The academic and the community meet: two Black,female voices

This paper focuses on some of the life histories and presents experiences of two Black, professional women: one, a university, academic researcher (Doreen), and the other, a state nursery head teacher and research gate-keeper (Syble). We united with a mutual purpose, that is to embark on research into the success of Black children, now adults, of a 1970s Black-led, inner-city community nursery. Although sharing a research stage/agenda, the same gender, racial and social class grouping and thus seemingly having much in common, this paper will show that our stories sometimes vary substantially due to distinctive social, geographical, time-frame, career-choice factors, and personal and professional values. Issues such as identity, culture, citizenship, and race and racism will feature strongly here among some matters arising with regards to femininity and social class. The paper will conclude by emphasizing that among a homogeneous, gender and racial grouping of apparent generalities, individuals exist—a frequent oversight, especially with regards to African-Caribbean people.     

Teacher and student voices: a comparison between two perspectives to study integration processes in Italy

Student voice has become increasingly important in educational research at an international level. Research in Italy on school integration of students with disabilities has almost entirely left behind student voice. The very few researches based on student voice suggest that there is a mismatch between student and teacher voices when faced with the same situation. From a methodological outlook, the collection of data through students’ samples implies some difficulties related to the fact that the study regards children and young students. The present issue becomes even more demanding when children with disabilities are taken into consideration. The aim of this research is to demonstrate the mismatch between the data produced by the teachers and the data produced by the students of the same class. These data are the basis for a study on the importance of student voice in research on school integration. The research was carried out as a multiple case study. Nineteen classes with at least one student with disabilities were involved. The teachers filled in a questionnaire with closed questions about school integration, later compared with the students’ answers to the same questionnaire. A structured observation offered the opportunity to triangulate data thus adding new information on the reliability of the two points of view. The main results show that in all the classes there was at least one question with a significant difference between the students’ and the teachers’ answers; the triangulation of data through observation suggested that the students’ perception was as close to observation as their teachers.     

Negotiating school-university partnerships: Participants' voices in co-reform

Although many educators recognize the importance of voice, fostering voice in those who have traditionally been voiceless has been difficult. This article, like the program that it describes, tackles that challenge by having participants speak for themselves. Specifically, the participants speak about their involvement in the first year of an alternative teacher education project. In describing their involvement, the participants focus on their roles and relationships as well as the type of partnership and collaboration that emerged from this project.     

Generous reading: Discovering dialogic voices in writing

This paper describes an approach to the assessment of EAL written composition in the primary school. It draws upon related work in literacy as social practice and socio‐linguistic approaches to language learning to develop an approach to writing assessment that builds upon students’ linguistic strengths and traces their written words to sources in the immediate context and wider world. Following Joseph Tobin (2000) this approach is described as generous reading. Generous reading references poststructuralist literary theory through a focus on close reading of texts using a multidisciplinary approach. This paper describes the purpose, theory, and methods for generous reading followed by examples and a discussion of implications for instruction and assessment.     

Finding our inner voices: Rediscovering scholarship

This essay explores the need to reconsider how we define, reward, and support scholarship, and the philosophical foundation of what a scholar really is. Noting that only 10 to 15% of the professoriate regularly publish, the author questions if some faculty become stymied and distanced from their work because of the gap that exists between what they want to do and what their institutions expect them to do. Could more faculty find their voices as scholars and public intellectuals if universities and colleges ascribed more value to the scholarships of teaching, practice, and service? The surprising results of a survey of members of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education are included.     

One-to-one laptops in K-12 classrooms: voices of students

In planning educational technology initiatives, the concerns of many stakeholders are typically taken into account, including the concerns of administrators, teachers, parents, and employers. The perspective of students are recognized as valuable, but not often queried or considered. This paper explores the opinions of K-12 students about a one-to-one laptop programme implementation through content analysis of 362 blog postings made by these students expressing their thoughts on the topic at three time points in two years. Employing a bottom-up coding strategy, this paper identified seven themes that represented students’ opinion of technology use in schools: more efficient and productive learning, tools for better writing, access to information, engagement with new media, remaining relevant in a technological world, share and learn from peers, and individualized and differentiated instruction. This study suggested that, when new technology tools are used in schools, students should not only be viewed as learners but also be considered as real writers with valuable opinions. Students also should be provided the opportunity to write for an authentic purpose and audience using diverse forms of digital media.     

Engaging to transform: Hearing black women's voices

Denzin & Lincoln (1994) define five historical moments in qualitative research and present ideas for future moments that focus on dialogue and storytelling of lived experiences in locally situated communities. Our learning community (teacher and students) in an introductory graduate qualitative research course listened to each others' talk on black feminist writings. I used students' reflections to begin to define a powerful moment for the future of qualitative research, the "crisis of de-communitization." This crisis reveals that globalization, environmental degradation, and economic exploitation are eroding the framework for care and nurture in our local communities. Therefore, it invites qualitative researchers to become engaged pedagogues within our communities to create spaces for "honest talk" that opens our hearts and minds to the pains and joys of social diversity. In this moment, qualitative researchers are challenged to write through the lens of difference by committing to four major components that define ways to move out of the crisis: eros, morality, empowerment, and transformation.     

Progress assessment in Chinese distance education: the voices of learners

Progress assessment aims to assess students’ performance and progress during a course of study. Its purpose is primarily developmental—to help students improve learning. Progress assessment is of special value in distance education in that it can motivate or pace distance learners throughout their course of study. It can help the tutor monitor the learning process of distance learners, diagnose their problems and provide prompt help and support. However, few empirical studies have been reported in the literature that address the issue of progress assessment from the perspective of Chinese distance learners. This paper investigates the perceptions of Chinese distance learners with regard to the necessity of progress assessment and the way it is being implemented in practice.     

Critical Communicative Methodology: including vulnerable voices in research through dialogue

This article describes how Critical Communicative Methodology (CCM) has been used successfully to analyse educational inequalities in ways that generate real transformation towards social justice. We begin by arguing that educational research today should employ new methodological approaches that can ensure the inclusion of different voices in social science research and the production of knowledge that transforms social exclusion. We then analyse the main epistemological positions of CCM, based on Habermas’ communicative action theory, and explain how it was implemented in the European Union-funded INCLUD-ED project. Finally, we illustrate how INCLUD-ED has had a social and political impact and we argue that research with vulnerable groups, based on the principles of CCM, can generate social and educational transformation.     

School Exclusions in England: Children's voices and adult solutions?

This paper examines the rise in school exclusions in England in the 1990s. It discusses the definitions and different types of exclusion and how policies towards exclusion have been changing. It considers the groups of students that have been, and remain, at the greatest risk of exclusion and the main reasons given by schools for excluding students. Particular attention is focused on the views of excluded children themselves, collated from a wide range of studies, including primary research with excluded students and some of their parents. The 1999 government initiative to cut exclusions by one third by the year 2002 is then considered. The paper argues that much more attention should be given to the opinions and ideas of young people themselves in the search for a solution to young people's disaffection with education and England's high rates of exclusion.     

Constructing professional identities: Montessori teachers' voices and visions

In this study, occupational life histories of Montessori teachers in Sweden have been constructed in collaboration with a group of them. Data exploration and analysis have included journals, interviews, written reflections and conversations. Of interest has been to shed light on underlying values, ways in which professional roles reflect personal values and teachers' reflections on the present and future perspectives of Montessori education. Life histories make it possible for each individual teacher to be presented in the light of his/her own personal attributes and unique qualities as well as in relation to a wider (historical, cultural) context. The overall aim has been to come to a better understanding of what it means to be a Montessori teacher, by getting a group of Montessori teachers to reflect on their lives and work. Valuable insights have been gained concerning the changing roles of teachers in contemporary educational settings.