Exploring Elite Schools and Inclusive Child-centred Sex and Relationships Education

Contributing to the body of literature that applies Bourdieu to the study of educational institutions, this novel volume considers how elite schools could successfully incorporate inclusive equitable sex and relationship education (RSE) within the existing mechanisms of continuing professional development (CPD), to provide a programme based on the needs and discomfort of both students and teachers.

Using a case study approach focusing on elite schools, the book considers the socio-political nature of sex education in England from a Bourdieuan perspective, while also incorporating aspects of Foucauldian normative power into political analysis to give broader international appeal. The book demonstrates how Bourdieu and his toolkit can be used to consider the sociological structures that allow for the construction, and thus deconstruction, of social norms within elite education. Chapters provide insights gathered from an understanding of the social fabric of elite schooling and the traditional, heteronormative ethos of such schools. As a result, recommendations are put forward regarding the development of CPD, supporting the successful implementation of inclusive and comprehensive sex education in elite schools.

Calling for schools to develop cultures of conversation and dialogue rather than pedagogies of exposure and discomfort in the context of both sex education and teacher training, this book will benefit academics and postgraduate students in the fields of sex education, research methods in education, and secondary education more broadly.