The role of the Virtual School in supporting improved educational outcomes for children in care

ABSTRACT

In England, ‘Virtual Schools’ oversee and support the educational progress of children in care. This paper reports on the analysis of 16 interviews with Virtual School headteachers that were part of two mixed methods research projects on the educational progress of children in care. These interviews explored their role; the types of support they offer young people in care; what they see as the key factors about a young person’s individual characteristics and care experiences that influence their educational outcomes; how schools support young people in care; and the influence of the foster carer/residential staff on the educational outcomes of these children. The interviews were analysed using NVivo and emerging themes were identified informed by the literature on the education of children in care. The paper draws out the main findings which explore the status and role of Virtual Schools in England, their functions, strategies, and what they see as their contribution to improving the educational outcomes of children in care.     

Discourse,power interplays and ‘disordered identities’: an intersectional framework for analysis and policy development

While acknowledging the discursive constitution of student identities through the interplay of unequal power relations and discriminatory processes, the article discusses the ways in which social, emotional and behaviour difficulties (SEBD) are ‘produced’ and ‘managed’ within current schooling. SEBD are routinely framed in terms of ‘psychopathologisation’ and managed through zero-tolerance policies and punitive interventions. In this way ‘difference’ is framed as a ‘behavioural problem’ in schools and used, as an ontological a priori, to legitimise the construction and management of subjectively defined ‘disordered identities’ through disciplinary procedures. Issues of power and identity politics are central to any attempt to analyse the complex and intersecting social and discursive factors which contribute to the construction, negotiation and definition of ‘disordered identities’. It is suggested that a human rights approach to difference and diversity requires that ‘challenging behaviour’ and ‘SEBD’ are understood and managed on the basis of an intersectionality-based policy analysis (IBPA) framework and that such an analysis should inform development of policies which take a holistic and socially just approach to understanding and managing students’ problem behaviour.     

‘Hope in failure’: A Level students,discursive agency,post-feminism and feminism

This article begins with Pollock’s comment that Judith Butler ‘finds hope in failure’ and its aim is to explore what ‘hope in failure’ means in relation to A Level students’ engagements with post-feminism and feminism. The article grounds its argument in an exploration of how post-feminism and feminism intersect with sixth form students’ subjectivities through the educational practices of their second-year A Level subject-based research. The article analyses empirical instances of students’ discursive agency through Butler’s notions of performativity, citationality, excessive signification and resignification to consider the complex, multiple and creative ways in which sixth form students produce themselves as viable gendered subjects in relation to post-feminist and feminist discourses. The analysis considers both how discourse regulates and conditions students’ relations with post-feminism and feminism and how discourse contains the possibilities for the subject to refuse the refusal of feminism in popular culture. Through its analysis of how students use their discursive agency to claim a feminist identity, and how these uses constitute transgressive practices, the article explores the political significance of identifications with feminism in doing gender differently. It ends with an argument for the re-consideration of the apparently assured popular cultural ‘failure’ of feminism in post-feminist neoliberal times.     

Fragmented spaces in the urban landscape: A socio-spatial analysis of educational supply in the city of Madrid

The geography of school choice critically shapes families’ educational opportunities. Residential segregation, social inequalities and the educational marketplace interact in complex ways and produce spatialised educational opportunities for families. This paper analyses the link between these dimensions and how they structure families’ educational opportunities in the city of Madrid. Based on several administrative datasets that capture students’ residential location, their socio-economic position, the schools they attend and the characteristics of school supply, our analysis reveals the uneven spatial distribution of the different school modalities in Madrid, where advantaged families and neighbourhoods have more diversified and socio-economically homogenous nearby schooling options. The results also depict the way the city is spatially divided along a continuum of ‘privileged’ residential and educational assets. The paper reflects on how reforms expanding school choice and diversification of the educational market undertaken by the regional government may have increased the link between residential and school segregation.     

Capturing the Nurture approach: experiences of young pupils with SEBD

In the UK, children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) may engage with the Nurture approach: a therapeutic model of educational intervention. Despite growing evidence that this approach can promote the developmental and educational attainment of these children, there has been little emphasis on how children might relate their own experiences here. In focusing on a group of young children with SEBD, this study used a combination of drawings and interviews to explore how these unique children perceived their immersion in this particular approach. Most children discerned differences in their past and present personal classroom experiences, and their understanding of the Nurture approach was of a positive nature. It is suggested that a combination of methods may be useful in helping to gauge pupil response and progress regarding this type of intervention. The benefits of acknowledging the perceptions of ‘challenging’ pupils and how this might inform future principles and practice are considered.     

State disinvestment,technologies of choice and ‘fitting in’: neoliberal transformations in US public education

Given state cuts to US public education, overcrowding and underfunding in urban district schools continue to grow. Yet, how parents understand the role of state disinvestment on underfunded and overcrowded public schools remains relatively unexamined. Drawing from an ethnographic study of school choice in Arizona, I explore how a group of white parents from diverse income and educational levels, who exited their child from a district school to enroll in a charter school, articulated state disinvestment in their everyday lives. Findings show that parents blamed local schools for what were largely the effects of state disinvestment. In particular, parents connected underfunding and overcrowding with a lack of district responsiveness to individual concerns to express the view that dire conditions were a personal and not a collective problem. Concurrent with the view that they were ‘were forced to choose’ a charter school due to a lack of district responsiveness, parents developed the belief that choice makes education more equal, especially for students who don’t ‘fit in’ to the district school. In total, findings highlight how technologies of choice enter into local cultural and material struggles to transform the relationship between parents and schools from a social to an economic one.     

The irony of rigor: ‘no-excuses’ charter schools at the intersections of race and disability

Across the United States, the ‘no-excuses’ charter school movement featuring strict discipline policies and rigorous academic standards has gained popularity among schools serving poor and working-class students of color. In this article, we examine how Black and Latinx parents of students with disabilities¹ negotiated and experienced these charter school practices of rigor, which disciplined, managed, and regulated students’ social differences. Drawing from a yearlong qualitative research study, we examine interviews with Black and Latinx parents who experienced conflict with charter schools and the school lawyers, along with school artifacts we gathered such as parent handbooks and website information. We found parents experienced what we refer to as the ‘irony of rigor:’ the contradictory double-movement through which students of color with disabilities desired inclusion into ‘rigorous’ charter schools which then excluded them using ‘rigor’ as a central feature of student pushout practices. We present the irony of rigor in three interrelated acts: Act I: the lure of rigor (i.e. what drew parents to charter schools); Act II: the body meets rigor (i.e. how schools disciplined and managed student differences); and Act III: the consequences of rigor (i.e., what happened to students and parents while and after experiencing rigorous practices). We contextualize the irony of rigor within the relationship between disability, race, and neoliberalism.     

An assessment framework for inclusive education: integrating assessment approaches

Teachers committed to inclusive education have the potential to revolutionise pedagogical and assessment practices within regular classrooms simply because students with high needs challenge traditional assumptions about what it means ‘to learn’ and ‘to assess’. This creates opportunities for teachers to find creative ways to ascertain what and how a child learns, and how these assessment results can be communicated to the child, parents, the school and funding bodies to enable further learning. This paper explores diverse assessment practices including criterion-based, normative, ipsative and self-assessment, with both formative and summative functions, reported as being used by teachers in New Zealand who teach students with high needs. These multiple approaches can be integrated into learning stories to ‘narrate’ student learning. An assessment framework is introduced to support teachers to appreciate the functionality of an integrated assessment approach to document student learning and outcomes, arguably a framework applicable for all learners.     

Dissenting academies and the education of the laity, 1750-1850

In 1898, students at the University of Toronto founded Torontonensis, the university’s first yearbook. Fashioned as a remembrance of university, from its inception the yearbook was fraught with conflict and contestation particularly around how male students were represented and how their college experiences were made, and not made, meaningful. The vociferous debates that ensued in campus newspapers, particularly among the graduating classes, fractured the ostensibly smooth recounting of this ‘souvenir remembrance’, bringing into question who is allowed to ‘speak’ on behalf of whom and what it is acceptable to ‘say’. The authors enquire into the way university yearbooks served to construct normative definitions of what constituted ‘students’, ‘student cultures’ and forms of gendering within the educational landscapes in which they were enmeshed. Through an examination of Torontonensis, they highlight the multiple and often contradictory meanings and constructions of the student yearbook from the perspectives of their producers, subjects and audiences.     

Teacher strategies to support the social participation of students with SEBD in the regular classroom

It is known that schoolteachers have difficulties supporting students with Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBD) in inclusive classroom settings. Despite the literature providing strategies for schoolteachers, little is known about strategy use in daily practice to influence the social participation of students with SEBD, and whether different strategies are used for students with different types of SEBD. Accordingly, the aim of this study was twofold: (1) to identify which strategies are suggested by primary schoolteachers as influencing the social participation of students with SEBD in the inclusive classroom; and (2) to investigate whether primary schoolteachers suggest different strategies for students with internalising and externalising behavioural difficulties. Qualitative data were collected through focus group meetings with Dutch primary schoolteachers (N = 41) and analysed with a multi-grounded theory approach. This resulted in a conceptual model demonstrating that the participants not only suggest strategies primarily focused on supporting social participation, but also suggest pre-conditional strategies, despite the differences between internalising and externalising behavioural difficulties in terms of characteristics and needs. The results are discussed in light of further investigation for schoolteacher support to meet the specific academic and social needs of all students, with or without SEBD.     

The influence of occupational socialisation upon the teaching of pupils experiencing social and emotional behavioural difficulties (SEBD) in physical education

Research within physical education (PE) utilising the occupational socialisation framework indicates that the childhood phase of socialisation is the most powerful phase of socialisation. However, for most teachers working with pupils experiencing special educational needs (SEN), the childhood phase often lacks direct experience of SEN and thus ceases to exist as a socialising force. Consequently, the higher education and workplace phases form a ‘salvaged’ phase upon which to base pedagogical approaches (Pugach). In light of this dichotomy, the aims of this case study were to (1) examine how one PE head of department (HOD) in a specialist social and emotional behavioural difficulties (SEBD) school taught year 9 pupils games; (2) identify factors that led to such instruction and (3) consider the influence of the three phases of occupational socialisation on her pedagogical approaches. Data collection methods consisted of formal and informal interviews and lesson observations. The data were inductively analysed, and themes were drawn from this process. Using a systematic learning approach, lessons were game orientated based around pupil decision‐making and limited technical practice. Factors influencing this practice were her exploratory outdoor activity experiences and the nature of the pupils. In contrast to Pugach, this research indicates that the childhood phase of socialisation can provide an ‘apprenticeship of observation’ for those teaching PE to pupils experiencing SEBD. That such perceptions can be strongly held suggests that prior examination of the childhood biographies of those recruited to PE teacher training and/or PE teachers teaching pupils who experience SEBD appears warranted.     

Making death,compassion and partnership ‘part of life’ in school communities

Death can be considered a social taboo, a common source of fear and public avoidance. School communities are not immune to this, as the topic of death is constantly avoided. It is vital to understand how we can socially and culturally cultivate a positive regard for death, dying and bereavement in our school communities. Community members need to discuss these difficult issues and use strategies to enhance compassion, connectedness and support. In this literature review we reason that death is specifically not ‘part of life’ in school communities. Due to the dearth of school community-based literature on this issue and the progressive literature residing in palliative care, we aim to coalesce palliative care and school-based research, evaluate it and highlight compassion and partnership as a way forward for school communities. Essentially, our societal attitudes about death and dying have been profoundly altered and our community ownership of these normal life events has largely disappeared. This is demonstrated for example, by palliative care moving from the social grass roots ‘modern hospice movement’ formed in the 1960s and being reintegrated into the mainstream health care system by the end of the 1990s, resulting in an overall medicalised morphing of death, dying and bereavement issues. Therefore, we recommend that further research be conducted in how to develop compassionate schools to inform us how death may be continually made ‘part of life’ in school communities, for the benefit of students, teachers and families alike.     

Parents are not born,they are made: a critical discourse analysis of an educational magazine in Flanders (Belgium)

Central to this article is a case study of one particular governmental instrument in Flanders, the educational magazine ‘Klasse voor Ouders’ (Klasse for Parents). This popular magazine aims to provide information for and communication with parents as one of the target groups in the educational field. Despite the claimed formal and neutral character, in this study, we assume that ‘Klasse voor Ouders’ plays a larger role by contributing to the (re-)organisation of the public debate. We suggest that through the ‘order of discourse’ and thus, through what is said and written, an educational reality is created in which parents and the government are ‘positioned’ and are asked to reflect on themselves and to act in a well-defined way. By means of a critical discourse analysis in line with Fairclough, we illustrate how parents are understood as having a continuous ‘drive’ for improving the quality of their own parenting practice while the government is positioned as in charge of and in control for creating a kind of ‘parental learning community’.     

Every voice matters: evaluating residential provision at a special school

This article, written by Fiona Hallett, pathway leader for the inclusion and special educational needs masters programmes at Edge Hill University, Graham Hallett, senior lecturer for special educational needs and inclusion at the University of Cumbria, and Mary McAteer, programme leader for an M level professional development programme at Edge Hill University, presents the findings of an evaluative report on the review of residential provision at an identified community special school. Within this review, a consultation was undertaken with parents and pupils to assist in shaping policy and practice, and the main focus of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of that process. By using an evaluative case study approach, it was hoped to document the chronological narrative of the consultation process and offer recommendations as to the effectiveness of participation in this instance. The authors conclude that the qualitative features seen by pupils and parents as having the greatest value suggest a need for high quality, accessible social care, rather than for curricular led, educational residential provision. Fiona Hallett, Graham Hallett and Mary McAteer's critique of the consultation process raises issues relating to the complexities of eliciting a valid pupil perspective. In addition, the authors express concerns about the general conduct of the review regarding bias, validity and the absence of staff voice.     

Change trajectories of aggressive behavior among children in long-term residential care

This study examined change trajectories of aggressive behaviors among children in long-term residential care in Israel and identified various child-, family-, and placement-related predictors of the change trajectories. Records of 799 children (average age at the beginning of the four years = 10.4, 33.1% female) in their first four consecutive years in care were analyzed using the TRF aggressive behavior subscale (Achenbach, 1991) to measure the outcome variable. Children’s and parents’ characteristics and placement-related factors were used to explain variance in change trajectories. Latent Class Growth Analyses identified four aggressive behavior trajectories: ‘stable-low’ levels of aggressiveness over time (45% of the children), ‘stable-high’ levels (13%), ‘improvement’ (20%), and ‘deterioration’ (22%). Predictors of less resilient trajectories (i.e., stable-high or increasing aggressiveness) included mothers’ difficulties and disabilities, children’s attendance of special education classes, more intensive type of care, and non-immigrant status. The Attachment Theory, Life Course Perspective theories, and the General Strain Theory are used to interpret some of the findings of the study. Identifying the factors that predispose children to certain patterns of change may help direct resources to children at risk of having high or increasing levels of aggression while in residential care.     

The I of students with ID or SEBD: A systematic literature review of the self-concept of students with ID or SEBD

With the trend towards inclusive education, today there are many different school settings in which students with an intellectual disability (ID) or social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) are educated. According to the Social Comparison Theory of Festinger, educational contexts influence the self-concept development of these students. This systematic review aims to provide an overview of literature over the last 20 years focusing on the self-concept of students with ID or SEBD in different school settings, in relation to typically developing peers and the relationship between self-concept and various variables. The results of the 15 articles identified for this review mainly indicate neutral self-concept scores. Studies focus primarily on students with ID and on the social and academic dimensions of self-concept. Students in special education tend to score slightly more positive than students in other school settings and students with ID or SEBD report a more negative self-concept than typically developing peers. Most variables included in the studies show no correlation with self-concept. Findings also revealed difficulties in the feasibility of comparison between studies due to statistical shortcomings and lack of clarification in the identified articles. Future directions for self-concept research are discussed comprehensively.     

A Childhood Free of Knowledge? Reflections on German educational policy for the early years

This article, written by a researcher on international comparisons of childhood, contends that educational expectations towards preschool education in Germany have been low for over two decades. Particularly in the 1980s, during a period of stable economic growth, policy for the early years of childhood was primarily discussed in terms of child care, in order to allow more mothers to enter the labour market. Recently, however, the educational potential of the early years is being revisited in a lively debate. Since 1996 a German law guarantees every child beyond age 3 the right to attend a kindergarten and entitles parents to choose a kindergarten suited to their needs and to their expectations concerning educational quality. What, however, is meant by ‘educational quality'? The author and a group of childhood researchers and educational journalists investigated beliefs and suggestions for ‘best practice’ in early education (the ‘World knowledge of seven year olds’, 1996‐1999, project based at the Deutsches Jugendinstitut and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Science.) In 150 in‐depth interviews people of all ages, from diverse strata of society and with varied professional experience, outlined their views on what they believe a 7‐year‐old boy or girl should have encountered, learnt to master or to question during their preschool years. The study results in a more tangible notion of what is meant by ‘key qualifications’ and ‘basic skills’ in the early years and how to promote them in a holistic way.     

‘A second chance at learning but it’s not quite higher education’: experience of a foundation degree

This paper reports on the findings of a recent small scale study into the experiences of mature students of a foundation degree (FD) in health and social care. This was an exploratory study that evaluated one particular FD health and social care programme in order to gain an insight into some of the issues involved in delivering higher education through further education settings, and how mature students ‘make sense’ of themselves as learners on FD programmes. This paper examines the responses of the student interviews which depict them as making sense of themselves as ‘second chance learners’ on an educational programme that is ‘not quite higher education’. Discussion of these themes in terms of Bourdieu’s notions of habitus, field and capital will be offered alongside Weick’s model of sensemaking.     

Greek early childhood educators’ conceptualization of education,care and educare concepts

Drawing on kindergarten teachers’ and University departments’ reactions to the Greek government’s initiative to adopt an integrated Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) system, the present study aimed to explore how various ECEC professional groups working in the two main preschool programs operating in Greece define different aspects inherent to ECEC theory and practice. Results yielded both similarities and differences, with aspects of health and well-being characterized mostly as having both a ‘care’ and an ‘education’ aspect, whereas personal and professional development and communication, management and administrative factors were characterized as educational in nature. Discrepancies were revealed in terms of child development, education and play and social environment factors, with those working in childcare settings defining them as including both ‘care’ and ‘education’ whereas those working in kindergartens defined them as educational in nature.     

Humanism,administration and education: the demand of documentation and the production of a new pedagogical desire

Through the example of a Danish reform of educational plans in early childhood education, this paper analyses the emergence of a new pedagogical desire related to administrative educational reforms promoting accountability, visibility and documentation. Two arguments are made: first, it is argued that the changes in administrative practices during the last decade constitute a transformation, but also a reproduction of relations between knowledge and governing that goes back to the big expansion of the welfare state. Second, it is argued that these relations between knowledge and governing are not restricted to the administrative practices, but are part of education and its humanistic legacy as well. As such, the administrative demand of documentation becomes possible and recognisable through its reproductive elements. Elements that are constituted in a transformative conjunction in which the ‘professional nursery teacher’ is produced as a reflective daily researcher, who outlives her pedagogical desire as an analytical care for the optimisation of the ‘learning child’.