Improving Schools current issue

Editorial

Byrom, T., Regan, E. — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:22:06 PST

A view from the other side: interpretations of widening participation by a post-1992 university

Lightfoot, N. — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:22:06 PST

The role of the academic in interpreting the complex and confused concept of widening participation is central to the practice of widening participation within higher education. These interpretations are bound up within the context of what it means to be an academic, and external constraints on that role. Government policy has insufficiently challenged perceptions of that role to bring about a transformation to academic practice. This research, through the use of semi-structured interviews, illuminates the perspectives of academics, in a range of roles, to the widening participation agenda and outlines the alternative priorities of those academics. Ultimately, the impetus for transformation is not one which will occur internally to the university and it is argued that stakeholders, in the absence of realistic government pressure, must play a part in bringing about a university culture which places teaching and learning and not subject disciplines at the centre of its practice.

'I don't want to go to a crummy little university': social class, higher education choice and the paradox of widening participation

Byrom, T. — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:22:06 PST

Whilst there has been growing attention paid to the imbalance of Higher Education (HE) applications according to social class, insufficient attention has been paid to the successful minority of working-class young people who do secure places in some of the UK’s leading HE institutions. In particular, the influence and nature of pre-university interventions on such students’ choice of institution has been under-explored. Data from an ESRC-funded PhD study of 16 young people who participated in a Sutton Trust Summer School are used to illustrate how the effects of a school-based institutional habitus and directed intervention programmes can be instrumental in guiding student choices and decisions relating to participation in Higher Education.

Responding to schoolgirl pregnancy: the recognition and non-recognition of difference

Vincent, K. — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:22:06 PST

Teenage mothers in the UK have been found to be at risk of early school leaving, low levels of educational achievement and low levels of post-compulsory educational participation. Current policy in the UK emphasizes the importance of education as a way of improving the life chances of those who become pregnant while young and, as part of that, schools are encouraged to support the educational inclusion of those who become pregnant while still of statutory school age. Drawing on repeat qualitative interviews conducted over a 15-month period, this article examines the educational experiences of a group of students in one local authority in England who became pregnant while still at school. Particular attention is paid to how different schools addressed the ‘dilemma of difference’ posed by teenage pregnancy and how school attitudes and practices enhanced or inhibited educational participation.

Young people, imagination and re-engagement in the middle years

Bland, D., Carrington, S., Brady, K. — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:22:06 PST

This article reports on the first stage of a study that uses Young People as Researchers methodology to investigate the phenomenon of middle-year student disengagement. The study obtains student perspectives on the meanings of engagement and disengagement using a variety of innovative research methods. The first stage of the study focused on a two-day workshop giving students and teachers an overview of the project and providing training and experience in conducting research in their schools. The process employed by the study provides spaces and resources for critical thinking and encourages imaginative responses to the real life problems confronting the students and their peers and affecting their educational engagement. This article describes ways in which engagement is viewed both theoretically and through the empirical work of the student researchers, and how various applications of ‘disciplined imagination’ connect with methods of investigating and understanding engagement.

'Listen to me when I have something to say': students' participation in research for sustainable school improvement

Bergmark, U., Kostenius, C. — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:22:06 PST

This article focuses on student participation in the research process as a contribution to school improvement. The specific aim of this article was to explore students’ participation in different phases of a research process and discuss how their participation can contribute to school improvement. Based on a life-world phenomenological ontology, we used two research and development projects — Full of Value and Arctic Children — to shed light on participation in research. When doing research together with students, we have been inspired by Participatory Appreciative Action Research (PAAR). The methods used in the projects were open writing, group reflection, drawings, and exhibition discussions. This research showed that students were able to explore and express their lived experiences of behaviour and well-being in school, and how this was linked to positive change. We found students trustworthy, capable, and competent, enriching the process of school improvement.

'I liked the experiment because there aren't too many people who come into school to burn money': promoting participation in the sciences with chemical magic

Regan, E. — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:22:06 PST

This article reports on students’ perspectives of an in-school promotional intervention aimed at challenging traditional methods of teaching science in schools in an effort to inspire interest in school science and increase enrolments. First, the context for the research is discussed before briefly describing the intervention strategy employed and finally, exploring the potential of this innovative pedagogy as a vehicle for addressing participation in science at the classroom level. It is argued that participation depends on engagement with a subject, and the author posits that providing innovative, motivating and fun approaches to learning within the classroom that interest and engage pupils will lead to better connections with school science and to science in society. This article gives some insights into the use of a chemical magic show through the qualitatively different views and attitudes towards the chemical magic show of a sample of Irish students (n = 328). Implications for participation and inclusive and motivational classroom pedagogy are discussed.

Participation in mathematics: what is the problem?

Noyes, A. — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:22:06 PST

This article considers participation in post-compulsory mathematics education (Advanced or A-level) which is currently exercising education policy-makers in England and elsewhere. I argue that the central problem is neither that of devising an economically motivated strategy for increasing student numbers nor simply raising the level of mathematical capability attained. Rather, the central problem is about what mathematics to teach, how and why? I will present emerging findings from two current studies of 14—19 mathematics education, highlighting socially differentiated patterns of participation. Then I will consider the values/philosophical influences on current policy and practice. This leads me to argue that the curriculum needs reframing so that all students are enabled to use their mathematics to read, understand, critique and act in the mathematically formatted worlds in which they live.