'When you've been doing it as long as I have ...' Repositioning children through role-based strategies in classroom research

In this presentation, Viv talks about a drama-based data generation strategy that was developed during a two-year research project: Connecting curriculum, connecting learning (Fraser, Aitken, Price, & 2012). The strategy, 'researcher-in-role', involved a researcher stepping into role alongside children as they were learning in drama, to conduct learning conversations and generate data. The strategy was used in five classrooms. On three occasions, researchers tried the researcher-in-role strategy simultaneously alongside a more traditional researcher, working out of role. This allowed Viv to compare the quality of children's talk to the researcher-in-role with that of the researcher out of role. She found that where researcher-in-role was used, children seemed more inclined to share provisional knowledge, express the processes of their learning and grapple with incomplete understandings. After sharing these findings, Viv goes on to theorize them through the lens of Positioning Theory (Harre and Lagenhove 2009. The presentation concludes by advocating for the researcher-in-role strategy as a useful tool in drama education and other research contexts. Please note, this powerpoint presentation has been further developed into a peer reviewed journal article published in RIDE (Aitken, 2014 in press).Â

Introduction to the Journal part 1

oai:wje.org.nz:article/

Safe to speak? A teacher's story of one child's apparent 'liberation' and 'transformation' through the security of role

The following article arose out of conversations between the authors, Shay Cowley, a second year student at the School of Education, The University of Waikato, and Dr. Viv Aitken, who lectures in Drama in Education at the same university. Shay contacted Viv to tell her about the successful drama unit she had taught on her first year teaching practicum and, in particular, to report the apparent 'transformation' that had occurred for one student in the class (referred to here as 'Kate'). Through continued discussion about Shay's experience, a decision was made to share her story and to position this within related theory on the transformative potential of drama. In terms of methodology, then, the article emerges from practitioner reflection: in this case, the anecdotal reflections of an emergent teacher. The student's narrative is then deconstructed and the anecdotal material is used as the basis for the exploration of hypothetical questions which are seen as having relevance and importance in the field of drama education

Positions, storylines and speech acts: How five mentor teachers from EIT's Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) conceptualise their role in the partnership

This article reports on findings of a small-scale study by a group of three teacher educators from the Bachelor of Teaching, Primary (BTP) at the Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) in Hawke's Bay in 2016. The project began as a replication of a previous study from 2014 in which mentor teachers (MTs) from EIT's partner schools were interviewed about their experiences with transcripts analysed thematically. Analysis of the 2016 interviews generated four themes. Two of these, 'relationship' and 'communication', were identical to the previous study, suggesting MTs continue to value these aspects of partnership. The two other themes 'commitment' and 'collaboration', when compared with the themes of 'investment' and 'interdependence' from the earlier study, appeared to show a maturing and bedding in of the partnership. The project also expanded on the original design with a second level of analysis using positioning theory. Transcripts were analysed for linguistic markers related to positions, storylines, and speech acts, particularly the use of the word 'we'. The positioning analysis found participants offered 24 different categorisations of MT role activity, with only seven of these mentioned more than three times, suggesting these MTs conceptualise the role as complex and open to interpretation. Each MT adopted a distinct stance in describing their approach to candidate teacher support, drawing on metaphors as they did so. Four overarching storylines were identified, covering the benefits of the partnership model (particularly the value of feeling involved in programme design), the demands of being an MT, the challenges of working with candidate teachers and a sense of growing confidence and autonomy within the MT role. As for speech acts, five MTs used the word 'we' to denote personal alignment with their school, two used it to align with EIT or teacher educators (specifically in reference to programme development) and none used it to align with candidate teachers. The findings of this study reinforced the teacher educators' existing understandings about the importance of relationship and communication in the partnership and offered new insights into how these MTs conceptualise their role and operate in their own settings. The findings have been used to inform planning for ongoing MT support at EIT and may be of interest to other Initial Teacher Education programmes, particularly those involving partnerships and mentors