Meta-ethnography of autoethnographies: a worked example of the method using educational studies

ABSTRACT

Despite questions about autoethnography in the ethnography and education research family, autoethnography is published in selective peer-reviewed journals in education and in the social and health sciences. Even critics of autoethnographic studies note their ‘rising acceptance in the past 15 years’ [Delamont, S. 2009. “The Only Honest Thing: Autoethnography, Reflexivity and Small Crises in Fieldwork.” Ethnography and Education 4 (1): 51–63]. However, there has been less effort towards qualitative meta-synthesis to learn what other insights might be gained from collections of studies. With the advent of meta-autoethnography [Ellis, C. 2009. Revision: Autoethnographic Reflections of Life and Work. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press], each author can find a way to synthesise her/his own autoethnographic works, however, synthesising autoethnographies of different authors has received no attention. This article examines a critical, systematic approach to the meta-ethnography of autoethnographies and offers a worked example of the method using educational studies.     

A qualitative critique of teacher labor market studies

Qualitative studies of the teacher labor market suggest that problems and remedies generated by quantitative research fail to capture the most dynamic variables which are affecting the supply and demand of public school teachers. For example, quantitative research has not accounted for (1) the continual exiting and reentering of urban teachers, (2) the considerable bifurcation between urban and rural teacher labor markets as reflected in teacher mobility and cultural economic opportunities, (3) local definitions of labor market needs and teacher quality, and (4) the demanding and stressful working conditions of teaching, which are having a systemic and adverse effect on the occupation.     

Rituals of Returning: A Dialogic Interpretation

Rituals are about time and participation, and usually we study them in other people. In this article, we examine a study of ourselves in which time returns rather than progresses and in which participation is dialogic. The article represents a departure from realist ethnography and is rendered as a conversation.     

What's missing from the national agenda for school reform? Teacher professionalism and local initiative

The author argues that the many recent reports on schools signify a renewed emphasis on social Darwinism. In noting that the reports are numerous and calls for reform vehement, Noblit suggests that the emerging agenda is neither starting nor new. By characterizing this reform agenda as both inappropriate and impotent, Noblit argues that the concepts of quality and excellence are misconceived, as are the means and actors needed to create excellence. Noblit concludes by developing an alternative reform agenda based on teacher professionalism and local initiative.This article is a revised version of a paper prepared for the American Educational Studies Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, November 1985.     

Children's discourse patterns and power relations in teacher‐led and child‐led sharing time

This study investigates children's language and interaction patterns during sharing time in a first grade classroom. When sharing time shifted from a teacher‐led to a child‐led event, corresponding changes appeared in children's language, including in discourse routines, style, content, and frequency of verbal interactions. In child‐led formats, peer culture flourished. Several linguistic routines were developed and used by children as a means of social control, as an agent for group bonding, and as expressions of care and concern. Two different child‐led formats revealed how the event's structure regulated participation and length of turn during sharing sessions. We suggest that teachers create speech situations that children are allowed to control. Such occasions encourage children's language development, learning through language, and the kind of collaboration essential for growth of peer culture.     

My Last Shot: Make the Economy Ours

We have reified the concept of economy. I review some illustrations of the current use of economy and argue for making the economy our concept. It is too important to leave to economists.