Alexandra Allan
Biographic Data
| ID | 3701256 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alexandra Allan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alexandra |
| FAMILY NAME | Allan |
| SIGNATURE | ALLAN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Exeter |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5089-2743 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 105 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 19 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Mental health and gender discourses in school
This is the final version. Available on open access from Routledge via the DOI in this record
Girls, mental health and academic achievement
Over the past two decades, there has been increasing international concern over the prevalence of mental health difficulties amongst children and young people. In the English context, particular concerns have been raised about the "state" of girls' and young women's psychological health. Figuring highly in both academic and media debate is the impact of school pressures and the performance demands placed on girls in relation to academic achieveme…
They think it’s trendy to have a disability/mental-illness’
Research has long demonstrated the exclusion and Othering experienced by young people with disabilities in education. This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study conducted in an ‘elite’ sixth-form college in England, set against the backdrop of a shifting social, political, and cultural landscape, where neo-liberal discourses of dis/ability and healthism—centring on mental health and wellbeing—are becoming further embedded in educatio…
More than a class act? dilemmas in researching elite school girls' feminist politics
Feminist scholars have long been concerned with privileged women's activism and engagement with feminist politics and how acts of resistance from privileged subjects might best be understood. In the current moment, we are seeing a reinvigoration of interest in feminist activism particularly from young women, but not necessarily focusing on young women who are positioned as privileged. Simultaneously, there is attention in the sociology of elite s…
Negative capital
The concept of capital has risen in prominence within educational policy and practice in the UK since Ofsted introduced cultural capital into its inspection processes in 2019. At the same time, fractured discourses exist across different types of capital – one of which concerns capitals that are negative in constitution and/or impact. This paper addresses both through: A systematic literature review of these negativities (in social, economic, and…
Using the once familiar to make the familiar strange once again
This article builds on Delamont's strategies for fighting familiarity, particularly her argument that ethnographers need to revisit educational ethnographies of the past. (Delamont, Atkinson and Pugsley 2010) The article argues that wider historical accounts, from both inside and outside of education, can also cultivate the sociological imagination in this way. Inspired by feminist historical inquiry the author will demonstrate how she has used h…
Seeing’ into the past and ‘looking’ forward to the future
A small number of attempts have been made to take stock of the field of gender and education, though very few have taken methodology as their explicit focus. We seek to stimulate such discussion in this article by taking stock of the use of visual methods in gender and education research (particularly participatory and image-based methods). We undertake this exercise by looking at the claims researchers have made about the ways in which visual me…
Taking stock
Published
Preparing for life in the global village
n\t\t\t\t\tThis paper adds to a growing body of literature which views global citizenship education as part of a broader social and cultural process of subjectivity production. Rather than focus on global citizenship in relation to pedagogy or curriculum content, as much of the previous research literature has done, this paper examines it in relation to the practice of travel. Drawing on data generated in ethnographic fieldwork in two UK schools,…
Cosmo girls
In this paper we offer a unique contribution to understandings of schooling as a site for the production of social class difference. We bring together the rich body of work that has been conducted on middle-class educational identities, with explorations of the centrality of the feminine in representations of class difference from the field of critical girlhood studies. This is done in order to explore how young femininities mediate the represent…
Body image in the primary school
Body image in the primary school, by Nicky Hutchinson and Chris Calland, London, Routledge, 2011, ISBN 978-0-415-56191-4 ‘Body image in the primary school’ is a publication which could almost certa
The material child
Power, Participation and Privilege - Methodological Lessons from Using Visual Methods in Research with Young People
The practice of using participatory visual methods in research with young people is one that has come under scrutiny in recent years. Many scholars have examined these practices in order to question the singular and simple notions of voice that are often represented in these accounts. Taking up the challenges laid down by these scholars, this paper attempts to critically disturb some of the claims that have been made about this supposedly inheren…
School trouble
by Deborah Youdell, London, Routledge, 2010, 163 pp., £24.99 (paperback), £75.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-415-47988-2 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-415-47987-5 (hardback) Deborah Youdell’s recent book Scho
Picturing success
Over the last decade it is young women who have come to be widely understood as the bearers of educational qualifications. It is girls who are now seen to have 'the world at their feet' and to be able to attain the glittering prizes of academic success associated with elite universities and top occupations. And it is upper‐middle‐class girls, in particular, who appear to be achieving the most; a 'super class' of pupils who are supposedly able to …
Speaking the unspeakable in forbidden places
The present paper interrogates the ways in which school is produced as a particular bounded place (or collection of places) where sexuality, and particularly non‐heterosexuality, is carefully policed by these boundaries. Drawing upon data generated in primary schools during a nationwide action research project ('No Outsiders'), we focus on three very different school places: the classroom, the staffroom and a school‐based after‐school art club. O…
The importance of being a ‘lady’
Drawing on recent ethnographic research in one single‐sex, private primary school, this paper will explore what it meant for the girls in this setting to embody the discourse of the ‘lady’. The paper will propose that classed and gendered discourses of respectability featured strongly in the girls’ lives, as they were expected to behave like ‘proper’ upper‐middle‐class ladies. However, the paper will also suggest that these discourses were being …
Girls, Boys and Junior Sexualities
Girls, Boys and Junior Sexualities: Exploring Children's Gender and Sexual Relations in the Primary School. By Emma Renold. Pp. 206. London and New York: Routledge-Falmer. 2005. £21.99 (pbk). ISBN 0-415-31497-6 (pbk)
Bright and Beautiful
This paper refocuses attention on and problematizes girls’ experiences of school achievement and the construction of schoolgirl femininities. In particular, it centres on the relatively neglected experiences and identity work of high achieving primary school girls. Drawing upon ethnographic data (observations, interviews, and pupil diaries) from a broader study of girls’ and boys’ perceptions and experiences of schoolwork and achievement from two…
The importance of being a ‘lady’
Drawing on recent ethnographic research in one single‐sex, private primary school, this paper will explore what it meant for the girls in this setting to embody the discourse of the ‘lady’. The paper will propose that classed and gendered discourses of respectability featured strongly in the girls’ lives, as they were expected to behave like ‘proper’ upper‐middle‐class ladies. However, the paper will also suggest that these discourses were being …
Bright and Beautiful
This paper refocuses attention on and problematizes girls’ experiences of school achievement and the construction of schoolgirl femininities. In particular, it centres on the relatively neglected experiences and identity work of high achieving primary school girls. Drawing upon ethnographic data (observations, interviews, and pupil diaries) from a broader study of girls’ and boys’ perceptions and experiences of schoolwork and achievement from two…
Picturing success
Over the last decade it is young women who have come to be widely understood as the bearers of educational qualifications. It is girls who are now seen to have 'the world at their feet' and to be able to attain the glittering prizes of academic success associated with elite universities and top occupations. And it is upper‐middle‐class girls, in particular, who appear to be achieving the most; a 'super class' of pupils who are supposedly able to …
Cosmo girls
In this paper we offer a unique contribution to understandings of schooling as a site for the production of social class difference. We bring together the rich body of work that has been conducted on middle-class educational identities, with explorations of the centrality of the feminine in representations of class difference from the field of critical girlhood studies. This is done in order to explore how young femininities mediate the represent…
Power, Participation and Privilege - Methodological Lessons from Using Visual Methods in Research with Young People
The practice of using participatory visual methods in research with young people is one that has come under scrutiny in recent years. Many scholars have examined these practices in order to question the singular and simple notions of voice that are often represented in these accounts. Taking up the challenges laid down by these scholars, this paper attempts to critically disturb some of the claims that have been made about this supposedly inheren…
Seeing’ into the past and ‘looking’ forward to the future
A small number of attempts have been made to take stock of the field of gender and education, though very few have taken methodology as their explicit focus. We seek to stimulate such discussion in this article by taking stock of the use of visual methods in gender and education research (particularly participatory and image-based methods). We undertake this exercise by looking at the claims researchers have made about the ways in which visual me…
Preparing for life in the global village
n\t\t\t\t\tThis paper adds to a growing body of literature which views global citizenship education as part of a broader social and cultural process of subjectivity production. Rather than focus on global citizenship in relation to pedagogy or curriculum content, as much of the previous research literature has done, this paper examines it in relation to the practice of travel. Drawing on data generated in ethnographic fieldwork in two UK schools,…
Mental health and gender discourses in school
This is the final version. Available on open access from Routledge via the DOI in this record
More than a class act? dilemmas in researching elite school girls' feminist politics
Feminist scholars have long been concerned with privileged women's activism and engagement with feminist politics and how acts of resistance from privileged subjects might best be understood. In the current moment, we are seeing a reinvigoration of interest in feminist activism particularly from young women, but not necessarily focusing on young women who are positioned as privileged. Simultaneously, there is attention in the sociology of elite s…
Using the once familiar to make the familiar strange once again
This article builds on Delamont's strategies for fighting familiarity, particularly her argument that ethnographers need to revisit educational ethnographies of the past. (Delamont, Atkinson and Pugsley 2010) The article argues that wider historical accounts, from both inside and outside of education, can also cultivate the sociological imagination in this way. Inspired by feminist historical inquiry the author will demonstrate how she has used h…
Taking stock
Published
Bright and Beautiful
This paper refocuses attention on and problematizes girls’ experiences of school achievement and the construction of schoolgirl femininities. In particular, it centres on the relatively neglected experiences and identity work of high achieving primary school girls. Drawing upon ethnographic data (observations, interviews, and pupil diaries) from a broader study of girls’ and boys’ perceptions and experiences of schoolwork and achievement from two…
Girls, Boys and Junior Sexualities
Girls, Boys and Junior Sexualities: Exploring Children's Gender and Sexual Relations in the Primary School. By Emma Renold. Pp. 206. London and New York: Routledge-Falmer. 2005. £21.99 (pbk). ISBN 0-415-31497-6 (pbk)
Speaking the unspeakable in forbidden places
The present paper interrogates the ways in which school is produced as a particular bounded place (or collection of places) where sexuality, and particularly non‐heterosexuality, is carefully policed by these boundaries. Drawing upon data generated in primary schools during a nationwide action research project ('No Outsiders'), we focus on three very different school places: the classroom, the staffroom and a school‐based after‐school art club. O…
The importance of being a ‘lady’
Drawing on recent ethnographic research in one single‐sex, private primary school, this paper will explore what it meant for the girls in this setting to embody the discourse of the ‘lady’. The paper will propose that classed and gendered discourses of respectability featured strongly in the girls’ lives, as they were expected to behave like ‘proper’ upper‐middle‐class ladies. However, the paper will also suggest that these discourses were being …
Picturing success
Over the last decade it is young women who have come to be widely understood as the bearers of educational qualifications. It is girls who are now seen to have 'the world at their feet' and to be able to attain the glittering prizes of academic success associated with elite universities and top occupations. And it is upper‐middle‐class girls, in particular, who appear to be achieving the most; a 'super class' of pupils who are supposedly able to …
School trouble
by Deborah Youdell, London, Routledge, 2010, 163 pp., £24.99 (paperback), £75.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-415-47988-2 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-415-47987-5 (hardback) Deborah Youdell’s recent book Scho
Body image in the primary school
Body image in the primary school, by Nicky Hutchinson and Chris Calland, London, Routledge, 2011, ISBN 978-0-415-56191-4 ‘Body image in the primary school’ is a publication which could almost certa
The material child
Power, Participation and Privilege - Methodological Lessons from Using Visual Methods in Research with Young People
The practice of using participatory visual methods in research with young people is one that has come under scrutiny in recent years. Many scholars have examined these practices in order to question the singular and simple notions of voice that are often represented in these accounts. Taking up the challenges laid down by these scholars, this paper attempts to critically disturb some of the claims that have been made about this supposedly inheren…
Cosmo girls
In this paper we offer a unique contribution to understandings of schooling as a site for the production of social class difference. We bring together the rich body of work that has been conducted on middle-class educational identities, with explorations of the centrality of the feminine in representations of class difference from the field of critical girlhood studies. This is done in order to explore how young femininities mediate the represent…
Seeing’ into the past and ‘looking’ forward to the future
A small number of attempts have been made to take stock of the field of gender and education, though very few have taken methodology as their explicit focus. We seek to stimulate such discussion in this article by taking stock of the use of visual methods in gender and education research (particularly participatory and image-based methods). We undertake this exercise by looking at the claims researchers have made about the ways in which visual me…
Taking stock
Published
Preparing for life in the global village
n\t\t\t\t\tThis paper adds to a growing body of literature which views global citizenship education as part of a broader social and cultural process of subjectivity production. Rather than focus on global citizenship in relation to pedagogy or curriculum content, as much of the previous research literature has done, this paper examines it in relation to the practice of travel. Drawing on data generated in ethnographic fieldwork in two UK schools,…
Using the once familiar to make the familiar strange once again
This article builds on Delamont's strategies for fighting familiarity, particularly her argument that ethnographers need to revisit educational ethnographies of the past. (Delamont, Atkinson and Pugsley 2010) The article argues that wider historical accounts, from both inside and outside of education, can also cultivate the sociological imagination in this way. Inspired by feminist historical inquiry the author will demonstrate how she has used h…
Negative capital
The concept of capital has risen in prominence within educational policy and practice in the UK since Ofsted introduced cultural capital into its inspection processes in 2019. At the same time, fractured discourses exist across different types of capital – one of which concerns capitals that are negative in constitution and/or impact. This paper addresses both through: A systematic literature review of these negativities (in social, economic, and…
More than a class act? dilemmas in researching elite school girls' feminist politics
Feminist scholars have long been concerned with privileged women's activism and engagement with feminist politics and how acts of resistance from privileged subjects might best be understood. In the current moment, we are seeing a reinvigoration of interest in feminist activism particularly from young women, but not necessarily focusing on young women who are positioned as privileged. Simultaneously, there is attention in the sociology of elite s…
Girls, mental health and academic achievement
Over the past two decades, there has been increasing international concern over the prevalence of mental health difficulties amongst children and young people. In the English context, particular concerns have been raised about the "state" of girls' and young women's psychological health. Figuring highly in both academic and media debate is the impact of school pressures and the performance demands placed on girls in relation to academic achieveme…
They think it’s trendy to have a disability/mental-illness’
Research has long demonstrated the exclusion and Othering experienced by young people with disabilities in education. This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study conducted in an ‘elite’ sixth-form college in England, set against the backdrop of a shifting social, political, and cultural landscape, where neo-liberal discourses of dis/ability and healthism—centring on mental health and wellbeing—are becoming further embedded in educatio…
Mental health and gender discourses in school
This is the final version. Available on open access from Routledge via the DOI in this record
Sociology (17 works) · Political science (13 works) · Psychology (12 works) · Gender Studies (11 works) · Gender Roles and Identity Studies (8 works) · Ethnography (6 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Social science (6 works) · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics (6 works)