Mapping research in the field of special education on the island of Ireland since 2000

This paper describes the process of building a database mapping research and policy in the field of special education on the island of Ireland from 2000 to 2013. The field of study includes special educational needs, disability and inclusion. The database contains 3188 references organised thematically and forms a source for researchers to access published and non‐published materials such as theses. Analysis of the database reveals areas of research strength in terms of the quantity of activity and other areas with little activity. Recommendations are offered based on this analysis.     

Is every child's voice heard? Researching the different ways 3‐year‐old children communicate and make meaning at home and in a pre‐school playgroup

This ESRC‐funded study explores how 3‐year‐old children use a range of ‘voices’ during their first year in pre‐school, investigating how they make and express meaning ‘multimodally’ through combinations of talk, body movement, facial expression and gaze in the two different settings of home and playgroup. Using longitudinal ethnographic video case studies of four children, two boys and two girls, the study identifies patterns in the children's uses of different communicative strategies that relate to the dynamics of the institutional and immediate contexts in which they are situated. The findings imply that the current focus on talk in the early years may be detracting from the diversity of ways children make and express meaning.     

Connecting learning to the world beyond the classroom through collaborative philosophical inquiry

This study explored the impact of facilitating collaborative philosophical inquiry (CPI), in the tradition of “Philosophy for Children,” on connectedness pedagogies. The study employed an experimental design that included 59 primary teachers in 2 groups. The experimental group received an intervention that comprised training in CPI and the comparison group received training in Thinking Tools (graphic organisers), a subset of the CPI training. Lessons were coded on four variables of connectedness pedagogies, across the two groups, at three time-points. Teacher interviews were conducted to gather participants’ perspectives. Between-groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) on particular measures of pedagogy revealed that CPI significantly broadened teachers’ pedagogical repertoires, in ways that included drawing on students’ background knowledge and preparing a problem-based curriculum which connects students to the world beyond the classroom.     

Assessment and teacher professionalism

ABSTRACT

This paper draws from a multi‐site qualitative case‐study research project entitled From Policy to Practice funded by the University of Exeter. The research sought to identify the impact that the Key Stage 3 tests would have on the working practices of eight heads of English departments and their staff in mixed maintained comprehensive schools in different regions of England.

The paper begins by presenting the way that the national assessment system has undergone change since its inception, highlighting that the function of assessment is to act as the most significant indicator of a school's performance through government policy that promotes and prioritizes the measurement of pupils’ achievements through each key stage.

The English teachers’ responses to the revisions of the English National Curriculum Programmes of Study are described and the paper documents the thoughts and feelings of these teachers as they had to try to make sense of the changes in their classroom working practices. They are articulate in categorizing those aspects of their pedagogical practice that the assessment process has stifled and those that the assessment process has encouraged. The paper then offers an interpretative analysis of the impact that the externally imposed curriculum and assessment changes have had on the teachers’ sense of being professionals.     

Re-Emphasizing the Role of Affect in Learning and Teaching

Issues of combating social exclusion are often held to be synonymous with a reduction of truancy and exclusion from schools. In the UK, for example, the Labour Party has expressed a commitment to reducing the number of pupils truanting or excluded from our schools Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) (1998). As this paper will illustrate however, the social exclusion of pupils goes way beyond simple measures of school attendance. Equally important are issues of affect, the external, observable manifestation of emotion and feeling, which are related to the engagement and active participation of pupils in schools. Drawing on years of teaching and research in Australia and the UK, this paper examines the role of affect in learning and teaching. We begin by examining the ways in which pupils' participation and inclusion is related to their perceptions of themselves, the quality of their relationships in school and their feelings about the culture of the classrooms in which they work. We then examine the ways in which teachers' perceptions of themselves and their feelings about the culture of the school in which they work influences how they teach and indeed how they learn. We argue that constructivist approaches to learning provide an opportunity for pupils, and teachers, to feel more included, rather than excluded, from the education process.