British Educational Research Journal, Volume 36 Issue 4 2010

Secondary school vice-principals: commitment, challenge, efficacy and synchrony
Paula Kwan Yu-kwong; Allan Walker
Pages 531 – 548
The study sought to investigate Hong Kong secondary school vice-principals' job facets leading to overall job satisfaction, and to differentiate the satisfaction of vice-principals of different career orientations and gender groups. The findings indicated that there are four main facets of satisfaction, in rank order of influence on overall satisfaction, 'professional commitment', 'level of personal challenge', 'sense of efficacy' and 'sense of synchrony'. The study also found that vice-principals who aspired to the principalship exhibited a higher degree of professional commitment, a stronger sense of efficacy, and experienced lower levels of stress associated with personal challenge than vice-principals who did not aspire to a principalship.

Teachers’ conceptions of teacher professionalism in England in 2003 and 2006
Mandy Swann; Donald McIntyre; Tony Pell; Linda Hargreaves; Mark Cunningham
Pages 549 – 571
Theoretical and political perspectives on the nature of professionalism in teaching are abundant, but little is known about the views of teachers themselves. We asked primary and secondary school teachers in England what teacher professionalism means to them. We explored what teachers think about professionalism, on what dimensions their thinking varies, and how much it varies. We researched how successful the government had already been, and how successful it would be in the future, in changing teachers' conceptions of professionalism. Two large-scale national surveys were conducted, with a longitudinal element. We found that teachers' thinking about their professionalism may be construed as consisting of an inner core of strong, shared beliefs and commitments; an intermediate set of coherent but contested components of professionalism; and an outer layer of disparate elements which are generally highly disputed and which remain unintegrated into broader ways of thinking.

Normative cruelties and gender deviants: the performative effects of bully discourses for girls and boys in school
Jessica Ringrose; Emma Renold
Pages 573 – 596
Since the 1990s the educational community has witnessed a proliferation of 'bullying' discourses, primarily within the field of educational developmental social psychology. Drawing on ethnographic and qualitative interview data of primary and secondary school girls and boys, this article argues that the discourse 'bullying' operates to simplify and individualise complex gendered/classed/sexualised/racialised power relations embedded in children's school-based cultures. Using a feminist post-structural approach, this article critically traces the discursive production of how the signifiers 'bully' and 'victim' are implicated in the 'normative cruelties' of performing and policing 'intelligible' heteronormative masculinities and femininities. It shows how these everyday gender performances are frequently passed over by staff and pupils as 'natural'. The analysis also illustrates how bully discourses operate in complex racialised and classed ways that mark children out as either gender deviants, or as not adequately performing normative ideals of masculinity and femininity. In conclusion, it is argued that bully discourses offer few symbolic resources and/or practical tools for addressing and coping with everyday school-based gender violence, and some new research directions are suggested.

Influence of Taoism on teachers’ definitions of guidance and discipline in Hong Kong secondary schools
Ming Tak Hue
Pages 597 – 610
This article examines how Hong Kong secondary school teachers define caring and the strategies they adopt for behaviour management. The influence of Taoism, emerging as a theme from the data, was prominent, as its principles were incorporated into the teachers' knowledge of caring. The findings illuminate the influence of Taoism in local schools. Implications for the promotion of culturally responsive programmes of caring are drawn.

The assessment revolution that has passed England by: Rasch measurement
Panayiotis Panayides; Colin Robinson; Peter Tymms
Pages 611 – 626
Assessment has been dominated by Classical Test Theory for the last half century although the radically different approach known as Rasch measurement briefly blossomed in England during the 1960s and 1970s. Its open development was stopped dead in the 1980s, whilst some work has continued almost surreptitiously. Elsewhere Rasch has assumed dominance. The purpose of this article is to discuss the major criticisms of the Rasch model, which led to its rejection by some, and to give responses to these criticisms whilst encouraging social scientists to appreciate its strengths. The original breakthrough by Georg Rasch in 1960 has been developed and extended to address every reasonable observational situation in the social sciences.

Resilience and loss in work identities: a narrative analysis of some retired teachers’ work-life histories
John Kirk; Christine Wall
Pages 627 – 641
The article examines the importance of 'emotional labour' in the constitution of the 'teacherly-self'. Deriving from a research project on work and social identity, the article explores the ways teachers have negotiated the radical changes in the profession in recent years, and uses the notion of 'teacher resilience' to explore the ways teachers have reacted to the effects of neo-liberal reforms to education; reforms that have powerfully impacted on the more child-centred ways of working in the classroom and school environment. Using narrative analysis of the work-life histories of these retired teachers, recorded using oral history methodology, the authors examine structures of feeling that turn on notions of emotional labour and commitment, resilience and loss in relation to the occupational identity of teachers.

‘I h8 u’: findings from a five-year study of text and email bullying
Ian Rivers; Nathalie Noret
Pages 643 – 671
This study charts reports of nasty or threatening text and email messages received by students in academic years 7 and 8 (11-13 years of age) attending 13 secondary schools in the North of England between 2002 and 2006. Annual surveys were undertaken on behalf of the local education authority to monitor bullying. Results indicated that, over five years, the number of pupils receiving one or more nasty or threatening text messages or emails increased significantly, particularly among girls. However, receipt of frequent nasty or threatening text and email messages remained relatively stable. For boys, being a victim of direct-physical bullying was associated with receiving nasty or threatening text and email messages; for girls it was being unpopular among peers. Boys received more hate-related messages and girls were primarily the victims of name-calling. Findings are discussed with respect to theoretical and policy developments, and recommendations for future research are offered.

Is children’s free school meal ‘eligibility’ a good proxy for family income?
Graham Hobbs; Anna Vignoles
Pages 673 – 690
Family income is an important factor associated with children's educational achievement. However, key areas of UK research (for example, on socially segregated schooling) and policy (for example, the allocation of funding to schools) rely on children's free school meal (FSM) 'eligibility' to proxy family income. This article examines the relationship between children's FSM 'eligibility' and equivalent net household income in a nationally representative survey of England (the Family Resources Survey). It finds that children 'eligible' for FSM are much more likely than other children to be in the lowest income households. However, only around one-quarter to one-half of them were in the lowest income households in 2004/5. This is principally because the receipt of means-tested benefits (and tax credits) pushes children eligible for FSM up the household income distribution. The implications for key areas of research and policy are discussed.