Showing papers in "British Educational Research Journal in 2012"
230 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the potential and limitations of pedagogy of discomfort in a classroom of 10 and 11-year-old students of an integrated school in Northern Ireland.
Abstract: This article examines the potential and limitations of pedagogy of discomfort in a classroom of 10‐ and 11‐year‐old students of an integrated school in Northern Ireland. At the centre of the analysis are the students’ and the teacher’s emotional experiences and the resulting consequences when a discomforting pedagogical activity (an adaptation of the classic ‘Blue‐Eyed, Brown‐Eyed’ exercise) is implemented to teach students about social injustice. The theoretical framework that informs this investigation is grounded in the notion of ‘pedagogy of discomfort’. A qualitative, ethnographic perspective forms the basis for the data collection and analysis. The findings show that the pedagogical exercise does not have the same impact on all participants, yet it contains several risks, most notably those of differential power and privilege between teacher and students and the ethical implications of putting some children (even temporarily) in a disadvantaged place. The implications are discussed in terms of teach...
146 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe two parallel research programmes exploring educational practice/praxis, including a theory of "practice architectures" and an emerging (practical philosophy) tradition of "researching practice from within practice traditions" from the perspective of participants.
Abstract: This paper describes two parallel research programmes exploring educational practice/praxis. The first, including a theory of ‘practice architectures’, aims to contribute to contemporary practice theory that views practice from the perspective of a spectator. The second aims to contribute to an emerging (practical philosophy) tradition of ‘researching practice from within practice traditions’ and views practice (and praxis) from the perspective of participants. It is argued that these particular spectator and participant perspectives are complementary. They offer a dual approach to researching educational practice and praxis and allow us (educational actors, educational researchers) to see ourselves as formed by a collective praxis, within which teacher–researchers can aspire to act educationally in the sense of acting for the good for each person and for the good for humankind.
139 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) to analyse patterns of entry to different tiers of national mathematics and science tests at age 14 and found that Black Caribbean students are systematically underrepresented in entry to the higher tiers relative to their White British peers.
Abstract: A recent analysis of the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE) indicates a White British–Black Caribbean achievement gap at age 14 which cannot be accounted for by socio‐economic variables or a wide range of contextual factors. This article uses the LSYPE to analyse patterns of entry to the different tiers of national mathematics and science tests at age 14. Each tier gives access to a limited range of outcomes with the highest test outcomes achievable only if students are entered by their teachers to the higher tiers. The results indicate that Black Caribbean students are systematically under‐represented in entry to the higher tiers relative to their White British peers. This gap persists after controls for prior attainment, socio‐economic variables and a wide range of pupil, family, school and neighbourhood factors. Differential entry to test tiers provides a window on teacher expectation effects which may contribute to the achievement gap.
118 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a description of the background characteristics and attainment profile of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) in England, and of those missing a value for this variable is presented.
Abstract: This paper presents a description of the background characteristics and attainment profile of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) in England, and of those missing a value for this variable. Free school meal eligibility is a measure of low parental income, widely used in social policy research as an individual indicator of potential disadvantage. It is routinely treated as context for judging both individual and school-level attainment, as an indicator of school composition, and has been proposed as the basis for the pupil premium funding policy for schools. Knowledge of the quality, reach and limitations of FSM as an indicator is therefore fundamental to accurate decision-making in a number of important areas. This paper uses a national dataset of all pupils (PLASC) for 2007. It looks at the relationship between different indicators of pupil background and attainment to help decide how useful FSM remains in relation to its suggested alternatives, and how to handle the crucial question of missing data and to describe more fully than previously the national picture of who is eligible for free school meals. The results show that, while the distinction between take-up and eligibility has been eroded, FSM remains a useful and clear stratifying variable for pupil attainment patterns in school, linked to type of school attended, school mobility, living in care, special needs, first language and minority ethnic group. The pupils missing FSM values fall into two groups, based largely on their type of school and how long they have been there. One group attends fee-paying schools and is most similar to non-FSM pupils elsewhere and could be aggregated with them in future analyses that do not want to omit them. The remaining missing FSM pupils form a deprived and perhaps super-deprived group. These should not be omitted, nor assumed to be like non-FSM pupils, as currently happens in official school performance figures in England in a way that disadvantages schools with very deprived intakes. The proposal here is that missing FSM pupils in state-funded institutions should be treated in future as a third distinct group. If these issues about missing data are resolved, and other limitations accepted, FSM remains a better indicator of low socioeconomic status than the current alternatives discussed in the paper.
106 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the extent to which an overseas education can be seen as part of a broader strategy on the part of British students to seek distinction within the labour market and whether such an education does indeed offer tangible employment benefits.
Abstract: A common theme within the literature on higher education is the congested nature of the graduate labour market. Researchers have highlighted the lengths to which many students now go, in response to this congestion, to ‘distinguish themselves’ from other graduates: paying increased attention to university status; engaging in a range of extra-curricular activities; and pursuing postgraduate qualifications. Studies that have focused on the strategies of Asian students, specifically, have pointed to the important place of studying abroad as a further strategy in this pursuit of distinction. Given that there is now some evidence that the number of UK students enrolling on a degree programme overseas is increasing, this article explores the extent to which an overseas education can be seen as part of a broader strategy on the part of British students to seek distinction within the labour market and whether such an education does indeed offer tangible employment benefits.
96 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the mediator and moderator roles of self-regulation and motivation constructs in the relationship between learning experience and academic success and found that self-regression and motivation had small moderating effects on the link between learning experiences and academic performance.
Abstract: This study examined the mediator and moderator roles of self-regulation and motivation constructs in the relationship between learning experience and academic success. Self-reported measures of learning experience, self-regulation and motivation were obtained from 384 undergraduate students from a university in Hong Kong. Structural equation modelling indicated that self-regulation and motivation fully mediated the learning experience—academic performance relation. In addition, hierarchical regression analysis also showed that both self-regulation and motivation had small moderating effects on the link between learning experience and academic performance. That is, the association between learning experience and cumulative GPA was stronger for students with lower levels of self-regulation and motivation. The implications of fostering motivation and enhancing university learning experience are discussed.
95 citations
TL;DR: This paper revisited and re-analyse data from the 1999 IEA CIVED transnational study to examine the factors associated with the ways in which young people learn positive attitudes towards participation in, and knowledge and skills about democracy.
Abstract: In this article we revisit and re‐analyse data from the 1999 IEA CIVED transnational study to examine the factors associated with the ways in which young people learn positive attitudes towards participation in, and knowledge and skills about democracy. Less formal learning, wherever it takes place, has recently been conceptualised as a process of social participation, and we explore its effects using Lave and Wenger’s and Wenger’s understanding of learning through communities of practice. This is then contrasted with the effect of the volume of civic education. The analysis shows that learning through social participation, both inside and outside school, and in particular through meaning‐making activities shows a strong positive relationship with citizenship knowledge, skills and dispositions across a wide range of countries. Moreover, it demonstrates the usefulness of situated learning theory in the field of civic learning, and its applicability in large‐scale, quantitative studies.
87 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that study visit courses, where learning is facilitated by differently knowledgeable others, have the potential to be more effective, but only if the courses are underpinned by postcolonial theory and informed by socio-cultural pedagogy.
Abstract: This paper critically analyses the neo-liberal discourse informing global education policy and practice. We use postcolonial theory to deconstruct the contexts for global educational partnerships, highlighting how issues of power and representation are central to their development and the learning that takes place within them. Teacher development through North–South study visits is one way of challenging teachers’ worldviews, but these are not always effective. We argue that study visit courses, where learning is facilitated by differently knowledgeable others, have the potential to be more effective, but only if the courses are underpinned by postcolonial theory and informed by socio-cultural pedagogy.
78 citations
TL;DR: The authors identified some critical factors in the production of reputation, including: the "discursive framing" of behaviour; the public nature of classroom discipline; the linking of behaviour, learning and emotions; the interactional complexities of being (seen to be) good, and the demands on children of passing as the "proper child" required by prevailing discourses of normal development, as coded in UK early years curriculum policy and pedagogy.
Abstract: How does it happen that some children acquire a reputation as a ‘problem’ in school? The article discusses some findings of a qualitative study involving children in the Reception year (ages 4–5). The research focused on problematic behaviour as this emerged within, and was shaped by, the culture of the classroom. A key question for the research was: what makes it difficult for some children to be, and to be recognised as, good students? Using an analytic framework derived from discourse and conversation analysis, we identify some critical factors in the production of reputation, including: the ‘discursive framing’ of behaviour; the public nature of classroom discipline; the linking of behaviour, learning and emotions; the interactional complexities of being (seen to be) good, and the demands on children of passing as the ‘proper child’ required by prevailing discourses of normal development, as coded in UK early years curriculum policy and pedagogy.
75 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored the impact of "transmissionist" pedagogic practices on learning outcomes through a mixed study including a large survey sample of over 1000 students and their teachers, and focussed qualitative case studies.
Abstract: We address the current concerns about teaching‐to‐the‐test and its association with declining dispositions towards further study of mathematics and the consequences for choice of STEM subjects at university. In particular, through a mixed study including a large survey sample of over 1000 students and their teachers, and focussed qualitative case studies, we explored the impact of ‘transmissionist’ pedagogic practices on learning outcomes. We report on the construction and validation of a scale to measure teachers’ self‐reported pedagogy. We then use this measure in combination with the students’ survey data and through regression modelling we illustrate significant associations between the pedagogic measure and students’ mathematics dispositions. Finally, we discuss the potential implications of these results for mathematics education and the STEM agenda.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the perceptions of young people that the difficulties they encounter are in part a result of their own behaviour and in part the product of the system and conclude that schools act to maintain homeostasis and that a substantial minority of adolescents are at long-term risk due to organisational and national unwillingness to decouple economic benefit from maintenance of the existing system.
Abstract: There are counter‐narratives of youth as at risk and as buoyant and agentive. The article maps the conceptual terrain concerning resilience, well‐being, buoyancy, enjoyment and happiness and selects factors related to the successful navigation of schooling. It analyses data from a subset of a national data set, from 65 young people considered to be disaffected or disengaged by their school or college. It explores the perceptions of young people that the difficulties they encounter are in part a result of their own behaviour and in part a product of the system. Hirschman's theory of exit, voice, loyalty is used to explore their choices. The article concludes that schools act to maintain homeostasis and that a substantial minority of young people are at long‐term risk due to organisational and national unwillingness to decouple economic benefit from maintenance of the existing system.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report on an attempt to introduce personalised learning as one strategy, among several, to improve student academic performance and wellbeing in four low SES regional secondary schools in Australia.
Abstract: Personalised learning is now broadly endorsed as a key strategy to improve student curricular engagement and academic attainment, but there is also strong critique of this construct. We review claims made for this approach, as well as concerns about its conceptual coherence and effects on different learner cohorts. Drawing on literature around differentiation of the curriculum, self-regulated learning, and ‘relational agency’ we propose a framework for conceptualising and enacting this construct. We then report on an attempt to introduce personalised learning as one strategy, among several, to improve student academic performance and wellbeing in four low SES regional secondary schools in Australia. We report on a survey of 2407 students’ perceptions of the extent to which their school provided a personalised learning environment, and a case study of a programme within one school that aimed to apply a personalised approach to the mathematics curriculum. We found that while there were ongoing challenges in this approach, there was also evidence of success in the mathematics case.
TL;DR: The adoption of streaming in the primary school (where children are placed in a class on the basis of measures of attainment and remain in that class all of the time) was commonplace when the 11 plus examination was used to select children for grammar school places as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The adoption of streaming in the primary school (where children are placed in a class on the basis of measures of attainment and remain in that class all of the time) was commonplace when the 11 plus examination was used to select children for grammar school places During the 1950s and 1960s the practice died out with most children being taught in mixed ability classes with some in-class grouping During the 1990s successive governments indicated that some form of ability grouping should be introduced in primary schools, setting (children placed in ability groups for some subjects and taught in mixed groups for the remainder of the time) being preferred, however, streaming was introduced in some schools despite evidence that movement between structured ability groups is infrequent and that children tend to remain in the same groups throughout their school careers limiting their educational opportunities Recent research based on 8875 children, in the Millennium Cohort Study showed that 164% of children in Year 2 were in streamed classes Logistic regression analysis showed that the best predictors of being in the top stream were whether the child was born in autumn or winter 2000, parents owning their own home, and the child’s cognitive ability score The measures predicting being in the bottom stream were being a boy, being born in the spring/summer of 2001, having a behaviour problem, being born into a lone parent family, and cognitive ability score
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the processes explaining the effect of transformational leadership on teachers' commitment to their school, using a sample of 660 teachers within 50 primary French-speaking Belgian schools, and test a model hypothesising that the impact of the school principal's transformational Leadership on teacher commitment to school is mediated by school culture strength and teacher collective efficacy beliefs.
Abstract: A growing body of research indicates that transformational leadership affects teachers’ commitment to their school. The present study aims to investigate the processes explaining this effect at the organisational level. Using a sample of 660 teachers within 50 primary French-speaking Belgian schools, the authors test a model hypothesising that the impact of the school principal’s transformational leadership (as an organisational-level construct) on teacher commitment to school is mediated by school culture strength (cognitive pathway) and teacher collective efficacy beliefs (motivational pathway). Results of multilevel analyses largely support the theoretical model, but show that schools have a limited impact on teacher commitment.
TL;DR: The Undocumented Historias as mentioned in this paper is a critical arts-based performance text that fuses Critical Race Theory (CRT), life history and performance, alongside work with undocumented American students of Mexican origin, to show how a politicised qualitative paradigmatic re- envisioning can occur in which counter-histories and counter-stories can be co-created into a powerful, evocative, and transformative arts based text.
Abstract: The article seeks to elucidate and academically position the genre of critical arts-based research in education. The article fuses Critical Race Theory (CRT), life history and performance, alongside work with undocumented American students of Mexican origin, to show how a politicised qualitative paradigmatic re envisioning can occur in which counter-histories and counter-stories can be co-created into a powerful, evocative, and transformative arts-based performance text: Undocumented Historias. The article reflects on how critical arts-based research in education can function as a means to legitimise, empower and promote the voices of the educationally and socially marginalised; evoking an experiential and sensual means of feeling and knowing by which researcher and researched may co-recover, interrogate and enrich an anti-colonialist critique of the dominant social order.
TL;DR: In this paper, a longitudinal survey of students entering different programs in five universities was conducted to identify the students' perceptions of the transitional experience, and measure the association with learning outcomes.
Abstract: Previously we showed how we measured pedagogy and revealed its association with learning outcomes of sixth-form college mathematics students. In this project we followed a similar approach to the study of university transition. We particularly sought to identify the students’ perceptions of the transitional experience, and measure the association with learning outcomes. We drew on longitudinal surveys of students entering different programmes in five universities. Following them into their first year or so, allowed us to track their ‘disposition to complete the course’ and their ‘disposition to study more mathematics’, inter alia. We developed and validated two ‘fit-for-purpose’ measures of students’ perception of their transition, one we call ‘perception of the transitional gap/jump’ and one we call ‘degree of positive feeling about the transition’. We report some statistically and educationally significant associations between these and the students’ developing dispositions, and discuss the prospects fo...
TL;DR: This article explored how teacher identities are negotiated within a research-led institution in the UK and found that some people are pursuing a teaching identity with clear intent, drawing on personal values to inform their teaching and feeling relatively untroubled by external constraints.
Abstract: This article explores how teacher identities are negotiated within a research‐led institution in the UK. Over the last decade a wide range of initiatives has been introduced to promote teaching in higher education. Research has shown, however, that these initiatives have met with limited success in terms of changing predominant values and culture. This article focuses on the formation of teacher identities in a research‐led institution—a setting that offers significant resistance to cultural change. It draws on in‐depth interviews with 11 members of university staff who want to improve their teaching to explore the under‐researched notion of ‘teacher identity’. The data revealed a complex picture. Some people are pursuing a teaching identity with clear intent, drawing on personal values to inform their teaching and feeling relatively untroubled by external constraints. Others are committed to changing prevailing culture and attitudes. There are examples of significant ‘identity struggles’ as people attemp...
TL;DR: The authors argue that status inequalities are not only maintained by credential inflation, but also the inflation of extra-credential experiences, which leads to the change of educational and career plans of working-class students.
Abstract: Human capital theorists perceive of educational expansion as beneficial to individuals, corporations and national economies, while social closure theorists have claimed that inflation of credential requirements maintains traditional status inequalities. In this paper I argue that status inequalities are not only maintained by credential inflation, but also the inflation of extra-credential experiences. As undergraduate degrees become more common, access to employment and further education opportunities increasingly depend on extra-curricular and ‘enriching’ educational experiences. Using qualitative data from a longitudinal study of working-class university students in Canada, I will address the mechanisms by which they have gained or were denied access to such experiences. The data suggest that working-class students’ relative lack of financial resources and social networks are barriers to the development of extra-credential experiences, which in turn leads to the change of educational and career plans f...
TL;DR: In contrast to initial teacher training (ITT) for schools, until the late 1990s the training of teachers in further and adult education (FE) in England 1 had been the subject of little regulation as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In contrast to initial teacher training (ITT) for schools, until the late 1990s the training of teachers in further and adult education (FE) in England 1 had been the subject of little regulation b...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the impact of school placement in mainstream or special settings on the behavioural functioning of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and found that children with ASD made improvements in both types of placements; however, those children in specialist provisions made greater improvements in areas of conduct and socialisation.
Abstract: The current study examined the impact of school placement in mainstream or special settings on the behavioural functioning of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Children were assessed at the start of the school year and then again at the end of the school year using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale. Children with ASD made improvements in both types of placements; however, those children in specialist provisions made greater improvements in areas of conduct and socialisation. These results confirm other recent demonstrations of superior performance in special schools for children with ASD. The need to re-address specialist school placement as a viable alternative to mainstream education for children with ASD is discussed.
TL;DR: This article investigated the source of tutors' standards, their sense of accountability for their grading judgements, their use of artefacts and their attitude to internal and external moderation, and found that tutors believe there are established and shared academic standards in existence for their discipline and they endeavour to maintain them.
Abstract: This article, using a student outcomes definition of academic standards, reports on academics’ sense of standards as enacted through marking practices. Twelve lecturers from two UK universities were asked to ‘think aloud’ as they graded written assignments followed by a semi-structured interview. The interview data were used to investigate the source of tutors’ standards, their sense of accountability for their grading judgements, their use of artefacts and their attitude to internal and external moderation. The findings suggest that tutors believe there are established and shared academic standards in existence for their discipline and they endeavour to maintain them. There was no evidence of significant pressure or practice related to lowering of standards, although differences in tutors’ tacit ‘standards’ frameworks’ have the potential for bias. Whilst moderation has some power to secure standards within teams, the article discusses the implications of the research for assuring standards across universities and disciplines.
TL;DR: The authors examined the unique and cumulative contribution of children's characteristics and attitudes to school, home learning environment and family's socio-economic background to children's language and literacy at the end of Key Stage 1 (age seven-years-old).
Abstract: Using a UK representative sample from the Millennium Cohort Study, the present study examined the unique and cumulative contribution of children’s characteristics and attitudes to school, home learning environment and family’s socio-economic background to children’s language and literacy at the end of Key Stage 1 (age seven-years-old). Consistently with previous studies, the findings showed that family’s socio-economic background made a substantive contribution to teacher-rated language and literacy. Moreover, children’s characteristics and attitudes to school as well as certain aspects of the home learning environment explained a significant amount of variance in language and literacy. Homework support and book reading, however, were not found to associate with children’s language and literacy outcomes, despite a high percentage of parents being involved with home learning support routinely. These findings are likely to contribute to debates regarding the role of home learning in reducing underachievement, drawing important implications for family policy.
TL;DR: A methodological framework to analyse and identify good practices in mobile lifelong learning, based on the outcomes of the MOTILL project, is presented (‘Mobile Technologies in Lifelong Learning: Best Practices’).
Abstract: This paper focuses on the use of mobile technologies in relation to the aims of the European Union's Lifelong Learning programme. First, we explain the background to the notion of mobile lifelong learning. We then present a methodological framework to analyse and identify good practices in mobile lifelong learning, based on the outcomes of the MOTILL project (‘Mobile Technologies in Lifelong Learning: Best Practices’). In particular, we give an account of the methodology adopted to carry out meta-analyses of published literature and accounts of mobile learning experiences. Furthermore, we present the results of an implementation of our Evaluation Grid and the implications arising from it in terms of management, pedagogy, policies and ethical issues. Finally, we discuss lessons learnt and future work.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report on data drawn from an Economic and Social Research Council-funded project investigating the experiences of UK-based students training on level-2 and level-3 childcare courses and identify a number of "feeling rules" that demarcate the vocational habitus of care work with young children.
Abstract: This paper reports on data drawn from an Economic and Social Research Council-funded project investigating the experiences of UK-based students training on level-2 and level-3 childcare courses. We focus on the concept of emotional labour in relation to learning to care for and educate young children and the ways in which the students’ experiences of emotional labour and the expectations placed upon their behaviour and attitudes are shaped by class and gender. We consider the ways in which students are encouraged to manage their own and the children's emotions and we identify a number of ‘feeling rules’ that demarcate the vocational habitus of care work with young children. We conclude by emphasising the importance of specific contexts of employment in order to understand workers’ emotional labour and argue for more recognition of the intense demands of emotional labour in early childhood education and care work.
TL;DR: The authors found that males and members of certain non-White ethnic groups are more likely to choose high wage-premium subjects than females, and also found significant differences between the motivations of different minority ethnic groups.
Abstract: Labour market outcomes of undergraduates’ choice of subject matter for public policy and for students. Policy interest is indicated by the prominence of ‘employability’ in public discourse and in proposals to concentrate government funding in England in supporting STEM subjects. As students in England face the prospect of bearing the full financial burden of undergraduate tuition, the large differences between wage premia for different subjects may become of increasing interest. We find that, even after taking account of differences in motivation towards the choice of undergraduate subject, males and members of certain non-White ethnic groups are more likely to choose ‘high wage-premium’ subjects. We also find some significant differences between the motivations of different minority ethnic groups. However, students from lower income households are less likely to choose high wage premium subjects, which is a concern for this aspect of policy towards participation in higher education and social mobility.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce a Gini-type index for measuring "attainment equity" in schools; that is, how far a school (or group of schools) is from having a "fair" proportion of its examination success attributable to a fair proportion of the student population.
Abstract: This paper introduces a Gini-type index for measuring ‘attainment equity’ in schools; that is to say, how far a school (or group of schools) is from having a ‘fair’ proportion of its examination success attributable to a fair proportion of its student population. Using data from the National Pupil Database, the Index is applied to more than 20,000 students with matched attainment records at KS2 and KS4 in two ‘statistical-neighbour’ local authorities in England, capturing the extent to which they are meeting a public policy notion of equity. It is then combined with existing contextual value added measures to analyse school and local authority performance in terms of both attainment equity and context.
TL;DR: This paper found that early years practitioners' understandings of "quality" are influenced by government discourses but appear to be linked to the context of their setting together their personal and professional histories.
Abstract: This article begins by outlining the UK Government policy context, offering a brief critique before moving on to summarise recent research into ‘quality’ in the early years. The main body of the article locates the perspectives of early years practitioners within this context, drawing on data from an Economic and Social Research Council-funded study of 18 early years settings, including interviews and focused group discussions with 165 practitioners. The findings reveal that practitioners’ understandings of ‘quality’ are influenced by government discourses but appear to be linked to the context of their setting together their personal and professional histories. In discussing the nature of ‘quality’, the authors focus on tensions inherent in the government discourses and draw out the implications for children’s experiences and the training and development of early years practitioners.
TL;DR: The authors explored findings from a recent large-scale national study on behaviour and focused on the data from primary and secondary school students within this study, focusing on the broader questions of participation, engagement and meanings of active citizenship in school.
Abstract: Behaviour in schools is an emotive topic and one of enduring political interest and sensitivity. The media often portrays schools as violent and dangerous places and young people as ever more unruly. This paper explores findings from a recent large-scale national study on behaviour and focuses on the data from primary and secondary school students within this study. The comments and suggestions offered by students move beyond a discussion of behaviour to focus on the broader questions of participation, engagement and meanings of active citizenship in school.
TL;DR: This paper found that acquiescent responding and extreme responding were consistent traits within individual students between the two instruments when these were statistically controlled, and the overlap in variance between the students' scores on two instruments was reduced from 453% to 319%.
Abstract: Questionnaire surveys have found a strong relationship between students’ perceptions of their courses and their approaches to studying, but this might result from the operation of response biases Responses to the Course Experience Questionnaire and the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory from 2137 students taking seven courses by distance learning were reanalysed Both acquiescent responding and extreme responding were found to be consistent traits within individual students between the two instruments When these were statistically controlled, the overlap in variance between the students’ scores on the two instruments was reduced from 453% to 319%, and the variation in the students’ course marks explained by their scores on the two instruments was reduced from 218% to 189% Nevertheless, the relationship between the two sets of scores remained the same: students who rated their course positively were more likely to show desirable approaches to studying and less likely to show undesirable approa