Heather Piper

Ian Stronach

This book explores the problems involved in ‘touching’ children in an educational environment. It uses real-life examples taken from groundbreaking research into the mentality of today’s risk culture, and highlights a maddening state of affairs in which ordinary well-meaning professionals feel they cannot offer even very young children basic levels of comforting or affection. This fascinating and long-overdue book examines the ‘no-touch’ pandemic in early years settings, by use of extensive interviews with practitioners, parents and pupils, which: outline the confusion experienced by many in knowing if, when and how to touch and the more recent backlash by those who attempted to buck the trend suggest why this issue is important now (for example, at a time when men are being encouraged to work in early years settings) consider explanations such as panic, risk, society and fear. This book also examines and explains where the law stands on these issues, and keeps its key focus on practice throughout; representing an unsensationalized and sensible approach to an issue that causes so much professional anxiety, and it will be welcomed by the entire teaching profession, child care professionals, along with academics and researchers within education and the social sciences.

The Educational Story of a Panic

Don’t Touch!

Pat Sikes

The Anglophone world is gripped by a moral panic centred on child abuse in general and fear of the paedophile in particular. Evidence suggests an alarming rise in the number of false allegations of sexual abuse being made against teachers, and demonstrates that the fallout from being falsely accused is far-reaching and sometimes tragic. Many people in this position cannot sustain family relationships, have breakdowns, and are often unable to return to the classroom when their ordeal is over. Researching Sex and Lies in the Classroom draws on in-depth qualitative research exploring the experiences, perceptions and consequences for those who have been falsely accused of sexual misconduct with pupils, and for the family members, friends and colleagues affected by or involved in the accusation process. The book also highlights the dilemmas and difficulties the authors themselves have faced researching this field, such as: ethical and methodological concerns over whether or not the teachers had indeed been falsely accused, or were guilty and taking advantage of this project to construct an alternative, innocent identity the difficulty of obtaining institutional ethical clearance to undertake and publish research which challenges master narratives concerning children and their protection the reluctance of funders to support research in controversial and sensitive areas. Researching Sex and Lies in the Classroom reveals findings which are both informative and shocking. It interrogates the appropriateness of current investigative and judicial procedures and practices, and it raises general questions about the surveillance and control of research and academic voice. It will be of great benefit to academics and researchers interested in this field, as well as postgraduate students, teachers and other professionals working with the fear of allegations of abuse.

Allegations of Sexual Misconduct in Schools

Researching Sex and Lies in the Classroom

Else-Marie Buch Leander

Some social issues and practices have become dangerous areas for academics to research and write about. ‘Academic freedom’ is increasingly constrained, not just by long established ‘normal’ factors (territoriality, power differentials, competition, protectionism), but also by the increased significance of social media and the rise of identity politics (and activists who treat work which challenges their world view as abusive hate-speech). So extreme are these pressures that some institutions and even statutory bodies now adopt policies and practices which contravene relevant regulations and laws. This book seeks to draw attention to the limiting and damaging effects of academic ‘gagging’. The book, drawn from a special edition of Societies, offers an eclectic series of international articles which may annoy some people. The book challenges taken for granted mainstream assumptions and practices in a number of areas, including gender mainstreaming, social work education, child sexual abuse, the ethnic disaggregation of population groups, fatherhood and masculinity, the erosion of democratic legitimacy, the trap of victimhood and vulnerability, employment practices in universities, and the challenges presented by the widespread and deliberate suppression of scholarship and research. In an analytic postscript Laurent Dubreuil discusses the nature of identity politics and the manner in which its effects can be identified across the many topics covered in these challenging articles.

Heather Piper

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