University of Cumbria Open Access Journals
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How do beginning teachers develop their knowledge of early-years pedagogy?
Get PDFThe focus of this paper is on the development of early-years pedagogy for a beginning teacher during her initial training and newly qualified teacher year. A series of interviews was conducted with the beginning teacher and the class teacher and mentor she worked alongside. The findings suggested that a shared pedagogy of early-years practice developed between the participants during their interactions within the setting. Three themes emerged from the data analysis highlighting the importance of learning through observation; learning through critical reflection; and learning as an apprentice for the development of a personal pedagogy. The implications for mentors and class teachers in their interactions with beginning teachers are considered.
Helping students to explain what they want from feedback: findings from a large-scale survey
No full textSurveys asking Higher Education students about feedback tend to find similar results: feedback should be prompt, specific, understandable and regular. Efforts to improve the feedback experience therefore emphasises that feedback be more frequent, detailed and turnaround times reduced. However, despite similar wording on many surveys, a significant number of students misunderstand key words such as ‘prompt’. Surveys also typically only get to ask a small number of questions about feedback, so misunderstanding has a significant effect on what can be concluded from students’ responses to these questions. To try elicit a more nuanced understanding of feedback, 613 students completed a 35-item survey about a specific time they received feedback during a work-based learning placement. Students typically saw feedback as straightforward communication where an expert tells them what to do. This contrasts with more contemporary definitions of feedback as sustainable, learning-oriented practice. However, principal component analysis of the survey responses indicated a pattern of responses which suggests that the vast majority of students tacitly hold a more sophisticated understanding of feedback which they struggled to express. Their patterns of response directly challenge many of the ways that feedback provision is currently monitored, suggesting better ways to evaluate and improve feedback provision
Teachers as Enquiring Professionals and Career-Long Professional Learning in Scotland
Get PDFThis paper begins by setting out the vision and aims of the General Teaching Council for Scotland. In its efforts to deliver this vision and to meet these aims, GTC Scotland has given extensive consideration to various aspects of teacher professionalism. A discussion of a range of teacher professionalism paradigms follows before an explanation of the Teacher Education Standards in Scotland which aim to create a continuum for teachers’ professional development. Teachers should consider their own development and therein arises the question of the relationship between teachers and research. The paper goes on to discuss two questions: Should teachers be researchers? Should teachers be users of research? It is argued that having teachers who are enquiring professionals is at the heart of moving the education system forward positively, delivering school improvement and ultimately having better quality teaching and learning. The paper concludes on a note of caution; the ultimate impact of practitioner enquiry should be improved pupil learning - but there is not necessarily a straightforward route to this nor is it something which is easy to judge
Giving lesson observation feedback
Get PDFThe paper highlights the context bound nature of giving observation feedback and indicates some of the complexities around fostering a dialogic approach. It focuses on the teacher education feedback dialogue as it occurs on a full time one year PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate) in Post Compulsory Education course at a University. The research is autoethnographic and includes autobiographical and creative writing as well as analysis of empirical data. The research centres on myself as PGCE tutor working with groups of students. It considers the complexity of that role (module tutor, personal tutor, assessor). Selected findings from my tutor observation feedback dialogues and from peer student observation feedback dialogues are shared. This is with a view to comparing and contrasting the roles, structure and conventions. Theoretical discussions draw on particular concepts from Foucault’s work, and Copland’s research on English Language Teacher Education triadic observation feedback. Research on lesson observation and feedback practices includes O’Leary’s critique of graded lessons and current shifts to ungraded and peer observation models. The paper therefore broadly reflects on the political context of which observations are a part, and makes reference to Lifelong Learning and to schools
An Exploratory Study: Raising the attainment of underachieving white working-class boys
Get PDFThis paper focuses on and researches existing documentation relating to the underachievement of white working class boys. This issue is undoubtedly of national importance, as a Joseph Rowntree Foundation report recently found that “white British students make up more than three-quarters of low achievers in English schools and do worse than children from other ethnic groups with similar economic backgrounds” (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2015). The aim of this paper is therefore to identify and examine a number of methods and strategies which suggest how white working class underachievers may be better progressed in an inclusive context. Whilst “the possible causes and contributors to white working class underachievement are many and various”, it is still “clear that schools can and do make a dramatic difference to the educational outcomes of poor children” (House of Commons Education Committee, 2014). As such, this paper and its subsequent research will critically review how schools can, and to what extent, promote progression for white working class boys who are underachieving
Using philosophy for children as a means of fostering high quality learning and teaching: can using a ‘Question Quadrant’ help children at Key Stage 1 ask higher-order questions?
Get PDFAvailable evidence suggests that philosophy for children (P4C) is a highly effective pedagogy in developing children’s higher-order thinking skills and has significant positive effects both in raising children’s attainment in core subjects and in the broader curriculum. This paper challenges the Piagetian assumption that younger children cannot use abstract higher-order thinking skills and suggests that learning and applying such skills should be central to primary education in the information age. It uses quantitative and qualitative data from my practitioner research using the ‘Question Quadrant’ P4C tool with a class of 6- and 7-year-olds to demonstrate that it is a pedagogy that, although challenging to pupil and teacher, can have demonstrable positive effects on children’s critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinking, even in the short term. It also suggests that more longitudinal research using quantitative methods is urgently required
‘To Boldly Go Where No Psychologist Has Gone Before”: Effects of Participation in Fandom Activities on Parasocial Relationships
Get PDFThe aim of the current research was to observe the effect that participating in fandom activities had on parasocial relationships. Research suggests that people who participate in fandom activities may feel excluded from society and experience loneliness; this is linked to symptoms of mental illness. It was further suggested that fan people often view fandom as a religion or way of life and that they are capable of forming relationships in their fandoms that mimic traditional social relationships so as to provide the same benefits. The data in this study comprised of twenty-three female participants who formed a targeted sample. They were asked to rate the intensity of their main parasocial relationship before and after they began participating in fandom activities, as well as asking the nature and frequency of which they participated in these behaviours. The data from the first set of questions was analysed using a Pearson’s Correlation, the second section, concerned with qualitative data was analysed using Thematic Analysis. Strengths and limitations of the research were discussed as well as practical applications and possible future research avenues.
Violence is violence: comparing perceptions of intimate partner violence in homosexual and heterosexual relationships
Get PDFThis research examines the perceptions of the general public of the different relationship types where intimate partner violence (IPV) exists. Historically, IPV has been characterised as a gendered problem, consequently same-sex and male victims have not been included in the core conceptualisation of research (Baker et al., 2013), resulting in marginalisation and disempowerment. The study examined perceptions to establish if they view the different types of violence to be on an equal standing, through subscales of seriousness, reporting and blame. The results suggested that the participants perceived the seriousness of IPV to be on the same standing for all relationship types. Within the second subscale, however, it was found that participants were more likely to report IPV when the victim is female in a heterosexual relationship. In the last subscale of blame, the results showed that participants were more likely to blame the male perpetrator in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships. The interaction of gender of the participants was found to be not significant. Overall IPV should be seen as a human problem and not a gendered problem (Hines, Brown, & Dunning, 2007), to be understood that violence is violence regardless of gender or sexuality.
Evaluating the use of synoptic assessment to engage and develop lower level Higher Education students within a Further Education setting
Get PDFEngaging less academically qualified Higher Education students being taught within a Further Education setting, who have weaker study skills and little experience of independent learning, is challenging. Confidence and motivation levels are often low and they feel overwhelmed. Effective assessment design is crucial and needs to capitalise on synergies within taught content and reduce the assessment burden in the first semester whilst allowing for early feedback and feedforward. Synoptic assessment which, in this instance, addresses learning outcomes from two modules, has been piloted and evaluated using both quantitative and qualitative data. Results show a number of benefits; students find it engaging and have developed independent learning skills in the areas of research and self-management; staff have seen an improvement in collaborative working, the use of appropriate sources and writing in a focussed way and have benefitted from a reduced marking load