Introduction.................................................................................................................... 1

Section 1 Chapter 1 Background........................................................................... 24

1:1 Introduction................................................................................................... 24

1:2 Background to my research............................................................................ 25

1:3 Focus of my research..................................................................................... 33

1:4 Aims and purposes of the research................................................................. 39

1:5 Conclusion..................................................................................................... 44

Section 1 Chapter 2 Contexts................................................................................ 45

2:1 Introduction................................................................................................... 45

2:2 Personal context............................................................................................. 45

2:3 Locational context.......................................................................................... 59

2:4 Cultural context.............................................................................................. 66

2:5 Policy context................................................................................................ 82

2:6 Educational policy context.............................................................................. 86

2:7 Conclusion..................................................................................................... 91

Section 2 Chapter 3 Issues of Social Justice and Equality................................... 93

3:1 Introduction................................................................................................... 93

3:2 My understanding of social justice................................................................... 94

3:3 Social justice and education.......................................................................... 100

3:4 Social justice and the issue of power............................................................. 111

3:5 Conclusion................................................................................................... 114

Section 2 Chapter 4 Methodology....................................................................... 116

4:1 Introduction................................................................................................. 116

4:2 My action research methodology.................................................................. 118

4:3 Critical emancipatory theory......................................................................... 124

4:4 Generative transformational approach........................................................... 126

4:5 Living educational theory.............................................................................. 127

4:6 Practitioner research..................................................................................... 129

4:7 Reflective practice........................................................................................ 131

4:8 Influence of methodology on my criteria and standards of judgement.............. 133

4:9 Requirement of equality in my methodology................................................... 136

4:10 Research design........................................................................................... 137

4:11 Research participants................................................................................... 139

4:12 Ethical considerations................................................................................... 142

4:13 Research location......................................................................................... 143

4:14 Conclusion................................................................................................... 144

Section 3 Chapter 5 Data Collection and Analysis............................................. 146

Phase one: My role in providing learning support................................................. 146

5:1 Introduction................................................................................................. 146

5:2 My role in providing learning support............................................................ 146

5:3 Vignette 1.................................................................................................... 152

5:4 Vignette 2.................................................................................................... 158

5:5 Vignette 3.................................................................................................... 164

5:6 Vignette 4.................................................................................................... 168

5:7 Conclusion................................................................................................... 176

Section 3 Chapter 6 Data collection and analysis............................................... 177

Phase two: Exploring cultural issues....................................................................... 177

6:1 Introduction................................................................................................. 177

6:2 Children’s experiences of discrimination........................................................ 182

6:3 The other in the creation of self identity......................................................... 188

6:4 Culture and second level schooling................................................................ 194

6:5 The project on Traveller culture.................................................................... 200

6:6 Conclusion................................................................................................... 203

Section 3 Chapter 7 Data collection and analysis............................................... 205

Phase three: The after school group....................................................................... 205

7:1 Introduction................................................................................................. 205

7:2 Beginning of the initiative............................................................................... 207

7:3 First year of the after school group................................................................ 208

7:4 Second year of the project........................................................................... 212

7:5 Introduction of settled children to the after school group................................ 216

7:6 When the minority group is temporarily in the majority position...................... 220

7:7 Cultural divide.............................................................................................. 222

7:8 The question of identity................................................................................. 223

7:9 The influence of the after school group on the education of wider social formations 229

7:10 Conclusion................................................................................................... 233

Section 4 Chapter 8 Findings............................................................................... 235

8:1 Introduction................................................................................................. 235

8:2 Structural and organisational issues............................................................... 236

8:3 How my living theory of the practice of social justice incorporates insights from Rawls’s distributive theory of justice.......................................................................................................... 240

8:4 Misconceptions in the practice of equality..................................................... 245

8:5 Conceptual frameworks............................................................................... 250

8:6 The idea of positive resistance...................................................................... 254

8:7 Linking issues of ethnicity, identity, inclusion and interculturalism.................... 256

8:8 Difference and diversity................................................................................ 260

8:9 Pedagogical Issues....................................................................................... 263

8:10 Conclusion................................................................................................... 270

Section 4 Chapter 9 Reflections on the research, its significance and potential implications. 271

9:1 Introduction................................................................................................. 271

9:2 My claim to have made a contribution to new educational practices............... 273

9:3 My claim to have contributed to a new form of educational theory................. 286

9:4 Significance for myself.................................................................................. 293

9:5 Conclusion................................................................................................... 298

Bibliography............................................................................................................. 301