Achala Gupta
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 3692821 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Achala Gupta |
| NOMBRES | Achala |
| APELLIDO | Gupta |
| FIRMA | GUPTA A |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Southampton |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3172-8198 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 21 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 84 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 21 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2014 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 5 |
Pedagogical conundrum, assessment anxiety, and employability dilemma
Situated within the scholarship on how artificial intelligence (AI) affects and is affected by society, this article offers a distinctly empirically grounded, methodologically rigorous, theoretically rooted, and conceptually novel understanding of the great Generative AI (GenAI) quandary in higher education (HE). Drawing on sociological discourse on the purposes of education, it analyses exploratory qualitative data produced from semi-structured …
Re-Centring the School Context in Policy Enactments
This article examines mentorship provisions for Early Career Teachers (ECTs) – a component of the 2019 Early Career Framework (ECF) introduced by the UK’s Department for Education. Drawing on Braun et al. (2011), it analyses data produced through interviews and focus groups with ECT programme coordinators, mentors, and ECTs from four schools operating under different governance models – Faith-based, Independent, Local Authority, and Multi-Academy…
Coached habitus
Studies have shown how family (typically parents) and formal institutions (specifically schools and universities) shape individuals' dispositions—or habitus . However, other sites of academic socialisation, such as tutoring centres and coaching institutions (collectively forming a shadow education system), are seldom scrutinised for their role in this process. To address this gap in scholarship, this paper draws on interviews with 30 Indian stude…
Teachers’ work under responsibilising policies
This article offers unique insights into the relationship between education policy and teachers’ work. It considers how globally pervasive responsibilising regimes make teachers’ work more burdensome. Drawing on interviews with 15 school teachers, this article shows how China’s 2021 Double Burden Reduction Policy has reconfigured educators’ (class)work practices and pedagogical approaches. Specifically, it unpacks the policy mechanisms that: 1) c…
Exposing the “shadow”
A growing body of research shows that private tutoring is a globally pervasive phenomenon. A common way in which tutoring provisions are defined is with the use of the metaphor “shadow education”, signifying that tutoring centres “shadow” formal schools. Despite the popularity of this metaphor in the field, how “shadowing” occurs as a process and what implications this process has for formal schooling and society have seldom been put through empi…
Higher education students as consumers
The rapid expansion of neo-liberal regimes has effectively transformed how students – their role and purpose – are understood in society. Scholars, especially in the Anglophone North, have shown how dominant policy narratives tend to position students as consumers. More recent studies have begun to explore students’ views of this construction. However, much of this work focuses on a particular country; thus, how students’ opinions may vary across…
Revisiting educational advantage and social class
This article provides a Bourdieusian analysis of middle-class parents’ investment in private schooling and shadow education (tutoring support) in India, thus contributes to the scholarship of class-based educational advantage. It unveils parents’ aspirations for their children’s education and investigates how these aspirations shape the demand for private education. Bringing into sharp focus the complexity of social privilege, this article discus…
Study gods – How the new Chinese elite prepare for global competition
View correction statement:Correction Correction StatementThis article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article
Middle-class mothers' participation in tutoring for spoken English
Sociological inquiries on parental involvement seldom consider the investments parents make in themselves to realise educational advantages in their children's schooling. This gap hides the processes underlying class-making and class-produced privileges. To address this gap, this article investigates middle-class mothers’ participation in tutoring and coaching for spoken English in Dehradun, India, focusing on their reasons for soliciting such pa…
A ‘Shadow Education’ Timescape
Private tutoring is a globally pervasive phenomenon. While scholars have explored the demand for and supply of private tutoring, how tutoring centres organise their services, and the role of temporality in this, remains underexplored. To address this gap in the scholarship, this article draws on ethnographic data, produced during 2014–15 in Dehradun (India), to discuss four aspects of a ‘shadow education’ timescape: how tutoring services are mapp…
Social legitimacy of private tutoring
While a growing body of research shows the prevalence of private tutoring in India, the ways in which these informal educational setups gain social legitimacy remains largely unclear. To redress this gap in the scholarship, this article investigates institutional and affective tutoring practices, in relation to formal schooling. It draws on the perspectives of tutors, school teachers, teacher-tutors, students and their parents, produced through a…
Students’ views about the purpose of higher education
Across Europe, assumptions are often made within the academic literature and by some social commentators that students have come to understand the purpose of higher education (HE) in increasingly instrumental terms. This is often linked to processes of marketisation and neo-liberalisation across the Global North, in which the value of HE has come to be associated with economic reward and labour market participation and measured through a relative…
Higher education students’ aspirations for their post-university lives
While there is now a relatively large literature on young people's aspirations with respect to their transitions from compulsory schooling, the body of work on the aspirations of those within higher education is rather less well-developed. This article draws on data from undergraduate students in six European countries to explore their hopes for their post-university lives. It demonstrates that although aspirations for employment were discussed m…
Students in Marketised Higher Education Landscapes
Are Spanish Students Customers? Paradoxical Perceptions of the Impact of Marketisation on Higher Education in Spain
This article examines how higher education (HE) students are conceptualised in Spain, drawing on an analysis of policy and institutional narratives about such students, as well as on the perspectives of university staff and students themselves. More specifically, it will explore an interesting paradox that we encountered in our data: on one hand, marketisation is less firmly established in the HE system of Spain than in many other European countr…
Higher Education Timescapes
This article draws on data from six European countries (Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain) to explore the higher education timescapes inhabited by students. Despite arguments that degree-level study has become increasingly similar across Europe - because of global pressures and also specific initiatives such as the Bologna Process and the creation of a European Higher Education Area - it shows how such timescapes differed in im…
Heterogeneous middle-class and disparate educational advantage
The heterogeneity of the contemporary Indian middle-class has been discussed widely. However, the effect of its internal differences on the distribution of educational resources needs to be examined systematically. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with parents in 53 middle-class families in Dehradun, India, this paper explores three aspects of the home-school relationship: how socioeconomic transformations shape parents’ aspirations for their chi…
Students as political actors? Similarities and differences across six European nations
Drawing on data from students, higher education staff and policymakers from six European countries, this article argues that it remains a relatively common assumption that students should be politically engaged. However, while students articulated a strong interest in a wide range of political issues, those working in higher education and influencing higher education policy tended to believe that students were considerably less politically active…
Teacher-entrepreneurialism
This article examines the processes underlying the formation of the identity of teachers as entrepreneurs in neoliberalizing education space in contemporary India. Drawing on interactions with 38 schoolteachers in two private schools in Dehradun, this article explores why and how educators adopt specific entrepreneurial strategies to navigate precarious, competitive market conditions. It subsequently illustrates how, in their pursuit of career ad…
Urban Development in the margins of a world heritage site
The politics of collective advocacy in India
Revisiting educational advantage and social class
This article provides a Bourdieusian analysis of middle-class parents’ investment in private schooling and shadow education (tutoring support) in India, thus contributes to the scholarship of class-based educational advantage. It unveils parents’ aspirations for their children’s education and investigates how these aspirations shape the demand for private education. Bringing into sharp focus the complexity of social privilege, this article discus…
Social legitimacy of private tutoring
While a growing body of research shows the prevalence of private tutoring in India, the ways in which these informal educational setups gain social legitimacy remains largely unclear. To redress this gap in the scholarship, this article investigates institutional and affective tutoring practices, in relation to formal schooling. It draws on the perspectives of tutors, school teachers, teacher-tutors, students and their parents, produced through a…
Heterogeneous middle-class and disparate educational advantage
The heterogeneity of the contemporary Indian middle-class has been discussed widely. However, the effect of its internal differences on the distribution of educational resources needs to be examined systematically. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with parents in 53 middle-class families in Dehradun, India, this paper explores three aspects of the home-school relationship: how socioeconomic transformations shape parents’ aspirations for their chi…
Teacher-entrepreneurialism
This article examines the processes underlying the formation of the identity of teachers as entrepreneurs in neoliberalizing education space in contemporary India. Drawing on interactions with 38 schoolteachers in two private schools in Dehradun, this article explores why and how educators adopt specific entrepreneurial strategies to navigate precarious, competitive market conditions. It subsequently illustrates how, in their pursuit of career ad…
A ‘Shadow Education’ Timescape
Private tutoring is a globally pervasive phenomenon. While scholars have explored the demand for and supply of private tutoring, how tutoring centres organise their services, and the role of temporality in this, remains underexplored. To address this gap in the scholarship, this article draws on ethnographic data, produced during 2014–15 in Dehradun (India), to discuss four aspects of a ‘shadow education’ timescape: how tutoring services are mapp…
Higher education students as consumers
The rapid expansion of neo-liberal regimes has effectively transformed how students – their role and purpose – are understood in society. Scholars, especially in the Anglophone North, have shown how dominant policy narratives tend to position students as consumers. More recent studies have begun to explore students’ views of this construction. However, much of this work focuses on a particular country; thus, how students’ opinions may vary across…
Higher Education Timescapes
This article draws on data from six European countries (Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain) to explore the higher education timescapes inhabited by students. Despite arguments that degree-level study has become increasingly similar across Europe - because of global pressures and also specific initiatives such as the Bologna Process and the creation of a European Higher Education Area - it shows how such timescapes differed in im…
Coached habitus
Studies have shown how family (typically parents) and formal institutions (specifically schools and universities) shape individuals' dispositions—or habitus . However, other sites of academic socialisation, such as tutoring centres and coaching institutions (collectively forming a shadow education system), are seldom scrutinised for their role in this process. To address this gap in scholarship, this paper draws on interviews with 30 Indian stude…
Are Spanish Students Customers? Paradoxical Perceptions of the Impact of Marketisation on Higher Education in Spain
This article examines how higher education (HE) students are conceptualised in Spain, drawing on an analysis of policy and institutional narratives about such students, as well as on the perspectives of university staff and students themselves. More specifically, it will explore an interesting paradox that we encountered in our data: on one hand, marketisation is less firmly established in the HE system of Spain than in many other European countr…
Teachers’ work under responsibilising policies
This article offers unique insights into the relationship between education policy and teachers’ work. It considers how globally pervasive responsibilising regimes make teachers’ work more burdensome. Drawing on interviews with 15 school teachers, this article shows how China’s 2021 Double Burden Reduction Policy has reconfigured educators’ (class)work practices and pedagogical approaches. Specifically, it unpacks the policy mechanisms that: 1) c…
Higher education students’ aspirations for their post-university lives
While there is now a relatively large literature on young people's aspirations with respect to their transitions from compulsory schooling, the body of work on the aspirations of those within higher education is rather less well-developed. This article draws on data from undergraduate students in six European countries to explore their hopes for their post-university lives. It demonstrates that although aspirations for employment were discussed m…
Students in Marketised Higher Education Landscapes
Students as political actors? Similarities and differences across six European nations
Drawing on data from students, higher education staff and policymakers from six European countries, this article argues that it remains a relatively common assumption that students should be politically engaged. However, while students articulated a strong interest in a wide range of political issues, those working in higher education and influencing higher education policy tended to believe that students were considerably less politically active…
Middle-class mothers' participation in tutoring for spoken English
Sociological inquiries on parental involvement seldom consider the investments parents make in themselves to realise educational advantages in their children's schooling. This gap hides the processes underlying class-making and class-produced privileges. To address this gap, this article investigates middle-class mothers’ participation in tutoring and coaching for spoken English in Dehradun, India, focusing on their reasons for soliciting such pa…
The politics of collective advocacy in India
Teacher-entrepreneurialism
This article examines the processes underlying the formation of the identity of teachers as entrepreneurs in neoliberalizing education space in contemporary India. Drawing on interactions with 38 schoolteachers in two private schools in Dehradun, this article explores why and how educators adopt specific entrepreneurial strategies to navigate precarious, competitive market conditions. It subsequently illustrates how, in their pursuit of career ad…
Urban Development in the margins of a world heritage site
Heterogeneous middle-class and disparate educational advantage
The heterogeneity of the contemporary Indian middle-class has been discussed widely. However, the effect of its internal differences on the distribution of educational resources needs to be examined systematically. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with parents in 53 middle-class families in Dehradun, India, this paper explores three aspects of the home-school relationship: how socioeconomic transformations shape parents’ aspirations for their chi…
Students as political actors? Similarities and differences across six European nations
Drawing on data from students, higher education staff and policymakers from six European countries, this article argues that it remains a relatively common assumption that students should be politically engaged. However, while students articulated a strong interest in a wide range of political issues, those working in higher education and influencing higher education policy tended to believe that students were considerably less politically active…
Students’ views about the purpose of higher education
Across Europe, assumptions are often made within the academic literature and by some social commentators that students have come to understand the purpose of higher education (HE) in increasingly instrumental terms. This is often linked to processes of marketisation and neo-liberalisation across the Global North, in which the value of HE has come to be associated with economic reward and labour market participation and measured through a relative…
Higher education students’ aspirations for their post-university lives
While there is now a relatively large literature on young people's aspirations with respect to their transitions from compulsory schooling, the body of work on the aspirations of those within higher education is rather less well-developed. This article draws on data from undergraduate students in six European countries to explore their hopes for their post-university lives. It demonstrates that although aspirations for employment were discussed m…
Students in Marketised Higher Education Landscapes
Are Spanish Students Customers? Paradoxical Perceptions of the Impact of Marketisation on Higher Education in Spain
This article examines how higher education (HE) students are conceptualised in Spain, drawing on an analysis of policy and institutional narratives about such students, as well as on the perspectives of university staff and students themselves. More specifically, it will explore an interesting paradox that we encountered in our data: on one hand, marketisation is less firmly established in the HE system of Spain than in many other European countr…
Higher Education Timescapes
This article draws on data from six European countries (Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain) to explore the higher education timescapes inhabited by students. Despite arguments that degree-level study has become increasingly similar across Europe - because of global pressures and also specific initiatives such as the Bologna Process and the creation of a European Higher Education Area - it shows how such timescapes differed in im…
A ‘Shadow Education’ Timescape
Private tutoring is a globally pervasive phenomenon. While scholars have explored the demand for and supply of private tutoring, how tutoring centres organise their services, and the role of temporality in this, remains underexplored. To address this gap in the scholarship, this article draws on ethnographic data, produced during 2014–15 in Dehradun (India), to discuss four aspects of a ‘shadow education’ timescape: how tutoring services are mapp…
Social legitimacy of private tutoring
While a growing body of research shows the prevalence of private tutoring in India, the ways in which these informal educational setups gain social legitimacy remains largely unclear. To redress this gap in the scholarship, this article investigates institutional and affective tutoring practices, in relation to formal schooling. It draws on the perspectives of tutors, school teachers, teacher-tutors, students and their parents, produced through a…
Exposing the “shadow”
A growing body of research shows that private tutoring is a globally pervasive phenomenon. A common way in which tutoring provisions are defined is with the use of the metaphor “shadow education”, signifying that tutoring centres “shadow” formal schools. Despite the popularity of this metaphor in the field, how “shadowing” occurs as a process and what implications this process has for formal schooling and society have seldom been put through empi…
Higher education students as consumers
The rapid expansion of neo-liberal regimes has effectively transformed how students – their role and purpose – are understood in society. Scholars, especially in the Anglophone North, have shown how dominant policy narratives tend to position students as consumers. More recent studies have begun to explore students’ views of this construction. However, much of this work focuses on a particular country; thus, how students’ opinions may vary across…
Revisiting educational advantage and social class
This article provides a Bourdieusian analysis of middle-class parents’ investment in private schooling and shadow education (tutoring support) in India, thus contributes to the scholarship of class-based educational advantage. It unveils parents’ aspirations for their children’s education and investigates how these aspirations shape the demand for private education. Bringing into sharp focus the complexity of social privilege, this article discus…
Study gods – How the new Chinese elite prepare for global competition
View correction statement:Correction Correction StatementThis article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article
Middle-class mothers' participation in tutoring for spoken English
Sociological inquiries on parental involvement seldom consider the investments parents make in themselves to realise educational advantages in their children's schooling. This gap hides the processes underlying class-making and class-produced privileges. To address this gap, this article investigates middle-class mothers’ participation in tutoring and coaching for spoken English in Dehradun, India, focusing on their reasons for soliciting such pa…
Teachers’ work under responsibilising policies
This article offers unique insights into the relationship between education policy and teachers’ work. It considers how globally pervasive responsibilising regimes make teachers’ work more burdensome. Drawing on interviews with 15 school teachers, this article shows how China’s 2021 Double Burden Reduction Policy has reconfigured educators’ (class)work practices and pedagogical approaches. Specifically, it unpacks the policy mechanisms that: 1) c…
Re-Centring the School Context in Policy Enactments
This article examines mentorship provisions for Early Career Teachers (ECTs) – a component of the 2019 Early Career Framework (ECF) introduced by the UK’s Department for Education. Drawing on Braun et al. (2011), it analyses data produced through interviews and focus groups with ECT programme coordinators, mentors, and ECTs from four schools operating under different governance models – Faith-based, Independent, Local Authority, and Multi-Academy…
Coached habitus
Studies have shown how family (typically parents) and formal institutions (specifically schools and universities) shape individuals' dispositions—or habitus . However, other sites of academic socialisation, such as tutoring centres and coaching institutions (collectively forming a shadow education system), are seldom scrutinised for their role in this process. To address this gap in scholarship, this paper draws on interviews with 30 Indian stude…
Pedagogical conundrum, assessment anxiety, and employability dilemma
Situated within the scholarship on how artificial intelligence (AI) affects and is affected by society, this article offers a distinctly empirically grounded, methodologically rigorous, theoretically rooted, and conceptually novel understanding of the great Generative AI (GenAI) quandary in higher education (HE). Drawing on sociological discourse on the purposes of education, it analyses exploratory qualitative data produced from semi-structured …
Political science (17 obras) · Sociology (17 obras) · Economics (10 obras) · Global Educational Reforms and Inequalities (8 obras) · Higher education (8 obras) · Law (8 obras) · Pedagogy (8 obras) · Psychology (8 obras) · Public relations (7 obras) · Global Education and Multiculturalism (6 obras)