Dissatisfied with the effects of schooling on children from low-income families, Doreen Grant left her post as head of a secondary school in Liverpool and turned to research for solutions to this perennial social problem. This is a popular account of her involvement with under-privileged Glaswegian parents and children, and her attempt to address the problem of underachievement from the perspective of the home rather than the educational establishment. Combining the theory of international scholars such as Brofenbrenner, Bruner, Donaldson and Freire with practical experience, Doreen Grant indicates the improvements in children’s active learning when parents participate fully in the process of education. Learning Relations, first published in 1989, describes the creation of a coherent learning environment in the inner city: as parents gain confidence in their personal vocation as natural educators, it becomes clear that they are not only willing but fully capable of improving their children’s chances of success.

First published in 1990, National Security and International Relations provides a concise analysis of the problem of national security in the twentieth century. It examines the criteria by which states decide what level of security they want to seek in an uncertain and essentially Hobbesian world, and why some states tend to underinsure, while obsessively insecure states overinsure, frequently making others more insecure in the process. In the wake of two world wars and the threat of nuclear destruction, Peter Mangold argues that war was becoming as much a source of insecurity as the intentions of other states. It then explores the different approaches attempted during the twentieth century to ameliorate or ideally escape from the security dilemma. These range from international regimes, to the restructuring of the international politics of Western Europe so as to substitute cooperation for conflict, and U.S. and Soviet attempts to render nuclear competition safer through arms control and confidence building measures. Of special value to students of International Relations and Strategic Studies, this book will also interest those keen to understand the challenges embodied in Gorbachev’s ‘new thinking’ in foreign policy.

The nature of the workplace and the workforce has changed rapidly in post-industrial society. Most workers are now facing the need for high levels of preparatory education, retraining for new jobs and the ability to continue learning at work in order to keep up with new developments. The book, first published in 1987, argues that training in the workplace often fails because it is based on conditions that no longer prevail in modern organisations. The mechanistic approach of the behaviourist paradigm, it is argued, views the organisation as a machine and training as the preparation of workers for machine-like work according to their levels in the hierarchy, much as on an assembly line. The humanists’ advocation of collaborative learning has changed but not fundamentally altered this conception. This book will be of interest to students of education and business management.

Over the past few decades, relationships between social workers and the media have become increasingly challenging. Social workers feel aggrieved by media reporting of their profession and believe that journalists lack sufficient knowledge and experience of the social services to report matters adequately and sensitively, whilst some journalists have urged social workers to adopt a more proactive public relations strategy. This book, first published in 1991, analyses the causes and consequences of the negative portrayal of social work within the media and considers various ways in which this image might be improved. The authors consider a variety of developments during the 1990s designed to redress imbalances in media reporting and present a more accurate picture of social workers and the people with whom they work. This title remains very relevant in light of the high profile cases related to the social service that continue to feature in the British press, and will be of particular value to students and researchers with an interest in the relationship between the media and social policy.

First published in 1983, Gender, Class and Education is a collection of papers that formed presentations at the Westhill Sociology of Education Conference in January 1982, and is the fifth such collection to emerge from the annual conference. The conference theme, ‘Race, Class and Gender’, was not only chosen because of its topicality, but also to provide a framework for debate between educational researchers and teachers. The papers focus on the reproduction of gender relations through education and provide important insights into how this process works, how it is resisted in schools and colleges, and the possibilities for radical intervention. This volume includes three teaching bibliographies on gender and education which were not presented at the conference, but were compiled specially for the book.

First published in 1977, this study offers a comprehensive, systematic and integrated survey of the important relationship between navies and the making and execution of foreign policy. Ken Booth explains the functions navies can perform in both war and peace, the influence they have on particular situations, and how the relevant organisations can affect the character of naval actions. Ultimately, navies are regarded as indispensable instruments of the state by a number of countries, whilst all countries with a coast find some need to threaten a degree of force at sea. This book provides students and academics with the intellectual framework with which to assess the changing character of the navy.