Developing teachers as researchers: a case study in collaborative learning

This paper considers the findings of a case study exploring the development of non-researching Education lecturers on a staff development programme designed to help them prepare their first academic papers for peer review. The Research and Collaborative Enterprise for Staff (RaCES) programme used a facilitated approach to develop a community of practice centred on collaborative learning, creativity, and enterprise to guide participants to their first research paper in a ‘safe’ learning environment. The approach and the effects on the lecturers were investigated using narrative analysis underpinned by phenomenography and follows their learning journey as they prepare their research for peer review. The investigation used an open learning cycle based on an adaptation of Scharmer’s Theory U (2009) to create data collection stages which helped identify critical aspects in the development of participants. The findings showed the creativity and collaborative learning approaches were instrumental in overcoming ‘inhibitors’ which caused an initial reluctance to begin researching due to a lack of confidence, confusion over-work prioritisation, limited self-esteem concerning research, and uncertainty of outcome. As all the participants were able to create peer reviewed research and the study found facilitators for research included a specific ‘instigation event,’ where they began to see their research as an impersonal object to be objectively considered, and peer support improved their self-esteem and motivated them to finish writing up their research

Enterprise placements: factors which support learning and prolonged attainment in students

This article investigates the learning and academic attainment of undergraduate education students on enterprise placement projects in a longitudinal mixed methods study. By observing the placement learning and analysing previous and subsequent attainment of a second and third year group it adds to the ontology of purpose for enterprise in education and concurs with the growing body of work identifying placements with sustained academic improvement. The qualitative investigation identifies five key learning factors from the placements which support improved academic attainment. These are: pressure to learn; critical personal learning events; seeing the setting as a learning environment; professional attachments, and having space to learn. These factors support the transfer of learning from one context or situation to another and using concepts of transformative learning (Mezirow 2000; Jones, Matlay, and Harris 2012) or transitional learning (Illeris 2007) contributes to a cycle of increasing self-esteem and motivation and a sustained improvement in academic attainment. It concludes that a praxis curriculum, using self-assessments, continuous short (micro) reflections and taught awareness of the placement as a place to look for and recognise learning, would underpin these five factors and contribute to the academic processes underpinning attainment

Study Support::Opening Minds with Out-of-Hours and Out-of-School Learning

Supporting Teaching and Learning brings together theoretical perspectives, practical educational ideas and current academic debates to help students develop their knowledge and understanding of core educational issues. It explores the professional relationships necessary for quality learning and encourages the reader to reflect critically on their values, beliefs and assumptions about learning and teaching.Written by an author team from a range of educational backgrounds, the book focuses on the key issues that teaching teams face as they work together to support children and young people in their learning. Covering a broad range of topics, themes and age ranges, each chapter contains a statement of the author’s values and beliefs and concludes with discussion starters, ideas for reflecting on practice and a list of useful resources

Can teaching critical reflexivity be improved using metaphors? The hippo in the room

This case study investigation reflects on the benefits of using metaphors to teach postgraduate educations students how to deal with personal bias, subjectivity and advocates critical reflexivity as a method for doing this. Students are reluctant to be critically reflective (Adriansen and Knudsen, 2013) as they can feel threatened by the reflective process (Borochowitz, 2005), feel they can sit apart or outside their research and write without bias (Gursti-Pepin and Patrizio, 2009) and/or feel critical reflection may damage their research findings, (Fook and Askeland, 2007). The paper explores the effectiveness of an approach to overcoming this reluctance by applying a metaphor from a research module in Zambia to a UK education class. In Zambia students discussed personal bias by likening it to an encounter with a dangerous unseen animal, and identified similarities with a hippopotamus. This animal is difficult to tame, dangerous, hard to deal with, can remain hidden for a long time, it appears unexpectedly, cannot be ignored, and awareness the main defence. Anecdotal reports suggested this improved the early adoption of critical reflexivity in their dissertations. This metaphor was then used as a key discussion point on a postdoctoral education programme in the UK and investigated using focus groups. Students reporting a greater understanding personal bias, recognition of the importance of being critically reflexive, and felt the metaphor of the hippo had been instrumental in their understanding and the use of Rokeachs’ personal values; morality, competency, personal and social behaviour, provided a supportive reflexive framework. Follow up research with supervisors showed an increase in the application of critical reflexivity early in the students research. This is underpinned by findings from Hoggan (2016) who researched the used of metaphors to help cancer patients explain difficult personal constructs about their condition

Editorial

EditorialWelcome to Volume 8, Issue 2 of Educationalfutures. This edition has beenproduced for the 13th British Education Studies Association Conference, where I willbe outlining some of the administrative changes to Educationalfutures to ensure wecomply with the Research Excellence Framework and re-launching Transformations,our sister publication for undergraduates and new researchers. This edition featuresa series of excellent research papers, again expertly reviewed by our Peer ReviewPanel, and which all contribute to academic knowledge in the field of EducationStudies. We also have reviews of three informative educational books. I would liketo thank the contributing authors, the editorial panel members and the publisher forworking very hard to make this edition available for the conference and the excellentand supportive feedback they have all given to the contributing authors. We nowhave a back catalogue of articles at various stages of review and production and Iam already working on Volume 8.3 which will hopefully contain a number of articlesfrom the conference theme - ethics

Education and the ‘new’ neoliberalism

This Chapter examines the origins of neoliberalism as liberal economic approach with a social conscience to solving the economic problems of the 1930's by the German Ordoliberalists, the Mont Pelarin Group and the Chicago School of economists. This is compared to the re-emergence of neoliberalism in the 1980's as a broad critical commentary on the effect of political economies returning to a liberal economic approach in which a distinct global political economy of education has developed. By comparing different political approaches to this 'new' neoliberalism the chapter provides a conceptual base for students of education to debate the nature and purpose of current neoliberal approaches to education

The Global Political Economy of Education in the 21st Century

The growth of education globally recently facilitated by market forces has created the need for a discussion about the conceptual framework in which this has taken place. This expansion has occurred in complex national socio/economic/political environments, often without uniformity, but with some common market led features which prompted some observers to suggest there is a now a global political economy of education (Verger et al., 2016). This chapter examines the historical development of a global political economy of education by considering the origins and development of market forces in education as it is seen through different perspectives. Through the 19th century the global development of education generally followed the model in England which saw an increasing role for the state, and state funding in education, although some countries such had Prussia had a system of free education funded by state which began in the 17th Century. It considers the ideas that placed education as a state concern in England during the late 18th and early 19th Century and follows the conceptual debate about the role of the state and the place of markets forces in providing for it. By following developments in the political economy of education in England and Wales to the present day and comparing these to educational developments elsewhere it provides a factual base against which concepts of the global political economy of education can be evaluated