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Power, Punishment and Panopticism in Roald Dahl’s Matilda: A Foucauldian Reading
Roald Dahl’s Matilda (1988) tells the tale of a bright young girl’s discovery that she has psychic powers as she seeks to improve the situation of herself and those around her. From an unhappy home life with parents who fail to understand her, to the overthrow of the tyrannical Headmistress of her school, the book explores themes of resistance, rebellion and empowerment. It also subverts the idea that in adult/child relationships the adults hold all the power. Let us consider how theories of power are played out in the story and whether Matilda can affect real and lasting change for herself.
Matilda’s parents do not care for her physically or emotionally and make no attempts to understand her; she is treated as an inconvenience, and her cleverness is mocked and denied. Matilda’s refusal to conform with the wishes of her parents illustrates her own strength and self-assuredness and that despite the many restraints and obstacles placed on her, and on children in general, she continues to be true to herself. Despite her parents’ best efforts, she continues to speak out of turn when she knows the answer, asserts her morals when she realises her father is tricking his customers and continues to borrow and read books from the library after she has been forbidden to do so. Before she has even uncovered her telekinetic powers, she applies herself to devising “suitable punishment[s] for the poisonous parent”, in the hopes of correcting her father’s behaviour and teaching him a lesson.
In Discipline and Punish, Foucault makes several references to the ways in which schools can function as institutions, maintaining power through discipline. Claiming “the prison is like a rather disciplined barracks, a strict school […] but not qualitatively different”.
Crunchem Hall then, is the reverse: a strict school that is not qualitatively different to a prison. It is run as such, and both the children and the staff think of it in these terms. The name of the school itself represents the headmistress, Miss Trunchbull’s, educational philosophy of strict discipline and a breaking down of the children – quite literally ‘crunching them’. She relies not on mutual respect and natural authority but on public spectacles of punishment to keep them in line and Foucault reminds us to “regard punishment as a political tactic”. Examples in the text abound of the ways in which the children and Trunchbull frame the school as prison, as evidenced in the 10-year-old Hortensia’s: “welcome to Borstal”. Hortensia’s role is to warn Matilda and Lavender and tell them of the things she has done to fight back, including putting itching powder in the Trunchbull’s spare underwear and putting golden syrup on her seat: all reasons that she has ended up in “the Chokey”.
As an older character with many stories to tell, the reader is given the impression that things have always been this way and that resistance, though satisfying, is futile. Like a crude iron maiden, the Chokey itself represents the spectacle of punishment, much like Foucault’s spectacle of the scaffold, and is enough to control most of the children and ‘keep them in line’. Hortensia describes it as:
a very tall but very narrow cupboard. The floor is only ten inches square so you can’t sit down or squat in it. You have to stand. And three of the walls are made of cement with bits of broken glass sticking out all over, so you can’t lean against them. […] The door’s got thousands of sharp spiky nails sticking out of it.
A legend within the school and the threat that anyone could be punished at any time, is sufficient to mitigate the children’s behaviour. Aside from Hortensia’s stories of the many times that she has ended up in the Chokey, we hear of no other children being placed in this torture device. It is a symbolic instrument which serves the purpose of controlling the children just by existing. The Trunchbull bases her punishments on hunches and does not care if she is correct, so long as someone gets the blame. Matilda observes that this is what makes her so dangerous to the children, she is unpredictable almost to the point of madness.
Trunchbull repeatedly refers to the students with derogatory and dehumanising names: wart, poisonous pustule, foul carbuncle and othering them in the process. She uses language of crime and punishment when she refers to Bruce Bogtrotter as a “robber bandit” and a “pirate” for stealing a slice of her chocolate cake. Bruce’s punishment is being forced to consume an entire chocolate cake in front of the school, receiving no support or reprieve from the other members of staff – another example of the use of public punishment as spectacle and a means by which to control the children and make it clear who is in charge. This scene frames the battle as adults vs. children; the children united by their status as ‘crusaders’ cheering Bruce on to victory, while Trunchbull remains alone.
She gets away with the punishments she enacts because they are so outrageous and unbelievable that parents wouldn’t believe their children even if they told them – and perhaps they are just as scared of her! Trunchbull epitomises discipline and control, always watching and always ready to deliver a cruel and imaginative punishment, swinging a child by the pigtails, throwing a boy out through the classroom window, picking a child up by the ears and stretching them etc. Education, for her, is about control and stamping out the ‘childness’ in her child pupils. She abhors cleverness and the traits which mark the students out as individual from one another.
The main action of Matilda unfolds within the family home and at school, locations typically associated with adult control and discipline. Ann Alston, following Foucault, notes that families are small institutions where children are first immersed in ideology and learn that there is the possibility of constant surveillance. Children’s bedrooms, she argues, can be simultaneously a source of refuge and safety and a cell within which the child is separated from the adults and a potential site of punishment. The ways in which home and school spaces are organised reconfirm adult power and control; from who has access to which rooms, to the different discipline and rules applied within them, adults appear to hold all the cards. For Foucault, school often involves “enclosure” in a protected place of disciplinary monotony to reduce the inconveniences that come with trying to control a group of bodies in space. The very history of schools and educational establishments points to an exercising of control and power over subjects.
Matilda has limited positive adult role models available to her. A mother who favours looks over books and ignores both her husband’s illegal activities and her daughter. Miss Trunchbull who, whilst representing a self-sufficient woman with a career and an Olympics sports background, loathes children and metes out cruel punishments with no remorse. Not to mention her abuse of Miss Honey and the stealing of her estate. There are many other indicators of Trunchbull’s ‘badness’; she is large, strong, dislikes children, dresses unappealingly and is unmarried – all traits which are unacceptable to the feminine ideal. And finally, there is Miss Honey who, though kind and a good teacher, is so meek and subservient as to be completely ineffectual at saving herself or fully helping the children whom she cares for. If Miss Honey represents the perfect woman, it is damning that she is trapped by her life’s circumstances and unable to break free without the assistance of a child. Trunchbull is made monstrous by her activity and Miss Honey is stuck because of her own passivity.
Matilda is at once a story of supernatural power and a domestic story of the search for a happily-ever-after. Although Matilda achieves many things over the course of the story her goal is to find herself a loving family and the quiet home life she has been missing. Her powers recede once she has liberated Honey and adopted her as a surrogate parent; they were borne of frustration and temporary – “the power had gone. I think I have lost it completely”. Once her life is back on track and her dreams of a perfect family have been realised, she can get back on with the serious business of being a girl. In the ways in which Matilda is, on the surface, just like any other girl with “no outward signs” of her brilliance – she is quiet, unassuming and sensible – Dahl adheres to existing stereotypes of femininity without challenging them. Dahl builds limitations into the powers he gives Matilda, they will be effective just long enough for her to get her happy ending but without having to deal with the implications of a child wielding these powers into future adulthood. “But the fact remained that any five-year-old girl in any family was always obliged to do as she was told” – the message remains in place that children ultimately must defer to their parents. If she were able to keep her abilities, she would remain in a position of greater power over the adults around her and potentially struggle to fit in with the domestic mundanity of her life going forward. Would Miss Honey be so keen to care for her if she were able to wield this power at will? Dahl allows her enough, but not too much. Despite Matilda’s rejection of, or rejection by, her biological family, the end goal for her is still a traditional happy family. Leaving aside the fact that Miss Honey is single and unmarried, she can meet all the requirements that Matilda’s own parents were lacking; an appreciation for fine literature, home cooked meals, cosy domesticity and an active interest in the child’s life and interests.
Matilda reverses traditional adult and child roles by having Matilda (age 5) outsmart her parents, frighten the immovable and dangerous Miss Trunchbull and emancipate her beloved Miss Honey. Repeated references to Matilda being a somewhat “grown-up child” suggest that Dahl sidesteps the issue of giving all the power to a child by making her different and exceptional enough to not really be a child at all. She can talk, read and do advanced mathematics earlier than her peers and is shown to be just as competent, if not more, than the adults. Miss Honey feels comfortable and able to share her very adult worries and concerns with Matilda on an equal footing, but at what cost to Matilda’s childhood? By making Matilda’s achievements far beyond the reach of most children, Dahl ensures that, whilst the character is both empowering and empowered, she is no real threat to the status quo of adult dominance.
Matilda’s revenge echoes Trunchbull’s own disciplinarian techniques: she utilises constant surveillance and the omnipresent threat of punishment when she manifests the ‘ghost’ of Miss Honey’s father, Magnus. Using her telekinesis to manipulate a piece of chalk to write on the blackboard, Matilda spells out a message from the late Doctor; he has seen how Trunchbull treats his daughter, he knows she took away the house and inheritance and if she doesn’t change her ways “I will come and get you […] I am watching you Agatha”. The idea of being watched by hidden or invisible forces connotes a similar threat to Bentham’s Panopticon, discussed at length by Foucault, which has permanent effects even when there is no one actively observing. You do not need to know you are being watched to behave as if you are. The ‘ghost’ makes visible the coercive powers that Trunchbull herself has been using against the children and she is right to fear it – who wants to live with the threat of constant surveillance hanging over them? In this sense, Matilda and Trunchbull are not so different after all; they share similar ideas of punishment and discipline, and both attempt to control or change the behaviour of those around them. Matilda’s power manifests itself in a ‘ghostly’ fashion every time she uses it, and she relies on not being seen to act, playing on the supernatural fears of those around her. The anonymity of Matilda’s actions, or reactions, towards Trunchbull and her parents serves to make them more insidious, and Matilda thus avoids physical confrontation. Readers see Matilda’s behaviour as the triumph of good over evil, as being morally justified, whilst viewing the same behaviour by Miss Trunchbull as abhorrent. But could it be that Matilda is on her way to becoming one of the oppressive adults she loathes?
Works Cited:
Alston, A. The Family in English Children’s Literature Taylor & Francis, 2008.
Dahl, R Matilda, Puffin Books, 2009.
Foucault, M, Discipline and Punish, Penguin Group, 1991.
Images from L-R A copy of Dahl’s Matilda and a blueprint for the Panopticon.
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Montessori – a Buzz Word?
The contemporary take on the Montessori method of child rearing and education appears to have a variety of advantages. I am no expert but from what I gather the Montessori approach is child-focused. It sees children and babies with huge amount of learning potential and provides methods of working with children to allow them enough freedom to flourish or at least cope better with difficulties that they might be experiencing.
Montessori style nursery settings do not tend to be overwhelming as these are supposed to be carefully arranged settings that allow children to work calmly, freely and practically. Learning activities also appear to set children up for their future adulthood but in a way that makes sense to a child. For example, if a child chooses to engage in an activity around playing with dolls, this might include a book about babies, and an opportunity to use child sized equipment to care for the doll (i.e., through washing or medically examining the doll) so that empathy, fine motor skills and language are worked on through role-play. Within nurseries I have seen there also tends to be Montessori classrooms for more focused work, so for example, if a child chooses a focused activity relating to geography there might be a basket including iconic landmarks in the form of mini figures and cards which can be used to label these figures, so the child may enjoy handling the mini figures but might also become able to identify words attached to objects like, ‘Big Ben’.
What I find most appealing about Montessori education is seeing how warm and kind the staff can be towards the children. This is linked to the overarching idea that if you raise children with kindness and respect they might become adults that treat others and the planet with respect.
Whilst the contemporary Montessori method suggests that there is value in difference and inclusivity, Montessori nurseries and school settings can are often too expensive for some parents. Firstly, these nurseries are private. But those that I have visited seem to have more expensive care package costs and more stringent conditions attached to child places around the minimum number of days and times that children can attend. – This can then result in costs being higher for parents with government funding. Whilst it is not always easy to make comparisons with costs when speaking with other parents in the area about a fabulous Montessori nursery that they loved they stated that they could not financially afford to send their child to this nursery. The rare few Montessori schools that I have come across are also fee paying schools. The Montessori method originally derived from working with ‘disadvantaged’ children, yet contemporary Montessori education can seem to be quite appealing if you have enough money/income to cover the costs.
In the summer I made a trip to private a nursery that claimed to have a Montessori-inspired approach, but this nursery was a cheaper option. During my visit I found that the room for babies was quite small and there were very few things set up for babies to openly explore. The other toddler and preschool rooms seemed to be a bit chaotic and the activities did not seem to be set up with much meaning, for example, there was a tuff tray with dolls piled on top of each other. There was also no Montessori classroom. The majority of the staff also seemed a little glum. When I asked about Montessori the manager said that one person is doing a training course but they are still studying this at the moment. In a phone call with a customer feedback employee afterwards when I state that the websites states that the nursery is Montessori-inspired but I did not see evidence of this, they ask me to explain what Montessori is – seemly unaware of this.
Like many things that are now being used as buzzwords, it appears that this business has caught onto the profitable attractiveness of using the word Montessori. It is easy to say fashionable or tick box words like ‘Montessori’, ‘Intersectionality’, ‘equality’ and ‘inclusion’ to make money but these words become empty if there is no re-orientation to ways of thinking, working and managing a business.
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A head full of AI free magic
It’s been an interesting few weeks discussing ethics and professionalism with my students, well those that turn up, but that’s a different debate, albeit I guess, in a way linked to the essence of this blog. As usual, my head is full of what a former colleague would describe as ‘magic’. Lots of different seemingly daft ideas, formulated into some narrative that makes sense to me but is difficult to convey to the rest of the world. The latter I’m sure is not peculiar to me, it happens to most people when they have to start writing something, some call it writers’ block, I just call it searching for the starting point. The daft ideas though, I proudly claim as my own. And that is why so often I end up writing a load of ‘stuff’ and then deleting it or at least some of it. In writing, I’m aided by some spell checker built into the software that I’m using and suggestions, also built into the software, about grammar and sentence construction. The latter often hinders rather than anything else, ‘no I do not want to revise the sentence to be more succinct. Your succinctness makes no sense to me and does not convey what I want to say’. A bit of a ramble so far I know, but I’m not going to change it because I want to convey the head full of ‘magic’ phenomenon (those of you that can remember it, can now sing the little ditty that will stick in your head for the rest of the day) and the writing process. You no doubt will have noticed, well those of you that still have a pulse and the will to live, I have made no mention of AI. No use of AI to convey my head full of ‘magic’ ideas, no use of AI to help me start writing. Why, well let me put it to you very succinctly, these are my ideas, it’s my head full of ‘magic’. It does not belong to some machine, whatever appears on this screen, whilst I am writing, is mine and mine alone. I cannot imagine a time when I will be so devoid of thought, ideas, creativity or ability, that I will resort to asking a machine to provide me with the answer or the output. What would the answer look like if I did? Some verbose monologue that is boring, has little or no substance, is devoid of meaning and in the case of academic work, if this were such, is supported by pseudo or obscure, tentatively subject linked, or even fictitious, references. Verbal diarrhoea on screen. If you want evidence of this, ask any discerning academic about more recent student essays. I say discerning for good reason, a reason that I hope to make apparent in a short while.
Let me digress just a little. Recently in the news there has been momentum around the use of mobile phones by young people, or more to the point, what some will say is misuse of phones. Or, the more cynical and critical amongst us might say the abuse of young people by multinational tech giants. There to make money, tech companies have used algorithms, heuristics and goodness knows what to ensure young people are hooked on social media. To their credit, they have also invested vast sums of money trying to limit online abuse and harmful content. But let’s be honest, it’s like farting and then running around with some aerosol to try to cover up the smell. It still stinks but the air is a little better in a few places. Society and government are waking up to the harm caused by the use of technology by young people in this context and we have seen some countries introduce an outright ban on use by under 16s. Something being mooted in this country. Some schools have banned the use of phones in the classroom and as a consequence have seen youngsters returning to healthier past times like playing football or chatting, and of course misbehaving. I would suggest that we have been well behind the curve when it comes to realisation of the harm that is being caused to young people. As parents, we have even colluded in it, albeit more often than not, unwittingly. Those in education systems have probably done the same. But this seemed to creep up on society almost organically, fertilised by businesses whose raison d’être is to make money regardless of cost to humanity. Although they have always dressed it up as progress and of benefit to individuals and society at large. The emperor’s new clothes comes to mind.
But what of AI? There seems to be a clamour by government that as a country we need to jump on the AI bandwagon. AI is being foisted upon us, much the same as social media and the internet has been, by tech companies. We are being told the next generation will need to be AI savvy. But what does that mean? Whilst all of this is going on, there is growing research showing that AI is crippling people’s cognitive abilities. That AI will stop us from being able to analyse and be critical ourselves. Technology does this. Think about spelling, no longer do you need to worry about spelling because it is done for you, grammar, pretty much the same. No need to calculate things in your head, you can use a calculator, no need to remember phone numbers, they are all in your mobile phone, no need think up ideas, AI will do that for you, no need to read, AI will summarise it for you, no need, just no need. I am human but I have no need to think for myself.
And yet, armed with this knowledge individuals in educational institutions plough headlong into promoting AI to their students. This can help you find sources, this can help you when you are devoid of ideas, this can help you make your work better, this can help you …. Stop thinking for yourself. I and most of my colleagues are able to think for ourselves because we have grown up having to. I know what I know now, which as an aside is very little, because I have had to think for myself, work things out for myself. Along the way I have been aided by all sorts of people in all walks of life, but I am who I am because I can think for myself. But educational establishments these days concern themselves almost psychopathically with student numbers, finance and results. There seems to be little understanding of what education really means or for that matter, little concern. Institutional reputations are upheld at all costs, individual reputations forged on sycophantic behaviours with little regard to the impact on students or colleagues. Within this, institutions, driven by government and more importantly business rhetoric make AI central to their vision, their mission.
I wonder whether in a few years’ time there will be an inquiry somewhere, that suggests we have deprived a whole generation of the joy of being human. I wonder whether someone will say those individuals and institutions that so frivolously dabbled with AI, using students in a social experiment, were quite simply morally bankrupt in their drive to further their own ends. And at least some of my students know what Immanuel Kant would say about that!
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A Criminal Called Bob
It was years ago that Bob was born in St. Mary’s Hospital. His mum delivered a relatively healthy baby that she called Robert, after her father despite kicking her out when he found out that she was pregnant from a casual encounter. Bob’s early memory was of a pain in the arm in a busy place he could not remember what it was. His mother was grabbing his arm an early sign that he was unwanted. He would remember many of these events becoming part of everyday life. He remembers one day a stern looking woman came to the place he was living with his mother and take him away. This was the last time he would ever see his mother; he was 5 or 6. A few years afterwards his mother will die from a bad heart. Later, he would find out it was drugs related.
The stern looking lady will take him to another place to live with a family. One of many that he would be placed in. At first, he tried to get to know the hosts but soon it became difficult to keep track. He also lost track of how many times he moved around. There were too many to count but the main memory was of fear going into a place he did not know to stay with people who treated him as an inconvenience. He owned nothing but a bin bag with a few clothes and people will always comment on how scruffy he looked. He remembers discovering some liquorice allsorts in a drawer with the kid he was sharing the room with. He cannot forget the beating he got for eating some of them. The host was very harsh, and they used the belt on him.
School was hell for Bob. As he moved from place to place the schools also changed. The introduction to the class was almost standard. Bob is joining us from so and so and although he lives in foster care, I hope you will be making him feel welcomed…and welcomed he was. The bullying was relentless so was the name calling and the attacks. On occasion he would meet an aloof man who was his “designated tutor”. His questions were abrupt and focused only if he was behaving, if he was making any trouble, if he did as was told. It was hardly ever about education or any of his needs. He remembers going to see him once with a bruised eye to be asked “what did you do?”
And he did a lot! Early on he learned that in order not to go hungry he must hide food away. If he was to meet a new person, he had to show them that he is cannot be taken for granted, he needed to show them he can handle himself. Sometime during his early teenage years his greeting gesture was a headbutt. Violence was a clear vehicle for communication. One person is down the other is up. This became a language he became prolific in. He could read a room quickly and in later years be able to assess the person opposite. If he can take him or not!
The truth that others kept talking about around him became a luxury and an unnecessary situation. Lying about things got him to avoid punishment and any consequences to any of his actions. The only problem was when he was get caught lying. The consequences were dire. So, what he needed to do was to become very good at it. He did. He could lie looking people straight in the eye and not even blink about it.
Later in life he discovered this was an amazing talent to possess. It was useful when he was stealing from shops, it was good when people asking him for the truth, it was profitable when his lies covered other people’s crimes. Before he turned 18, he was an experienced thief and a creative liar. His physique allowed him to take to violence should anyone was to question his “honesty”. When he was 15, he discovered that a combination of cider and acid gives him such a buzz. To mute his brain and to relax his body even for little was so welcomed. This habit became one of his most loyal relationships in his life.
In prison he didn’t go until he was 22 but he went to a young offender’s institution at the age of 17 for GBH. The “victim” was a former friend who stole some of his gear. That really angered him; even days after the event in court he was still outraged with the theft. He was still making threats that he will find him and kill him, in some very graphic descriptions! The court sought no other way but to send him away. From the age of 22 he would become a “frequent flyer” of the prison estate! A long list of different sentences ranging from everything on offer. Usually repeated in pattern; fine, community sentence, prison….and back again! By the time he was 35 he had been in prison for more than 8 years collectively. He did plenty of offender management courses and met a variety of probation and prison officers, well-meaning and not so good. Some tried to help, and others couldn’t care but all of them fade in the background.
Now at the ripe age of 45 he is out of the prison, and he is sofa surfing and claiming universal credit. He gets nothing because he has unpaid fines, so he is struggling financially. In prison he did a barista apprenticeship, but he cannot find any work. As it stands, he is very likely to be recalled back to prison, if the cold weather doesn’t claim him first.
In context, there are some lives that are never celebrated or commemorated. There are people who exist but virtually no one recognises their existence. Their lives are someone else’s inconvenience and in a society that prioritises individual achievement and progression they have none. Bob is a fictional character. His name and circumstances are made up but form part of a general criminological narrative that identifies criminality through the complexity of social circumstance.
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A year on… semantics, semantics and semantics?
In October 2024, I wrote a blog on the recently opened Secure School- Oasis Restore. The shiny new edition to the Children and Young People Secure Estate (CYPSE) in England and Wales. In the introduction I pondered on whether this would bring about change within the CYPSE or if this was more of the same. There were lots of positives to consider with the resources, ethos and style of the new Secure School but I, and many others, had concerns that these changes were just words and would amount to little substance. Serious issues within the YJS such as the use of remand, the increasing number of Black and dual heritage children in the CYPSE (despite the overall downwards trend), the continued use of isolation and the high rates of self-harm all appeared to be forgotten with the unveiling of the new Secure School. However, a year on, and the CYPSE failing children appears to be continuing.
Oasis Restore had to ‘temporarily’ close in the summer of 2025 over safety concerns (BBC, 2025). Upon closer reading, and looking at the Ofsted report from April 2025, the main issue is around doors not being able to close properly due to how they were initially made and the damage they have sustained. The Ofsted report (2025) also highlights the use of physical restraint but is positive in how this is only used as a last resort and recorded effectively. The report claims there is a nurturing environment at Oasis Restore, and is overall relatively positive (Ofsted, 2025). The concern is the harm the displacement will have on the children. And why, a CYPSE institution which has cost approximately £40million, was not built fit for purpose?
The children who are placed in CYPSE, for welfare or justice grounds, are incredibly vulnerable. They have often experienced trauma, oppression and isolation at various stages in their childhood from various people and institutions (especially care and CJS). The reality is, these children have been failed multiple times before their arrival in the CYPSE and these failures continue whilst they are there. Oasis Restore was supposed to be different: it was supposed to help, support, nurture and protect. And whilst that appeared to be very much on the agenda, the closing and displacement of these vulnerable children is going to add to being failed by society. I ended my previous blog, reflecting on John Rawls’ when thinking about justice, if an institution cannot be reformed then it should be abolished. I asked, if it was finally time to abolish the CYPSE. I whole heartedly believe it is.
Bibliography:
Askew, J. (2025) Young Offenders School Closes After Safety Concerns, BBC. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cde3g28gxp4o [Accessed 14.10.25]
End Child Imprisonment (2024) Why child imprisonment is beyond reform: A review of the evidence August 2024. [online] Available at: https://article39.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Why-child-imprisonment-is-beyond-reform.-A-review-of-the-evidence-August-2024.pdf
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Family life in Tenerife versus the UK
I have recently been on a family holiday with our toddler to Tenerife. We began the journey by getting to an airport in the UK. Whilst there the security checks were done for families alongside everyone else. Toddlers were required to get out of their prams, to have their shoes taken off and could not hold onto their toys. The security seemed relatively tight as my hands were swabbed, my toddler was searched with a security stick and the small volume of water that he was allowed was also swabbed.
Whilst arriving and departing via the airport in Tenerife the security allocated a separate quieter section of space for families, this seemed far more relaxed, staff were smiling and dared to say ‘hola’ and ‘hello’. There were no additional checks and a toddler cup of water was allowed. Some staff were also making a deliberate attempt to identify the names of babies, toddlers and children from boarding passes or passports to be able to greet them by their names with waves and smiles.
Whilst on holiday I could be forgiven for thinking that we were royalty whilst pushing a pram and toddler around the streets. As pedestrians always had the right of way, whenever there is a road to cross, the cars must stop due to zebra-like crossings marking on the ground. There are also plenty of playgrounds and toilets and plenty of opportunity for play outdoors in sea and sand.
Whilst at home in Birmingham (UK) there are far less zebra crossings and on quite a few occasions cars have failed to stop at zebra crossings whilst I have been waiting with a pram and toddler. Baby and toddler swimming pools also seem to be difficult to access due to locations and restrictions on pool opening time frames. There are parks but I have never seen a park within a shopping centre like I did in Tenerife. Despite the UK becoming quite cold in the winter, the ability to access free indoor play during winter time also seems to be a privilege, rather than a given. Whilst there are some fabulous playgroups and library sessions for babies and toddlers, sometimes establishments promoting themselves as ‘family friendly’ places do not always feel friendly to toddlers at all. This is especially the case if toddlers are required to adhere to adult informal rules, such as not touching things or making loud noise. As some how toddlers trying to explore their world are labelled by some as ‘terrible’ at ‘two’ (see below poem by Holly McNish).
Whilst I have no idea about the education system in Tenerife, these experiences did leave me reflecting on the provision of mainstream education for babies, toddlers and children in the UK. In comparison to countries such as Finland, some mainstream UK education settings are often critiqued for limiting play, time spent in the outdoors, creativity and freedom to think (Dorling and Koljonen, 2020). The popularity of European influenced Montessori nurseries and Forest Schools in the UK seem to indicate that some parents do want something different for children. Whilst on mention of difference, UK mainstream educational approaches to difference seem to be about an assimilation type of inclusivity and diversity, rather than celebrating and learning from the variety of UK cultures. For instance, it seems “marvelous” that if attending mainstream schools in the UK some Romany gypsies are required to fit the restrictive and disciplinarian like school mould, i.e., of shutting up and sitting down (see Good English by Tawona Sithole) or sitting straight and not talking (see Julia Donaldson’s children’s book: The Snail and the Whale). Yet there is little (if any) acknowledgment of how some Romany have an educating culture of fostering independence, voice, freedom and creativity through plenty of outdoor play, roaming around and human interaction is a huge positive. Dorling and Koljonen (2020) state that investment in children and family support is incredibly beneficial for society, as well as families. The reflection above left me thinking that more or something different could be done.
Reference:
Dorling, D and Koljonen, A. (2020) Finntopia : What We Can Learn from the World’s Happiest Country. Newcastle upon Tyne: Agenda Publishing.
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I want to study Criminology
This is the time of the year we meet a lot of prospective students who come to one of our discovery/open days telling us why they wish to join us! I have taken some of their ideas and put them into content reflecting on our curriculum and the programme(s) we offer at the UON
I have read something in my sociology textbook, it was talking about deviant behaviour, and I thought to myself; that is interesting! I was reading in a psychology textbook something about a doll that adults are hitting and the kids watching them emulate their behaviour and I thought, if that explains the behaviour in my school when the kids used to fight. I was going over my notes in religious education talking about ethics and morality and I wondered if we are born with an innate moral compass that tell us right from wrong. The starting point in all three examples is curiosity. We explore some ideas at school, we hear stories in the news, and we are intrigued. The name sounds interesting because at the end of deviance lies crime, in the explanation of doll hitting the behaviour is violence and at the end of the questions about morality, rests criminality. For some others the curiosity comes from a true crime book that describes how a monstrous killer was able to kill two schoolgirls whilst joining the town in their search: or after watching a documentary of this female serial killer who worked as a sex worker and occasionally killed her punters. Maybe it was that crime series about this seemingly nice, terminally ill schoolteacher who started making drugs and selling them to gangs.
Any of the above sound exciting, interesting to enroll in at a university of your choice. In fact, every year hundreds of UK students will choose to study criminology in one of the different available ways to study it across the country. The curiosity and interest materialise and in recent years criminology has overtaken several cognate disciplines in terms of student numbers. Universities have invested in teams delivering renditions of criminology across the country. Our version of criminology is focused on multidisciplinary perspectives exploring different theoretical conventions and helping our students to grow in confidence in an area that is both fascinating and complex. Firstly we dispel the mythology on criminology from the reality and the scientific explorations of the discipline. We provide the relevant examples to see the evolution of thought and the development of perspectives. Then we work with our students to acquire the skills to seek out the information that will become their knowledge base. We encourage the development of independence, creativity and critical analysis.
In a recent session with finalists, one student commented that she found criminology challenging. It is a discipline that looks at crime and its aftermath but also considers that as a phenomenon crime is a social construct. In other words, of course its complex; we are talking about harm and the effects/causes it has on individuals and the wider society; but understanding how crime is generated, the impact it has and the ways we can address the “problem of crime” is an insightful educational experience. Like going up a mountain, you may feel the strain and pain of doing it whilst at the base camp or halfway but once you reach the peak, you get views of something else. For those who wish to join us; be open to new perspectives and be prepared to have your mind blown!
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BA (Hons) Criminology with Psychology
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I’m not Black; my Friends and I are Brown, not Black
I recently began the process of preparing my child for the imminent transition to a new school situated in a diverse community. Despite being born into a similarly diverse environment, his early educational exposure occurred in an ethnically varied setting. Venturing into this new chapter within a racially diverse community has sparked a keen interest in him.
My child soon articulated a perspective that challenged conventional racial labels. He asserted that he and his friend Lucien are not accurately described as ‘black,’ rather he believes they are ‘brown.’ He went further to contest the classification of a lady on TV, who was singing the song “Ocean” by Hillsong, as ‘white.’ According to him, his skin is not black like the trousers he was wearing, and the lady is not white like the paper on my lap. This succinct but profound statement held more critical significance than numerous conversations I’ve encountered in my over five years of post-PhD lecturing.
The task at hand, guiding an under seven-year-old questioning the conventional colour-based categorisation, proved challenging. How do I convince an under seven-year-old that his knowledge of colours should be limited to abstract things and that persons with brown toned skin are ‘black’ while those with fair or light toned skinned are ‘white’? I found myself unprepared to initiate this complex conversation, but his persistent curiosity and incessant ‘why prompts’ compelled me to seek creative ways to address the matter. Even as I attempted to distract myself with a routine evening shower and dinner, my mind continued to grapple with the implications of our conversation.
Post-dinner, my attempt to engage in my usual political news catch-up led me to a YouTube vlog by Adeola titled ‘How I Almost Died!’ where she shared her pregnancy challenges. One statement she made struck a chord: ‘if you are a black woman and you are having a baby in America, please always advocate for yourself, don’t ever keep quiet, whatever you are feeling, keep saying it until they do something about it’ (18:39). This sentiment echoed similar experiences of tennis star Serena Williams, who faced negligence during childbirth in 2017.
The experiences of these popular ‘black’ women not only reminds me that the concept ‘black’ and ‘white’ are not only symbolic, but a tool for domination and oppression, and disadvantaging the one against the other. Drawing inspiration from Jay-Z’s ‘the story of O.J’, the song drew attention to the experiences of race, success, and the complexities of navigating the world as a ‘black’ individual. In the song, two themes stood out for me, the collective vulnerability to prejudice and the apparent bias in the criminal justice system towards ‘black’ people. In the UK, both proportional underrepresentation in staff number and proportional overrepresentation of minoritized groups in the criminal justice system and the consequences therefrom is still topical.
Jay-Z’s nuanced understanding of ‘black’ identity rejects simplistic narratives while emphasising its multifaceted nature. The verse, “O.J. ‘like I’m not black, I’m O.J.’ Okay” underscores the challenges even successful ‘black’ individuals face within racial systems. As criminologists, we recognize the reflection of these issues in daily experiences, prompting continuous self-reflexivity regarding our values, power positions, and how our scholarly practice addresses or perpetuates these concerns. Ultimately, the question persists: Can a post-racially biassed world or systems truly exist?
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When will these issues be addressed?
In the realm of education, inclusivity and accessibility should be the foundation of any society aspiring for progress. However, in the case of special education schools in the United Kingdom, there exists a troubling narrative of systemic failings. Despite efforts to provide tailored education for students with diverse needs, the British educational system’s shortcomings in special education have cast a shadow over the pursuit of equal opportunities for all.
One of the main challenges facing special education schools in the UK is inadequate funding. These institutions often struggle with limited resources, hindering their ability to provide the necessary support for students with special educational needs. Insufficient funding results in larger class sizes, fewer specialized staff, and a lack of essential resources, all of which are detrimental to the quality of education these schools can offer. Furthermore, the heavy reliance on the UKs crumbling social care services and the overstretched NHS within special education settings exasperate poor outcomes for children and young people.
Special education students require a range of support services tailored to their individual needs. However, the inconsistency in the provision of support services across different regions of the UK is a glaring issue. Disparities in access to speech therapists, occupational therapists, and other essential services create an uneven educational landscape, leaving some students without the critical support they require to thrive.
Effective collaboration and communication between educators, parents, and support professionals are vital for the success of any special education school. Unfortunately, there is often a lack of seamless coordination. The lack of collaboration can and has result in fragmented support for the students, hindering their overall development and thus making it difficult to implement cohesive and effective educational plans.
The success of special education programs relies heavily on well-trained and empathetic educators. Unfortunately, the British educational system falls short in providing comprehensive training for teachers, working in special education schools. Many teachers express a lack of preparation to address the unique challenges posed by students with diverse needs, leading to a gap in understanding and effective teaching strategies. It is also important to note that many staff members that work within special education settings are not trained teachers, although they have been given the title of teachers. This further leads to inadequate education for children and young people. Moreover, post-covid has seen a high staff turnover within these settings. There have been many reports that have alluded to the notion that British schools are failing our children, but it seems that children from special education provisions are ignored, and families are dismissed when concerns are raised about the lack of education and preparation for the ‘real world’.
I am also critical of the overreliance of labelling students with specific disabilities. While categorization can be useful for designing targeted interventions, it can also lead to a narrow understanding of a student’s capabilities and potential. This labelling approach inadvertently contributes to stereotypes and stigmas, limiting the opportunities available to students with special needs….. There tends to be a focus on the troubling history of the way people with disabilities in the UK have been treated, but what I find interesting is there is a sense of disregard for the issues that are occurring in the here and now.
There is also a lack of special education provisions in the UK. This has led to many children with additional needs without a school place. And while a specific figure of the number of children being excluded from education has not been disclosed, West Northamptonshire, has awarded families over £49,000 over special education failings in 2023 (ITV, 2023). Furthermore, Education health care plan recommendations (EHCP) have not been followed within schools. These are legally binding documents that have been continuously dismissed which has led to further legal action against West Northants council in recent years (Local Government and Care Ombudsman, 2023).
The failings in special education schools have repercussions that extend beyond the classroom. Many students who leave these schools face challenges in transitioning to higher education, entering the workforce or living independently. The lack of adequately tailored support for post-education opportunities leaves these individuals at a disadvantage, perpetuating a cycle of limited prospects, which inevitably pull people with disabilities into a cycle of poor health and poverty (Scope, 2023). The disability employment gap in the UK is 29% and the average disabled household faces a £975 a month in extra costs (Scope, 2023) access to employment and financial independence is out of reach for disabled people due to failings within education because lack of preparation for life beyond school.
There needs to be reform in British schools from mainstream to special education. There are failings across the board. Adequate funding, improved teacher training, consistent support services, enhanced collaboration, and a shift away from overreliance on labelling are all crucial steps toward creating an inclusive educational environment. It is difficult to draw on optimism when the UK government continues to ignore age old concerns. This blog entry is to bring awareness to an issue, that may not be on your radar, but will hopefully get you to reflect on the copious barriers that people with disabilities face. Childhood should be a time when there is a fence built to protect children is schools. As we get older and face the challenges of the wider world, we should be equipped with some skills. Special education schools should not be used as a holding place until a child comes of age. There should be provisions put in place to give all young people an equitable chance.
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“Over-policed and under-protected”- School children and policing: some criminological discussions
During the first week of Semester 2, the Criminology team put on a number of small sessions designed around topic areas to encourage some ‘radical’ discussion. Topic areas were designed to deliberately encourage debate and critical consideration. Due to the increasing use of police in schools, and relatively recent (within the past few years) issues around police stop and search in schools, disproportionately being used in schools with a majority Black and Brown cohort, often framed as ‘urban’ schools: it is an area of great interest for both Stephanie and myself. We were expecting some lively discussions around whether the Police should be in schools, and if so, in what capacity: and whilst the students did not disappoint in relation to this matter, they also raised some excellent points around the policing of school children and the control the school forces upon them. It is this area of the discussions that I would like to share with you.
Policing as a form of social control, exerted by schools, not necessarily the Police force, is rife within schools: something the students were quick to draw attention to. This was raised in relation to the policing of Black children’s hair. They are told to alter their appearances based on white standards, have been sent home for not conforming to the school dress code, sent to the back of classrooms for having distracting hair: in both primary and secondary school settings. This power over Black children’s hair, stands in contrast to the idea that children have no say over their hair, and are held to white westernised standards, yet can be held criminally responsible and subject to the force of the law as they are recognised as mature enough to understand crime and its consequences.
This baffling, controlling narrative is also evident in the use of school uniforms. Students raised the inappropriateness of some of the school uniforms in relation to the length of skirts, banning trainers, and piercings, which was a method of control which removed all sense of individuality and identity. It was recognised that children are encouraged to ‘grow up’ and ‘mature’ and ‘figure out’ what they want to do, but they had the methods of exploring this, especially in relation to their identity, restricted and policed. The limited autonomy over hair, clothes, piercings and children’s bodies stands in stark contrast to the legal discourse of children being criminally responsible at the age of 10years old in England and Wales. This was baffling to us!
A further way of policing students in school was through the surveillance the schools exerted over children. The use of CCTV, fingerprints as a method of purchasing lunch was originally considered as a form of security: the all seeing eye of big brother, oops sorry the school, and the attempt to reduce bullying by removing the carrying of cash was originally framed as a way of protecting children. However, the students were very critical of whether this surveillance was intended as protection, or rather as control. The idea of being deterred from delinquency through the use of CCTV, and preventing bullying by removing the possibility of money was considered, but again this refers back to the controlling of children’s behaviour.
There isn’t enough space to include all areas of the 2 hour discussion, and the time flew by quickly as the students and staff lost themselves in considering the role police play in schools, and the role schools play in policing children. The session concluded with us considering the school as an institution and whether its primary role was that of education, or of the creation of obedient bodies. I won’t tell you where we settled, but it is worth a ponder…
With thanks to all those who attended and stimulated the critical discussions around over-policed and under-protected: school children and policing: Gloria, Lucy, Kayode, Uche, Christivie, Joseph, Rosemary, Katya, Kayleigh, Chrissy, Diamante, Shola-Renee, Ellie, Sarah, Zoe, Stephanie and Jessica.
