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This paper draws on case study data from a study of independent schools in Scotland, to examine school space as a site of mediation of educational dis/advantage and in/exclusion. A threefold and scalar conceptualisation of space is used together with social capital theory to analyse staff and student identifications with relations within and beyond school space. The analysis indicates the existence of specific territorial bonding and prevailing spatio-temporal boundaries, both of which produce educational advantage of benefit to students and the institution but can also, for some, lead to alienation and frustration. The conclusion reached is that strong in-school bonding is central to the reproduction of educational advantage, but that possibilities exist for its interruption which may offer key messages for schools more generally. The approach to analysis is discourse-based and draws on spatial and social and multiple capitals theory.

This paper explores the factors that are at present reconstructing teacher education in Sweden and in other European countries, including professionalization, inherited traditions, feminization and globalization. The authors use as a basis for the paper: documentary analysis and nearly 60 qualitative semi-structured interviews with management and teaching staff from teacher education at one Swedish higher education institution, Umeå University. Five overall themes emerged from the study: gender; teacher education cultures; organizational changes; collaboration; and research. It is argued that women and men in teacher education are positioned differently with regard to change. Women teacher educators identify more with research and accountability imperatives while their male colleagues tend to focus more on classroom knowledge and skills. The paper considers possible explanations and makes tentative extrapolations to other European sites in varying political contexts.

 Överallt och ingenstans - mångkulturella och antirasistiska frågor i svensk skola är en kunskapsöversikt som tar sin utgångspunkt i svensk invandringshistoria, skolpolitik, styrdokument samt forskning och projekt för att belysa vad vi i idag vet och i viss mån också vad som hittills gjorts inom området mångkultur i skolan. Författarna belyser de mångkulturella och antirasistiska frågorna utifrån ett kritiskt mångkulturellt teoretiskt perspektiv och den bild som växer fram är komplex. Några av översiktens viktigaste resultat är att goda integrationspolitiska intentioner länge funnits med på den politiska agendan men att det lika länge har funnits försvårande omständigheter för realisering av målen. Författarna uppmärksammar också att skolan under lång tid tilldelats nyckelrollen för att realisera samhälleliga integrationsmål samtidigt som resultaten i översikten visar att det finns en uttalad osäkerhet kring hur detta ska genomföras. Lärare lämnas relativt ensamma i arbetet mot rasism och främlingsfientlighet. Ett annat och framträdande resultat är att komplicerade frågor kring rasism, identitet och kultur har fokuserats i långt mindre omfattning än språkfrågan som länge har dominerat rapporter och projekt inom det mångkulturella området.

I accepted the invitation to contribute to this book in the expectation that writing about my life’s experiences would be challenging, instructive, even pleasurable. It has been all of these, but I did not expect it to be quite so difficult. What follows, therefore, is tentative and exploratory due both to the nature of autobiography and to the fact that a life’s story cannot be completed until the life is over, and perhaps not even then. I have been troubled also by possible accusations of self-indulgence and self-centredness, despite Steedman’s claim that autobiography can question central cultural narratives and provide disruption and counterpoint (Steedman 1986)—something I would want to do as a feminist writer. And disclosure of personal details is likely to render myself vulnerable to the critical gaze of friends, colleagues and strangers-another thing to be wary of. So in this contribution, I address the concerns I and others have about the nature and task of academic autobiography, later on threading in some of the narratives and themes of my life.