Expanding and sustaining arts-based educational research as practitioner inquiry

ABSTRACT

As practitioner inquiry is now established as a widely-recognized research tradition and flourishing movement for educational change, we might consider ways that practitioner inquiry could be conceptualized and executed to broaden implementation, deepen understanding, and sustain inquiry within teacher education. Arts-based research may be an ideal methodology for the extension and sustainment of such inquiry as its visual, performative orientation lends itself to participant engagement and provides access in the representation and dissemination of results. This article will put forth models for advancing arts-based practitioner inquiry within the field of teacher education, by drawing from multiple cycles of a dual-layered, ABER study. This vision of arts-based practitioner inquiry is that of inclusion, increasing the number of those who conduct and interact with research; collaboration, blurring boundaries between the inquiries of teacher educators and pre-service teachers; accessibility, tapping into the power of the arts to engage and communicate in ways that scientific language cannot; and continued engagement, using learning from one cycle to inform inquiry in the next.     

Clarifying the purposes of educational assessment

This article concerns the importance of clarity in thinking and talking about certain core concepts of educational assessment. It begins by identifying three quite distinct interpretations of the term ‘assessment purpose’. It continues by challenging the supposed distinction between ‘formative’ and ‘summative’—arguing that the latter only applies to a kind of assessment result while the former only applies to a kind of use of assessment results. It ends by illustrating the wide range of uses to which assessment results might be put and stresses the importance of not concealing important distinctions by locating multiple discrete purposes within a small number of misleading categories.     

论教育目的的预设与生成

传统上,人们普遍认为教育目的应该在教育活动开展之前预设。实际上,教育目的除在教育活动开展前进行预设外,还可在教育活动开展过程中不断生成,两种处于不同位置的教育目的本质不同,各有生长空间,不存在非此即彼的两难抉择。就当下而言,必须厘定预设性教育目的合理性的限度,留出生成性教育目的存在的领地与空间。     

Language promotion for educational purposes: The example of Tanzania

Kiswahili is one of the most widely used languages in East and Central Africa. In Tanzania, where it is the national language, attempts have been made to develop it so that it can be used as an efficient tool of communication in all sectors of the society, including education. This paper shows that although Kiswahili has successfully been promoted as the medium of primary and adult education, at secondary and tertiary levels of education, its position is still precarious. The notion that English and Kiswahili are in complementary distribution is rejected. It is argued that the two languages are in conflict, and that those who are in a better socio-political/economic position have more control of, and better access to, English. In such a situation the right question to ask is not in which domains English is used, butwhy it is used in such domains andwho uses it. The paper further argues that the present sociolinguistic environment makes the use of English as a viable medium unsustainable. For this reason, insistence on the use of English adversely affects the learning process. It is suggested that if Kiswahili became the medium of education at secondary school level and English was taught well as a foreign language, this would help to promote both languages without jeopardising the learning process.

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Zusammenfassung Kiswahili ist eine der meistgesprochenen Sprachen in Ostund Zentralafrika. In Tansania, wo Kiswahili die Nationalsprache ist, versuchte man, die Sprache so weiterzuentwickeln, daß sie als effizientes Kommunikationsmittel in allen Bereichen der Gesellschaft, einschließlich der Erziehung, benutzt werden kann. Diese Studie zeigt, daß die Position des Kiswahili, obwohl in der Grundschule wie in der Erwachsenenbildung erfolgreich gefördert, in Sekundarstufe und höherer Bildung immer noch unsicher ist. Die Vorstellung, daß Englisch und Kiswahili in gegenseitiger Ergänzung verbreitet werden, wird abgelehnt. Man argumentiert, daß die beiden Sprachen in Konflikt stehen und daß diejenigen, die sich in besserer sozialpolitischer oder wirtschaftlicher Position befinden, besser Englisch sprechen und leichteren Zugang zu dieser Sprache haben. In einer solchen Situation lautet die richtige Frage nicht, in welchen Bereichen Englisch gesprochen wird, sondernwarum es dort angewendet wird undvon wem. In der Studie wird weiter ausgeführt, daß die gegenwärtigen sozio-linguistischen Gegebenheiten für die Verwendung des Englischen als brauchbares Medium nicht ausreichen. Aus diesem Grund beeinflußt das Beharren auf der englischen Sprache den Lernprozeß ungünstig. Es wird die Meinung vertreten, daß, wenn Kiswahili Erziehungsmedium auf der Sekundarschulebene wird und man Englisch als Fremdsprache unterrichtet, beide Sprachen gefördert würden, ohne den Lernprozeß zu gefährden.

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Résumé Le kiswahili est une des langues les plus répandues en Afrique orientale et centrale. La Tanzanie, dont la langue nationale est le kiswahili, a fait des tentatives pour promouvoir celle-ci de manière qu'on puisse l'utiliser en tant qu'instrument de communication efficace dans tous les secteurs de la société, incluant celui de l'éducation. Le présent article montre que bien que cette langue ait été promue avec succès en tant que langue d'enseignement dans le primaire et le secondaire, sa position reste précaire aux niveaux secondaire et tertiaire. On rejette la notion de la distribution complémentaire de l'anglais et du kiswahili. On soutient que ces deux langues sont en conflit, et que ceux qui ont une meilleure situation socio-politique/économique maîtrisent mieux l'anglais auquel ils ont aussi plus facilement accès. Dans une situation de ce genre, la question n'est pas de savoir dans quels domaines on utilise l'anglais, maispourquoi il l'est dans tel ou tel domaine etqui l'emploie. Cet article prétend par ailleurs que le milieu socio-linguistique actuel rend impossible l'emploi de l'anglais comme instrument praticable. C'est pour cette raison que l'insistance sur l'emploi de l'anglais a des effets dommageables sur le processus d'apprentissage. On affirme qu'il serait possible de contribuer à la promotion des deux langues sans nuire au processus d'apprentissage si le kiswahili devenait le moyen d'instruction dans le secondaire et si l'anglais y était enseigné comme seconde langue.

     

The structure of educational research

Educational research is widely construed as the scientific investigation of the causes of ‘effective’ teaching. Discussion of values and philosophical problems is condemned as descent into ‘ideology’. Opposing this is a conception of teaching as phronesis where educational research and philosophy may be desirable, but have no direct relationship to practice. It is contended in this article that both of these views are misconceived. In educational research, empirical questions are secondary, values are central, and philosophical investigation is central to the determination of these. Philosophy, not social science, directly governs policy and practice; virtue governed by logic, not causation under natural law, is the principal explanatory concept. Educational research, then, is logically tied to practice. This sanctions not the authoritarian ‘methods that work’ project, but a pluralistic conception of research anchored in the autonomy of teachers and pupils.     

The invisible impact of educational research

Although there are policy calls for educational research to discover ‘what works’ and thereby inform decision making directly, the research literature argues instead for research to have a ‘conceptual’ impact on practice. Empirical studies also suggest that, when teachers use research, their use is conceptual; research influences the content and the process of their thinking, changing attitudes and perceptions and making educational decision making more intelligent. This study investigates the ways in which educational research has achieved impact on practice from the perspective of the researchers. A sample of highly-rated impact case studies in the UK’s research assessment exercise (REF2014) were subject to content analysis, using qualitative coding techniques. Analysis shows that most research is ‘invisible’ to education practitioners because it is embedded in educational policies, technologies, and services. This ‘invisible use’ is unlikely to realise the conceptual benefits claimed for research utilisation. If educational research is to make educational decision making more intelligent at its point of use, it will be necessary to re-think current notions of quality in research impact.     

初二物理1-5章检测题

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