ELEANORE HARGREAVES - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by ELEANORE HARGREAVES
Pedagogy, Culture & Society
What Makes a Good Primary School Teacher?, 2002
What Makes a Good Primary School Teacher?, 2020
Children’s Experiences of Classrooms: Talking About Being Pupils in the Classroom
Faculty Sponsor: Barbara Henriques 2The United States is a nation defined by assessment. We measu... more Faculty Sponsor: Barbara Henriques 2The United States is a nation defined by assessment. We measure everything from intelligence levels of our citizens to productivity levels in the workplace to the speed at which children can run a mile, pore over the results, assign labels and markers to differentiate those who succeed from those who fail. We obsess over standardized testing results and grades, always looking for a quick fix, for a way to maximally improve our schools with minimum effort or more importantly, in a minimal amount of time. In studying educational reform issues, one sees a repeating pattern of quick theorizing, quick program development, quick implementation, and quick abandonment of ideas and policies intended to be quick fixes for the most pressing of educational issues. Attribution theory and motivation Attribution theorists study perceptions of causality in motivation and achievement. They argue that individuals engage in causal analyses after experiencing successes or failures, attempting to answer the question “why did I succeed (or fail). ” In finding a probable cause for his level of performance, one “attributes ” his success or
Oxford Review of Education, 2021
Nancy Fraser describes parity-of-participation in social interaction as an important component of... more Nancy Fraser describes parity-of-participation in social interaction as an important component of social justice. In this paper, we explore the participatory experiences of primary-school-children who have been labelled 'lower-attainers' in mathematics and/or writing. The paper explores justice drawing on the perspective of these pupils, in relation to how they perceive success in their school learning. We link the concept of participation to the three components of social justice outlined in Nancy Fraser's definition: a) distribution of wealth; b) recognition of status; and c) representation of voice. Our findings indicate that children who do not excel in attainment in prescribed subjects may experience obstructions to parity-of-participation within schooling which are beyond those encountered by all children. We conclude that injustices in all three senses (above) are being experienced by specific children and these injustices need urgent confrontation.
Reimagining Professional Development in Schools, 2020
System, 2021
This paper explores agency in a collectivist culture to investigate whether, and if so how, schoo... more This paper explores agency in a collectivist culture to investigate whether, and if so how, school-children experience agency as supportive to learning to speak English in the classroom of a collectivist culture. It draws on Ryan and Deci's (2019) Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to examine nine primary classrooms in three schools in Alexandria, Arab Republic of Egypt. The research involved 281 primary-schoolchildren who completed open-ended sentences about experiences in the ELT classroom, observations of the nine participating classes and 18 individual interviews. Our findings provided support for the universality of the need for autonomy (reflecting agency) in learning to speak English within a collectivist culture, in that the sample children expressed the need for greater autonomy. They also the inter-relatedness of the three basic needs of SDT, competence, autonomy and relatedness. Our findings suggest that children were encouraged by their schooling system to develop Control or Impersonal Orientations rather than Autonomy Orientations. These were sustained through children's fear of making mistakes and teachers scolding them which inhibited their sense of agency and capacity for speaking in English. Some children found that agency was less inhibited when they did simultaneous pairwork, if their needs for competence and relatedness were also satisfied.
Educational Review, 2021
This paper explores the peer relationship experiences of 23 primaryschool children who had been d... more This paper explores the peer relationship experiences of 23 primaryschool children who had been designated as "lower-attaining". It is written against the backdrop of the mental health crisis among young people in Britain. Using John Macmurray's principles of equality and freedom as underpinning positive personal relationships, it investigates how "lower-attaining" children experience their peer relationships in a climate where attainment in mathematics and English is politically prioritised over the nurturing of positive relationships. We drew on the recent literature pertaining to peer relationships in general; and peer relationships among "lower-attainers" in particular. We build on the assumption that positive personal relationships support creative learning and high attainment. Using 107 extended individual and paired/triad activity-interviews as well as lesson observations every term over six school terms, we carried out research in four sample primaryschools. Our findings illustrated the high value put on friendships by sample children, despite a strong emphasis in schooling on individual competition. The children described instances of feeling troubled by their relationships; and their "low-attainment" status appeared to be linked to some, if not many, of their troubles. They sometimes felt excluded from the main body of their classes due to emphasis on high-attainment. We conclude by proposing a greater emphasis on collaboration and the nurturing of relationships in schooling, which in turn could support these children's creative learning and attainment.
Cambridge Journal of Education, 2020
In this paper, we consider how Carol Dweck's concept of Growth Mindset has been misconceptualised... more In this paper, we consider how Carol Dweck's concept of Growth Mindset has been misconceptualised. We explore the proposition that agency is an important aspect of Growth Mindset; and that the effects of hard work by children is reduced when agency is limited. We draw on qualitative data from 84 interviews with 23 participant children who had been designated at the end of their Year 3 as 'lower-attainers' in mathematics/English or both. We explore their experiences of this designation across the first two years of the five-year project. Our findings suggested that participants displayed ample capacity for action, curiosity, engagement and creative learning. However, classroom rules sometimes mitigated against children benefiting from these capacities. Children narrated adopting the performance orientation suggested by Dweck, which could lead to a reduced sense of competence, which itself led to less agentic classroom behaviours. Carol Dweck and the Growth Mindset Carol Dweck is well-known among both academics and educators for her 'growth mindset' theory, which our experience suggests was widely disseminated in primary-schools in England during the early 2000s. It seems to have left a deep impact on schools, challenging long-held beliefs that children are born with innate 'ability'. Dweck's seminal work Mindset (2006), drawing on earlier psychological research (e.g. Dweck and Leggett, 1988; Elliot and Dweck, 1988), explained 'why it's not just our abilities and talent that bring us success, but whether we approach our goals with a fixed or growth mindset' (back cover). She clarifies
Education 3-13, 2020
Lower-attaining' children are known to encounter negative experiences in school, including experi... more Lower-attaining' children are known to encounter negative experiences in school, including experiencing feelings of upset, shame and inferiority. Using extensive interview and observation data from the first two years of a five-year longitudinal study of 23 'lowerattaining' children (age 7-9), we draw on Seligman's theory of well-being to identify the children's experiences of school in terms of their emotions, relationships and sense of achievement. Our analysis finds that on balance, these children are experiencing threats to their well-being in relation to their perceived lack of attainment and its associated shame, in an increasingly performative educational culture. We conclude that such threats are hampering the well-being of these children, which may cause both immediate and longerterm damage.
Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 2019
This text makes a significant contribution to the debate on within-class attainment grouping in p... more This text makes a significant contribution to the debate on within-class attainment grouping in primary schools, by portraying the views and perspectives of children themselves, labelled as "low-attaining". Extensive, active individual interviews plus observations over three terms of schooling facilitated rich insights into whether, and if so, how 23 "lowattaining" primary-school children assimilated cultural values designating them as having subordinate status to other children. We consider the implications of our findings for social justice, employing an innovative analysis framework which takes Nancy Fraser's conceptualisation of justice as "parity-of-participation". Our research illustrates that these children had absorbed some values about "success" that posed considerable obstacles to them, which led to feelings of isolation and lack of social participation. In particular, the children found some aspects of attainment grouping obstructive to social interaction. Reactions to these discomforts sometimes led them towards subtly subversive behaviour or alternatively to flat denial of difficulty.
Education 3-13, 2019
This paper explores learning from the perspective of primary pupils in Egypt. The article explore... more This paper explores learning from the perspective of primary pupils in Egypt. The article explores models of learning and teaching and how pupils respond to traditional models and to changes within those. Qualitative data was collected from 57 interviews with 81 primary pupils in Alexandria, Egypt. Our research approach was interpretivist and our method was individual interview and observation. Teachers had introduced for the first time the practice of group and/or pair-work in the English language classroom. Following this change, pupils described their learning as benefiting from: peer support; exercising self-direction; participating more actively; and enjoyment of collaborative work. These findings accord with the research literature on collaborative learning. We conclude that even in traditional sites of learning, children appreciate aspects of collaborative learning.
Professional Development in Education, 2018
This article draws on interview data across eight months from Senior Teachers [ie experienced tea... more This article draws on interview data across eight months from Senior Teachers [ie experienced teachers who are subject leaders] in Egyptian primary schools, to explore how they described their learning during a professional development Project in which they led gatherings of interested teachers in Teacher Learning Communities. The article explores the hypothesis that an important ingredient for effective teacher professional development is an affirming relationship between the learning-teacher and their coach or peers. Carl Rogers' person-centred theory (1951 [1987], 1967 [1988]) from the psychotherapy context is explored here in an educational context where, as in many countries, hierarchical relationships control how professionals relate to each other and express themselves. The article concludes that an enhanced sense of professional value and authority can result from more mutually respectful relationships and become the bedrock for significant professional development. Introduction: collaborative interaction Collaborative interaction among teachers has been frequently described as a key feature of successful professional development (Bellibas et al. 2017, King 2014, Tannehill and MacPhail 2017) and is central to the structure of Teacher Learning Communities or Teacher Learning Teams [TLCs or TLTs]. The term 'collaborative interaction' refers to any situation in which the learner is being offered dialogic exchange with another person or people. From Carl
Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 2017
This article explores the concept of fear related to the authoritarian classroom and how children... more This article explores the concept of fear related to the authoritarian classroom and how children express its influence on their learning. Its investigations draw on the comments of four classes of primary-age pupils, two from a school near London, England, and two from boys' and girls' schools in the West Bank, Palestine. It is written by one English and one Palestinian author. The authors ascertained that all four classrooms were underpinned by an authoritarian pedagogy, reflected in a dependence relationship in which the teacher is dominant and pupils are dependent. Despite the very different political contexts of the two settings for this research, the findings indicated that the persistence of a hierarchical normalizing judgment in both settings seemed to provoke fear of the teacher's disappointment, disapproval, and/or punishments. Pupils' fear in both settings led to them feeling lost, lacking confidence, keeping silent, and being distracted from their learning.
![Research paper thumbnail of Teacher feedback in primary classrooms: the pupil perspective [IOE Research Briefing N°58]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/106915635/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Teacher feedback in primary classrooms: the pupil perspective This research explored how pupils r... more Teacher feedback in primary classrooms: the pupil perspective This research explored how pupils responded to the teacher's feedback in the primary classroom.
The SAGE Handbook of Learning
The SAGE Handbook of Learning
Pedagogy, Culture & Society
What Makes a Good Primary School Teacher?, 2002
What Makes a Good Primary School Teacher?, 2020
Children’s Experiences of Classrooms: Talking About Being Pupils in the Classroom
Faculty Sponsor: Barbara Henriques 2The United States is a nation defined by assessment. We measu... more Faculty Sponsor: Barbara Henriques 2The United States is a nation defined by assessment. We measure everything from intelligence levels of our citizens to productivity levels in the workplace to the speed at which children can run a mile, pore over the results, assign labels and markers to differentiate those who succeed from those who fail. We obsess over standardized testing results and grades, always looking for a quick fix, for a way to maximally improve our schools with minimum effort or more importantly, in a minimal amount of time. In studying educational reform issues, one sees a repeating pattern of quick theorizing, quick program development, quick implementation, and quick abandonment of ideas and policies intended to be quick fixes for the most pressing of educational issues. Attribution theory and motivation Attribution theorists study perceptions of causality in motivation and achievement. They argue that individuals engage in causal analyses after experiencing successes or failures, attempting to answer the question “why did I succeed (or fail). ” In finding a probable cause for his level of performance, one “attributes ” his success or
Oxford Review of Education, 2021
Nancy Fraser describes parity-of-participation in social interaction as an important component of... more Nancy Fraser describes parity-of-participation in social interaction as an important component of social justice. In this paper, we explore the participatory experiences of primary-school-children who have been labelled 'lower-attainers' in mathematics and/or writing. The paper explores justice drawing on the perspective of these pupils, in relation to how they perceive success in their school learning. We link the concept of participation to the three components of social justice outlined in Nancy Fraser's definition: a) distribution of wealth; b) recognition of status; and c) representation of voice. Our findings indicate that children who do not excel in attainment in prescribed subjects may experience obstructions to parity-of-participation within schooling which are beyond those encountered by all children. We conclude that injustices in all three senses (above) are being experienced by specific children and these injustices need urgent confrontation.
Reimagining Professional Development in Schools, 2020
System, 2021
This paper explores agency in a collectivist culture to investigate whether, and if so how, schoo... more This paper explores agency in a collectivist culture to investigate whether, and if so how, school-children experience agency as supportive to learning to speak English in the classroom of a collectivist culture. It draws on Ryan and Deci's (2019) Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to examine nine primary classrooms in three schools in Alexandria, Arab Republic of Egypt. The research involved 281 primary-schoolchildren who completed open-ended sentences about experiences in the ELT classroom, observations of the nine participating classes and 18 individual interviews. Our findings provided support for the universality of the need for autonomy (reflecting agency) in learning to speak English within a collectivist culture, in that the sample children expressed the need for greater autonomy. They also the inter-relatedness of the three basic needs of SDT, competence, autonomy and relatedness. Our findings suggest that children were encouraged by their schooling system to develop Control or Impersonal Orientations rather than Autonomy Orientations. These were sustained through children's fear of making mistakes and teachers scolding them which inhibited their sense of agency and capacity for speaking in English. Some children found that agency was less inhibited when they did simultaneous pairwork, if their needs for competence and relatedness were also satisfied.
Educational Review, 2021
This paper explores the peer relationship experiences of 23 primaryschool children who had been d... more This paper explores the peer relationship experiences of 23 primaryschool children who had been designated as "lower-attaining". It is written against the backdrop of the mental health crisis among young people in Britain. Using John Macmurray's principles of equality and freedom as underpinning positive personal relationships, it investigates how "lower-attaining" children experience their peer relationships in a climate where attainment in mathematics and English is politically prioritised over the nurturing of positive relationships. We drew on the recent literature pertaining to peer relationships in general; and peer relationships among "lower-attainers" in particular. We build on the assumption that positive personal relationships support creative learning and high attainment. Using 107 extended individual and paired/triad activity-interviews as well as lesson observations every term over six school terms, we carried out research in four sample primaryschools. Our findings illustrated the high value put on friendships by sample children, despite a strong emphasis in schooling on individual competition. The children described instances of feeling troubled by their relationships; and their "low-attainment" status appeared to be linked to some, if not many, of their troubles. They sometimes felt excluded from the main body of their classes due to emphasis on high-attainment. We conclude by proposing a greater emphasis on collaboration and the nurturing of relationships in schooling, which in turn could support these children's creative learning and attainment.
Cambridge Journal of Education, 2020
In this paper, we consider how Carol Dweck's concept of Growth Mindset has been misconceptualised... more In this paper, we consider how Carol Dweck's concept of Growth Mindset has been misconceptualised. We explore the proposition that agency is an important aspect of Growth Mindset; and that the effects of hard work by children is reduced when agency is limited. We draw on qualitative data from 84 interviews with 23 participant children who had been designated at the end of their Year 3 as 'lower-attainers' in mathematics/English or both. We explore their experiences of this designation across the first two years of the five-year project. Our findings suggested that participants displayed ample capacity for action, curiosity, engagement and creative learning. However, classroom rules sometimes mitigated against children benefiting from these capacities. Children narrated adopting the performance orientation suggested by Dweck, which could lead to a reduced sense of competence, which itself led to less agentic classroom behaviours. Carol Dweck and the Growth Mindset Carol Dweck is well-known among both academics and educators for her 'growth mindset' theory, which our experience suggests was widely disseminated in primary-schools in England during the early 2000s. It seems to have left a deep impact on schools, challenging long-held beliefs that children are born with innate 'ability'. Dweck's seminal work Mindset (2006), drawing on earlier psychological research (e.g. Dweck and Leggett, 1988; Elliot and Dweck, 1988), explained 'why it's not just our abilities and talent that bring us success, but whether we approach our goals with a fixed or growth mindset' (back cover). She clarifies
Education 3-13, 2020
Lower-attaining' children are known to encounter negative experiences in school, including experi... more Lower-attaining' children are known to encounter negative experiences in school, including experiencing feelings of upset, shame and inferiority. Using extensive interview and observation data from the first two years of a five-year longitudinal study of 23 'lowerattaining' children (age 7-9), we draw on Seligman's theory of well-being to identify the children's experiences of school in terms of their emotions, relationships and sense of achievement. Our analysis finds that on balance, these children are experiencing threats to their well-being in relation to their perceived lack of attainment and its associated shame, in an increasingly performative educational culture. We conclude that such threats are hampering the well-being of these children, which may cause both immediate and longerterm damage.
Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 2019
This text makes a significant contribution to the debate on within-class attainment grouping in p... more This text makes a significant contribution to the debate on within-class attainment grouping in primary schools, by portraying the views and perspectives of children themselves, labelled as "low-attaining". Extensive, active individual interviews plus observations over three terms of schooling facilitated rich insights into whether, and if so, how 23 "lowattaining" primary-school children assimilated cultural values designating them as having subordinate status to other children. We consider the implications of our findings for social justice, employing an innovative analysis framework which takes Nancy Fraser's conceptualisation of justice as "parity-of-participation". Our research illustrates that these children had absorbed some values about "success" that posed considerable obstacles to them, which led to feelings of isolation and lack of social participation. In particular, the children found some aspects of attainment grouping obstructive to social interaction. Reactions to these discomforts sometimes led them towards subtly subversive behaviour or alternatively to flat denial of difficulty.
Education 3-13, 2019
This paper explores learning from the perspective of primary pupils in Egypt. The article explore... more This paper explores learning from the perspective of primary pupils in Egypt. The article explores models of learning and teaching and how pupils respond to traditional models and to changes within those. Qualitative data was collected from 57 interviews with 81 primary pupils in Alexandria, Egypt. Our research approach was interpretivist and our method was individual interview and observation. Teachers had introduced for the first time the practice of group and/or pair-work in the English language classroom. Following this change, pupils described their learning as benefiting from: peer support; exercising self-direction; participating more actively; and enjoyment of collaborative work. These findings accord with the research literature on collaborative learning. We conclude that even in traditional sites of learning, children appreciate aspects of collaborative learning.
Professional Development in Education, 2018
This article draws on interview data across eight months from Senior Teachers [ie experienced tea... more This article draws on interview data across eight months from Senior Teachers [ie experienced teachers who are subject leaders] in Egyptian primary schools, to explore how they described their learning during a professional development Project in which they led gatherings of interested teachers in Teacher Learning Communities. The article explores the hypothesis that an important ingredient for effective teacher professional development is an affirming relationship between the learning-teacher and their coach or peers. Carl Rogers' person-centred theory (1951 [1987], 1967 [1988]) from the psychotherapy context is explored here in an educational context where, as in many countries, hierarchical relationships control how professionals relate to each other and express themselves. The article concludes that an enhanced sense of professional value and authority can result from more mutually respectful relationships and become the bedrock for significant professional development. Introduction: collaborative interaction Collaborative interaction among teachers has been frequently described as a key feature of successful professional development (Bellibas et al. 2017, King 2014, Tannehill and MacPhail 2017) and is central to the structure of Teacher Learning Communities or Teacher Learning Teams [TLCs or TLTs]. The term 'collaborative interaction' refers to any situation in which the learner is being offered dialogic exchange with another person or people. From Carl
Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 2017
This article explores the concept of fear related to the authoritarian classroom and how children... more This article explores the concept of fear related to the authoritarian classroom and how children express its influence on their learning. Its investigations draw on the comments of four classes of primary-age pupils, two from a school near London, England, and two from boys' and girls' schools in the West Bank, Palestine. It is written by one English and one Palestinian author. The authors ascertained that all four classrooms were underpinned by an authoritarian pedagogy, reflected in a dependence relationship in which the teacher is dominant and pupils are dependent. Despite the very different political contexts of the two settings for this research, the findings indicated that the persistence of a hierarchical normalizing judgment in both settings seemed to provoke fear of the teacher's disappointment, disapproval, and/or punishments. Pupils' fear in both settings led to them feeling lost, lacking confidence, keeping silent, and being distracted from their learning.
Teacher feedback in primary classrooms: the pupil perspective This research explored how pupils r... more Teacher feedback in primary classrooms: the pupil perspective This research explored how pupils responded to the teacher's feedback in the primary classroom.
The SAGE Handbook of Learning
The SAGE Handbook of Learning