Steven Dempster

‘I sat back on my computer … with a bottle of whisky next to me’: constructing ‘cool’ masculinity through ‘effortless’ achievement in secondary and higher education

Recently Hodgetts has argued that: ‘To be a boy is to “succeed without trying”’. Relatedly, other researchers have proposed that academic hard work is generally incompatible with ‘cool’ masculinities in many schools. In this article we draw upon theories about the construction of masculinities and UK data from two education contexts (secondary schools and higher education) to explore further the discourses that conflate effortless achievement with masculinity, and position study as ‘uncool’. Locating our analyses principally within the framework of hegemonic masculinity, we explore the benefits and costs of the discourses – focusing especially upon the ‘effortless achievement’ discourse – to boys, men, girls and women. We argue that although the ‘uncool to work’ discourse was more dominant in schools than in higher education there was evidence of it in higher education. The effortless achievement discourse was dominant in both contexts and the associations with masculinity were very explicit in the higher education interview data. We explore why, when in the current educational climate there is so much emphasis on results rather than process, the valorisation of effortless achievement, and its association with masculinity, remain strong.

I drink, therefore I’m man: gender discourses, alcohol and the construction of British undergraduate masculinities

This article provides insights into the discourses that legitimate and perpetuate male undergraduate drinking cultures and considers the role of alcohol in communicating hegemonic masculinity within one British university. Taking laddishness as a template of hegemonic masculinity, the article contends that male students’ heavy alcohol use is partially motivated by discourses that position drinking as a ‘normal’ part of studenthood, but also by discourses that reinforce drinking as a ‘laddish’ behaviour or a male preserve. While interviewees recognised the importance of drinking in constructing masculinity, running parallel to this were attempts to disassociate themselves from the extremities of alcohol-induced laddishness and considerations that male peers who drank too much were lesser men. However, in their resistance to these extremities, interviewees demonstrated complicity towards more general attributes of hegemonic masculinity, such as independence and the strength to say no. This highlights the complex and somewhat contradictory processes individuals go through in the construction of gender identities, yet also offers a means through which male undergraduates’ risky alcohol use might be challenged.

Having the balls, having it all? Sport and constructions of undergraduate laddishness

This article investigates the role of sport in framing and communicating hegemonic masculinity among male undergraduates within one British university. The data were collected through questionnaires and one‐to‐one interviews with 24 male students who were asked to consider their relationship with laddish masculinities. The evidence indicates that sport was important in framing hegemonic masculinities within this milieu. While participants recognised the importance of sport in constructing masculinity, they were also critical of sportsmen’s ‘laddish’ practices and attempted to distance themselves from these behaviours. Nevertheless, they remained complicit to the more general attributes of hegemonic masculinity – particularly notions of strength and independence. The article discusses the implications of this finding for how researchers might conceptualise hegemonic masculinity, and offers a suggestion on how they might harness these attributes to challenge the more negative practices associated with manhood.

“They just don’t seem to really care, they just think it’s cool to sit there and talk”: laddism in university teaching-learning contexts

Over the last 2–3 years there has been a sharp increase in the UK in the number of concerns voiced about “laddism”, “laddish” or “lad” cultures in higher education (HE). Drawing on a project that explored laddism on a sports science degree in one university, this article explores constructions and understandings of laddism in HE, particularly in teaching-learning contexts. Undergraduates suggested that laddish behaviours in teaching-learning contexts included: talking and generally being loud; being a joker; throwing stuff; arriving late; and being rude and disrespectful to lecturers. Mature students (men and women) and women were particularly critical of these behaviours, and resented the ways they negatively impacted on their learning. The impacts of laddism on the lads themselves and on others are explored, as are the ways in which laddism is challenged.

Harry Potter and the Transfiguration of Boys’ and Girls’ Literacies

Although children’s literacy remains of concern, Harry Potter has sometimes been identified as a ray of light. This article explores the “Harry Potter effect” empirically. Questionnaire responses from 621 primary and secondary school pupils point to certain relationships between the Potter books and reported literacy practices and achievements. Most readers claimed that Harry Potter had helped their reading, but gender-differential tendencies were not significant, and claims regarding any revolutionary impact of Potter on boys’ reading would seem misplaced. Few significant gender tendencies were found, for example numbers of readers (more boys) and re-reading the novels (associated with girls).

Evaluative research in Higher Education policy analysis

This chapter will focus on the use of evaluative research in higher education policy analysis. The approach will be illustrated by reference to higher education policy in Scottish higher education, with particular reference to the longitudinal evaluative research of support of teaching and learning (T&L) (the Quality Enhancement Framework or QEF). The chapter will discuss the features of the research process which are shaped by evaluation theory. We adopt a theoretical position on policy research which foregrounds the situated experience of policy as a core research focus. Policy is depicted as being underscored by an implicit theory of change which is used to structure and orientate the research focus. The design of the research is characterised by the involvement of potential users of the research output, with implications on the way in which findings are articulated, presented and ultimately used, along with aspects of the evaluative research design. The case study of the QEF will be contextualised, and the intersection between the design features and theoretical approaches, and the use and usability of research outputs, will be established.

Children’s literacy practices and preferences:Harry Potter and beyond

Over the past few decades there have been intense debates in education surrounding children’s literacy achievement and ways to promote reading, particularly that of boys. The Harry Potter book series has been received enthusiastically by very many children, boys and girls alike, but has also been constructed in popular and media discourses as a children’s, particularly a boys’, literacy saviour. Children’s Literacy Practices and Preferences: Harry Potter and Beyond provides empirical evidence of young people’s reported literacy practices and views on reading, and of how they see how the Harry Potter series as having impacted their own literacy. The volume explores and debunks some of the myths surrounding Harry Potter and literacy, and contextualizes these within children’s wider reading.