Showing papers in "British Journal of Educational Studies in 2007"
TL;DR: Research Methods in Education as mentioned in this paper, 6th edition, London and New York: Routledge, 2007. Pp. 638. ISBN 9780415368780, as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Research Methods in Education. Sixth Edition. By Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion and Keith Morrison. Pp. 638. London and New York: Routledge. 2007. £24.99. ISBN 9780415368780.
257 citations
TL;DR: The recent emergence of distributed leadership has been very marked. But the evidence base which supports this endorsement is weak: there is little evidence of a direct causal relationship between distributed leadership and pupil attainment.
Abstract: The recent emergence of distributed leadership has been very marked. In England, it has received official endorsement. But the evidence-base which supports this endorsement is weak: there is little evidence of a direct causal relationship between distributed leadership and pupil attainment.What therefore might explain its rise to prominence? Here three possible explanations are considered: first, it accords with the contemporary reform of the public services; second, it is legitimated by an appeal to a culture wherein all categories and classifications are rendered increasingly permeable; and third, it is regarded as functional for the ‘new work order’.
235 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that the capacity to learn should be interpreted as a portmanteau term that comprises a varied set of positive learning dispositions, and the idea of expansion is glossed in terms of broadening, strengthening and deepening these dispositions.
Abstract: Though it is being widely argued that expanding young people's capacity to learn is a viable and desirable goal of education, it it not always clear what this means, how it is to be achieved, and how the effectiveness of interventions is to be assessed. It is argued that the capacity to learn should be interpreted as a portmanteau term that comprises a varied set of positive learning dispositions. These are illustrated, and the idea of ‘expansion’ is glossed in terms of broadening, strengthening and deepening these dispositions.
189 citations
TL;DR: This paper explore existing conceptualisations of emotional capital in educational research, and undertake a critical analysis of these conceptualisations, including a reflection on my own explorations of teachers' and students' emotional practices, drawing from Bourdieu's work, and offer a theoretical discussion of how emotional capital as a conceptual tool suggests a historically situated analysis of the often unrecognised mechanisms and emotion norms serving to maintain certain "affective economies".
Abstract: This article seeks to explore existing conceptualisations of emotional capital in educational research, and to undertake a critical analysis of these conceptualisations, including a reflection on my own explorations of teachers’ and students’ emotional practices. Drawing from Bourdieu's work, I offer a theoretical discussion of how emotional capital as a conceptual tool suggests a historically situated analysis of the often unrecognised mechanisms and emotion norms serving to maintain certain ‘affective economies’. This point is made in reference to a brief discussion of my ongoing ethnographic work over the last ten years. I conclude the article with outlining some new possibilities of theorising the potentiality and usefulness of the concept of emotional capital in the field of educational research.
170 citations
TL;DR: The Youth Electoral Study found that citizenship education in Australian schools has at best been marginally successful and substantially more is required to raise levels of democratic engagement as discussed by the authors, and explored many opportunities available to education systems and schools to address these issues through reconceptualising aspects of the formal a...
Abstract: Citizenship education in established democracies is challenged by declining youth participation in democracy. Youth disenchantment and disengagement in democracy is primarily evident in formal political behaviour, especially through voting, declining membership of political parties, assisting at elections, contacting politicians, and the like. If citizenship education is to play a major role in addressing these concerns it will need to review the impact it is making on young people in schools. This paper reviews a major national project on youth participation in democracy in Australia set in the context of a national citizenship education programme. The Youth Electoral Study found that citizenship education in Australian schools has at best been marginally successful and substantially more is required to raise levels of democratic engagement. The paper explores many opportunities available to education systems and schools to address these issues through reconceptualising aspects of the formal a...
133 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore concepts of multiple and nested identities and how these relate to citizenship and rights, and the implications of identities and rights for active citizenship education, and draw on three successive categorisations of citizenship rights: by T.H. Marshall in the 1950s, Karel Vasak in the late 1970s and John Urry in the 1990s.
Abstract: This paper explores concepts of multiple and nested identities and how these relate to citizenship and rights, and the implications of identities and rights for active citizenship education. Various theoretical conceptions of identity are analysed, and in particular ideas concerning multiple identities that are used contingently, and about identities that do not necessarily include feeling a strong affinity with others in the group. The argument then moves to the relationship between identity and citizenship, and particularly citizenship and rights. Citizenship is treated non-legalistically, as one of the locations of belonging. The paper draws on three successive categorisations of citizenship rights: by T.H. Marshall in the 1950s, Karel Vasak in the late 1970s and John Urry in the 1990s, and is illustrated in part by the development of European citizenship in parallel to national identity. This is then linked to how contemporary citizenship education might use the exploration of contested right...
112 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that while the key virtue ethical concept of phronesis or practical wisdom has been widely deployed to account for aspects of professional teacher expertise, it has also been subject to a rather un-Aristotelian interpretation as a kind of situation-specific productive reasoning.
Abstract: Qualities of personal character would appear to play a significant role in the professional conduct of teachers. It is often said that we remember teachers as much for the kinds of people they were than for anything they may have taught us, and some kinds of professional expertise may best be understood as qualities of character. After (roughly) distinguishing qualities of character from those of personality, the present paper draws on the resources of virtue ethics to try to make sense of the former. In the course of this, it is argued that while the key virtue ethical concept of phronesis or practical wisdom has been widely deployed to account for aspects of professional teacher expertise, it has also been subject to rather un-Aristotelian interpretation as a kind of situation-specific productive reasoning. The present paper seeks to show that it is better employed for understanding character in general and character in teaching in particular. The paper concludes with some observations about t...
99 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue for an action-oriented conception of learning in higher education: one which marries higher order learning (coming to understand) with apprenticeship in knowledge work, and introduce epistemic tasks, forms and fluency as constructs that are useful in giving a more precise meaning to ideas about collaboration in knowledge construction.
Abstract: This paper argues for an action-oriented conception of learning in higher education: one which marries higher order learning (coming to understand) with apprenticeship in knowledge work. It introduces epistemic tasks, forms and fluency as constructs that are useful in giving a more precise meaning to ideas about collaboration in knowledge construction. Discussion is seen as central to collaborative knowledge work and we examine the role of discussion in supporting weaker and stronger interpretations of collaborative knowledge construction.
97 citations
TL;DR: Citizenship as a compulsory subject was added to the National Curriculum in England in 2002 following the 1998 report, ‘Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools’ as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Citizenship as a compulsory subject was added to the National Curriculum in England in 2002 following the 1998 report, ‘Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools’. It was little noticed at the time that the report stressed active citizenship much more strongly than democracy. The underlying presupposition was what historians call ‘civic republicanism’, the tradition from the Greeks and the Romans of good government as political government, that is, citizens reaching acceptable compromises of group interests and values by public debate. This is contrasted to modern liberalism. To stress ‘democracy’ unduly in citizenship education can lead to definitional dogmatics about multiple meanings of the term, even to disillusionment. Democracy is a necessary element in good government but not a sufficient one, unless subjective opinion is enshrined over knowledge through education. The practices of free politics are both historically and logically prior to democracy.
96 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace the origins of the concept of personalisation in public sector services and apply it to school education, focusing on gifted and talented students whose education provides the best case example of how the theory of personalization might work in practice.
Abstract: This paper traces the origins of the concept of personalisation in public sector services, and applies it to school education. The original conceptualisation stressed the need for ‘deep’ rather than shallow, personalisation, if radical transformation of services were to be achieved. It is argued that as the concept has been disseminated and implemented through policy documents, notably the 2005 White Paper, it has lost its original emphasis on deep personalisation. The focus in this article is particularly upon gifted and talented students whose education provides the best case example of how the theory of personalisation might work in practice. Two examples of the lessons in a sixth form college are used to illustrate the character of personalised pedagogy in practice. The implications for theory and practice are discussed.
89 citations
TL;DR: The meaning of active citizenship has been investigated in the context of citizenship education policy discourse as mentioned in this paper, but there is no agreement about the meaning of the term active citizenship, despite this policy interest, despite the fact that active citizenship is currently a popular term in citizenship education.
Abstract: ‘Active citizenship’ is currently a popular term in citizenship education policy discourse. Despite this policy interest, there is no agreement about the meaning of ‘active citizenship’. This artic...
TL;DR: Renold as mentioned in this paper explored children's gender and sexual relations in primary school, focusing on the relationship between primary school girls, boys and junior sexualities, and explored the role of gender in the primary school curriculum.
Abstract: Girls, Boys and Junior Sexualities: Exploring Children's Gender and Sexual Relations in the Primary School. By Emma Renold. Pp. 206. London and New York: Routledge-Falmer. 2005. £21.99 (pbk). ISBN 0-415-31497-6 (pbk).
TL;DR: The authors explored the second chance myth that surrounds the role of adult education in society and argued that recent developments in educational policy-making are increasingly shaped by neoliberal discourses that adapt adult education principles, such as lifelong learning and emancipation, for its own economic and political logic.
Abstract: This article explores the 'second chance' myth that surrounds the role of adult education in society. This myth apparently offers all citizens an equal chance to access educational opportunities to improve their life chances. I argue that recent developments in educational policy-making are increasingly shaped by neoliberal discourses that adapt adult education principles, such as lifelong learning and emancipation, for its own economic and political logic. This has important implications for adult education, especially equality of opportunity and social inclusion
TL;DR: The authors synthesises a collaborative review of social capital theory, with particular regard for its relevance to the changing educational landscape within Scotland, and explores how these might help to understand the changing contexts and pursue opportunities for growth.
Abstract: This paper synthesises a collaborative review of social capital theory, with particular regard for its relevance to the changing educational landscape within Scotland. The review considers the common and distinctive elements of social capital, developed by the founding fathers – Putnam, Bourdieu and Coleman – and explores how these might help to understand the changing contexts and pursue opportunities for growth.
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of enacting a collaborative and enquiry based model of teacher professionalism in the UK are explored based on work with Chartered Teachers in Scotland, which indicates that the barriers to changing the basis of teacher professional are complex and multi-faceted because of the contested nature of teachers' work identities.
Abstract: This paper explores the effects of enacting a collaborative and enquiry based model of teacher professionalism in the UK. Based on work with Chartered Teachers in Scotland, it indicates that the barriers to changing the basis of teacher professionalism are complex and multi-faceted because of the contested nature of teachers’ work identities. Chartered Teacher status is achieved by qualification against an occupational standard which positions those who attain it as leading teachers, exerting a significant influence with their colleagues to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools. This paper looks at some of the conceptual and practical difficulties faced by Chartered Teachers as they try to enact what this new ‘status’ means. It argues that those with an interest in the professional development of teachers need to position themselves as knowing agents in the complex systemic and political aspects of changing practice in schools.
TL;DR: The authors identifies how metaphors of management have been absorbed into political discourse and makes a case for metaphoric re-description in education. But teaching is not management, education and management are different social processes.
Abstract: In the UK and elsewhere management has become a root metaphor. Educational practitioners must now acquire competence in management discourse. Yet education and management are different social processes. They interpenetrate since much education occurs in schools, which have to be managed. But teaching is not management. This paper identifies how metaphors of management have been absorbed into political discourse and makes a case for metaphoric re-description in education.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors criticise what they see as a tendency on the part of certain social researchers to engage in moralistic critiques of middle-class parents, especially in relation to the choices and actions of such parents within educational quasi-markets.
Abstract: This paper critiques what it sees as a tendency on the part of certain social researchers to engage in moralistic critiques of middle-class parents, especially in relation to the choices and actions of such parents within educational quasi-markets. It proceeds to a linked critique of the influence within education of certain aspects of the work of Pierre Bourdieu, with particular reference to the concepts of symbolic violence and the depiction of cultural meanings as arbitrary. It is argued that both these developments involve unhelpful and unjustified forms of reductionism that could have the effect of alienating middle-class support for a range of broadly progressive political endeavours within and beyond education.
TL;DR: The authors examines some of the influential post-war philosophical arguments against integrated and interdisciplinary approaches to the curricular organisation of knowledge, concluding that they are not as compelling as they might formerly have seemed.
Abstract: Despite the ‘progressive’ influence of the English Plowden Report and Scottish Primary Memorandum on British primary curricula from the 1960s onwards, secondary education has generally continued to follow a more traditional subject-centred route and post-war educational theorists have not generally been favourably inclined to other than subject-based modes of curriculum planning and organisation. However, in the light of current curriculum reviews on both sides of the Scottish border – calling for more educationally meaningful curricula – the perennial issue of how school knowledge might best be ordered for the coherent educational experience of pupils seems worth revisiting. To this end, this paper examines some of the influential post-war philosophical arguments against integrated and interdisciplinary approaches to the curricular organisation of knowledge, concluding that they are not as compelling as they might formerly have seemed.
TL;DR: In this paper, a questionnaire survey of 171 trainee teachers at the end of their Postgraduate Certificate in Education year was conducted to identify the prevalence and types of voice problems experienced by students during their teaching practice and to relate these to previous history and to the area of the curriculum they were teaching.
Abstract: As professional voice users, teachers are particularly at risk of abusing their voices and developing voice disorders during their career. In spite of this, attention paid to voice care in the initial training and further professional development of teachers is unevenly spread and insufficient. This article describes a questionnaire survey of 171 trainee teachers at the end of their Postgraduate Certificate in Education year that included the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) ( Jacobson et al., 1997 ). The survey aimed to identify the prevalence and types of voice problems experienced by students during their teaching practice and to relate these to previous history and to the area of the curriculum they were teaching. The analysis suggests that over a third of trainees suffer from voice difficulties on teaching practice and that one student in 12 was classified as having a moderate handicap as defined by the VHI. Trends of symptoms particular to individual curricular areas appear to be a fruitful area...
TL;DR: In this article, the structural reforms of the education system in France (1959, 1963, and 1975) were part both of a global process of democratisation of education launched after the Second World War and of a larger modernisation project in which knowledge producers played a crucial role.
Abstract: The structural reforms of the education system in France (1959, 1963, and 1975) were part both of a global process of democratisation of education launched after the Second World War and of a larger modernisation project in which knowledge producers (experts, scholars and consultants) played a crucial role. Instead of a national approach or a world system approach to education reforms I propose a neo-Weberian glocal perspective that focuses on knowledge producers as a status group, education discourse structuration and education global networks; this perspective integrates national contexts and their peculiarities in the analysis without losing sight of the global forces. Global education networks centered in international organisations – such as UNESCO and the OECD – in which French knowledge-producers were largely involved, adopted a discourse inspired by the American school model that was adopted by scholars in different countries. The reformist network, in which scholars, experts and policy ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the characteristics of people who return to learning to achieve at least a level 2 qualification, drawing on the 1958 National Child Development Cohort Study, and find that adults who gained level 2 were more likely than those who did not to have been engaged in a range of learning activities at earlier ages, including learning during childhood, staying in education during adolescence and undertaking courses leading and not leading to qualifications during adulthood.
Abstract: : This paper describes the characteristics of people who return to learning to achieve at least a level 2 qualification, drawing on the 1958 National Child Development Cohort Study. Results show that adults who gained level 2 were more likely than those who did not to have been engaged in a range of learning activities at earlier ages, including learning during childhood, staying in education during adolescence and undertaking courses leading and not leading to qualifications during adulthood. The factor that has the highest impact on progression by age 33 and by age 42 is early school attainment. This means that for individuals who do well at school there is a greater chance of achievement of qualifications during adulthood, even when this qualification is not achieved by age 23. We further find that socioeconomic constraints in adulthood may be less of a barrier to progression than is often believed. Taking together, these findings suggest that the main focus should be on paying particular attention to attitudinal barriers to learning, rather than just being concerned with removing economic and social constraints.
TL;DR: Action Research: a Methodology for Change and Development as mentioned in this paper, by Bridget Somekh. Maidenhead: Open University Press. 2006. Pp 226.00 (hbk). £18.99 (pbk).
Abstract: Action Research: a Methodology for Change and Development. By Bridget Somekh. Pp. 226. Maidenhead: Open University Press. 2006. £60.00 (hbk). £18.99 (pbk). ISBN 0335216595 (hbk), 0335216587 (pbk).
TL;DR: The authors argue that the intelligibility of spiritual development as an educational activity is dependent upon there being a framework of propositions that relates to spiritual experience and that there is a methodology for establishing their truth.
Abstract: David Carr argues that the intelligibility of spiritual development as an educational activity is dependent upon there being a framework of propositions that relates to spiritual experience and that there is a methodology for establishing their truth. These propositions and the accompanying methodology need to be constructed along the lines of a traditional but re-worked form of religious education. Michael Hand argues to the contrary that there can be no methodology for the evaluation of the truth claims in relation to ‘spiritual’ propositions since they invariably psychologically, if not logically, involve reference to a transcendental being and are therefore seen as substantially matters of faith. Since the presentation of faith-based propositional knowledge is inappropriate to the secular school, the only route for spiritual education is in terms of those emotional qualities that we identify with the human ‘spirit’, that is, generosity, magnanimity, good heartedness, etc. In this paper it is...
TL;DR: The authors considers a distinction between two types of politics developed by Michael Oakeshott in his book The Politics of Faith and the Politics of Scepticism and argues that the theoretical framework proposed supplies an illuminating and productive perspective for examining the notion of political extremism.
Abstract: This paper considers a distinction between two types of politics developed by Michael Oakeshott in his book The Politics of Faith and the Politics of Scepticism (1996) and argues that the theoretical framework proposed supplies an illuminating and productive perspective for examining the notion of political extremism. These positions are linked to two other important aspects of his work, namely his account of ‘enterprise’ and ‘civil’ association and his differentiation between abstract philosophical entities and concrete political situations. There is also a discussion of the idea of ‘perfectionism’ which is central to the politics of faith. The paper concludes with a consideration of some of the implications for political education arising from this analysis.
TL;DR: The Common Sense Methods for Children with Special Educational Needs (5th edition) by Peter Westwood as discussed by the authors is the most widely used method for children with special educational needs. London: Routledge. 2007. Pp 254.
Abstract: Commonsense Methods for Children with Special Educational Needs (5th edition). By Peter Westwood. Pp 254. London: Routledge. 2007. £19.99 (pbk) ISBN 978-0-415-41582-8.
TL;DR: McGregor et al. as mentioned in this paper developed developing thinking, developing learning, and developing learning by Debra McGregor. McGraw Hill. 2007. Pp. 330. £18.99 (pbk).
Abstract: Developing Thinking, Developing Learning. By Debra McGregor. Pp. 330. McGraw Hill. 2007. £18.99 (pbk). ISBN 0-335-21780-X.
TL;DR: A Vision for Universal Pre-School Education as mentioned in this paper, by Zigler, Walter S. Gilliam and Stephanie M. Jones, is a vision for universal pre-school education.
Abstract: A Vision for Universal Pre-School Education. By Edward Zigler, Walter S. Gilliam and Stephanie M. Jones. Pp. 279. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. 2006. £40.00 (hbk). £17.99 (pbk). ISBN 0-521-84854-7 (hbk), 0-521-61299-3 (pbk).
TL;DR: Derrida, Deconstruction and Education: Ethics of Pedagogy and Education as discussed by the authors, edited by Peter Pericles Trifonas and Michael A. Peters, 2004.
Abstract: Derrida, Deconstruction and Education: Ethics of Pedagogy and Education. Edited by Peter Pericles Trifonas and Michael A. Peters. Pp. ix + 111. Malden, MA/Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2004. $33.95 (pbk). ISBN 1-4051-1953-5 (pbk).
TL;DR: In this article, Harris and Chrispeels present an international perspective on improving schools and educational systems, including the role of teachers and their role in improving educational systems and the curriculum.
Abstract: Improving Schools and Educational Systems: International Perspectives. A. Harris and J.H. Chrispeels (Eds). Pp. 315. London: Routledge. 2006. £75 (hbk). ISBN 0-415-36222-9.