Martin Ashley

Time to confront Willis’s lads with a ballet class? A case study of educational orthodoxy and white working‐class boys

This is a retrospective study tracing the longer term effects on identity and aspiration of white working‐class boys from an area of high social deprivation. The boys were members of an acclaimed boys’ dance company and have been retrospectively interviewed as young men in their twenties. Documentary and film material dating from the time they were 14 year olds and the film Billy Elliot were used in the interviews. A media discourse driven by a view of boys ‘in crisis’ that is blind to social class and the difficulties faced by some girls was uncovered. This is found to pervade the entire Billy Elliot discourse, which focused on the sensation of a boy performing ballet rather than on the class background and historical context of the miners’ dispute. The paper questions the discourse of laddishness and the social identity that is attached to the term ‘lad’.

Slappers Who Gouge Your Eyes: Vocal Performance as Exemplification of Disturbing Inertia in Gender Equality.

This article is based upon a full‐time study of masculinity and singing funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Empirical work was conducted with boy performers and ‘peer audiences’ for those performers in schools. The article focuses on girls’ attitudes to boy singers and reveals a significant difference between primary and secondary schooling. In primary schools, girls are the more responsible for discouraging boys but in secondary schools the male peer group becomes more critical whilst girls increasingly perceive boy singers as ‘cute’. It is possible to construct a strong case for single‐sex groupings but the empirical work suggests this may turn out to be misguided. The article concludes that there is an urgent need for girls and boys to learn mutual respect in the context of the music class. The evidence suggests that teachers require a significantly enhanced level of gender‐related subject knowledge, gender awareness and interpersonal skill.

The perpetuation of hegemonic male power and the loss of boyhood innocence: case studies from the music industry

It has been argued by R.W. Connell that gender equality requires the willing co-operation of men and boys. This study of youth masculinity and singing examines the process through which young people are socialised into the norms of the commercial music industry. It is argued that this industry, which is extremely influential on identities and attitudes, remains patriarchal in its power structures. This patriarchy both constrains and shapes the identities of boy performers and perpetuates the construction of females as ‘fodder’ for music that requires little cultural capital for its appreciation. The paper draws on case studies of boy performers aged between 11 and 14, together with survey work in schools of young people who were asked to listen to the commercial CD recordings made by the young performers. It concludes that, from an initial position of innocence, boy singers and their female fans become socialised into a complicit masculinity that unwittingly perpetuates patriarchal hegemony. Connells aspiration for men and boys participation in gender equality is rendered an unlikely hope by the power relationships discussed.

Behaviour Change and Environmental Citizenship: a case for spiritual development?

In spite of the efforts that have been made to increase awareness and understanding of environmental issues, there is little evidence of a general adoption of pro-environmental behaviours that might characterize environmental citizenship. This paper argues that awareness and understanding are necessary but not sufficient, and reports research which suggests that sufficiency might need to be understood in spiritual terms. An argument is developed in favour of a citizenship founded upon transformative spiritual values in preference to a morality founded upon imposed notions of duty or obligation to support a value system which is itself arguably part of the problem. The primary objection to such an approach is that it would seem to rely upon the preservation of childhood spirituality through the teenage years into adulthood, and this is seen to present many difficulties for researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.

Broken voices or a broken curriculum? The impact of research on UK school choral practice with boys

Work such as that of John Cooksey on boys’ changing voices has influenced choral practice in the USA and in certain UK youth choirs, but has hitherto had little impact in UK schools where many teachers continue to believe that boys’ voices ‘break’. Different practices are found across the independent and maintained sectors of secondary education. The former draws on the choral tradition associated with cathedral music. The latter tends, with notable exceptions, to subscribe to the populist media view that ‘boys don’t sing’ or that singing by boys is individualised and the exceptional result of ‘X Factor’ style talent shows. In neither case is there much evidence of a systematic attempt to apply research findings to develop a structured programme of vocal development for boys in early adolescence. The paper examines case studies of different choral practice in schools where boys do sing, but as the result of enthusiastic teachers working in isolation rather than a systematic, research-based approach to boys’ singing development.

The Angel Enigma: Experienced Boy Singers' Perceptual Judgements of Changing Voices.

Between the approximate ages of 10 and 15, boys undergo a protracted phase of staged voice change that coincides with other changes in secondary sexual characteristics associated with puberty. A number of researchers, particularly John Cooksey in the United States, have described this. Tensions, however, remain between the theoretical model described in the research and the singing practices boys encounter through choral work in the UK. The age of 13 seems pivotal with regard to the singing range for boys. Cultural and social factors influence this and it is suggested that staged developmental models such as Cookseys pay inadequate attention to these. This paper reports on the ability of young adolescent boys with good experience of singing to discern differences in vocal timbre and technique in age peers through perceptual tests. It concludes that such boys have surprisingly good discriminatory powers and that more attention should be paid to develop the listening skills of other boys as part of a programme to encourage better understanding of the young male voice.

Here’s what you must think about nuclear power: grappling with the spiritual ground of children’s judgement inside and outside Steiner Waldorf education

The author has previously argued against ‘early closure’ – the tendency to close down children’s curiosity through an over‐zealous approach to issues‐based education. Indoctrination might be a result but ‘burn‐out,’ a potentially permanent attitude change that sets in before puberty, is more likely. This article is based on the author’s recent work on a project on Steiner Schools in England, funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), and is an examination of the apparent paradox of authority in the Steiner schools. There is a particular view that the teacher is the authority who mediates the world to 7–14‐year‐old pupils. However, the ultimate goal of Steiner education is freedom and autonomy. In Steiner’s words ‘our highest endeavour must be to develop free human beings who are able to impart freedom and direction to their lives.’ The DfES research has suggested that pupils subjected to teacher authority in the Steiner tradition do so develop and that the spiritual dimension is significant. This requires further research. This article suggests that the preservation of childhood through a spiritually based developmental approach, true to Steiner’s ideal of integrating the scientific, the artistic and the religious, may be worthy of attention.