Exploring ‘learning lives’: community,identity, literacy and meaning

This article explores the term ‘learning lives’ by reporting on three research projects conducted by members of the Oslo‐based research group TransActions. By stressing the term ‘learning lives’ within a range of social ‘educational’ contexts, the article aims to look at learning within and across different learning sites exploring the positioning and repositioning of learner identity across these different ‘locations’. We emphasise how the individual learner relates to other people and objects, drawing on deeper trajectories or narratives of the self as it exists within and outside the immediate learning contexts. We pay attention to processes occurring between people which we find significant for the individual's identity, literacy and learning. By doing so we hope to make explicit the mobilisation of resources within and across specific contexts, in the ‘learning lives’ of Norwegian youngsters.     

‘We not I’ not ‘I Me Mine’: Learning from Professional Memory about Collectivist English Teaching

This article investigates the professional memories of English teachers who began their careers between 1965 and 1975. The teachers began their careers in circumstances that offered opportunities to work in collectivist ways. Their memories reveal a strong collective identity, a powerful sense of agency and a critical engagement with the aims of English teaching. It is argued that by exploring these memories, and by re-imagining English as a ‘relational’ or ‘heteroglossial’ activity, current practitioners might find inspiration to work collectively and collaboratively to challenge dominant conceptions of the subject.     

Embodying the least-adult role

The aim of this article is to emphasise physicality and embodiment in child-centred research, fieldwork and intellectual activity. It will argue that research is not a separate form of action, placing the researcher in a position of epistemological privilege, but an embodied capacity developed through practical activity. This will be explored through an examination of the ‘least-adult’ positionality. Drawing from a large ethnographic study of primary schools in Dublin, Ireland, this article contends that the body must be put at the centre of the research process. I introduce the conceptualisation of the ‘passive’ and ‘active’ body, as key components for the relational context of fieldwork. Moreover, through an engagement with phenomenology, it is argued here that knowledge production is an embodied capacity developed through a sensuous relationship with the field.     

Negotiating differences: cosmopolitan experiences of international doctoral students

Drawing on the literature on international student experiences and identities, this study discusses theories of identity from a social constructionist perspective. ‘Identification’ is the preferred term to describe a dynamic process through which students negotiate the meaning of their identities in different societies and communities. Based on interviews with 35 international doctoral students from two graduate schools in Germany, the article illustrates the significance of international mobility for education when external ‘differences’ are appreciated and contribute to cosmopolitan imaginations and when internal differences are created in relation to ‘Others’ in the host society. The article contributes to the literature on international student mobility by providing a fine-grained analysis of student identification, showing how the discourse of difference is used as a double strategy.     

Self‐reflection and resilience in educational research

This article revisits the critical realist ethnographic process that was adopted in my doctoral thesis, which was concerned with the experiences of ethnic identity of white British and Pakistani British children as they started kindergarten in the northwest of England. The article focuses on the ethnography that emerged from the visits that I carried out alongside staff to children's homes before they started kindergarten and on the way in which these were portrayed and analysed in the final thesis. I conclude that the process of observation, writing field notes and then producing a fuller ethnography produced a very partial representation of the empirical world. This was problematic in that, in critical realism, what is observed in the world of the ‘empirical’ and considered in the world of the ‘actual’ forms the basis for understanding the underlying causal tendencies which point to the underlying explanatory concepts in the world of the ‘real’. I argue, however, that more careful critical realist ethnography has the potential to be a powerful methodological framework which accepts the contested nature of reality but which, unlike postmodernism, provides a means of addressing possibilities and of moving beyond ‘undecidability’.     

Contested childhoods across borders and boundaries: Insights from curriculum provisions in Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State in the 1920s

Conceptualisations and constructs of children and childhood are temporally and contextually grounded. Historical documents are rich sources of insight and understanding regarding how children were understood, valued and treated at various times by particular societies. This article explores the conceptualisation of children and childhood in the 26-county Irish Free State (South) and the 6-county Northern Ireland (North) in the 1920s following the partition of Ireland, through the lens of educational documentation, primarily national primary school curricula. The focus on both jurisdictions is interesting in the context of partition, exploring the sometimes divergent and often convergent ways in which children were conceptualised across borders and boundaries. This article reveals, using Sorin and Galloway’s framework as a conceptual and analytical tool, that conceptualisations of children were broadly similar in the North and South but differed in their focus and enactment in both fledgling states. These disparities are largely attributable to the very different political, social and religious orientations of both jurisdictions and the use of education as a vehicle for nation-building, as well as identity and gender formation. The article also explores alternative conceptualisations of children in education policy in the North and South by presenting case study ‘outliers’ of educational provision. A century since partition, conclusions and implications are noted that resonate with contemporary elements of convergence and divergence on educational policy and the conceptualisation of children across the island of Ireland.     

Decentralisation in Education: a Dutch study

Abstract

Much of the research in the area of ethnicity and schooling is conducted in countries with a long tradition of immigration. The rapidity of social change in Ireland at a time of unprecedented economic growth is such that many schools, while still ‘mainly white’, are grappling with the particular challenges that are posed by new patterns of immigration. How these schools, and indeed the state, adapts to this changed social context has important implications for the transition of Irish society to a more multicultural state, which values and respects cultural and ethnic diversity in all its forms. This article considers these issues by exploring the responses of a sample of teachers to immigrant students in their schools. Central to the analysis is the role of the state through its action or inaction, in framing teacher discourses in inclusionary or exclusionary terms. State policies, it is argued, are underpinned by a particular conceptualisation of Irish and national identity which positions minority ethnic groups as ‘other’, with direct implications for both teacher perception and practice with immigrant students in schools.     

Learning from childhood to mature adulthood: what makes people want ‘to learn to learn’ and keep on learning?

This article describes 35 individuals who have expressed an interest in taking university courses after retirement. Longitudinal data and individuals' own accounts are presented, in an effort to clarify the role that symbolic resources play in individuals' lives, for their capacity to construct their own identity, to function as social actors, and ‘to learn to learn’. It is argued that their lives provide grounds to consider a re‐conceptualisation of adult learning.     

Evidence-based policy-making and exam board insider researchers: creating communicative spaces

ABSTRACT

This article conceptualises the relationship between exam board insider research and the policy-making context in which they operate. Exam board researchers are constrained by commercial and political interests in disclosing their knowledge. and face pressures in disseminating research, butalso find themselves working in contexts where calls to ‘evidence-based policy-making’ are ubiquitous. This can deprofessionalise and disenfranchise the researcher.. This article will depict the context faced by exam board researchers attempting to influence policy before portraying possible responses, evaluating how these can be applied to exam board research, with reference to research on standard-setting. The article will build on a conceptualisation of successful exam board insider research as the creation of Habermasian ‘communicative spaces’, applying lessons from research–policy interface literature to that conceptualisation. Inapplying those lessons, the article will suggest possible solutions to the problems faced by that group in their attempts to influence policymakers.     

Māwhai: Webbing a professional identity through networked interprofessional communities of practice

Professional identity is a frequently used term in teacher education although there is little consensus of what it means for practice. Drawing on research in the fields of professional identity development, communities of practice and interprofessional practice, this article presents a framework for interprofessional identity development that supports effective practice within and across different disciplines. The Māwhai framework, which translates as both ‘web’ and ‘net’, enables professionals to ‘web’ interprofessional identities through ‘networks’ of interprofessional practice. The framework is first described and then evaluated using data from three cohorts of professional educators.     

Cinders in Snow? Indigenous Teacher Identities in Formation

The identity work engaged in by Indigenous teachers1 1. We use the term ‘Indigenous’ here to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working in Australian schools, although most of our informants to date are from Victoria, NSW and Queensland, who do not use the term ‘Indigenous’ when identifying themselves and their communities, preferring ‘Aboriginal’, ‘Koori’ or ‘Murri’.. View all notes in school settings is highlighted in a study of Australian Indigenous teachers. The construction of identity in home and community relationships intersects with and can counteract the take up of a preferred identity in the workplace. In this paper we analyse data from interviews with Indigenous teachers, exploring the interplay between culture and identity. We foreground the binary nature of racial assignment in schools, demonstrate how this offers contradictory constructions of identity for Indigenous teachers, and note the effects of history, culture and location in the process of forming a teaching ‘self’.     

Curriculum and assessment for the knowledge society: interrogating experiences in the Republic of Ireland and Queensland,Australia

The ‘knowledge society’ has become a central discourse within educational reform. This article posits that the impact of the knowledge society discourse on curriculum and assessment has led to the emergence of what the authors term a new-form/re-form curriculum, and it asks whether what is transacting in contemporary movements in curriculum is less the reform of curriculum and more the emergence of a new-form/re-form curriculum. What is emerging is well beyond the discussions of outcomes and curriculum alignment that characterised much curriculum reform effort in the late 1990s. In this new-form/re-form curriculum ‘content’ is displaced by ‘skills’ and ‘knowledge acquisition’ by ‘learning’. Curriculum coverage is replaced by learner engagement. In this context, assessment also begins to take on new-form/re-form. Assessment now engages and promotes learning as process rather than as product. Two cases – the Republic of Ireland and Queensland, Australia – are analysed and compared to illustrate this shift in the conceptualisation of curriculum and assessment. Consideration is given to the possibility that this new-form/re-form curriculum represents a settlement in the contestation associated with learning outcomes and their perceived technical rationality and market focus. The paper concludes that the new-form/re-form curriculum is emerging in locations as diverse as Ireland and Queensland.     

Sociocultural concept of high ability and heart-mind epistemology in Confucian societies

This theoretical paper begins with a reflection on the dominant conceptions of ‘high ability’, based on psychometrics, and examines claims that the ethos of a particular cultural heritage is essential to what ‘high ability’ signifies. The article semantically distinguishes ‘giftedness’ from ‘ability’, using research on Confucian heritage culture with its thick and thin dimensions. ‘Giftedness’ here means an inherited quality or endowment. ‘Ability’, on the other hand, signifies an active process open to nurture through education and – what could account for the main contribution of this paper – the role played by an ‘epistemology of heart-mind’ in Confucian heritage. The article argues that this epistemology of heart-mind constitutes a generational collective programming of mind. Such a definition could lead to a sociocultural conception of intelligence and giftedness open to development, adding a new perspective to the conceptualisation of giftedness and high ability.     

Icarus Falling: Re‐Imagining Educational Theory

This article offers a critique of the notion of ‘capacity building’ in educational theory. Are the intentions behind the latter enterprise as benign and altruistic as they first appear? How is the term ‘capacity building’ to be understood? The article presents a radical and daring alternative for re‐invigorating educational research that foregrounds the ethical engagement of the researcher by exploring the expressive, cognitive and imaginative possibilities of language. Drawing on the Calvino's idea of the ‘lightness of thoughtfulness’, I suggest that the emphasis accorded to the notion of ‘capacity building’ may detract attention from the equally significant role of incapacity in helping us to move the discussion forward in a responsive and ethical way.     

Evaluating a method for eliciting children's voice about educational support with children with speech,language and communication needs

This article reports the development and evaluation of a toolkit‐based approach to eliciting children's experiences of educational support, where the children in question experience speech and communication needs. The ‘Your Voice Your Choice’ approach was evaluated using a cross‐case analysis methodology, which represents a novel approach to critical examination of the effectiveness of such resources. We explored seven case studies within a critical realist framework. We found that the toolkit was effective at supporting most (although not all) of the children with speech and communication needs to explore their school learning and support experiences through a scaffolded emotion‐based ‘dialogue’, which was corroborated by observations and other data sources. The toolkit facilitated access to children's voice as they revealed how they felt across a number of relational, learning and support areas, which could be used by services to focus provision and consider how to better support children's social and emotional needs.     

Education in the Anthropocene: Ethico-moral dimensions and critical realist openings

Human-induced changes in planetary bio-geo-chemical processes have tipped earth into a newly-proposed geological epoch: the Anthropocene, which places moral and ethical demands on people regarding who should take responsibility for the well-being of people and planet, how, and why. Drawing generally on critical realist ontology, and more particularly on Roy Bhaskar’s concept of the person as a ‘four-planar social being’ living in the world as a laminated ontological whole, the article examines the dimensions of people’s ethico-moral engagement with the Anthropocene and considers what types of learning processes might enable people to understand, live in, and co-create this period known as ‘the Anthropocene’ in just, care-filled and—where necessary—transformative ways. The article points to the need for a radical re-orientation of education systems in the light of ethico-moral challenges that come to prominence in the Anthropocene, and argues for learning processes that nurture individual and collective moral agency through transformative, even transgressive, learning processes that are relational, humble, interdisciplinary, multi-perspectival, systemic, reality-congruent and contextually responsive.     

The imperfect child in early twentieth-century Russia

The article discusses the role that conceptualisations of child ‘imperfection’ played in the rise and fall of Russian ‘child study’ between the 1900s and the 1930s. Drawing on Georges Canguilhem’s ideas on ‘the normal’ and ‘the pathological’, the article analyses practices centred on diagnosing subnormality and pathology in the Russian child population in the late tsarist and early Soviet eras. It first examines mutually competing normative regimes that framed categorisations of ‘imperfection’ among Russia’s children in the context of the empire’s accelerated, yet ambivalent modernisation during the 1900s–1910s. It then charts the expansion of this diagnostics in the first decade or so of the Soviet regime, following its shift in focus from the early-1920s’ ‘delinquent child’ to the late-1920s’ ‘mass child’. The article concludes with a discussion of the emergence, over this same period, of the Russian field of medicalised special education known as ‘defectology’. It argues that defectology’s disciplinary specificity crystallised in 1936 around a purposely restrictive concept of ‘imperfection’, understood as individualised and clinically established pathological ‘impairment’. The latter conceptualisation became fixed at the height of Stalinism as a strategic counter to the expansive flux in which the diagnostics and conceptualisation of child ‘imperfection’ had otherwise been over the first three decades of the twentieth century in the context of the remarkable rise of child study during this period.     

Critical realist review: exploring the real,beyond the empirical

This article defines the ‘critical realist review’, a literature-based methodological approach to critical analysis of health care studies (or any discipline charged with social interventions) that is robust, insightful and essential for the complexities of twenty-first century evidence-based health and social care. We argue that this approach, underpinned by a critical realist philosophy and methodology, will facilitate students and researchers to employ relevant theoretical insights from a range of disciplines that have necessary contributions to make to our understanding of health and social care practice and provision. We explore the limitations of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and the systematic review for informing evidence-based health and social care. The article also offers some suggestions on method, although, as we argue, the approach deliberately eschews a ‘cookbook’ approach. A glossary of terms is provided in the Appendix.     

Sexual assemblages: mobile phones/young people/school

This paper asks, what more can we think in relation to debates around young people's use of mobile phones at school? Rather than attempting to answer the question of whether mobile phones are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for young people, this paper recasts the debate's ontological underpinnings. To do this feminist appropriations of the Deleuzian concept of assemblage and a relational materialist notion of ‘more-than-human’ are drawn on. By recognising sexuality-as-assemblage, it is possible to see more-than-human elements (such as mobile phones) as implicated in the becoming of sexuality at school. This conceptualisation implies new texture and dimensionality to the wider project of (re)producing sexual meanings and identities at school. It also necessitates acknowledging an ontologically different understanding of the human-non-human divide, that decentres young people and/or phones as to ‘to blame’ for ‘negative’ practices like sexting. Instead, agency manifests via the intra-activity that occurs when mobile phones and young people are in-relation.