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Journal ArticleDOI

Performativity and affectivity: Lesson observations in England's Further Education colleges

23 Sep 2013-Management in Education (SAGE Publications)-Vol. 27, Iss: 4, pp 138-145
TL;DR: The authors investigated the different expectations, relationships and identities of teachers and (mis)conceptions of "authenticity" in teaching and learning observations (TLO) and found that affective reactions to perceived managerial intrusion into their professional space had a negative impact on them and their students' learning.
Abstract: Teaching and learning observations (TLOs) are used in educational environments worldwide to measure and improve quality and support professional development. TLOs can be positive for teachers who enjoy opportunities to ‘perform’ their craft and/or engage in professional dialogue. However, if this crucial, collaborative developmental element is missing, a TLO becomes intrinsically evaluative in nature and creates complex emotions – within and beyond the classroom. For some teachers, affective reactions to perceived managerial intrusion into their professional space has a negative impact on them and, in turn, their students’ learning. International research on TLOs has focused on schools or universities. My research centres specifically on England’s Further Education colleges (FE). Through Interpretive Interactionism, I investigate the different expectations, relationships and identities of teachers and (mis)conceptions of ‘authenticity’ in TLOs. Teaching involves our unique (dis)embodied ‘performativity’ (...

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Unschooled Mind (1991) as mentioned in this paper argues that schools, even when publicly acknowledged as successful, are failing at their most critical task-teaching for real understanding and that early-developed ideas, stereotypes, and "scripts" (descriptions of recurrent events) continueto dominate the thinking of even advanced teachers.
Abstract: Howard Gardner is well known to teachereducators,particularlyforhisearlier book,Frames ofMind: The Theory ofMuir tipleInteUigences(1983). Morerecently, the ConferenceonArtistic Intelligences (1989) and the development of Arts PROPEL havefamiliarized musicteacher educators even more specifically with Gardner's work. In The Unschooled Mind (1991), Gardnercontinues topricktheconsciences ofeducators by gettingdown to the very heartofthematter. Schools, hesays, do not nowteachthewaychildrenlearn, andoften what children learn before or outside of school is more powerful than competing information presented in school and can interferewithschool-delivered knowledge. Gardnercontendsin hisintroductory material that schools, even when publicly acknowledged as successful, are failing at their most critical task-teaching for real understanding. As always, Gardner provides examples that areabundantandtothe point. He offers evidence that early-developed ideas, stereotypes, and "scripts" (descriptions of recurrent events) continueto dominate the thinking of even advanced

442 citations

Book
01 Jan 1994
TL;DR: This chapter discusses classroom observation in context, the use of quantitative and qualitative methods, and research into classrooms.
Abstract: List of figures Acknowledgements Preface 1. An Introduction to classroom observation 2. The use of quantitative methods 3. The use of qualitative methods 4. Classroom observation in context 5. Research into classrooms 6. Observation and action Bibliography Index

353 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The second edition surveys the recent changes that have taken place in psychoanalytic social theory, including critical theory, Lacanian and post-Lacanian theory, post-structuralism and feminism as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: This text is a benchmark critique of Freudian theory in which a dialogue between the Frankfurt School, the Lacanian tradition and post-Lacanian developments in critical and feminist theory is developed. Considering afresh the relations between self and society, Elliot argues for the importance of imagination and the unconscious in understanding issues about the self and self-identity, ideology and power, sexual difference and gender. The second edition surveys the recent changes that have taken place in psychoanalytic social theory. Traditions of thought covered include critical theory, Lacanian and post-Lacanian theory, post-structuralism and feminism.

59 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article argued that the processes of fictionalization are endemic to the interpretation of data and the production of research accounts, and that language is the central element in creating accounts which are constitutive of the world rather than revelatory of its essence, and hence are partial and persuasive versions of reality.
Abstract: Problems of perspective, proximity and distance, objectivity, and self-interest perpetuate tensions in the social sciences. In positivistic research, still dominant in the organizational sciences, attention has been concentrated on the eradication of bias in the researcher. The effects of this approach have extended into areas where it is implicit and remains unrecognized, particularly in the tradition of “reflexive sociology.” The focal problem here is one of self-knowing and declaration. Focusing on distanciation, the problem of stepping outside one's data, is an alternative perspective. Esthetic approaches to this issue demonstrate that the processes of fictionalization are endemic to the interpretation of data and the production of research accounts. Language is the central element in creating accounts which are constitutive of the world rather than revelatory of its essence, and hence are partial and persuasive versions of reality. This is discussed with reference to the work of organizational and oc...

74 citations


"Performativity and affectivity: Les..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Conflicting perspectives could be a missed opportunity for innovative teaching and learning strategies (Linstead, 1994)....

    [...]

  • ...To what extent is the TLO a true performance compared to a ‘snapshot’ of an individual teacher’s level of competence? If a TLO (for some teachers at least) is a ‘performance’ of skills, is this the same as, or in contrast to, a perceived ‘genuineness’ or ‘authenticity’ in the classroom (Frego, 2006)? Is this ‘authenticity’ fluid in nature and itself open to interpretation (Linstead, 1994)? In preparing for a TLO, some teachers describe choosing a lesson plan that has ‘worked before’ then acting-out a (repeated) part, or becoming a ‘talking head’ (O’Leary, 2012; McWilliam, 1996)....

    [...]

  • ...Is this ‘authenticity’ fluid in nature and itself open to interpretation (Linstead, 1994)?...

    [...]

01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: In this article, a study led among student teachers explores the situations they find challenging and/or violent and analyses their suggestions in terms of support at the beginning of their teaching career, showing evidence of the participants' feeling of isolation in the face of difficulties and their wish for support by more experienced mentors.
Abstract: This study, led among student teachers, explores the situations they find challenging and/or violent and analyses their suggestions in terms of support at the beginning of their teaching career. The results show evidence of the participants’ feeling of isolation in the face of difficulties and their wish for support by more experienced mentors. Anglo-Saxon countries have been forerunners in the mentoring of newly appointed teachers. We therefore consider the possibility of adapting a similar system to the French educational context.

74 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors explored the cultural dimension of autobiographical narratives, focusing especially on the way in which cultural texts and "textures" become woven into the fabric of memory, resulting in regions of history that may be all but unknown.
Abstract: This essay explores the cultural dimension of autobiographical narrative, focusing especially on the way in which cultural texts and “textures” become woven into the fabric of memory. This process is one of which people are often unaware, resulting in regions of history that may be all but unknown. The “narrative unconscious,” therefore, refers not so much to that which has been dynamically repressed as to that which has been lived but which remains unthought and hence untold, i.e., to those culturally-rooted aspects of one’s history that have not yet become part of one’s story. An important challenge for those fashioning autobiographies is thus to move beyond personal life, into those largely uncharted regions of history that find their origins in the shared life of culture. From this perspective, autobiography is not only a matter of representing a life from (sometime after) birth until (sometime before) death; it is a matter of discerning the multiple sources, both proximate and distant, that give rise to the self.

63 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that a therapeutic ethos enables the State to legitimise cultural and political preoccupation with emotional well-being and blur divisions between public and private domains, and suggest that, in adult education, encouraging professionals to engage more emotionally with a disaffected public legitimises therapeutic professionalism and re-presents certain aspects of expertise as inauthentic and exclusive.
Abstract: Cultural and political interest in people's emotional well-being encourages the idea that education should play a prominent role in fostering students' emotional intelligence, self-esteem and self-awareness. This resonates increasingly with a broader therapeutic ethos that supporters claim promotes better personal relationships and democratic processes. The paper questions whether such goals are progressive in the education of adults, and explores their effects upon educators' professional roles and beliefs. It argues that a therapeutic ethos enables the State to legitimise cultural and political preoccupation with emotional well-being and to blur divisions between public and private domains. It suggests that, in adult education, encouraging professionals to engage more emotionally with a disaffected public legitimises therapeutic professionalism and re-presents certain aspects of expertise as inauthentic and exclusive. The paper concludes that therapeutic education and therapeutic professionalism...

60 citations