Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Tameness at School

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Taming Childhood?

  • 420 Accesses

Abstract

School is a major site for reinforcing a view of children as becomings and for the taming of childhood. Although schools promote the idea of developing individual character, many of their policies act to restrict it, and view children as objects to be processed. Children are expected to dress in a uniform manner and behave in a uniform manner. School spaces, such as playgrounds, are controlled to varying degrees in ways which restrict what children can do, sometimes for ostensibly safety reasons, and sometimes for the purposes of managing the school. Testing and accountability contribute to the ways in which children are subject to datafication, within a system whereby children are valued for what they contribute to the school.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Archard, D. 2015. Children: Rights and Childhood. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, S. J. 2016. Neoliberal Education? Confronting the Slouching Beast. Policy Futures in Education, 14, 13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bánovcanová, Z., & Masaryková, D. 2014. The Docile Body—Reflecting the School. Journal of Pedagogy, 5, 251–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumann, C., & Krskova, H. 2016. School Discipline, School Uniforms and Academic Performance. International Journal of Educational Management, 30, 1003–1029.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beer, D. 2016. Metric Power. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Biesta, G. J. J. 2009. Good Education in an Age of Measurement: On the Need to Reconnect with the Question of Purpose in Education. Educational Assessment, Evaluation & Accountability, 21, 33–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biesta, G. J. J. 2013. The Beautiful Risk of Education. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blatchford, P. 1989. Playtime in the Primary School: Problems and Improvements. Windsor: NFER-Nelson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Booth, S. 2018. School Chat Ban for Kids in Corridors at Archway Academy. Camden New Journal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. 2011. Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life. Chicago, IL: Haymarket.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brew, A. 2001. The Nature of Research: Inquiry in Academic Contexts. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Brogaard Clausen, S. 2015. Schoolification or Early Years Democracy? A Cross-Curricular Perspective from Denmark and England. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 16, 355–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brogaard Clausen, S., Guimaraes, S., Howe, S., & Cottle, M. 2015. Assessment of Young Children on Entry to School: Informative, Formative or Performative? International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education, 6, 5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Broström, S. 2017. A Dynamic Learning Concept in Early Years’ Education: A Possible Way to Prevent Schoolification. International Journal of Early Years Education, 25, 3–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brunsma, D. L., & Rockquemore, K. A. 2003. Statistics, Sound Bites, and School Uniforms: A Reply to Bodine. The Journal of Educational Research, 97, 72–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buzzelli, C. A. 2015. The Capabilities Approach: Rethinking Agency, Freedom, and Capital in Early Education. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 16, 203–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clapham, A. 2015. Producing the Docile Body: Analysing Local Area Under-Performance Inspection (LAUI). Cambridge Journal of Education, 45, 265–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clow, D. 2013. An Overview of Learning Analytics. Teaching in Higher Education, 18, 683–695.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cole, M. 1988. Bowles and Gintis Revisited: Correspondence and Contradiction in Educational Theory. London: Falmer Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Creasy, R. 2018. The Taming of Education. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cribbie, R. A. 2017. Multiplicity Control, School Uniforms, and Other Perplexing Debates. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, 49, 159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dahlberg, G. 2011. Policies in Early Childhood Education and Care: Potentialities for Agency, Play and Learning. In: Corsaro, W. A., Qvortrup, J., & Honig, M.-S. (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Childhood Studies. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deane, S. 2015. Dressing Diversity: Politics of Difference and the Case of School Uniforms. Philosophical Studies in Education, 46, 111–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Divers, A. 2017. Inculcating Agency. Childhood & Philosophy, 13, 253–270.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dorn, S., & Ydesen, C. 2014. Towards a Comparative and International History of School Testing and Accountability. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 22, 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. 1979. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill, T. 2007. No Fear: Growing Up in a Risk Averse Society. London: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hackett, J. 2015. Top 10 Worst Health and Safety Myths. Manager: British Journal of Administrative Management, 2nd Quarter, 22–23, 2p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardy, I. 2015. A Logic of Enumeration: The Nature and Effects of National Literacy and Numeracy Testing in Australia. Journal of Education Policy, 30, 335–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hargreaves, A. 2003. Teaching in the Knowledge Society: Education in the Age of Insecurity. New York: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harper, N. J. 2017. Outdoor Risky Play and Healthy Child Development in the Shadow of the “Risk Society”: A Forest and Nature School Perspective. Child & Youth Services, 38, 318–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartog, J., & Oosterbeek, H. 2007. What Should You Know About the Private Returns to Education? In: Hartog, J., & Maassen Van Den Brink, H. (eds.), Human Capital: Advances in Theory and Evidence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyndman, B. P., & Telford, A. 2015. Should Educators Be “Wrapping School Playgrounds in Cotton Wool” to Encourage Physical Activity? Exploring Primary and Secondary Students’ Voices from the School Playground. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 40, 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarram, M., & Pittam, D. 2017. 71 Students Put in Isolation for Wearing the Wrong Uniform on School’s First Day of Term (Online). Available http://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/71-students-put-isolation-wearing-437316. Accessed 12 January 2018.

  • Koshy, V., Pinheiro-Torres, C., & Portman-Smith, C. 2012. The Landscape of Gifted and Talented Education in England and Wales: How Are Teachers Implementing Policy? Research Papers in Education, 27, 167–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lavigueur, N. 2014. The Wrong Trousers: Parents Angry After Pupils Put in Isolation at Colne Valley High School on First Day Back for ‘Incorrect Trousers’ (Online). Available http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/wrong-trousers-parents-angry-after-7708277. Accessed 12 January 2018.

  • Lupton, D. 2016. The Quantified Self. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lupton, D., & Williamson, B. 2017. The Datafied Child: The Dataveillance of Children and Implications for Their Rights. New Media & Society, 19, 780–794.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macfarlane, B. 2017. Freedom to Learn: The Threat to Student Academic Freedom and Why It Needs to Be Reclaimed. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Michaela. 2018. RE: Michaela Behaviour Policy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulryan-Kyne, C. 2014. The School Playground Experience: Opportunities and Challenges for Children and School Staff. Educational Studies, 40, 377–395.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murray, J. 2017. Young Children are Human Beings. International Journal of Early Years Education, 25, 1–2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ofsted. 2014. Below the Radar: Low-Level Disruption in the Country’s Classrooms. London: Ofsted.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ofsted, & Spielman, A. 2017. Amanda Spielman’s Speech at the ASCL Annual Conference (Online). HM Government. Available https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/amanda-spielmans-speech-at-the-ascl-annual-conference. Accessed 24 March 2017.

  • Ofsted, & Spielman, A. 2018. Amanda Spielman Speech to the Schools NorthEast Summit (Online). London: Ofsted. Available https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/amanda-spielman-speech-to-the-schools-northeast-summit. Accessed 18 October 2018.

  • Phillips, J. 2017. Pupils Banned from Cheltenham Bournside School for Wearing Wrong Trousers (Online). Available http://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/cheltenham-news/pupils-banned-cheltenham-bournside-school-432153. Accessed 12 January 2017.

  • Pike, J. 2008. Foucault, Space and Primary School Dining Rooms. Children’s Geographies, 6, 413–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pike, J., & Kelly, P. 2014. The Moral Geographies of Children, Young People and Food: Beyond Jamie’s School Dinners. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Postman, N. 1994. The Disappearance of Childhood. New York: Vintage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Preece, A. 2018. ‘Prison-Like’ School Tells Pupils to Walk Between Classes in Silence at Ninestiles, An Academy. Birmingham Live.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pring, R. 2004. Philosophy of Education: Aims, Theory, Common Sense and Research. London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Radnor, H., Koshy, V., & Taylor, A. 2007. Gifts, Talents and Meritocracy. Journal of Education Policy, 22, 283–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, C. 2012. Playing Under Surveillance: Gender, Performance and the Conduct of the Self in a Primary School Playground. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 33, 373–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts-Holmes, G. 2015. The ‘Datafication’ of Early Years Pedagogy: ‘If the Teaching Is Good, the Data Should Be Good and If There’s Bad Teaching, There Is Bad Data’. Journal of Education Policy, 30, 302–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts-Holmes, G., & Bradbury, A. 2016. Governance, Accountability and the Datafication of Early Years Education in England. British Educational Research Journal, 42, 600–613.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schouten, L. 2015. Ban on ‘Tag’: Are School Children Getting the Right Playtime? Christian Science Monitor.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma-Stray, L., & Creasy, R. 2013. Children as Playtime Monitors: What It Means for the Monitor. Pastoral Care in Education, 31, 229–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Star, T. 2009. Children Sent Home from School for Wearing Wrong Trousers (Online). Sheffield. Available https://www.thestar.co.uk/whats-on/out-and-about/children-sent-home-from-school-for-wearing-wrong-trousers-1-297085. Accessed 12 January 2018.

  • Stephenson, K. 2016. “It’s Not for the Sake of a Ribboned Coat”: A History of British School Uniform. University of York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson, H. 2017. The “Datafication” of Teaching: Can Teachers Speak Back to the Numbers? Peabody Journal of Education, 92, 537–557. https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2017.1349492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, W. 2006. New Register for the Gifted and Talented. TES: Times Educational Supplement.

    Google Scholar 

  • Telegraph. 2018. Pupils Banned from Talking While Walking Between Lessons Under Headteacher’s Silence Policy. Daily Telegraph.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomson, S. 2003. A Well-Equipped Hamster Cage: The Rationalisation of Primary School Playtime. Education 3–13, 31, 54–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomson, S. 2007. Do’s and Don’ts: Children’s Experiences of the Primary School Playground. Environmental Education Research, 13, 487–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Truelove, S. 2018. Croydon School Bans Pupils from Talking in Corridors and Says It Has Transformed Behaviour. Croydon Advertiser.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheway, R. 2008. Not a Risk Averse Society: Fair Play for Children. 2nd ed. Bognor Regis: Fair Play for Children.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, A., Watson, C., Thompson, T. L., Drew, V., & Doyle, S. 2017. Learning Analytics: Challenges and Limitations. Teaching in Higher Education, 22, 991–1007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wrigley, T. 2009. Rethinking Education in the Era of Globalization. In: Hill, D. (ed.), Contesting Neo-Liberal Education: Public Resistance and Collective Advance. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychological and Social Sciences, York St John University, York, UK

    Rob Creasy

  2. School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Law, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, UK

    Fiona Corby

Authors
  1. Rob Creasy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Fiona Corby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rob Creasy .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Creasy, R., Corby, F. (2019). Tameness at School. In: Taming Childhood?. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11842-6_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11842-6_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-11841-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-11842-6

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation