‘Structure liberates?’: mixing for mobility and the cultural transformation of ‘urban children’ in a London academy

School Surveillance, Control, and Resistance in the United Kingdom

“…These have been set up within a wider school context of 'get tough' approaches to managing behaviour, including 'giving teachers powers to search students without consent, abolishing the 'no touch' rule [thus allowing teachers to physically retrain students], increasing fines for parents of truanting students, and removing students' rights to appeal upon expulsion ' (Mills and Pini 2015, 272-3). This section will outline the impact of 'zero tolerance' policy, and describe how it does not merely ignore systemic inequity, but actively delivers classist, sexist and racist applications of disciplinary practices in U.K. schools (Robbins 2008; see also Kulz 2014;Carlile 2012;Lloyd 2005;Lucey and Reay 2002). Some schools have tried to counter this 15 approach, for example through restorative practices in dealing with behaviour; this is discussed at the end of the section, below.…”

“…All of this pressurises school administrators and teachers into prioritising the performative demands of an audit (Ball 2003) which pays no attention to the arts, citizenship, sports, or religious education. Kulz (2014) describes the way in which '(p)erformance management, spreadsheets, quantifiable league tables, slick marketing, strict discipline and professional appearance have become the key focus of this education market' (688). As a result, children, young people and teachers in U.K. schools are becoming increasingly anxious.…”

“…She suggests that the mobilization of extreme policing in schools is necessary in order to enable marketised institutions to maintain a competitive edge. Kulz (2014) describes a U.K. context in which a spate of riots against austerity measures and economic equality emerged in London in August 2011; the racist English Defence League drew ideological strength from 'neo-Nazi movements in Europe'; and a link is repeatedly made by the government between 'the lack of a strong British identity . Following the 2011 riots-despite a reduction in funding for police-the government reestablished its interest in an already well-established early intervention strategy -the Safer Schools Partnerships-placed police in U.K. schools (or groups of schools) in several specific high-crime areas (Allen 2011;ACPO 2011;Lamont, Macleod and Wilkin 2011).…”

“…These include datafication (the requirement that schools may only show their progress through quantitative data, or statistics); digital surveillance methods such as CCTV; and other digital means, including digital fingerprinting as a lunch payment system and the tracking of children's online activities. Another form of surveillance and the disciplining of identities-biopolitical control in schools-will be described as showing itself through successive education Ministers' attachment to the traditionalisation of gendered school uniform (Prince 2009;Corner 2011;Murray 2012;and Kulz (2014) drew a link directly between the 'War on Terror' and the marketization of schools. She suggests that the mobilization of extreme policing in schools is necessary in order to enable marketised institutions to maintain a competitive edge.…”

“…In the process, students have become commodified (Keddie 2014) and therefore subjected to market forces. This has resulted in an intense gatekeeping process which has been affected by assumptions about race, class and potential achievement (Robbins 2008): shadowy admissions protocols have transformed the demographics of many schools, with some academies changing their catchment area boundaries to exclude working class and black communities (Kulz 2014). This is linked to speculation about the potential achievement of specific student groups and links directly to exclusion practices.…”