Qualitative researchers often turn to focus groups as an efficient and effective way to gather data in a collective context. A common critique is that they play into power dynamics present at the site, privileging dominant, high status, and more vocal participants. Traditional focus group structures also rely on participants to trust the…

In this article, the authors utilize C.W. Mills' Racial Contract Framework as a tool to unpack how racial power dynamics manifested in a mixed-race focus group interview designed to understand the participants' insights on race, incarceration, and community. The focus group interview included four research participants: Two White women, one Black…

A reflexive thematic analysis is applied to focus group data to understand how students experienced working in partnership with university staff and clinical professionals to co-design aspects of the curriculum. A qualitative descriptive approach is used to examine power dynamics, hierarchies, and student voice. Four themes are identified:…

Background: Pleasure is often a key feature of school physical education (PE) and, indeed, a lot of students find pleasure in and through PE while others do not. However, pleasure is rarely considered to be of educational value in the subject [Pringle, R. (2010). "Finding Pleasure in Physical Education: A Critical Examination of the Educative…

Using Foucault's power concepts of the panopticon and governmentality as analytic and heuristic tools, this study reveals insights into how accreditation creates power networks in the quality assurance of higher education graduates in South Africa. The study draws on 11 in-depth interviews with academics from the Faculty of Engineering at a…

Research that focuses on the home as a physical activity setting appears preoccupied with measuring activity. What is less researched is how the home is experienced as a physical activity context. This paper explores the physical activity experiences in and around the home of 13 South Asian, Muslim young women. Data were generated using…

A substantial body of research emphasises school leadership as a major influence on quality improvement in schools. Although numerous studies have identified the importance of the principal, fewer studies have examined the middle management level within schools, the deputy heads and assistant principals. Influenced by international trends, local…

This article focuses on multiracial student experiences using co-created ethnographic data with two students' spoken word poetry. The students considered their own history, their origins and discovered a complexity--and found that their struggle was not exclusively internal. External expectations of singular categorizations and social…

Playing host to many leaders of South Africa's transition to democracy, the historic schools continue to contribute to the education of learners in disadvantaged rural communities. Within the leadership narratives of these schools are the lived daily experiences of female educational leaders whose voice has been largely absent from main stream…

This paper presents the voices of thirteen pre- and in-service teachers to showcase their perspectives of culturally relevant pedagogy as a teaching framework. Positionality, critical consciousness, and cultural assets are used as foundations to explore social justice pedagogy. These new teachers discuss the challenges they face in making the…

In this article, the perceptions of preadolescent children (ages 9-11) regarding factors that influence and protect against power imbalance associated with covert aggression and bullying are explored. In aggression research, the term covert has been typically used to describe relational, indirect, and social acts of aggression that are hidden.…

This case study focuses on a qualitative research project into families' experiences of a schools-based family residential programme. This research project is part of a doctoral study exploring the development of a professional pedagogy of work with families through outdoor and experiential learning. While overall the research focuses on the…

Comprehensive sexuality education which includes discussion about gender and power is increasingly seen as an effective way of promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights. Yet all too often the potential of good quality sexuality education is not realised. This study engages with young peoples' evaluation of a sexuality education programme…

This study investigated students' views and experiences of group work in a vocationally oriented undergraduate accounting and finance degree course in an English post-1992 university. In this context tutors prepare students for the profession and for the workplace, and the development of team-working skills is a core element in the curriculum.…

Whilst international policymakers have reached consensus on the importance of investing in early childhood development and increasingly monitor that investment using standardized measurement, the nature and rationale of early childhood education and care (ECEC) provision remain diverse. In the context of that disparity, this article explores an…