Understanding transitions using a sociocultural framework

Transitions have traditionally been characterised as forms of change. These may either be inner changes (new beliefs or developmental growth) or the physical move from one place to another (see Erikson, 1975), such as the move from primary to secondary school. This theoretical paper will argue that transition can be best understood using a sociocultural framework, which links human thought and action to social and cultural situatedness (Zittoun, 2006). Using ideas underpinned by Vygotsky (1978) we will present three frameworks for addressing sociocultural transitions: (i) the notion of consequential transitions (Beach, 1999); (ii) symbolic transitions and identity rupture (Zittoun, 2006); and (iii) Communities of Practice transitions (Wenger, 1998). We will borrow examples from research on educational transitions from primary and secondary school contexts through to Higher Education in order to demonstrate that transitions are about a change in self-identity born out of uncertainty in the social and cultural worlds of the individual. Implications for educational practitioners involved in supporting young people undergoing transitions will be discusse

Parental re-sources of understanding mathematical achievement in culturally diverse settings

The last ten years has seen some fairly major educational reform for English schools. The introduction of Standard Assessment Tests as part of the National Curriculum in primary schools has led to a political drive to see more parents involved in their children’s school learning. This is partly born out of educational and political concerns for the ‘gaps’ in children’s school performances of different ethnic groups. This paper examines the ways in which parents attempt to understand how well their children are achieving in mathematics in culturally diverse settings. Borrowing from Gallimore and Goldenberg’s (2001) ‘cultural models’ and ‘cultural settings’, as well as critical-developmental concepts of child development, this paper explores three parental sources of information: (i) the teacher, (ii) exam test results and (iii) constructions of child development. These theoretical positions open for scrutiny new and subjective dimensions of development, which include representations, meanings and experiences. The interviews with twenty-two parents revealed that whilst all of the parents expressed a wish for their children to do well, understanding their child’s achievement is like putting together ‘pieces of a puzzle’ - leading parents to use sometimes intangible sources. Some sources were concrete, such as examination results. Other sources were symbolic, such as the representation of child development, and were less likely to be to be shared with the school community. Either way, these sources were open to parental interpretations and influenced by parents’ own experiences and cultural representations

The mediating role of a minority ethnic teacher's past experiences as a tool for understanding mathematical learning and teaching : European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Special Interest Group 21: Learning and Teaching in Culturally Diverse Settings: Moving through cultures of learning

This paper will examine how a teacher's past experiences, alongside experiences of the present and future, play a mediating role in understanding home and school mathematics learning and teaching. The sociocultural approach will form the basis for the introduction of two key theoretical concepts which are i) heterochronicity, which looks at the way meaning is generated over time in the overlapping histories of the individual and society and ii) prolepsis, where the notion of future mediates with the past and present. As such, the movement through cultures of learning are temporal and spatial. The analysis will draw on a case study exemplar of a minority ethnic teacher (Pakistani Kashmiri) working in a school which was mostly made up of South Asian pupils (Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi) in the Southeast of England. The findings will shed light on how she interweaves her own experience of growing up in the English school system with herself as a school teacher, herself as a mother and her understandings of the parents in the school. Thus, her own past experiences of mathematics learning are embedded at the level of the individual, the family and the wider community. Perhaps more importantly, this paper will address how her general understandings of the wider community have a powerful influence on her representations of the mathematical

[Book Review] Unaccompanied young Migrants: Identity, care and justice

Unaccompanied young migrants: Identity, care and justice breaks new ground by offering a comprehensive picture of a problematic legislative and policy framework surrounding the lives of unaccompanied minors, both in the UK and internationally. Importantly though, the book does this whilst ensuring that the stories and experiences of unaccompanied minors do not get lost. This edited book carefully unpicks the complexities reflected in the contradictions in legislation and policy whilst being mindful of shifting contexts. Two things become manifestly evident very early-on when reading this book. The first, is that the contributors clearly care deeply about the perilous uncertainty that plagues the lives of unaccompanied minors, both before their arrival into their new country and long after it. The second, is that the legislation, policy and border treatments of unaccompanied minors are like sticking plasters, placed one on top of another. For every form of protection in place there is an amendment to policy or practice which seeks to undermine it. On the surface, systems of protection are in place but in reality, there has been systematic failure to deliver that

The contact zone and dialogical positionalities in ‘non-normative’ childhoods: How children who language broker manage conflict

This paper examines the processes by which different dialogical positionalities are taken in the contact zone (Hermans, 2001a, 2003; Pratt, 1991). The contact zone provides a framework for the consideration of potential confrontations and uncertainties during intercultural contacts between migrant children, their family and another adult. The other adult is usually someone in a position of authority. For young people who language broker, managing the uncertainties and confrontations of conflictual situations highlighted three positionalities: (i) ‘conflict avoider’, (ii), ‘the neutral or passive broker’, (iii) the ‘active broker’. The contact zone was a sphere of experience that opened up possibilities for agentic action as well as constraints. The contact zone had the potential to foreground different aspects of their status such as ‘the child,’ ‘the immigrant’ or the second-language speaker. Equally, the young people took opportunities to utilise these statuses as part of their dialogical positionalities to get the best outcome for them and/or their families. We argue that further exploration of the contact zone within the framing of dialogical positionalities can enable better understanding of critical-cultural-development childhoods

Examining conviviality and cultural mediation in arts-based workshops with child language brokers: Narrations of identity and (un)belonging

The concept of conviviality has usually been applied to contexts such as urban neighbourhoods of diversity (Gidley 2013; Lapiņa 2016; Valluvan 2016), and refers to what Gidley (2013) would term the ‘convivial turn’, or the notion of living together or coexisting in our daily social interactions (Wise and Velayutham 2013). The application of conviviality explored in this chapter concerns everyday encounters (Fincher et al. 2014), or what Amin (2002, 959) calls ‘the micropublics of everyday social contact’. ‘Micropublics’ are sites of (sometimes compulsory) conviviality, such as workplaces, schools (Neal et al. 2016), youth centres and community groups (Neal et al. 2015). In this vein, our lens of focus in this paper is on what Neal et al. (2016, 465) would describe as ‘extended encounters’, namely a series of arts-based workshops with students in a culturally and linguistically diverse school in London. The substantive focus of the research study on which this paper is based explored feelings of identity, belonging and cultural mediation among child language brokers. Child language brokers are children and young people who linguistically and culturally mediate between family members and officialdom (Antonini 2010). The arts-based workshops with our child language brokers, and their subsequent outputs, are the centre point for what Illich (1973) might term ‘tools for conviviality’. Our analytic endeavours explore the ‘autonomous and creative intercourse among persons’ (Illich 1973, 11), namely the young people taking part in the workshops, wherein there were possibilities to share, connect and interact. In exploring one of the arts-based workshops for this paper we ask, what role did the artist delivering the workshop have on the output, and how did that unfolding process reflect our research objectives

Recent research on child language brokering in the United Kingdom

Recent patterns of migration and population change in the UK have led in some places to a need for child language brokering (CLB). Although there is only limited evidence on CLB in the UK, the research that has been published indicates the diversity of the phenomenon and suggests its frequency and significance in the lives of some families. In this paper we review a range of small scale studies from different research centres to illustrate that diversity. The research has highlighted ways in which language brokering often elides into cultural brokering with young children playing a brokering role within as well as outside their families. An important line of enquiry has been research on the CLB process itself, but detailed studies of how children and young people respond to the challenges of translation in different settings remain elusive, as do studies of the impact that the activity has on their interactions with others. A key issue for the children and parents involved is others’ perceptions of and reaction to CLB, including not only the professionals and officials with whom they deal but also their peers at school and elsewhere who are not involved in language brokering. Ultimately CLB is of theoretical interest not only for the light it throws on children’s language learning and acculturation but also for the challenge it presents to traditional notions of child development and family role

What is this thing called bullying? Using sociocultural framing to interpret research on defining school bullying

In this theoretical paper, we re-examine some of the empirical literature that has studied definitions of school bullying, and offer sociocultural theorising as a useful underpinning to interpret it. Research exploring how young people and teachers perceive school bullying has indicated that definitions are inconsistent. This includes the characteristics of an incident that equate to a definition of bullying, and also the type of behaviours encompassed by the term bullying. Using Wenger’s (1998) Community of Practice framework, and Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) Ecological System approach, we will argue that bullying is contextual, based on situated relationships between individuals operating in various communities and settings. Therefore it is to be expected that the way bullying is conceived and articulated will vary between groups, and in different situations. This has educational significance in terms of how bullying is interpreted and managed in school

The online multi-agency support barometer

This report presents the findings of a small feasibility study which sought to investigate the use of an online risk management Barometer. The barometer was developed with a view to helping multiple agencies communicate about vulnerable and 'at risk' patients within mental health settings.The Barometer is an online tool which allows staff from multiple agencies to access and share information with other staff if a patient is at risk.The key aims and objectives of this small research project were i) to evaluating how professionals felt about their current risk assessment tools, ii) to assess the ease of use and the relevance of questions within the Barometer tool and iii) to discuss some potential modifications/problem areas of incorporating the Barometer tool within mental health services and across a multi-disciplinary perspective.The research was conducted in three mental services within the South Essex Partnership Trust (2 x CAMHS and 2 x Adult Services) using a mixed-methods approach

Media Representations of Separated Child Migrants: From Dubs to Doubt

This article analyzes coverage of separated child migrants in three British tabloids between the introduction of the Dubs Amendment, which committed to relocating unaccompanied minors to the UK, and the demolition of the unofficial refugee camp in Calais. This camp has been a key symbol of Europe’s “migration crisis” and the subject of significant media attention in which unaccompanied children feature prominently. Taking a temporal view of tabloid coverage highlights increasing contestation of the authenticity of separated children as they began arriving in the UK under Dubs, concurrent with representations of “genuine” child migrants as innocent and vulnerable. We argue that attention to proximity can help account for changing discourses and that the media can simultaneously sustain contradictory views by preserving an essentialized view of “the child,” grounded in racialized, Eurocentric, and advanced capitalist norms. Together, these points raise questions about the political consequences of framing hospitality in the name of “the child.