Projects in a sixth‐grade classroom: entering a bumpy but promising road

In this article the possibility of developing authentic project work in a sixth‐grade classroom of a Venezuelan school is explored, by means of action research (AR) methodology. Two AR cycles with two different projects were carried out. Data were collected via teacher researcher, co‐researcher and student journals, and also by means of audio and video recordings, interviews with students, and compilation of classroom products. Data were interpreted using a narrative presentation and also applying five categories, only one of which is analyzed in this paper. Results show that on the one hand student participation increased in all stages of the project work. On the other hand, students encountered some difficulties carrying out empirical research activities and also relating them to theoretical content, although progress in this regard was made. Additionally, communication should have departed more from mere repetition, although some teams were able to try more formative approaches. It was corroborated that school facilities must be improved in order to promote better project work. AR proved fruitful as a way to produce changes and generate practical and reflexive contributions.     

Deliberative communication goes to college: the ‘Deliberation Forum’ project as a democratic agent of empowerment for communication students

A new field of research has developed over the last few decades, called ‘Deliberative Communication’. It focuses on the potential contribution of public deliberations to strengthening the foundations of democracy and the promotion of social–political goals and objectives. The current research focuses on a unique case study, the ‘Deliberation Forum’ project, conducted by the Department of Communication at the Yezreel Valley College, Israel. The researcher sought to learn about students' experience of participating in this online forum and the effects they attributed to it, through unstructured interviews she held with them. The students indicated that, for the most part, the experience of participating in the deliberation forum was very positive: it enhanced their self-image as thinking people; strengthened their sense of self-importance as students within the department; developed and reinforced habits of keeping abreast of current affairs as well as critical thinking; and finally, the experience developed and strengthened habits of active participation in pluralistic debates. The study findings indicate that participation in projects of this kind has a clear empowerment potential, while also improving participants' attitude toward public deliberation and decision-making processes.     

Accessibility and autonomy preconditions to ‘our’ inclusion: a grounded theory study of the experiences of secondary students with vision impairment

In this paper, I report core findings of a small‐scale qualitative study that I conducted with a group of young people with vision impairment who attended an inclusive secondary school in the Australian state of Queensland. My objective was to capture their voiced experiences of their schooling through face‐to‐face interviews and to develop a substantive theory that was grounded in the collected data. Relevant to the study was my status as an insider researcher, which impacted both data collection and analysis. Here, I develop the methodological process that I followed and present core findings of the study. These findings shed light on the practices within schools that are designed to promote inclusion yet perpetuate exclusion for students with impaired vision.     

Doing teacher research: a qualitative analysis of purposes,processes and experiences

In this paper we draw upon 14 semi‐structured interviews with the participants in a teacher‐researcher project on the theme of ‘ensuring African Caribbean attainment’ with the aim of shedding light on the purposes, processes and lived experiences of teacher research in a difficult and contentious intellectual and practical domain. After briefly reviewing the history and policy background of teacher research in England, we introduce the project and the specific purposes and motivations of its various stakeholders. In the second half of the paper we analyse the challenges and the rewards of participating in the project, including the challenges of facilitating teacher research, and we review the key implications of the research for policy and practice. We conclude that, in trying to make teacher research happen in a way that is meaningful and productive for those involved (whether as facilitators or teacher researchers), three things have to be negotiated at once: new roles for academic facilitators, new dimensions of teacher roles, and a viable conception of research that is authentically teacher research. All of these things involve rethinking assumptions about what it means to be a teacher and an academic and what is meant by research. Drawing on the lessons of this project, we suggest that the central challenge of building successful teacher research is the creation of genuine partnerships, characterised by respectful and critical dialogue, between university staff and teacher researchers.     

Primary teachers’ understanding of the interactive whiteboard as a tool for children’s collaborative learning and knowledge‐building

This paper reports on the second phase of a joint teacher/researcher project that explored teachers’ understandings of the potential of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) as a tool for primary school children’s collaborative group work. By examining teachers’ written analyses and discussions of work carried out in their own classrooms, the paper seeks to contribute to the debate about the ways in which the use of IWBs can contribute to changes in pedagogy. It highlights the interrelationships between collaborative learning and factors identified as important in the research carried out by teachers, amongst them the children’s technical skills and confidence, the mediating role of the teacher, the IWB affordances for knowledge‐building and the teachers’ own knowledge, attitudes and professional development. The paper also provides an account of how participation by the teachers in a course with Faculty staff, focused on the collaborative co‐construction of knowledge related to learning and to classroom research grounded in the values and principles of socio‐cultural theory, supported changes in pedagogic practice.     

CLOTHING PREFERENCES OF OLDER WOMEN: IMPLICATIONS FOR GERONTOLOGY AND THE AMERICAN CLOTHING INDUSTRY

This paper reports the findings of a study investigating the clothing preferences and problems of older women. The sample consisted of thirty women age 65 years and over who were members of two clubs in Tallahassee, Florida. Personal interviews were conducted by the researcher in the home of each respondent.

Style features discovered to be preferred were A‐line skirts; princess, A‐line, and shift dresses; V‐necklines; convertible collars; long with cuff, three‐quarter length, and short sleeve styles. Color preferences revealed blue as the most popular color for clothing. Implications of the research for gerontologists in higher education and for the American clothing industry are cited and discussed.     

Multiple methodologies: using community-based participatory research and decolonizing methodologies in Kenya

In this project, we examined the development of a sustainable inclusive education system in western Kenya by combining community-based participatory research (CBPR) and decolonizing methodologies. Through three cycles of qualitative interviews with stakeholders in inclusive education, participants explained what they saw as foundational components of how to create more inclusive primary school classrooms utilizing existing school and community resources. The combination of CBPR and decolonizing methodologies, along with other project factors ultimately led to more inclusive placements for primary students with disabilities. We highlight this increase enrollment of students with disabilities in primary schools with excerpts from qualitative interviews with participants. In addition to the increase of the number of students with disabilities accessing schools for the first time, we found many methodological tensions inherent in this research. Such challenges included: researcher positionality, researcher outsider status, decolonizing approaches to language, and disseminating results in meaningful, ethical, and culturally appropriate ways.     

A study on the inclusion of deafblind young people in mainstream schools: key findings and implications for research and practice

This article, written by Leda Kamenopoulou of Roehampton University, reports a research project on deafblindness and inclusion in education. Deafblindness is a rare and therefore significantly under‐explored disability. Even less systematic research has focused on deafblind young people enrolled in mainstream schools. The study presented here used a multiple case study and mixed methods design to explore the social inclusion and participation of four deafblind pupils in mainstream placements. Interviews were conducted with the pupils, their parents and selected teachers regarding their peer interactions and relationships. Semi‐structured observations of peer interactions during school breaks were also conducted to complement interview data, but due to space constraints, these are not discussed here. Findings from the interviews suggest that the young people were socially present in their schools, but all faced certain issues in terms of being fully included. Both barriers to and facilitators of social inclusion and participation are discussed with reference to implications for research and practice.     

‘Nothing to do’: The impact of poverty on pupils' learning identities within out‐of‐school activities

This article reports the findings of a project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which explored the participation of children in out‐of‐school recreational activities. The experiences of children living in poverty were compared and contrasted with their more affluent peers. The aim of the project was to explore these out‐of‐school activities as sites of learning and to identify the impact of the children's experiences on the development of individual ‘learning identities’. Through in‐depth interviews with 55 children it was concluded that there were substantial differences in levels of participation and in the learning gained from these activities by two different groups of children, and stages in the development of their different dispositions towards the activities were shown. Attempts to identify the roles occupied by the children within a community of practice led the authors to question the extent to which the terms ‘core’ and ‘periphery’ can adequately account for the activity within such a community.     

Grasping at methodological understanding: a cautionary tale from insider research

This article offers an account of a doctoral insider research project that became problematic. The project was investigating mathematics teaching in a university in the UK, and by contrasting the research account with research diary entries pertaining to two interviewees, different interpretations of the interview data are evident. These differences offer illustrations of four aspects of the problematics of interviewing as follows: (1) personal relations and expectations position everyone in the interview; (2) the motivation for the research affects what the researcher learns; (3) the same material generates accounts that emphasize different things; and (4) things happen in people’s heads during the interviews that are not recorded. The argument developed by considering the examples is that authorial voice is constructed out of decisions regarding the data together with considerations regarding the researcher’s position. The validity of insider research requires reflexive consideration of the researcher’s position, and this is especially pertinent in the case of research undertaken by practitioner researchers on professional doctorates.     

The return of the native: the blurred boundaries of insider/outsider research in an English secondary school

This paper outlines the methodological issues I faced during my research as a ‘returning native’ in an English secondary school. The empirical research took the form of a three‐year case study and used some ethnographic methods, as it comprised interviews carried out over a period of three academic years in the school in which I was once employed as a teacher. I was also given the opportunity to work in the school as a consultant in the lead‐up to and during its Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OfSTED) inspection. This enabled me to conduct interviews, observe, interact in informal conversations and participate in the inspection week. In this paper I explore the unique role of the insider‐researcher, or returning native. Not only was this a school in which I had previously worked, but actually participating in the inspection added new layers of complex loyalty.     

Practice into Pedagogy into Practice: Collaborative Postcards from Hong Kong

A collaborative postcard project completed by 22 students as part of a drawing course conducted at a university in Hong Kong is introduced. The project entailed inviting students into an art practice in which the author was herself engaged as a practitioner as well as a researcher. After introducing the educational context in which the project took place, the author provides an account – informed by ‘participant‐observer’ feedback from students – of how the project unfolded and was experienced. In the second section of the article the creative and pedagogic efficacy of the project is considered with reference to the experience‐centred and dialogic principles expressed in the educational philosophies of John Dewey, Simone Weil, Hannah Arendt and Paulo Freire. The third section draws on insights from scholars working in a range of disciplines – cultural history, anthropology, sociology and psychology – to argue that a particular set of organisational and collaborative dynamics catalysed students’ levels of engagement, creativity and motivation. The article argues that the collaborative postcard project is an example of an experience‐centred and practice‐based pedagogy that is founded on dialogue, mutual generosity and experimental play, and engenders in students the ‘quality of mental process’ that is, for John Dewey, ‘the measure of educative growth’.     

Pedagogical applications of Vlogs: An investigation into ESP learners' perceptions

This study set out to examine the implementation of a video blog (vlog) project in an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course that aimed to increase students' opportunities to use the target language. Specifically, it explored students' perceptions towards vlogs and analysed the advantages and disadvantages of vlogs as identified by the students. Data sources included an attitude survey, an open‐ended questionnaire, student interviews, written peer feedback, video clips in vlogs and reflective journals. The results indicated that firstly, the students favourably perceived the vlog project because vlogs not only helped them organise and reflect on their learning products, but also allowed them to archive their learning processes. Second, they reported a number of advantages associated with vlogging, such as visual representation, relief from time constraints, self‐evaluation, professional development, wider audience, peer learning and technical capability. Third, in the opinion of the students, the challenges compromising the effectiveness of the vlog project involved technical difficulties, affective interferences, weak linkage to real‐time communication and time issues. In light of these findings, the researcher proposes two pedagogical implications for ESP instructional practices.     

Blurring the boundaries: connecting research,practice and professional learning

Educational researchers can incorporate benefits for themselves and teacher participants by planning for interactions between research, practice and teachers’ professional learning from the outset of a project. However, the dual role of a researcher as a professional learning partner has rarely been explicated and theorised in studies of teacher–researcher relationships. The study described in this paper occurred in the context of early childhood education. The notion of a critical friend was extended and validated as a useful theorisation of the relationship. Four ways that I acted as a critical friend are described. The expertise, roles, boundaries and hybridity of a co‐constructed approach to research are discussed. The importance of a researcher as critical friend having research and theoretical knowledge to shift teacher knowledge and practice is argued. Implications for teacher–researcher partnerships in terms of strengthening coherence between research, practice and professional learning are suggested.     

Intensification of university–industry relationships and its impact on academic research

This paper analyses the intensification of university–industry relationships and its impact on university research. The paper consists of recent follow-up research to an international comparative research project conducted in the 1990s. It deals specifically with the Québec (Canada) situation. Twenty-eight in-depth interviews were conducted in the winter of 2003 with university researchers and an additional five interviews with technology transfer officers. The interviews were conducted in six francophone higher education institutions in Québec. With regard to university–industry relationships, the interviews revealed that university researchers in scientific and technological fields conducted innovation-oriented research, which benefits their graduate students and the institution itself. Freedom of publication is somewhat conditioned by intellectual property constraints. Thus, a majority of university researchers adopt an “entrepreneurial ethos” which they find compatible with their academic values. The intensification of university–industry relationships may also have latent dysfunctional effects with regard to conflicts of interest, as some university researchers have created start-up companies which act both as research funding sources and as beneficiaries of research results. Thus, intellectual property and conflict of interest issues evolve in a grey zone and are often sources of stress and tension for researchers. However harsh some disputes may become over these issues, they are resolved, at least in the context analysed in this research, in ways that satisfy both the researcher and the institutions.

Qualitative data analysis in cross‐cultural projects

Large‐scale research projects, conducted in a cross‐European context, are increasingly attractive to educational researchers and policy‐makers. However, this form of comparative research across cultures brings problems concerning the standardization of data collection and analysis, particularly where ethnographic research is concerned, as it prioritizes a full range of qualitative research strategies. This paper outlines the use of a universal model and the approaches recently taken by two research teams and contrasts these with another recent nine‐partner comparative European study that used ethnographic methods. We then describe the analytical procedures used in the project, which encouraged participant observation and individual researcher interpretation in order to generate grounded accounts and outline how they were culturally sensitive and meaningful to research teams who used varied analytical approaches. However, this raised difficult issues for the ‘final’ analysis and the production of a loosely coupled research report. Our pragmatic solution was a process of ‘qualitative synthesis’ whereby individual partner reports were collated by the Project Director and treated as data and a grounded theory approach was applied to generate tentative theory in respect of creative learning. The paper concludes by arguing that data generated by a loosely coupled approach to qualitative comparative research which uses a wide range of data collection methods can be effectively analysed with a qualitative synthesis.     

OUTCOMES OF ELDERHOSTEL PARTICIPATION

A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to determine in what ways and to what extent elderly women perceived a change in their knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors as result of participation in an Elderhostel program. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 12 participants of five Elderhostel programs in a western state. Glaser and Strauss's (1967) method for developing grounded theory was used to analyze the interview information. Interviews produced six general‐outcome themes and 11 subthemes. General‐outcome themes were appreciations, Elderhostel support, social contact, travel, learning, and follow‐up activities. The 11 subthemes were cultural appreciation, other appreciation, self‐appreciation, historical appreciation, Elderhostel loyalty, recruitment of others, social contact, travel, content learning, general learning, and follow‐up activities. The particular educational needs of the elderly described by McCluskey (1971)—coping, influence, expressive, and contributive needs—were met for these women through their Elderhostel participation. Some higher education goals (e.g., cognitive learning, direct satisfaction and enjoyment of higher education, and advancement of knowledge in social welfare) were also met by this program.