Social Justice,Democratic Education and the Silencing of Words that Wound

In recent years, research within the sociocultural perspective on moral learning has contributed important knowledge about how individuals develop their moral ability by participating in sociocultural activities. To a lesser extent, sociocultural research has focused on the role of individual continuity in these processes. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the progress of the sociocultural perspective by suggesting an approach that allows for an in situ analysis of how individuals' prior experiences take part in the processes of moral meaning‐making, which also takes sociocultural activity into consideration. The philosophical and methodological basis for this approach consists of a combination of Dewey's transactional perspective on meaning‐making and Wittgenstein's first‐person perspective on language use. The article contains an empirical example that illustrates this approach. This analysis shows how prior experiences are re‐actualised in an event and thus participate in the process of moral meaning‐making, as well as contributing to the substance of the meanings made.     

Improving Practice through Reflective Enquiry: confessions of a first‐time action researcher

A number of key constructs underpin educational action research. This paper focuses on the concept of ‘truth’ and by doing so hopes to highlight some debate in this area. In reflecting upon what ‘truth’ might mean to those involved in action research, I shall critically evaluate Thorndike's ‘Law of Effect’ and Bruner's ‘Three Forms of Representation’, and explain how these perspectives might help us find ‘the truth’ of an area under study and how they might inform the methodology of research. I shall close by suggesting that teacher‐researchers should allow for a constructivist approach in their action research methodology in order to help them in their sense‐making process.     

Author Reply

The purpose of this article is to examine factors that influence how Black female athletic administrators negotiate their personal identity. Negotiation of identities is not only about what people say and do, but where and when they do it, as well as with whom they do it. Thus, it is important to identify social, personal, and organizational factors that influence identity negotiation outcomes. In doing so, this article integrates Thomas and Ely's (1996) diversity perspectives with behavioral confirmation theory and Swann's (1987) theory of self-verification to gain an understanding of the mechanisms and processes that influence Black female athletic administrators' and coaches' identity negotiation outcomes. Six propositions are advanced concerning how personal factors, social status, organizational status, and three diversity perspectives (integration and learning, discrimination and fairness, and access and legitimacy), can support Black females in verifying their self views or conforming their identity to others' expectations.     

Using symbolic interactionism insights as an approach to helping the individual with Asperger's syndrome overcome barriers to social inclusion

This article outlines a case for using symbolic interactionism as a tool to help individuals with Asperger's syndrome reconcile situations in which communication might prove challenging. This study builds on previous work carried out by the author which describes an autoethnographical approach to help the individual with Asperger's syndrome gain insights into ways to engage effectively with the social situations they encounter. It is well documented that those with Asperger's syndrome find many social situations challenging and that commonly understood verbal and non‐verbal communication ‘signs’ and ‘symbols’ may be difficult for them to interpret in ways intended by others. It is within this context that the work seeks to examine communication issues in terms of the symbolic interactionism notion of the ‘Me’ and how this understanding can help the individual with Asperger's syndrome model their own behaviour from a symbolic interactionism point of view. The article begins with a discussion of the background to the research and how an inability to read the communication ‘signs’ and ‘symbols’ around them can make it difficult for the learner with Asperger's syndrome to have a commonly held understanding of the social setting in which he or she operates. The work gives a personal insight from a person with Asperger's syndrome into how symbolic interactionism coupled with autoethnography can be used as tools to enable the learner with Asperger's syndrome to explore the nature of communication patterns under such circumstances. The work includes vignettes which highlight experience from such a personal perspective.     

Durkheim,Sir Fred Clarke and English Education

This paper considers some of the decisions that researchers take and raises issues around researcher reflexivity, identity, values and ethics. It focuses attention on researchers and reflects on how the research they do, the topics they investigate, the methodologies they espouse, the methods they use and the writing/reporting styles they adopt, can have implications both in terms of their career development and with regard to their personal integrity and moral positioning. It is something of a truism to state that the sorts of research that get done depend upon the decisions researchers make. However, the relationship between research completed and in the public domain and individual researchers' choices is by no means a simple or straightforward one.     

Scholarly knowledge. Textbooks in early modern Europe

It is the contention of this article that examinations of the content of the reading syllabi used in schools should be balanced by a consideration of the leisure reading available to the children required to study those reading syllabi. In this way, a more complete picture is made available of the social attitudes and values placed before children in their in‐school and out‐of‐school reading. This approach is germane to nineteenth century children's literature written in English since there is evidence that many English speaking authorities of that time held that the reading matter to which children were exposed could influence them powerfully. This study therefore examines the prescribed school reading and the commercial publications available in the market in a particular region in the second half of the nineteenth century as a case study of the interrelationships between the content of the two. It would be useful if researchers in other countries undertook to see if similar patterns of relationships have existed between these materials in their respective regions.     

The impact of intensive ‘value for money’ performance auditing in educational systems

The starting point for this article is the authors' ongoing collaborative enquiry into professional practice, which primarily aims to improve and develop our roles in Staff and Educational Development in Higher Education (HE). Part of this action research cycle includes an empirical study carried out in the authors' institution to find out how academic colleagues view their work practices. They identify the major difficulties faced in supporting the professional development of these staff and argue that to be effective within a culture that encourages individualism, and that is driven by a disciplinary-research agenda, those who have responsibility for academic professional development should promote the idea of teachers as researchers. They argue that a research approach to development, centred on individual practice and learning, should be considered by those who engage in professional learning. Beyond these issues, the study also provides a snapshot of academic values in a research-led Higher Education Institution in Britain in the late 1990s.     

Exploring children's learning stories as an assessment method for research and practice

The purpose of this study was to apply and explore, in the context of an Icelandic preschool, the methods developed by the New Zealand Te Whaariki curriculum to assess children's well‐being and learning dispositions. This article describes the process of piloting learning stories as a research method, where researchers and preschool teachers cooperate in generating data. Data were generated by means of interviews, observations and documentation, following a research process in which learning stories were documented, reflected upon and analysed by the researchers and teachers, where possible in cooperation with the four‐ to five‐year‐old children. The learning stories were constructed and analysed using the five domains of learning dispositions identified in the Te Whaariki curriculum. The study asks how a collaborative approach to assessing children's well‐being and learning dispositions could be used in preschools both for professional learning and for research purposes. The findings show children as skilful communicators who are capable of finding solutions and reacting to various situations arising from the social context of the preschool. The study demonstrates that documenting children's learning stories enables researchers to focus on children's strengths and capabilities, and adds to preschool teachers' knowledge of individual children and groups.     

Cyberbullying and moral disengagement: an analysis based on a social pedagogy of pastoral care in schools

The practice of cyberbullying in its various forms carried out by pupils has increased substantially. Many pupils, on a daily basis, are now using electronic devices such as mobile phones, smart phones and tablets, to transmit distressing messages and images to their peers. These often include the use of publically accessible social networking sites, such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Given this increase, cyberbullying in schools has been widely investigated by researchers in many countries. A common feature of cyberbullying is the moral disengagement of those who practise it, based on the desensitization of prosocial values and emotional empathy towards another person. A consensus has emerged regarding the importance of establishing anti-cyberbullying policies and practices, and the need to address cyberbullying within the school’s pastoral care system and its personal and social education programme. However, few researchers have justified anti-cyberbullying practices within the framework of a particular educational theory. This paper examines how the theoretical and methodological assumptions underpinning a social pedagogy of pastoral care in schools can enable the education community to better understand and avert the moral disengagement which commonly underpins cyberbullying.     

Troubling criteria: A critical commentary on Furlong and Oancea's framework for assessing educational research

Furlong and Oancea's influential framework for assessing the products of applied and practice‐based educational inquiry raises some important issues about the criteria by which research should be judged. They begin by outlining the current significance of the issue, and some of the uncertainties surrounding the definition of applied and practice‐based inquiry. They then present four sets of criteria by which such research can be assessed, covering, in shorthand terms, epistemic, technical, practical and economic dimensions. The issue of assessment criteria has recently been highlighted by public criticism of the quality of educational research, by attempts to incorporate qualitative work into systematic reviews, as well as by the continuing disputes generated by major methodological divisions among qualitative researchers. In this article, several aspects of the framework offered by Furlong and Oancea are examined. To start with, there is a discussion of the mode of argument they employ, and of how they define ‘applied and practice‐based educational research’. It is argued that explicit justification is not presented for some key, and controversial, elements of the argument. One of these is the idea that a new social contract is required between educational researchers and the funders and non‐academic users of their work. The nature of the proposed contract is examined, through a discussion of to whom educational researchers should be accountable, how, and for what. It is argued that the typology of research offered by Furlong and Oancea is inadequate, and an alternative is proposed. The ways that the authors formulate the four sets of criteria by which research should be judged are also examined in some detail. It is suggested that there are potentially serious conflicts amongst these criteria, and that by no means all of them are appropriate standards in terms of which educational researchers, of any kind, should be held accountable.     

Teaching Organization Theory and Practice: An Experiential and Reflective Approach

The organization is often the overlooked level in social work's ecological perspective. However, organizational realities exert a profound influence on human development and well‐being as well as the nature and quality of social work practice. This article describes a model of teaching organization theory and practice which requires master's social work students to assess their school of social work as well as their field placement agencies. Teaching organization theory and practice experientially may help students understand how organizations influence practice and empower them to see organization practice as a legitimate and important aspect of their work.     

Making 'Good Citizens': The social and political attitudes of PGCE students

This article arises from a research project examining the understanding of 'citizenship' amongst trainee teachers in UK primary and secondary schools. The study covers attitudes to a broad range of social, political and moral issues and examines how these affect the students' perception of the socio-political dimension of their future professional role. Tracking a group of students through their postgraduate training year highlights the relationship between the individual's political world-view and their response to the school experience. One of the key findings is the high degree of political disengagement and cynicism about the operation of democracy in the UK; this is particularly strong amongst the youngest students, those coming to adulthood during the 1990s. Although the majority of students are positively inclined to fostering 'good citizenship values' in schools, there was much confusion over what it means to be 'a good citizen'. The concept of 'citizenship' was felt to be tainted with negative imagery, although a sense of 'being part of a community' was thought to be vital for social cohesion. In addition to this, a small minority of students displayed social attitudes and values incompatible with a pluralist, tolerant society. The teacher education experience did not appear to have given students a clear picture of what to teach or how to teach it, and both the pressures of the National Curriculum and the changing climate of schooling, favouring a more 'traditionalist' approach, may result in a greater unwillingness to tackle challenging issues.     

Monetary Reward Versus the National Ideological Agenda: career choice among Chinese university students

Abstract

This paper studies university students’ job‐selection criteria as an indicator of how socio‐economic forces have deconstructed the state‐supported value system in China in the course of reformatting a society in which money‐power has risen to combat not only political control but moral forces. The analysis is based on the surveys conducted by Chinese researchers in various institutes and different regions between 1990 and 1995. The study suggests the increasing importance of “a good income” in graduate job selection, which is a reflection of a set of new concepts competing with the official ideology. Growing market forces, translated into educational reform as “economic efficiency”, have undermined the effectiveness of political‐moral education. Because of the collapse of traditional values and the lack of new ethical standards of conduct, “money talks” has become a norm guiding social behaviours and personal relationships, and has helped form a force to resist the power of political‐moral education.     

The role of research and development to improve STS education: experiences from the PLON project

This paper outlines four stages of a research‐development cycle based on experiences with a Dutch physics curriculum development project (PLON), in which STS aspects are integrated. Through examples it is illustrated that research on first and second version materials is essential, but its value should not be overestimated. The authors are convinced that STS education also needs in‐depth research studies in order to survive. Two important topics are mentioned. One is the legitimation of specific contents (scientific concepts and personal and social contexts) of STS curricula. The second topic regards lay‐ideas on those scientific concepts that are seen as important for pupils’ use in personal and social contexts. As an example a current research‐development programme is described that deals with learning to assess the risks of ionizing radiation.     

‘Learning Careers’ or ‘Assessment Careers’? The Impact of Assessment Systems on Learning

Two increasingly important strands in current educational thinking are reflected in growing interest amongst researchers, policy‐makers and qualification designers in formative assessment strategies that motivate learners and enhance their educational attainment. In addition, a body of research suggests that learners develop ‘learning careers’ from primary education, through the National Curriculum into post‐compulsory education and beyond. This article engages with this work in order to highlight some key factors in ‘learning careers’, particularly in relation to the impact of formative assessment practices. It aims to relate findings from research on formative assessment in primary and further education, carried out by the authors, to studies which use Bourdieu's notions of ‘habitus’, ‘field’, ‘cultural capital’ and ‘social capital’ to explore learning careers and learning identities in different sectors of education. The article evaluates whether the concept of ‘assessment careers’ illuminates a specific strand within young people's ‘learning careers’. In particular, it asks whether the concept might offer more precise insights about how practices produced by different assessment systems, particularly those purporting to promote formative assessment, affect learners' identities and dispositions for learning.     

The social nature of saintliness and moral action: a view of William James's Varieties in relation to St Ignatius and Lawrence Kohlberg

This article argues that William James's thinking in The Varieties and elsewhere contains the view that social institutions, such as religious congregations and schools, are mediators between the private and public spheres of life, and are necessary for transforming personal feelings, ideals and beliefs into moral action. The Exercises of St Ignatius and the Just Community moral education approach serve as examples. Criticisms of the more commonly held view that James recognised only individual personal experiences as valid religious expressions are marshalled. Furthermore, we argue that moral action or saintliness, the ultimate expression of religious faith according to James, is fundamentally social. The commonalities that the phenomenologies of moral action of St Ignatius and Lawrence Kohlberg have with William James's view are used to support the argument.     

Informed consent,gatekeepers and go‐betweens: negotiating consent in child and youth‐orientated institutions

Gaining informed consent from research participants is widely regarded as central to ethical research practice. This article reports on research which sought to identify contemporary practice in this area amongst researchers working in fields where research participants are often constructed as vulnerable within the research process, and where their potential involvement tends to be mediated by institutional gatekeepers. Drawing on telephone interview and focus group data, the article focuses specifically on the experiences of researchers working with children and young people. It highlights the tensions experienced by many researchers between a personal commitment to an ethical framework which seeks to prioritise the agency and competency of children and young people, and the conditions imposed upon them by working within institutional settings where these principles may be undermined. This research suggests that the consent practices of child‐ and youth‐orientated institutions, however much frowned upon, tend to go largely unchallenged by researchers, to the detriment of the rights of children and young people to opt in and out of research on their own behalf.     

Collaboration in the Assessment Process: An initial evaluation of collaboration on an undergraduate business and management course

It is often claimed that collaborative approaches to assessment improve student performance and help students to develop key transferable skills. There are, however, considerable difficulties associated with the introduction and management of such approaches. This article utilises the author's experience of introducing collaborative assessment on an undergraduate business and management course. The article focuses on the role of values, and how both student and lecturer values can have a significant influence on their attitude to such forms of assessment. The paper concludes by suggesting that we should attempt to obtain a more in-depth understanding of student and staff values, and try to address these when introducing collaborative assessment. It also suggests that an incremental approach might be adopted in order to foster commitment, help create a culture of co-operation, and facilitate an action research approach that enables those involved to learn from their experience.     

Moral development as the personal education of feeling and reason: from James to Piaget

This article traces the connection between William James's writings in The Varieties of Religious Experience and Jean Piaget's work on moral development through Piagets early work on religious experience. James characterises religious experience as unlocking deep personal power that can sustain a “strenuous mood”. These ideas impacted the early work of Piaget on religious experience through the influence of Henri Bergson and The´odore Flournoy, both friends of James. The shared depth-psychology approach to religious experience of James and Piaget is important to current debates on spiritual and moral education.