Showing papers in "British Educational Research Journal in 1997"

Policy Sociology and Critical Social Research: A Personal Review of Recent Education Policy and Policy Research.

Abstract: The paper undertakes two related exercises; one substantive and one meta‐analytical. The first concerns changes in public sector provision. It is argued that the public sector has been ‘transformed’, in Jessop's terms, from a Keynsian Welfare State to a Schumpeterian Workfare State. This transformation involves fundamental changes to forms of provision, patterns of access, forms of work, client — worker relations, inter‐institutional relations and values and ethics. The constitution of citizenship has also been affected. The second concerns the conception of and engagement with social policy by educational researchers. A template for examination of the ‘surface epistemology’ of education policy research is presented — that is the relationships between conceptualisation, research design and conduct and the interpretation of data. It is argued that there is a basic tension at the heart of education policy research, between a commitment to the pursuit of efficiency and a commitment to the pursuit of...

Educational Research and Teaching: a response to David Hargreaves’ TTA lecture

Abstract: David Hargreaves has argued that educational research fails to provide a sound evidence‐base for teaching: it does not generate a cumulative body of knowledge; and it is not geared to resolving the classroom problems that teachers face. As a solution, he recommends that teachers play a more central role in setting the agenda for research and in carrying it out. I accept much of Hargreaves’ criticism of educational research as failing to develop cumulative knowledge, but I suggest that the problems involved in this are more difficult than he acknowledges, and that what he proposes is likely to worsen rather than solve the problem. I also question whether research can fulfill the direct role in relation to practice which Hargreaves envisages. He appeals to the example of evidence‐based medicine, but I suggest that this is problematic even in its own context. I conclude by raising questions about the sort of central planning of research that Hargreaves recommends.

Focus Groups: a useful qualitative method for educational research?

Abstract: During 1994‐95, a small team of researchers at the Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE) undertook a commissioned study of adults’ perceptions of their lifestyle options within a Scottish region. The findings of the research were intended to inform initiatives in health education and promotion. Two methods of data collection were employed: in‐depth interviews and focus group meetings. In this article, the researcher reflects on one of those methods — focus groups — which has been used extensively in market research, and explores (a) what focus groups are, (b) how they have been utilised by researchers and (c) some of the practical and theoretical implications for incorporating focus groups in the design of educational research projects, paying particular attention to issues of data generation.

In Defence of Research for Evidence‐based Teaching: a rejoinder to Martyn Hammersley

Abstract: L'A tente une comparaison entre medecine et education, avec une attention particuliere sur les relations existant entre recherches et pratiques pedagogiques Le but de la comparaison est de souligner les similitudes et les differences entre les deux professions et d'en deduire certaines implications pour la recherche educationnelle

Setting, Social Class and Survival of the Quickest

Abstract: The question of whether students should be grouped and taught in classes according to their perceived 'ability' during their school careers is one of the most controversial issues in education. This is partly because the issues that surround setting, streaming and mixed ability teaching are relative, both to ideology and personal values. Decisions about student grouping are also of immense importance to the education of students and this importance extends beyond the development of subject understanding. In the UK moves from streaming to setting to mixed ability teaching and back again to setting can be related directly to developments in research, educational theory and the political agenda of the time. In this article I will present a brief overview of the theoretical and historical developments which surround student grouping. I will then aim to extend theoretical positions further by examining the way in which setting and mixed-ability teaching influenced the motivations, perceptions and eventual attainment of students in two schools.

Home — School Relationships: ‘the swarming of disciplinary mechanisms'?

Abstract: [1] In Discipline and Punish, Foucault gives a pertinent example of the ‘swarming of disciplinary mechanisms’: “The Christian school must not simply train docile children; it must also make it possible to supervise the parents, to gain information as to their way of life, their resources, their piety, their morals’ (1977, p. 211). This article examines a number of connecting themes concerning home‐school relations over the last 20 years. We argue that the position of parents in relation to the education system can be seen as an instructive case study for the broader trends and shifts in the relationship between citizens and public sector institutions. As such we conclude that the important developments, upon which future analysis should concentrate, are those where parents seek to define for themselves new understandings of what constitutes an ‘appropriate’ parental role, rather than being captured within a hegemonic discourse of ‘good’ parenting. The incursions of consumerism into public sector ...

Pupil Progress during Key Stage 1: a value added analysis of school effects

Abstract: Pupils in Wandsworth schools who completed baseline assessment at the start of reception class in 1992/93 were tracked through to their National Curriculum (NC) end of Key Stage 1 (KS1) assessments in 1995. Baseline results were used to assess the educational progress of pupils between the age of 4 and 7 years, and the ‘value added’ by schools. Girls made more progress than boys during KS1, increasing the size of the gender gap in attainment. Pupils entitled to free school meals (FSM) started with lower attainment and fell further behind their peers during the course of KS1. In contrast pupils with English as a second language (ESL) caught up with their monolingual English speaking peers. School compositional effects were also noted: pupils made on average more progress in schools with a high proportion of girls, and less progress in schools with a high proportion of pupils entitled to FSM, a high proportion of ESL pupils and where the school average on the baseline was high. Differences between ...

Differential Secondary School Effectiveness: comparing the performance of different pupil groups

Abstract: This article reports the results of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded study which focuses on the differential academic achievement of different groups of pupils. The paper describes the findings on the size and extent of school effects across 3 years (1990, 1991, 1992) for different groups of pupils (classified by gender, eligibility for free school means [FSM], ethnic group and by prior attainment). Pupils’ overall General Certificate of Secondary Education performance and their performance in selected subjects (English, English literature, French, history, mathematics and science) have been analysed using multilevel modelling, employing a total sample of 94 inner London secondary schools. A ‘value added’ approach is adopted, controlling for selected student background measures of prior attainment (at secondary transfer), gender, age, ethnicity and low income to provide statistical controls for differences between schools in the characteristics of their intakes. Differential ...

Accounting for Variations in Pupil Attainment at the End of Key Stage 1

Abstract: This article analyses pupil national assessment results at Key Stage 1 (KS1) in the three core curriculum areas (English, mathematics and science) and in terms of an overall measure of performance across these areas for a sample of over 2400 pupils drawn from 62 inner London primary schools. It explores the influence of pupil background characteristics and school attended on attainment at KS1 and provides a contextualised analysis of schools’ performance. The findings demonstrate the greater importance of background factors (gender, age, low income, fluency in English) as influences on English attainment in comparison with other subjects and the implications of this for the publication of raw national assessment results are highlighted. The extent to which process information about school and classroom organisation and teaching practices accounts for school‐level variation in pupils’ attainment is also explored. A number of significant relationships are identified and their implications discussed.

Racism and Reform: new ethnicities/old inequalities?

Abstract: Racism lies at the heart of the Thatcherite project. This article explores how issues of ‘race’, racism and ethnicity are positioned within the education reforms that have reshaped the British schooling system. Education policy has adopted a largely deracialised discourse such that a concern with ethnic inequalities of achievement and opportunity has been effectively removed from the policy agenda. Simultaneously, most reforms have had a particular (usually negative) impact upon children of minority ethnic background. The article explores the development of this strand of education policy and exposes the new racist constructions of ‘the nation’ and its ‘common culture’ that find expression through the marketisation of schooling and a willed ignorance about the extent and nature of racism within the system.

Mentoring Processes in School‐based Training

Abstract: Previous research on mentoring in school‐based training has indicated that although this is a very influential role it is often poorly conceived and prepared for. Dialogues appear to be characterised by a lack of challenge and reflection, knowledge bases for teaching are treated in very different ways, and roles, responsibilities and expectations are often unclear. The main aim of this study therefore was to gain a greater understanding of mentoring processes in pre‐service training, through analyses of the perspectives of, and dialogues between, student‐teachers and all those involved in their mentoring in one institution and its partner schools. Analyses of data focused on differences in the nature and content of discussions and conferences of student‐teachers with class teachers, co‐tutors and university supervisors. These analyses revealed large differences consistent with the mentoring model used, but provided little support for previous empirical claims.

‘Gendered Citizenry’: new feminist perspectives on education and citizenship

Abstract: This paper describes the recent development of feminist analyses of the role of education in creating ‘inclusive’ democratic citizenship. Four discrete feminist perspectives on citizenship are outlined: a theoretical critique of citizenship as a modern male narrative; a socio‐historical perspective on women's struggle for equal citizenship through education; deconstruction of the discourses of citizenship used by contemporary teachers and their gendered dimensions; and an emerging educational perspective on the gender principles which should affect education for citizenship in democratic societies. These four perspectives on citizenship offer opportunities to reflect critically on the past and continuing struggle of women for equality. They suggest, too, the complex issues which now face any programme of education for citizenship for the next century. More than one masculinised democratic discourse, it seems, would need to be transformed for women to achieve full political integration.

Peer Group Pressure Within and Outside School

Abstract: This paper is based on an empirical study of a sample of 25 young people who have all had the experience of being excluded from school (and who are all young offenders). The research was based on qualitative explorations and memories of the subjects’ overall experience of school, through lengthy semi‐structured interviews. These interviews were designed to elicit information in an open way through the encouragement to talk confidentially and anonymously. There were no preset hypotheses, so that the consistency of the responses, including the terminology used, is significant. Amongst others, four main themes emerged; the experience of bullying; the significance of home life and its relation to school; the pressure of peers; and the relationship between truancy and exclusion. It is the issue of peer group pressure in particular that will be explored here. As the case‐studies reveal, the relationship between peer pressure and deviancy is a complex one. It did, however, emerge from the analysis that ...

Guests Bearing Gifts: the position of student teachers in primary school classrooms

Abstract: Conversations between intending early years teachers and their school‐based mentors were tape‐recorded and subjected to content analysis in order to reveal their focus and purpose. Analysis of the content of the conversations, which took place before and after sessions in which the student teachers had been working with children, indicated that both sets of participants used the conversations to limit possibilities for the failure of students while they implemented classroom tasks with pupils. Drawing on the work of Bakhtin and his collaborators, the conversations were also analysed to reveal the speech genre selected by the students as they spoke with their mentors. The analysis indicates that students were presenting themselves less as learners in their mentors’ classrooms and more as fellow teachers who were positioned as polite guests in the classrooms of their mentor hosts.

Being a Professional in Schools and Universities: limits, purposes and possibilities for development

Abstract: This paper, an edited version of the Lawrence Stenhouse Memorial Lecture, argues that if the kinds of emancipation and empowerment envisaged by Stenhouse for students in schools are to be practised, educators in universities and other educational organisations must recognise and assert that they are a part of rather than apart from a broader social, economic and political dialogue in which teachers, teachers’ associations, parents, governors, local education authorities and policymakers in other places are engaged. As professional researcher‐developers still with ‘room to manoeuvre’ within and without politically driven policy agendas, they have a legitimate voice, a contribution to make, alongside others, to the development and critique of educational policy at strategic levels and to developments in schools and classrooms. Within this broad theme four related topics are addressed: (1) lifelong learning; (2) knowledge of professional development and change; (3) the limits and possibilities of ed...

The Profession of Educational Research

Abstract: L'A. s'interroge sur la perception qu'ont les enseignants de leur role dans la recherche en education et de leurs attitudes envers l'Association Britannique de Recherche Educationnelle (BERA)

Support and Challenge in Teacher Education.

Abstract: The study described in this paper reports findings in line with previous studies that discern more support than challenge in the area of teacher education concerned with mentoring of student teachers by teachers. Thus, the teachers say that support was their main emphasis, and challenge a lesser emphasis when they worked with the student teachers. Their students, however, seem unaware even of the amount of challenge which the teachers thought they offered. The paper discusses these findings and puts forward an interpretation based on a comparison drawn from the field of colour perception. The paper's conclusion, in drawing attention to the effects which support and challenge might have on one another when they are in combination, endorses the view that it is important not only to study the nature of challenge and support in themselves but also to study the relationship between them.

Taking Stock of Gender Reform Policies for Australian Schools: past, present and future

Abstract: This paper begins with a brief narrative of the past 20 years of gender reform for Australian schools and of recent developments — including the attention paid to boys’ education. This narrative points to the implications of changing Commonwealth federal state relations for gender reform. The second section offers an account of the micro‐politics of macro‐reforms. This draws from research on the reception of gender reform policies in schools and discusses the practices and processes of schools’ gender reform work, indicating some of the limitations and strengths of gender reform policies. The third section identifies the current contexts of gender reform, which include the more extended fields of educational policy and politics, the broader politics of the state itself and more widely still, major economic and cultural shifts. Here the paper will offer an interpretation of the ongoing process of centralised and decentralised restructuring in education and of its implications for feminist work for...

Looking Backwards to the Future: parental choice and education policy

Abstract: values are made explicit. In this paper, I look back on a programme of research on parental choice which I carried out more than 10 years ago and explain how this was related to the policy agenda at the time. After summarising the main findings, the research is subjected to some criticism-in particular for its parochialism and its failure to adopt a comparative perspective. The paper then reviews policy developments in Scotland and England since that time, describes the current policy agenda and indicates how further research might respond to this. It concludes that the key policy issue to which research should now be addressed is the relationship between choice and diversity and argues that this should be studied comparatively across a number of different educational systems through research which seeks to investigate the implications of each principle for the other and for other societal values.

Validity in Image‐based Research: an elaborated illustration of the issues

Abstract: This article is concerned with the trustworthiness of products of research which are derived from image-based data. Fundamentally it asks whether validity represents an appropriate measure of the quality of research which uses such data. Two examples of image-based research are taken from recent work undertaken by the authors. A comparison of these examples provides a well-grounded illustration of the issues confronted by the researchers in their attempt to consider the validity of their findings. The resulting discussion develops the argument that the concept of validity is particularly problematic in its application to image-based research. We present a tentative strategy for ensuring trustworthiness that is based on five key criteria: completeness, adequacy of interpretation, transparency, self-reflection and the aggregation of conflicting interpretations.

Children's Attitudes to the National Curriculum at Key Stage 1

Abstract: An investigation of the attitudes of children aged 6‐7 (Year 2) from a variety of different backgrounds towards specific curricular areas is reported. The quantitative analysis revealed that using the computer was the most positively rated of all the activities examined. It was also found that girls had more positive attitudes than boys in a number of areas, particularly in relation to English and ‘coming to school’. Children from ethnic minority groups and those with English as a second language also had more positive attitudes in some areas. The qualitative findings indicate that three key dimensions can be used heuristically to conceptualise children's attitudes towards school activities — interest versus boredom, the level of difficulty, and success versus failure. The results are discussed in terms of current psychological perspectives on children's motivation and of the policy implications of the findings.

Measuring Comparability of Standards between Subjects: why our statistical techniques do not make the grade

Abstract: In the past few years the examination boards in Britain have witnessed a renewed interest from external bodies in the notion of comparability of grading standards between different subjects. This interest has stemmed from concern with findings, from statistical techniques for comparison, suggesting that public examinations in different subjects are not comparable. This article focuses on one of these techniques — the Subject-Pair Analysis — in an attempt to demonstrate that reliance on the statistical comparison of standards between subjects is misplaced. Fundamental assumptions underlying the Subject-Pair Analysis, and related analyses, are made explicit and then challenged both in principle and from operational data. These techniques cannot be assumed even to approximate a valid representation of ‘the problem’ of between-subject comparability because they are inappropriate for dealing with the kind of data that our examinations generate.

Science Education for Environmental Education? Primary Teacher Perspectives and Practices

Abstract: This article presents the results of a survey of primary managers and teachers to assess the relationships between experience, attitudes and practice in science and environmental education. Analysis, from a concerns theory perspective, shows that science, by virtue of its high National Curriculum status, has progressed to collaborative and refocusing concerns with substantial management support, whilst environmental education, in spite of perceived importance, remains at the status of personal concerns, due to insufficient pragmatic management support and pressure to cover National Curriculum subject content. Four broad groups of attitudes towards science and environmental education are identified which highlight the relationship between experience, attitudes, practices and views of science and corresponding practices and attitudes relating to environmental issues and education. The significance of this to science and environmental education is discussed.

Theory in Initial Teacher Education: students’ perspectives on its utility — a case study

Abstract: The article reports a critical examination of the results of a Scottish Office Education and Industry Department sponsored research project, 1994‐96, ‘Students’ Perspectives on the Utility of Educational Studies’. Additional funding from the Open University supported the production of this article. It examines the ways in which students construe the value of educational studies. Data were gathered principally by semi‐structured interviews involving a sample of very able and average students as well as ‘mature’ and ‘young’ students. The results suggest that educational studies plays a variety of functions in facilitating teaching competence; different groups attach particular weights to these functions. Also, very able students, in terms of classroom teaching, were found to be significantly better than average students in terms of academic course performance. A detailed discussion of students’ comments, however, problematises the received terms within which controversies about initial teacher educ...

Assessing Students' Ability to Use Computers: theoretical considerations for practical research

Abstract: The assessment of students' ability to use computers should be a central tenet of educational computing research, but until now most studies have relied on vague and imprecise definitions of what actually constitutes being able to use a computer. More often than not researchers are content to accept a self-evaluation from the student, often in the form of a response to a single question, and even the more elaborate attempts to measure ability have proved too narrow or ill-focused to be of lasting value. This paper argues that before attempting to assess computer ability the overall nature of the concept should first be considered. From this, a theoretical framework of ability can then be constructed on which to base subsequent practical assessment. The paper also raises methodological issues to be considered by future research into students' use of computers.

Sound Field Amplification and Listening Behaviour in the Classroom.

Abstract: The acoustical environment in a classroom is an important variable in the listening and psychoeducational function, both of children with hearing loss and children with normal hearing sensitivity. The present pilot study was designed to look at the listening and attending behaviour of targeted children in two primary classes before and after installation of a sound field amplification system. Evaluation across different listening categories, together with qualitative data collected from children and teachers, indicate the potential benefit and importance of such classroom equipment for listening and learning.

Influences on Primary Teachers' Practice: some problems for curriculum change theory

Abstract: This paper presents findings concerning various sources of influences upon Cypriot primary school teachers. Questionnaires were distributed to a randomly selected sample of 10% of all Cypriot primary teachers. A response rate of 72% was obtained. Analysis was carried out using SPSS. Although a strong consensus among teachers’ perceptions of teaching and assessment in mathematics was identified, there was little consensus about sources of influence on their practice. Cluster analysis (SPSS) revealed six relatively homogeneous groups of Cypriot teachers according to perceived influences on their practice. It is argued that the notion of a coherent set of teachers’ attitudes to change is problematic and this has implications for curriculum reform policy.

Special Needs and Client Rights: the changing social and political context of special educational research

Abstract: This paper explores the ways in which the study of special educational needs has developed and changed in the last decade and a half of policy-making in education. It focuses upon key theoretical changes and the shift of emphasis in substantive concerns. In relation to theoretical issues, the changes have involved an increased focus upon social and political values guiding educational provision rather than on the specific explanatory disciplines of psychology and sociology. These changes can be attributed to the growth in consumer rights and parent power since the 1980s. It is argued that dichotomous thinking oversimplifies matters, whether between psychological and sociological perspectives or between the policy-making values of inclusion and market-driven choice. The implication of this position in terms of recent developments and their implications for future policy-making are explored.

The New Game: professional foul or own goal?

Abstract: Picture this: at the start of yet another season, a committed player manager is trying to put together the best team for the job. But will they be out of their depth when they tackle the big boys in the Premier Division? Will they make it through the qualifying rounds? Will McHurdle face a two-game ban? Will his contract be renewed? And is there any truth in these allegations of match fixing? They're out for blood as Groveller struggles to clear his name. It's getting to the stage where Turf's line-up pick themselves on the basis that there is no-one else left ...

Quid Pro Quo? Initial Teacher Education in Secondary Schools

Abstract: The trend towards giving British secondary schools a fuller role in initial teacher education (ITE) has been gathering pace for much of the second half of this century. The impetuses driving this development have been partly professional and partly political. However, a recent political initiative (Circular 9/92, Department for Education, 1992) precipitated the development of school‐based ITE beyond what the professional evidence supported. This paper examines teachers’ perceptions of the costs and benefits to schools of involvement in school‐based ITE, as instituted by Circular 9/92, distinguishing between tangible and intangible costs and benefits. It is based on a survey of schools from throughout England and Wales. Four groups of teachers with different levels of involvement and managerial responsibility were sampled. The paper also explores teachers’ perceptions of the relationship between costs and benefits before offering some concluding speculations on the future of school‐based ITE.