What does it mean to be 'successful'?: Narratives of British South-Asian headteachers and headgirls

Abstract

This chapter explores the narratives of four academically and professionally ‘successful’ British South Asian girls and women originally from two studies. In this newly merged study, Ludhra draws upon two head girls from her research with twelve academically successful British South Asian adolescents (Ludhra, 2015) and Jones on two women from her research with twenty male and female head teachers (Jones, 2017). We focus on two key questions: First, ‘what does it mean to be ‘successful’ in these roles?’ Second, ‘how is ‘success’ mediated across women’s lived experiences?’ As feminist researchers, we consider, in this merged study, ‘behind the scenes’ realities of becoming successful and how ‘success’ is performed.

Several studies of generations in relation to education have been undertaken, for example, longitudinal studies of teachers’ lives (Hargreaves and Goodson, 2006) teachers and work styles (Edge, 2014; Stone-Jonson, 2016) and more recently of head teachers (Johnson, 2017). This is the first cross-generational study of ‘success’ in relation to British South Asian girls and women in differing educational contexts, across primary and secondary schools. Stone-Johnson (2016) notes that ‘generations [ . . . ] share important milestones that inform their understanding of how the world operates’ (cited in Johnson, 2017: 844). In her commentary on Mannheim (1952), Johnson notes that the point at which individuals are born can ‘lead to a distinctive consciousness and influence their specific life chances as well as their perspective on history’ (844). An aim of this chapter is to illuminate the differences or similarities that are evident across two generations of British South Asian girls and women....