Research
You will find a complete range of our monographs, muti-authored and edited works including peer-reviewed, original scholarly research across the social sciences and aligned disciplines. We publish long and short form research and you can browse the complete Bristol University Press and Policy Press archive.
Policy Press also publishes policy reviews and polemic work which aim to challenge policy and practice in certain fields. These books have a practitioner in mind and are practical, accessible in style, as well as being academically sound and referenced.
Books: Research
You are looking at 1 - 10 of 42 items for :
- Type: Book x
- Education and Social Justice x
- Access: All content x
This book traces the process of producing testimonio with the children of Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), an insurgent group during Peru’s internal war (1980-2000). It examines how the group navigates the postwar struggles over memory while dealing with “the children of terrorists” stigma.
Drawing from a cycles of inquiry approach, the book theorises three movements for memory work: a realist presentation of testimonial narratives, a ‘politics of memory’ engaging with the conditions of production, and a ‘poetics of memory’ that troubles memory, voice, and representation for qualitative inquiry in postwar contexts.
Challenging the notion of war-torn countries as pure devastation, the author invites readers to see them as sites of knowledge and creativity with much to offer for education, peace studies, and social justice research.
Available Open Access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.
During the cost-of-living crisis, schools and nurseries have had to step beyond their educational purpose to offer free food to families through food banks. This book explores how these food banks operate, why families use them and how they affect children’s participation and wellbeing. Drawing on case studies of 12 primary schools and early years settings across England, it examines the impact on family wellbeing, home-school relationships and staff.
The authors argue that the situation will remain unsustainable if this welfare work continues to be unfunded and unrecognised, raising a significant question of who should and who can be responsible for alleviating child poverty.
In February 2021, Myanmar experienced the third coup d’état in its modern history. Unprecedented strength was displayed by Myanmar civil society as it fought back against these new authoritarian drives. Where did this strength come from?
Fearing the loss of the benefits gained in the previous decade of reforms (2011–2021), students, teachers, professors, and activists fuelled the Spring Revolution. To understand what is happening in Myanmar, this book outlines the historical efforts by Myanmar universities to advocate for a more just society and offers unique insight into the long-lasting struggle of education against authoritarianism.
By exploring Myanmar’s social and political struggles through the lens of higher education resistance, the book offers a compelling narrative about the life of the country following the latest coup d’état, an event that continues to puzzle the international community.
Bringing concepts from critical transitional justice and peacebuilding into dialogue with education, this book examines the challenges youth and their teachers face in the post-conflict settings of Bougainville and Solomon Islands.
Youth in these places must reconcile with the violent past of their parents’ generation while also learning how to live with people once on opposing ‘sides.’ This book traces how students and their teachers form connections to the past and each other that cut through the forces that might divide them. The findings illustrate novel ways to think about the potential for education to assist post-conflict recovery.
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is recurrently depicted as an enterprise that unites humanity in a common pursuit of a more just and sustainable world. But how is this enterprise pursued on a planet that is enormously unequal? Drawing on biopolitical theory and rich empirical data from different contexts around the world, this book explores how ESD is unpacked depending on whether people are rich or poor.
The book demonstrates how ESD is adapted to the lifestyles and living conditions of different populations. The implication of this depoliticized sensitivity to local ‘realities’, the book argues, is that inequality becomes accommodated and that different responsibilities are assigned to rich and poor. Ultimately, the book considers alternatives to this biopolitical divide.
It is vital that we decolonise community education and development – learning from the past in order to challenge current discrimination and oppression more effectively. In this book, Marjorie Mayo identifies ways of developing more inclusive policies and practices, working towards social justice for the future. She also tackles the pervasive influence of the ‘culture wars’ undermining work in communities, including the denial of problematic colonial legacies.
Inspired by movements such as Black Lives Matter and labour solidarity, the book includes case studies from the US, UK and the Global South, outlining the lessons that can be applied to community education and development training and practice.
How can we help children make a difference, allowing them to shape their communities, locally and globally? Drawing on a rich blend of academic research and case studies, Alison Body critically examines societal structures, including education, communities and cultural narratives, that shape children's understanding of active, philanthropic citizenship.
Children as Change-Makers calls for a reimagining of philanthropy as a form of participatory citizenship, advocating for a philanthropic ecosystem framed by justice, solidarity and collective action. It serves as a roadmap for all stakeholders – from individuals to institutions – to empower children as agents of positive social change, fostering a more just world for generations to come.
Education is considered central to social mobility and, following a drive to raise learners’ aspirations, an ‘aspiration industry’ has emerged.
However, the desire to leave school early should not be regarded as evidence of students lacking ambition. This book traces the emergence of the aspiration industry and argues that to have ambitions that do not require qualifications is different, but not wrong.
Reviewing the performance of six schools in England, their Ofsted reports and responses, it evaluates underpinning assumptions of what makes an effective school. This book critically examines neo-liberal education policy developments, including the 1988 Education Reform Act, and the political discourse around changing explanations of education ‘failure’ with the rise in the marketisation of education.
This unique book charts the journeys of Black doctoral students through UK higher education.
Using powerful firsthand accounts, the book details the experiences of Black PhD students. From application through to graduation and beyond, the book offers key insights into the workings of higher education, highlighting the structural barriers that impede progress. Challenges and recommendations are issued for the sector and wider community. This text is a witness to the tenacity and brilliance of Black students to achieve against the odds.
A game changer for the sector. Essential reading for anyone interested in equity and inclusion in higher education.
Migration as a taught subject is entrenched in social and political debates, with the classroom firmly framed as a site of committed social and political encounter. That means teaching migration through the prism of critical pedagogy is a political and ethical necessity.
This book invites readers to examine their own relationships with migration, ethics, politics and power. It encourages teachers, students and practitioners to think critically about their position in relation to the knowledge they both bring and gain.
With pedagogical features that provide space for reflection and discussion, this is a transformative resource in reshaping how we teach and learn about migration.
