Military mores – an institutional ethnography

ABSTRACT

Military education is for most people an unknown process that takes place behind closed doors. Based on text analysis, eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork, and interviews at the Netherlands Defence Academy, this article seeks to understand military education as a dynamic process between the cadets’ experience and the institute. As such, this study can be understood as an institutional ethnography, intending to open the black-box of military education. This study shows that military education affects cadets in a powerful way. They quickly learn to navigate the ‘underlife’ of the institute by carefully avoiding confrontation with the official structures. In a final discussion, we identify two remarkable paradoxes – perfect imperfection and individual in the system – that we consider exemplary for the learning environment at the NLDA. We argue that the Defence Academy constitutes, in essence, a paradoxical learning environment that influences the character development of the cadets – sometimes in unintended ways.     

The evolution of the European Union’s lifelong learning policies: an institutional learning perspective

The EU’s lifelong learning policy has emerged as an overarching educational reform policy intended to address a wide range of issues, including education, employment and competitiveness. The question has been raised as to whether the resulting policy is merely a catch‐all concept that can be applied to any needs or whether it is underpinned by a comprehensive concept and strategy. This article advances the notion of institutional learning as the selective adoption by organisations of characteristics or policies from other organisations, as opposed to the wholesale homogenisation suggested by institutional isomorphism. Based on our periodisation of international lifelong learning policy, this article argues that a complete historical analysis of the discourse on lifelong learning, coupled with an analysis of the European Commission’s institutional learning from others will give a more appropriate picture of what contributed to the current conceptualisation of lifelong learning.     

Assessment leaders’ perspectives of institutional cultures of assessment: a Delphi study

Institutional cultures of assessment are praised as beneficial to student learning. Yet, extant studies have not explored the theoretical foundations and pragmatic approaches to shaping cultures of assessment. The researchers used the Delphi method to explore 10 higher education assessment leaders’ attitudes and theoretical perspectives regarding cultures of assessment. These expert assessment leaders were iteratively surveyed until a reasonable threshold of consensus was reached. Study participants viewed buy-in as a necessary component of a positive campus culture of assessment, and advice on reshaping negative cultures was offered. Assessment leaders’ guiding theoretical frameworks were implied and loosely defined with metaphors. Finally, advice is offered for improving cultures of assessment by symbolically connecting assessment to student learning through dialogue.     

The concept and profession of ‘englightenment work’: a reaction to Bo Jacobsen

This paper examines the idea that life transition events or turning points are linked with educational participation in adults’ understandings and biographies. The extensive, interdisciplinary literature in this area suggests the importance of such linkages in both theory and practice, and is supported by anecdotal evidence and behaviour. Our analysis focuses on 36 interviews carried out as part of a study of students on two large, local part‐time degree programmes. These students split into two, almost equal groups: those for whom a clear linkage between their current educational participation and one or more life transitional events can be identified, and those for whom no such linkage is readily apparent. Indeed, the latter may be consciously resisting such linkages. They are involved in education for its intrinsic interest, with no immediate instrumental end in view. The idea of life transitional events, while it has its uses, does not form a suitable basis upon which to build satisfying, explanatory theories of adult participation.     

High-tech,hard work: an investigation of teachers’ work in the digital age

This paper explores the ways in which digital technologies are now implicated in the work – and specifically the labour – of school teachers. Drawing upon qualitative studies in two Australian high schools, the paper examines the variety of ways in which teachers’ work is now enacted and experienced along digital lines. In particular, the paper highlights the association of digital technologies with the standardization, evidencing, intensification and altered affect of teachers’ work. The paper questions the extent to which these trends might be seen as constituting ‘new’ forms of labour, with the research data pointing to continuities and disjunctures in terms of teachers’ autonomy and professionalization. The paper also considers how these conditions are experienced in different ways across the teaching workforce. The paper concludes by reflecting on how fairer and/or empowering working conditions might be achievable through alternate uses of digital technology.     

Expedition (auto)ethnography: an adventurer-researcher’s journey

Adventure expeditions are characterised by their unique temporal and spatial separateness from the quotidian and their exploratory and oft times risky nature. As such they offer a multitude of possibilities in research terms for the inquisitive investigator. Few studies however have considered the researcher’s experience of exploring such settings. Primarily methodological in focus, this paper examines the challenges and management of the adventure-researcher’s multiple roles during a sea kayaking expedition. An expedition observation framework is constructed as a tool to aid the conceptualisation of the field. In a candid and reflexive social commentary, the relative and fluid positioning of the researcher in insider-outsider terms is probed and despite their nuanced differences, the interplay of ethnography and autoethnography in achieving this. The concept of existential authenticity as a complementary theoretical framework is used to illustrate the marginality and liminal nature of the adventure scape and the researcher’s task within it.     

The social functions of teachers’ beliefs in an online class

This study presents an investigation of teachers’ beliefs about working with English learners, as constructed in online class discussions. Using conversation and discourse analysis from a discursive psychology (DP) perspective, analysis focuses on the discursive production of beliefs and the social actions achieved by this production in interaction. By orienting to teachers’ beliefs as interactionally emergent phenomena, findings highlight the ways that teachers account for their belief claims and the ways that teachers’ statements of belief work to perform certain social functions within the forum itself, including affiliation and disagreement. Implications for teacher education and for the potential of DP to contribute to research on teachers’ beliefs are discussed.     

“The question of belief”: writing poststructural ethnography

This article engages current poststructural debates over ethnographic representation. It questions three types of ethnographic authority: the authority of empiricism, the authority of language, and the authority of reading. In performing a form of self‐speculative critique, the author moves behind the scenes of her own ethnography, Practice Makes Practice: A Critical Study of Learning to Teach, to consider the problem of what poststructural theories “do” to ethnographic writing. Two related themes are elaborated in relation to how poststructural debates fashioned interpretive efforts: conceptual issues in the poststructural study of teaching and theoretical issues in the production of ethnographic narratives. Can there be an educational ethnography that exceeds the constraints of humanism? What if the ethnographer began not just to question the discourse of others but to engage the relation between the discourses that render ethnography intelligible and the ethnographic report?     

The quality agenda: governance and regulation of preschool teachers’ work

The increased regulation of teachers’ work is a global phenomenon across education sectors. In Australia the governance of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) embeds international priorities for quality improvement in educational programmes. The implementation of a National Quality Framework (NQF) for the assessment of ECEC services has mobilised the production of a suite of regulatory texts. The regulation of teachers’ work is legitimised through the discourse of quality embedded in policy guidelines. Drawing on interview data from preschool teachers, this paper employs institutional ethnography (IE) to investigate teachers’ accounts of producing a Quality Improvement Plan. As teachers operationalise the expectations of quality assurance in the NQF, their work is oriented to gathering evidence of an approved quality of practice. The findings indicate a shift in professional focus to increased documentation of ‘quality of practice’, goal setting and evidence of the collaborative construction of Quality Improvement Plans.     

The work of an academic: Jack of all trades,or master of one?

Abstract

This paper stems from conversations between the authors who recently came to work together in staff and educational development. Having pursued different academic careers in Higher Education (HE), we questioned whether we had a common understanding of our academic community. In particular, we discussed two aspects. First, the extent to which our different disciplinary backgrounds influenced our perspectives on academic practice and our attitudes and approaches to staff and educational development. If we held different views on academic practice, how many other variations were we likely to encounter? Second, we felt it important to be sensitive to the needs of our colleagues in terms of their practices. The research that emanated from our discussions began with an empirical study, reported in this paper. We explore tensions between the various work activities performed by academics at the University of Sheffield. Eighty staff maintained a diary over a specified week early in the academic year 1997‐98. They recorded time spent on the activities of research, teaching, administration, external work, and professional development. Biographical data, including staff grade, length of service in HE, and length of service at the University were collected via a questionnaire attached to the diary. It would appear that the majority of academics surveyed support a role in both teaching and research, with a preference to spend more time on research at the expense of administration but not at the expense of teaching. These empirical data help us to understand more about the role of academics in changing times, and how we, as staff and educational developers, might become more effective and efficient.     

The design and validation of an instrument to measure teachers’ professional development at work

After graduation, it is essential for teachers to continue working on their professional development since they need to be prepared for the requirements of tomorrow's knowledge- and technology-based society, a more varied student and pupil population creating new responsibilities, and higher social expectations from schools and the society as a whole. Although attention for teachers’ professional development at work is increasing, the availability of valid survey instruments that measure their participation in professional development at work is still limited. Based on a literature review, such an instrument was designed. This 21-item self-report measure, using a 4-point rating scale, makes an inventory of teachers’ participation in activities contributing to professional development. The purpose of the instrument is to make teachers, school leaders and other stakeholders aware of whether, and to what degree, teachers engage in learning at work. This is important because ultimately the quality of education depends on it. A survey was administered in 9 Dutch primary schools and 15 Dutch secondary schools. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis confirmed a six-factor structure, and augments earlier findings in the field. The reliabilities of the six subscales were sufficient to good.     

The Effectiveness of a Faculty Training Programme: Long‐term and institutional impact

Long‐term influences of educational development initiatives for novice faculty members are seldom studied in a systematic way. In this exploratory study the long‐term individual and institutional impact of a novice faculty training programme at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) was evaluated, using a written survey with open questions. The results revealed that 2 years after finishing the programme the respondents still referred to the programme as a means of explaining changes in their day‐to‐day teaching practice. No firm relationship could be established between the strength of individual impact and the extent to which respondents also felt inclined to change things at the institutional level. The data suggests that the long‐term impact of the programme depends mainly on contextual elements. The article further discusses implications for the design of faculty training as well as perspectives for further research.

Onderzoek naar de invloed op lange termijn van onderwijskundige professionalisering voor beginnende docenten is schaars. Dit artikel bespreekt de resultaten van een exploratieve studie over de lange termijn invloed van een opleiding voor beginnende docenten aan de universiteit van Antwerpen (België). Met behulp van een schriftelijke vragenlijst met open vragen werd de invloed van de opleiding op individueel en institutioneel niveau nagegaan. De resultaten tonen aan dat de respondenten twee jaar na datum nog steeds naar de opleiding verwijzen wanneer zij veranderingen in hun dagelijkse onderwijspraktijk duiden. Vastgesteld werd dat docenten die getuigen van sterke veranderingen in hun onderwijsopvattingen, ook meer omvattende veranderingen in hun praktijk beschrijven. Er werd geen verband gevonden tussen de sterkte van de veranderingen op individueel niveau en de mate waarin docenten zich geroepen voelden om veranderingen op institutioneel niveau teweeg te brengen. De resultaten laten vermoeden dat de lange termijn invloed van de opleiding vooral afhangt van contextfactoren. Het artikel gaat in op de implicaties van de bevindingen voor het ontwerp van onderwijskundige professionalisering en op de uitdagingen voor verder onderzoek.

L'influence à long terme des initiatives de développement pédagogique destinées aux enseignants universitaires en début de carrière est rarement étudiée de façon systématique. Dans le cadre de cette étude exploratoire, l'impact à long terme et pour l'institution d'un programme de formation pour les nouveaux enseignants donné à l'Université d'Anvers (Belgique) a été évalué à l'aide d'un questionnaire écrit comportant des questions ouvertes. Les résultats tendent à démontrer que, même deux ans après avoir complété le programme, les répondants faisaient toujours référence au programme pour expliquer les changements survenus dans leur pratique quotidienne d'enseignement. Bien que les changements comportementaux correspondent à l'étendue du changement en matière de conceptions de l'enseignement, aucune relation nette n'a pu être établie entre l'impact institutionnel et la vigueur de l'impact individuel. Les données tendent à démontrer que l'impact à long terme du programme dépend principalement d'éléments contextuels. L'article présente aussi des éléments de discussion relatifs au design d'activités de formation pour les enseignants, de même que de nouvelles perspectives de recherche.     

The role of education in development: an educationalist’s response to some recent work in development economics

This paper delves beneath the widespread belief that education (often repackaged as human capital) is important in development to consider the role that the discipline of education plays in shaping the wider discourses of development. In particular, it will explore recent texts by important figures in development economics (Collier, Easterly, Sachs and Stiglitz) to see what they say (and don’t say) about education’s role in development and to contrast this with educationalists’ accounts. This will lead on to a consideration of what the implications of such a reading are for the field of international and comparative education. The paper concludes that the relative marginalisation of educational accounts in mainstream development thinking is a major challenge to which international and comparative education needs to respond.     

Auditing Chinese higher education? The perspectives of returnee scholars in an elite university

Drawing upon fieldwork conducted in an elite Chinese university and English language literature of audit culture in higher education against the backdrop of Chinese higher education in transition, this paper has discovered that Chinese higher education is undergoing an auditing process. However, this Chinese audit regime is not only guarded by a quantifiable scientism, but also by ideological control of communism and a Confucian guanxixue and paternalism to form a new synthesized pattern of governance, and thus is a different form from neoliberal audit culture in the West. Lastly, the paper warns against the threat posed by the collusion of economic and administrative rationalization to academia in China.     

The institutional shaping of children’s educational experiences in secure custody: A case study of a secure children’s home in England

Secure Children’s Homes accommodate some of the most vulnerable children in society and yet they have evaded sustained academic attention. Consequently, little is known about children’s education in this type of setting. Through the lens of institutional ethnography, this paper explores how experiences of education inside one Secure Children’s Home in England are shaped by the institution. This approach makes visible that while the small-scale of the setting is of value, the mix of children accommodated for qualitatively different reasons is problematic for both the delivery of education and the children’s engagement in learning.     

Chinese TEFL academics’ perceptions about research: an institutional case study

Research capacity building has become a prominent theme in higher education institutions in China, as across the world. However, Chinese TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) academics’ research capacity has been quite limited. In order to build their research capacity, it is necessary to understand their perceptions about research. This case study focuses on TEFL academics in a Chinese research university with the purpose of describing their motivation to conduct research, the value they accorded to research and their views about the institutional research requirements. Six TEFL academics from the sample university were interviewed. The findings indicate that the Chinese TEFL academics’ research endeavour was driven by external and internal needs. Research was recognised as having a multi‐dimensional value, but various concerns were expressed about the institutional research requirements. The findings suggest several implications for institutional and departmental research administrators to further support TEFL academics’ research capacity building.     

Teachers’work: Beginning teachers’ conceptions of competence

Worldwide, teachers’ work continues to be the subject of discussion and debate, especially in terms of teacher competence and its appropriate appraisal. Available literature offers a number of perspectives of beginning teacher competence, yet the voices of beginning teachers themselves are not represented. This paper outlines the findings of a phenomenographic study that sought to uncover the conceptions of competence held by beginning teachers. The results of this study suggest that beginning teachers believe that teaching competence requires demonstration of thorough preparation, a sound knowledge base, effective classroom management, professional communication with a range of stakeholders, and an accurate sense of self-awareness in the role of teacher. These conceptions will be compared to a selection of the available literature about teacher competence and associated teaching standards.