Towards subjectifying text clustering

Although it is common practice to produce only a single clustering of a dataset, in many cases text documents can be clustered along different dimensions. Unfortunately, not only do traditional text clustering algorithms fail to produce multiple clusterings of a dataset, the only clustering they produce may not be the one that the user desires. In this paper, we propose a simple active clustering algorithm that is capable of producing multiple clusterings of the same data according to user interest. In comparison to previous work on feedback-oriented clustering, the amount of user feedback required by our algorithm is minimal. In fact, the feedback turns out to be as simple as a cursory look at a list of words. Experimental results are very promising: our system is able to generate clusterings along the user-specified dimensions with reasonable accuracies on several challenging text clas-sification tasks, thus providing suggestive evidence that our approach is viable

Authenticity, validation and sexualisation on Grindr: an analysis of trans women’s accounts

The socio-historic sexualisation of transgender identities is reported to have disaffirming consequences for the broad trans community, and for trans women in particular. Given trans people’s increasing use of socio-sexual ‘hook-up’ apps, this paper looks at trans women’s talk of self/other identifications in relation to their regular use of Grindr. Eight semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with London-based women who identified as trans* in some way. A Foucauldian-informed discourse analysis highlights intersecting frames of trans authenticity, validation and sexualisation. Within these frames, trans women can be variously positioned in gendered and sexualised ways. Specifically, a discourse of trans authenticity is seen to involve the marking out of an identificatory truth that is situated in culturally acceptable and hence de-sexualised womanhood, while a competing discourse of trans validation involves an ambiguity and eroticism that can serve to reimagine this truth. Trans subjectivities can thus consist of a desire for authentic (gendered and non-sexualised) selfhood, on the one hand, and self-affirming ambiguity and sexualisation on the other. That trans women can construct ambivalent relationships with trans-sexualisation discourse highlights the limitation of anti-sexualisation advocacy and implications for supporting trans sexualities are considered

The lunatics have taken over the assessment : Utilising summative self-assessment to theorise – and disrupt – the interplay of agency and power in undergraduate mathematics

This doctoral thesis adds to the theoretical understanding of the interplay of agency and power in self-assessment in the context of undergraduate mathematics education. This is achieved by utilising the Foucauldian notion of subject positioning, referring to the positions that assessment constructs for students. This thesis addresses summative self-assessment (SSA) that involves the element of self-grading, and the disruptive nature of such practice. The four substudies of this thesis investigate the reflective space that SSA opens for students to renegotiate their positioning of “the assessee” in the examination-driven context of undergraduate mathematics. This doctoral thesis was conducted in the Digital Self-Assessment (DISA) project, in which the SSA model was created for large undergraduate mathematics courses. SSA is an assessment model that includes transparent learning objectives, various forms of feedback regarding those objectives and formative self-assessment practices. At the end of the model students decide their own grade. In this study, the SSA model is examined through the perspective of students. This empirical doctoral thesis consists of four substudies and draws on theoretical and methodological triangulation. Studies I, III and IV were based on an experimental study in which the participants in an undergraduate mathematics course were randomly divided into two groups. Half of the students attended a course exam and half of them self-graded themselves; both groups took part in a formative self-assessment process. After the course, 41 students were interviewed (26 from the summative and 15 from the formative self-assessment group). Furthermore, a survey study (N = 299) was conducted. The data for Study II was collected through a survey in another adaptation of the summative self-assessment model (N = 113). Studies I and II drew on quantitative methodology to examine the quality of studying within the SSA model to shed light on the positioning processes on a broader scale. Study I drew on latent profile analysis to investigate student subgroups in terms of deep and surface approaches to learning. Four profiles were identified and compared between the formative and summative self-assessment groups. Study II, leaning on cluster analysis, examined student subgroups after another course implementation of the SSA model. Both studies connected SSA with a deep approach to learning, while Study I also identified a connection with a higher reported level of self-efficacy. Study III drew on the concept of student agency, aiming to understand the affordances that the self-assessment model offers for agentic learning. The findings of Study III implied that the summative self-assessment model was connected with future-driven agentic behavior. Study IV introduced three different theoretical frameworks for power to understand the socio-cultural nature of SSA as a political practice. As Study III examined pedagogical opportunities for agentic learning, Study IV sought to critically examine whether students could make use of these opportunities in spite of the complex power relations. Both studies drew on interview data. Finally, Studies I-IV were reinterpreted and synthesised through a discursive-deconstructive reading. What was deconstructed was students’ positioning as “the assessee” and whether, and how, SSA disrupted this position. Overall, this thesis raises concerns about non-agentic positions that mathematics assessment tends to produce, calling for teachers and researchers to engage with disruptive practices.Kuinka oppisimme, jos saisimme päättää omat arvosanamme? Tähän kysymykseen pureudutaan tässä yliopistopedagogisessa väitöskirjassa tarkastelemalla itsearviointia matematiikan yliopisto-opinnoissa. Vaikka yliopisto-opetus tähtää kokonaisuuksien hallintaan ja kompetenssien kehittymiseen, on yliopistotasoinen arviointi laajasti opettajajohtoista eikä välttämättä tue tärkeiden tulevaisuustaitojen karttumista. Avuksi on usein tutkimuskirjallisuudessa ehdotettu itsearviointia. Itsearviointi on arviointimenetelmä, jota on usein suositeltu käytettäväksi oppimisen tukena ennemmin kuin arvosanojen määrittelyn välineenä. Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkitaan, kuinka opiskelijoiden opiskeluun vaikuttaa, kun itsearviointia käytetään osana myös arvosanojen määrittämistä. Tutkimus on toteutettu osana Digital Self-Assessment (DISA) -tutkimusprojektia, jossa kehitettiin opiskelijalähtöisen opetuksen tueksi opiskelijalähtöinen arviointimalli. Digitaalinen itsearviointimalli kehitettiin tukemaan oppimista erityisesti suurilla satojen opiskelijoiden kursseilla. Itsearviointimalli perustuu itsearvioinnin harjoitteluun yliopistokurssin aikana, monipuoliseen palautteeseen sekä mahdollisuuksiin vastata tähän palautteeseen. Oppimisprosessin aikana opiskelijoita pyydetään ottamaan vastuu omasta opiskelustaan, ja sen lopuksi he päättävät oman arvosanansa. Väitöstutkimuksen kontekstina toimi yliopistomatematiikka, jossa arviointi perustuu laajasti tenttisuorituksiin. Tämä sekä määrällisiin että laadullisiin menetelmiin pohjautuva väitöskirja koostuu neljästä osatutkimuksesta. Osatutkimuksissa I (N = 299) ja II (N = 113) tutkittiin tilastollisin menetelmin opiskelijoiden opiskelun laatua heidän osallistuttuaan yliopistomatematiikan kurssille, jolla oli käytössä kehitetty itsearvioinnin malli. Kummassakin osatutkimuksessa yhdistettiin itsearviointi syvään oppimisen lähestymistapaan sekä korkeatasoiseen oppimiseen. Lisäksi osatutkimuksessa I havaittiin opiskelijoiden raportoivan korkeaa minäpystyvyyttä kurssin jälkeen. Osatutkimukset III ja IV perustuivat tilastollisia tuloksia syventävään haastattelututkimukseen, jossa kartoitettiin opiskelijoiden näkemyksiä itsearvioinnista ja arvosanan määrittämisestä. Osatutkimuksessa III analysoitiin opiskelijoiden kokemuksia toimijuudesta; tutkimuksessa huomattiin, että opiskelijat raportoivat opiskelevansa itseään eivätkä koetta varten. Osatutkimuksessa IV tarkasteltiin arviointia vallankäyttönä ja tutkittiin niitä keinoja, joilla erilainen itsearviointi haastoi vallitsevia yliopisto-opetuksen ja matematiikan arviointikäytänteitä. Osatutkimusten pohjalta tarkasteltiin opiskelijoiden positiointia itsearvioinnissa. Usein opiskelija positioidaan arvioinnissa passiiviseksi arvioitavaksi, jonka suorituksen arvioi joku muu kuin hän itse. Itsearvioinnin avulla on kuitenkin mahdollista positioida opiskelijaa aktiivisena ja reflektoivana toimijana koko arviointiprosessin ajan. Kun opiskelijoiden roolina oli toimia aktiivisena toimijana läpi arviointiprosessin, näkyi tämä laadukkaana opiskeluna ja korkeina oppimistuloksina. Väitöstutkimus haastaa opettajia ja tutkijoita kaikilla koulutuksen tasoilla tarkastelemaan arviointimenetelmiä siitä näkökulmasta, tukevatko ne toimijuuden kehitystä vai jopa estävät tätä. Itsearvioinnin avulla on siis mahdollista tukea opiskelijoiden toimijuutta, mutta onnistuakseen tämä tavoite vaatii kuitenkin opettajajohtoisissa konteksteissa rohkeita ja uusia avauksia. Jos yliopisto-opetuksen tavoitteena on laadukas ja aktiivinen oppiminen, onko oman arvosanan määrittäminen ajatuksena lopulta niinkään radikaali

Raising the curtain on relations of power in a Maltese school network

This study concerns school reform in Malta. Under the policy framework ‘For All Children to Succeed’ (Ministry of Education, Youth & Employment, 2005) [henceforth referred to as FACT], Maltese state schools embarked on the process of being organized into networks called ‘colleges’. These consisted of primary and secondary schools according to geographical location, under the leadership of the Principal – a newly-designated role hierarchically above that of the individual Heads of School. The purpose of my research is to explore relations of power in a Maltese college. My study gives prominence to both theory and methodology. The theoretical research question investigates how networking unfolds among the various leadership hierarchies in school governance in a Maltese college. This is explored through the performance of policy-mandated collegiality; the circulating relations of power; and leadership distribution. My study is framed within a postmodern paradigm and adopts a Foucauldian theoretical framework, more specifically his concepts of power, discipline, governmentality, discourse, and subjectification. Data for my case study are collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews; observation of a Council of Heads meeting; and a documentary analysis of FACT. Narrative is not only the phenomenon under exploration, but also the method of analysis, and mode of representation. Thus, I attempt to answer my methodological research question that investigates the ways a researcher negotiates the methodological tensions and contradictions in the conduct of qualitative inquiry in order to construct knowledge differently. The Maltese college is viewed as a surveillance mechanism by both the Principal and the Heads, with collegiality being regarded as a straitjacket imposed by the State through a policy mandate. However, there is unanimous agreement on conscription being the only way forward for Maltese state schools. Different degrees of ‘support’ and empowerment exist, according to the directives of the Principal and the State. College setup is problematized on geographical clustering and college streaming, due to which it may end up defying the primary aim of networking by clustering students from particular areas in isolation, resulting in social injustice and educational inequality. This study exposes a strong sense of sectoral isolation among the Heads – a situation being mirrored at macro-level with very few opportunities for inter-networking among colleges. There is an asymmetrical power flow among the college schools, both within the same level and across different levels. Despite the policy FACT mandating distributed leadership, hierarchical forms of accountability are still inherent within the system, bringing out a tension between autonomy and centralization

Race and becoming: the emergent materialities of race in everyday multiculture

This thesis draws on ethnographic fieldwork in Keighley, West Yorkshire, to interrogate the turbulent sociality of everyday multicultures and the temporary, but recursive fixings of race on the ground in interaction. Arguing that the routine framing of race as a social construct in the social sciences has had a 'deadening effect' on our academic talk about race, this study takes a line of flight from social constructionist and abolitionist arguments by addressing the underside of intercultural relations in Keighley through questions of experimentation. Repeatedly questioning what race does and how race functions, this research develops a non-determinist, non-essentialist conception of race that continuously takes form through heterogeneous processes of differentiation in moments of intercultural encounter. The thesis develops an ontology of race that grasps how race is simultaneously fluid and fixing, as it momentarily takes form through arrangement bodies, things and spaces. Coupling this conception of race with theorisatdons of thinking as a layered, practical and distributed activity, I assemble a conception of race thinking as thought-in action. Here race thinking is an outcome of, and distributed across, an entanglement with the world and opens up the half-second delay as a space of prejudice during which the push of race sorts bodies, things and spaces, and coordinates thinking and action. Three empirical chapters each take a different materiality as a point of entry into the dynamic socialities of intercultural relations. A chapter on bodies examines the tendencies and distributions of differently raced bodies on the ground in Keighley. This chapter argues that bodies do not have race, but they become raced as the heterogeneous elements that constitute bodies emerge as sites of intensive difference in interaction. A chapter on the car questions how race rides on the car to examine the force of things in race thinking, and track how suspicion and innuendo stick to, and circulate through, particular objects. The final empirical chapter constructs a topographical approach to urban multiculture to evoke the life， passion and intensities of living with difference. The momentum accumulated through these perspectives works towards a distinct understanding how race is done in Keighley. Through the cumulative force of these chapters I begin to reconstruct understandings of urban multiculture from below, emphasising how urban multiculture in Keighley is practised, visceral and felt

Workload, accountability and stress: A comparative study of teachers' working conditions in state and private schools in England

England’s state education system is in the midst of a teacher retention crisis. Stressed teachers are leaving state schools citing intensive monitoring and burdensome workloads, propelled by the perceived demands of hard accountability systems as their core reasons. There is a net flow of teachers into the private education sector which runs in an ancillary sphere to the public sector. However, very little is known about teachers’ experiences in private schools. The research takes the view that in a time of a state school teacher retention crisis, it is pertinent to look across the sectoral divide to compare conditions between the sectors and consider what each might learn from the other. Through questionnaires with over 800 practitioners, the mixed-methods study achieves a novel overview of teacher workload, stress, and experiences of teacher monitoring systems across sectors. It finds that in comparison to state school teachers, those in private schools are significantly less stressed and hold better perceptions of their workload despite working a similar number of weekly hours. In depth interviews and focus group discussions with 51 teachers provide further insight into these findings. These qualitative data were analysed through a Foucauldian lens, and this analysis foregrounded the damaging effects of high-stakes accountability and economic discourses in the state sector. Teachers who felt misaligned with these overarching values felt stressed and experienced their work as burdensome and meaningless. However, through comparison with the private sector, it was evident that it was possible for teachers to experience their work as fulfilling despite working long hours during the term-time. The research provides an original contribution to knowledge because it is one of the first to offer overview and insight into the work of private school teachers. Furthermore, it presents a fresh look at state education through comparison with the private sector. In this way, the research illuminates the kinds of systemic changes, such as peer-review inspections, possible within the English context which could help teachers to maintain positive perceptions of their workload. It ultimately suggests that the current high-stakes accountability systems of England’s state education system must be softened in order to allow teachers to refocus on the work that they find most meaningful: that which benefits pupils.Pigott doctoral scholarshi