Ethical issues in consulting

Should NSPI establish on Ethics Committee? What is ethics, what are the ethical issues that confront consultants and how do they presently deal with them? This article is based on a year long research effort to identify common ethical dilemmas that arise in consultant-client relationships and the difficulties both parties have in resolving them.     

Observer, observed and observations: Initial teacher education English tutors' feedback on lessons taught by student teachers of English

We reflect here on research into the process of giving and receiving lesson‐observational feedback for student teachers. Key questions and areas are:

• ? How effective is post‐lesson observation feedback in developing student teachers’ understanding of their own teaching?
• ? Are there any issues to do with English subject knowledge?
• ? What of the language issues involved?
• ? What is the relationship between formative and evaluative aspects of such feedback?
• ? How involved are the student teachers themselves, and what are their thoughts and feelings?

     

Emotional Intelligence and Education: A critical review

In recent years there has been an increased interest in the role of emotional intelligence in both the academic success of students and their emotional adjustment in school. However, promotion of emotional intelligence in schools has proven a controversial pursuit, challenging as it does traditional “rationalist” views of education. Furthermore, research findings in this area have been inconsistent at best. In this article we discuss the following key questions relating to this important debate. What do we mean by emotional “intelligence”? What impact would improved emotional intelligence have on learners’ emotional health and well‐being, academic achievement, and other adaptive outcomes? Can emotional intelligence be taught? It is felt that these are the key issues for consideration in developing policy, practice, and further research in this area.     

Growing scholarly teachers and educational researchers: a curriculum for a Research Pathway in pre‐service teacher education

This paper advocates the development of high‐level research capability in some students in their undergraduate Bachelor of Education course. The rationale for this viewpoint is presented in relation to three questions: ‘What is educational research?’ ‘Why should universities develop high‐level research capability in some pre‐service teacher education graduates?’ and ‘What type of curriculum can support the development of high‐level research capability in some pre‐service teacher education graduates?’ The first two questions are addressed broadly. The latter question is addressed with reference to an existing Research Pathway within a Bachelor of Education course. The paper concludes with the identification of a priority issue for subsequent iterations of the Pathway and a reflection on the shift in my role as a teacher in this Pathway from ‘teacher researcher’ to ‘scholarly teacher’.     

Probing Children's Prejudice‐‐a consideration of the ethical and methodological issues raised by research and curriculum development

Since the mid‐1980s many schools in predominantly white areas have taken active steps to counter racism and ethnocentrism and raise awareness of Britain's ethnic diversity through curriculum development. This paper is primarily concerned with the ethical issues raised by research into such initiatives at primary school level. We begin by alluding very briefly to the shortcomings of extant research into children's prejudice, noting that some studies can be criticised for the unwitting reinforcement of stereotypes. We move on to examine the ethical and methodological considerations which have underpinned our own work in this area, focusing on a recent investigation into children's understanding of Jewish culture and identity. The techniques employed to probe the children's beliefs and attitudes and challenge their taken‐for‐granted assumptions are described at length, together with the ethical dilemmas addressed during the course of the research. In the second part of the paper, we focus on issues raised by our own curriculum development work in anti‐racist and multicultural education in ‘all white’ schools. We draw extensively on a recent case‐study of 10 and 11 year‐olds’ responses to a teaching programme which aimed to counter stereotypical images both of developing countries and Islam.     

The complexities of participatory action research and the problems of power,identity and influence

This article highlights the complexity of participatory action research (PAR) in that the study outlined was carried out with and by, as opposed to on, participants. The project was contextualised in two prior-to-school settings in Australia, with the early childhood professionals and, to some extent, the preschoolers involved in this PAR project seen as co-researchers. This article explores the author’s journey to PAR, which she considered a socially just mode of inquiry. However, it is not without its complexities and challenges. This article makes transparent these complexities and explores issues of ‘power’, identity and influence in collaborative research. Questions often reflected upon by researchers are re-visited in this article: What theoretical underpinnings align with the investigation? Why undertake such a demanding research design as PAR? What does this research design involve? Where does the university researcher fit? How does a PAR team ‘work’ when there are so many different personalities involved? What are the challenges that are faced by participatory action researchers and how might these be overcome? While these challenges are not new to PAR researchers, the solutions and discussion put forward in this article may generate further reflection and debate.     

What Undergraduates Misunderstand about Stem Cell Research

As biotechnology‐related scientific advances, such as stem cell research (SCR), are increasingly permeating the popular media, it has become ever more important to understand students’ ideas about this issue. Very few studies have investigated learners’ ideas about biotechnology. Our study was designed to understand the types of alternative conceptions students hold concerning SCR. The qualitative research design allowed us to examine college students’ understandings about stem cells and SCR. More specifically, we addressed the following questions: How can alternative conceptions about stem cell topics be categorized? What types of alternative conceptions are most common? Participants included 132 students enrolled in a biotechnology course that focused on the scientific background of biotechnology applications relevant to citizens. In this study, we used an inductive approach to develop a taxonomy of alternative ideas about SCR by analyzing student responses to multiple open‐ended data sources. We identified five categories of conceptions: alternative conceptions about what, alternative conceptions about how, alternative conceptions about medical potential, terminology confusion, and political and legal alternative conceptions. In order to improve instruction, it is important to understand students’ ideas when entering the classroom. Our findings highlight a need to teach how science can be applied to societal issues and improve science literacy and citizenship.     

The work of the teacher-educator in Australia: Reconstructing the “superhero” performer/academic in an audit culture

What is it that teacher-educators “do”? This paper draws on interview data with Deans/Heads of Schools of Education in the Australian context to explore this question by asking: How is the teacher-educator produced as a category of academic worker? Using critical approaches to discourse analysis, the paper presents two interlocked storylines woven with varying emphasis through the interviews. First, the teacher-educator is produced as a superhero researcher and teacher, elevated by the expectations of the Excellence in Research for Australia audit/surveillance tools. Second, there is a concomitant struggle to reconcile pressure to research with commitment to meeting the needs of schooling systems, and to addressing the work of the teacher-educator in ethical terms. It is suggested that teacher-educators’ work reflects a desire to legitimate various performances of teacher education within current dynamics of audit culture pressures, set against the less visible ethical project of education more broadly conceived.     

Bernstein and the explanation of social disparities in education: a realist critique of the socio‐linguistic thesis

Can an explanation of the origins of social disparities in educational achievement be assisted by a critical examination of Bernstein’s sociology? This central question is approached by a consideration of the status of Bernstein’s socio‐linguistic thesis. The focus is on the nature of the explanations provided. The paper asks: What is the explanatory force of Bernstein’s structuralism? What is the relationship between Bernstein’s sociological explanations and Vygotskian psychological explanations? What are the effects for pedagogy of cognitive socialization mediated by language‐use consistent with Bernstein’s theory? The answers to these questions may pose a challenge for sociologists of education engaged with Bernstein’s sociology.     

Actors: From Audience to Provider

Abstract

This article describes and analyzes actors' experiences of distance learning systems in a wide variety of cultural and organizational contexts. In line with the project of this special series of issues, results of research, much of which is longitudinal, allow us to suggest answers to the following questions: Who are the actors of distance learning? How has their experience of learning systems evolved over the last thirty years? What roles have information and communication technologies (ICTs) played in this evolution? How do actors assess the effects of these learning systems on themselves, on the system itself, or on the organization? What are the future perspectives?     

'A Demented Form of the Familiar': Postmodernism and Educational Research

What can postmodernism do for, or to, educational research? The article discusses its potential for resisting closure and simplification. Developing a ‘preposterous’, anachronistic postmodern method that is caught up with surrealism and the baroque, the article plays with trompel'oeil paintings and outmoded popular entertainments such as magic lanterns, peep shows and clockwork automata as figures for critique and analysis. It argues for defamiliarisation, fascination, recalcitrance and frivolity as methodic practices for research in the compromised conditions of postmodernity, and as forms of ethical resistance to the risk‐averse literalism that pervades contemporary education policy.     

English Teachers and Research: Becoming Our Own Experts1

ABSTRACT

What is the relation between research and teaching? Are they entirely distinct activities – and should they remain so? What is the relation between research and teachers? Should teachers be positioned as either the objects or the recipients of research that is conducted by specialists, researchers who possess categorically different forms of expertise and equally different perspectives on what happens in schools and classrooms? This paper considers the ways in which education research is conceptualised in dominant discourses and offers the possibility of alternative approaches, informed by different epistemological and ethical understandings.     

‘Whoever does not write is written’: the role of ‘nature’ in post‐post approaches to environmental education research

While McKenzie mentions in passing her concern about anthropocentrism and human oppression of the natural world, she is mostly silent about the role of ‘nature’ in post‐post approaches to environmental education research. If one takes feminist poststructuralist ideas about voice and representation seriously, surely the place of ‘nature’ in environmental education research must be interrogated? Is there space for ‘nature’ in multivocal representations of research? How might our own polyvocality include our experiences of our animality? How might we assess the legitimacy of such representations? What are the limits and possibilities of post‐post approaches to environmental education research when ‘nature’ is taken into account?     

Book Reviews

Book Reviewed in this article: Education in divided societies T. Gallagher The therapy culture. Cultivating vulnerability in an uncertain age Frank Furedi Educational policy borrowing: historical perspectives D. Phillips & K. Ochs Evidence‐based practice in education G. Thomas & R. Pring Inquiry, data and understanding. A search for meaning in educational research L. Anderson Critical issues in early childhood education Nicola Yelland (Ed.) What is research? Methodological practices and new approaches J. Rhedding‐Jones     

Invisible theatre,ethics, and the adult educator

This article probes the ethics of one of the more controversial as well as exciting forms of adult education—the mode of theatre of the oppressed called ‘invisible theatre’. Looking at claims made by practitioners—Augusto Boal’s especially—and drawing on concrete theatre pieces, the author asks: What are invisible theatre’s claims to ethicality? How valid are the claims? Are the claims and practices compatible with adult education principles? And how might invisible theatre be conducted more ethically? The article demonstrates that despite invisible theatre’s highly ethical mandate, Boal’s defences of invisible theatre are wanting, the levels of deception and danger are problematic, and the standard practices and claims are incompatible with certain adult education principles and commitments, including the Freirian commitment to non‐manipulation. At the same time, it is shown, there is potential for invisible theatre praxis which is both effective and ethical, albeit changes are called for. Suggestions for improved practice include: invisible theatre troupes committing themselves to becoming ethically reflective practitioners, making minimal deception the new norm, reining in the level of conflict, exploring the ‘opaque’, and no longer taking as a given that invisible theatre should never be ‘outed’.     

Commercialization of research: a case study of Australian universities

Research commercialization is a crucial aspect of technological innovation and is a complex socio‐economic and technological process. This paper explores the commercialization of university research, drawing on an empirical study of the development of research commercialization by Australian universities. The study addresses three main research questions: (i) What are the recent major policy changes affecting the commercialization of university research in Australia? (ii) How much have Australian universities done in research commercialization over the past few years? (iii) What are the key barriers to the achievement of higher levels of commercialization in university research? The findings of this study show that there are two fundamental issues that universities have to address: (i) adequate financial support from governments, industries, and other stakeholders; and (ii) effective innovation management with academic entrepreneurship. Because the issues and problems covered in this study are common to many countries, the study has international applications and provides policymakers and practitioners with valuable information to assist them in the development of organizational strategies in the commercialization of innovative university research.     

Formative assessment and teaching practice: the point of view of Italian teachers

Over the years the debate on the aims, approaches, and impacts of formative assessment has never stopped to grow. Parallel to this growth is the awareness that it is crucial to understand what conceptions teachers have of assessment in order to guarantee more effective teacher education. This paper tries to connect these two fields of research: formative assessment and teacher education through an analysis of teachers’ conceptions: What do teachers think about assessment? What aims do they pursue through it? Do teachers really distinguish between formative and summative assessment? On the backdrop of the formative assessment literature, the article reports on an exploratory research study. Limitations and issues are analysed in order to shed light on teacher education implication and on future educational research paths in the educational assessment field.     

Walking a thin line? Connecting ethical theory and practice: a co-operative inquiry with human resource management practitioners

Is it possible to manage human ‘resources’ in an ethical way? What does ‘being ethical’ mean as related to the human resources function? In my paper – which also reflects upon my own experiences of two co-operative inquiry projects done with human resource management (HRM) practitioners – I wish to argue that action research could be an exciting and novel way of exploring the meaning and practice of ethical HRM and also an appropriate tool with which to facilitate and develop individual and group ethical action learning: a learning process based on real action, collective real-case solutions and reflection. After introducing practical details pertaining to the two projects (in group ‘A’, I worked with members of the HRM department of a bank as co-researchers; for group ‘B’, I invited along HRM professionals from different companies), I need to stress some ‘learning points’. First, I would like to demonstrate how co-researchers explored their own definition of ethics, learned about the ethical diversity of their group and how they probed and re-shaped theories held via action and reflection. Second, I wish to show how collective ‘solutions’ of co-researchers’ own real-time and ethically dilemma-holding cases acted as a bridge between theory and practice – and then see how the process of case resolution developed by the group become an important individual- and group-level learning point.     

Academic dishonesty,ethical norms and learning

This study is aimed to deduce which ethical norms and considerations are implicitly present in the students’ answers when they are asked to define to what degree the presented actions in a questionnaire are acts of cheating. Data are analysed by factor analysis as well as qualitative analysis. The questions asked are: What characterises the items regarded as cheating? What characterises the items not regarded as cheating? The implicit logic in the students’ attitudes is: The lower the degree of effort and work, the lower degree of learning can be expected; the lower is the degree of learning, the higher will be the degree of academic dishonesty. If the academic dishonesty does promote learning, it can be morally justified by mixed arguments from three ethical theories, consequentialist, deontology and virtue ethics.     

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.