The Battle Against Being Educated

Abstract

This is a book analysing how tutors have, could and might deal with difficult, challenging or disruptive students in many different post-school education contexts, currently referred to as the Education and Training sector. It is, overall, a book based on primary research and reflection on experiences, observations, case studies and interviews with teachers and students about challenging experiences in the classroom, particularly showing the differences between what theorists, authorities, trainers and managers say and the reality of what actually happens in classroom practice. It focuses on the 16-plus age group, but many of the ideas and experiences could be translated into other teaching and learning contexts. There are interviews with tutors, teacher educators, trainees and managers who have faced disruptive or difficult students or have worked out strategies for dealing with these situations. It also questions disruptive students and begins the process of hearing the narrative from their point of view. It not only covers what various gurus, theorists, models and textbooks say, but also analyses the complexity and difficulty of the relationship between tutors and learners where disruption takes place in a range of diverse situations and institutions.