arrangements for inspection, schools have operated within an "inspection climate" which prevades every aspect of school life on a continual basis. The significance of OFSTED inspections cannot be overestimated. They are often the most challenging, searching, uncompromising and stressful events teacher have to experience. What effects do they have on teachers and their work, on their self and role, and on school policy and ethos? Drawing on six case studies from contrasting primary schools over a three-year period, this book reveals who OFSTED inspections were received within primary schools. It aims to meet the need for detailed, rigorous research into inspections and their effects on teachers.

Since the 1992 Education Act inaugurated national arrangements for inspection, schools have operated within an "inspection climate" which prevades every aspect of school life on a continual basis. The significance of OFSTED inspections cannot be overestimated. They are often the most challenging, searching, uncompromising and stressful events teacher have to experience. What effects do they have on teachers and their work, on their self and role, and on school policy and ethos? Drawing on six case studies from contrasting primary schools over a three-year period, this book reveals who OFSTED inspections were received within primary schools. It aims to meet the need for detailed, rigorous research into inspections and their effects on teachers.

What counts as ethnography and what counts as good ethnography are both highly contested. This volume brings together chapters presenting a diversity of views on some of the current issues and practices in ethnographic methodology. It does not try to present a single coherent view but, through its heterogeneity, illustrates the strengths and impact of the debate. The collection includes chapters on the ethnographic research process; the use of photographic diaries; the idea of toleration in the research process; and the personal aspects of research. It has chapters that question generalisation; perceive ethnography as a potential form of surveillance; analyse the notion of display in ethnography; critique the way culture is commonly theorised; and examine the possibilities of comparative ethnographic work. It also includes and exchange of views between Martyn Hammersley and Barbara Korth on partisan research.

This book draws on the work of three experienced ethnographers who have studied the effects of education policy on teachers' work in the United Kingdom and Sweden. The book traces some of the issues and experiences in the development of ethnographic projects examining policy developments-from planning, through analysis and writing, to outcomes as methodological articles. Ethnographic research into teachers' work seeks to understand educational and social change. As in other European countries, the UK education system has undergone massive restructuring since the late 1970s, with proliferating neo-liberal modes of regulation. Policy has had teachers as its focus for change, recently redefining and reworking teachers and teaching. There is a crucial role for an ethnographic case study approach to complement analyses of official educational policy. In general, the experiences, perspectives and emotions of the actors who implement policy, and the social, cultural, political, economic and emotional contexts in which they do so has been neglected. The ethnographic method is well placed to study these areas of social life since it investigates the perspectives and behaviours of people within, in this case, education cultures. It charts the daily lived experience and impact of policy on educational subjects. Geoff Troman, Reader in Education Policy, Froebel College, School of Education, Roehampton University. Bob Jeffrey, Research Fellow, Faculty of Education and Language Studies, Open University. Dennis Beach, Professor, Institute of Education, University College Boras.

Creative Learning in the Primary School uses ethnographic research to consider the main features of creative teaching and learning within the context of contemporary policy reforms. In particular, the authors are interested in the clash between two oppositional discourses - creativity and performativity - and how they are resolved in creative teacher practice. The book complements previous work by these authors on creative teaching by giving more consideration to creative learning.

The first section of the book explores the nature of creative teaching and learning by examining four key features: relevance, control, ownership and innovation. The authors devote a chapter to each of these aspects, outlining their properties and illustrating them with a wide range of examples, mainly from recent practice in primary schools.

The second section presents some instructive examples of schools promoting creative learning, and how creative primary schools have responded to the policy reforms of recent years. The chapters focus specifically on:

how pupils act as a powerful resource for creative learning for each other and for their teachers;

how teachers have appropriated the reforms to enhance their creativity;

and how one school has moved over a period of ten years from heavy constraint to high creativity.

The blend of analysis, case-study material and implications for practice will make this book attractive to primary teachers, school managers, policy makers, teacher educators and researchers.