Optimising Well-Being and Learning Through Participatory Processes and Practices: an International Comparative Analysis of Ten Groundwork Case-Studies in Schools (original) (raw)
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HOW YOUNG PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL SUPPORTS ACHIEVEMENT AND ATTAINMENT
In the seven schools visited, pupils said that opportunities to participate in all areas of school life were highly valued. From young people’s perspectives, a rights-based education was integral to their achievement and attainment. It was noticeable that in these seven schools, across all arenas of school life, pupils had substantial opportunities to formally and informally take part in a variety of meaningful activities, to take responsibility for events, make contributions to school life, and have their views considered in matters that affected them. Our findings suggest that from young people’s perspectives, rights-based experiences and a good education cannot be easily separated; they were intimately connected in the lives of the young people. We conclude, therefore, that it is less useful to see a rights-based education as an add-on to mainstream education; it is better understood as a way of working across all school life. Supportive relationships count for a lot Positive pupil-pupil and pupil-teacher relationships were mentioned in all schools as really important for supporting pupils participation, influencing change, and doing well. Across the arenas of school life, young people felt that relations among pupils, teachers, and their communities needed to involve power sharing and be caring, respectful, trusting, and purposeful to ensure achievement and attainment was supported. Meaningful and purposeful activities, respectful communications, and inclusive relations came together to support pupils’ achievement and attainment, creating a sense of belonging at school, and bringing a rights-based dimension to educational experience.
An English Case of Participation in School Processes and Practices
Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 2020
The purpose of this English secondary school pilot case-study is to establish if the research design addresses the questions about teachers' and students' patterns of participation in institutional processes and practices. Such participation is important because individuals can prepare for participating within labour markets, and shape culture in their communities' and 'big society'. The case study draws from a post-positivist and an interpretivst approach. The mixed methods case study included qualitative interviews with two teachers and two students that focused on their experiences, concerns and aspirations. The findings revealed that leadership systems of value enabled learning to start with students and fostered collaboration between teachers and teachers, and teachers and students' learning, assessment for learning and planning. Collaboration was underpinned by healthy relationships characterized by friendliness, trust, respect and an ethic of care, an inclusionary approach, a sense of fun, and a spirit of enquiry. Research participants stated optimal participation had been reached, and further participation would require the creation of time in the curriculum. The findings were theorized from which we developed pilot questionnaires to test the findings. The evidence from the pilot of the questionnaires is here reported. Reporting the qualitative findings is not possible because it would not be possible to maintain the confidentiality of the teachers and students.
Participation and Agency: the experiences of young people in a Scottish secondary school
2014
The purpose of this study is to better understand the classroom experiences of current secondary school students, in light of the present policy drive towards participation. Using an approach with ethnographic intent (participant observation, interviewing, shadowing and field notes) this research explores six students ' experiences, in one secondary school in Scotland. Emerging themes from the literature, regarding participation and participatory approaches, suggest that these can be understood in different ways, ranging from economic instrumentalism to democratic renewal. This study took a fresh theoretical approach, employing an ecological, temporal-relational understanding of the achievement of agency. This understanding acknowledges a young person 's awareness of, and capacity to engage with, a range of different possible actions, by means of a particular context at a particular time. This approach provided theoretical tools, with which to interpret aspects of these students' school experiences. The findings are detailed in terms of teacher-student relationships, the cultural realm, and young people's aspirations. Students' achievement of agency in the school setting is complex, but one major finding is that the quality and type of teacher-student relationship are significant in enabling these students to achieve agency. Peer relationships and ties beyond the school gates are also significant. The ecological understanding of agency provides a basis for educators to better understand the interdependence of the individual and the environment and to explore how participation might afford a wider range of possibilities for young people. This reflection on participation is important if we want to shape educational ecologies to encourage practices which facilitate the achievement of agency by young people. Scotland. This understanding of agency, which allows participation to be examined as a means to an end-the achievement of agency by young people-is discussed in detail in Chapter Four.
Research for All, 2019
Co-production techniques that involve student voice have been shown to empower young people and shape their learning experiences, while widening participation approaches can improve students' educational aspirations. However, there is limited literature on the impact that a combination of co-production and widening participation approaches might have on students' learning, aspirations and self-esteem in the UK. The Research Methods in School Education (RISE) educational course aims to: (1) create a collaborative educational activity through co-production, giving young people an opportunity to voice their opinions; (2) raise awareness of community health issues; and (3) increase access to higher education. This paper describes and evaluates co-producing the RISE educational course with students and teachers from a sixth-form college in south-east London, drawing on students' voice, and on insights from teachers and researchers. We also assess the contribution of the cours...
2016
The purpose of this English secondary school pilot case-study is to establish if the research design addresses the questions about teachers’ and students’ patterns of participation in institutional processes and practices. Such participation is important because individuals can prepare for participating within labour markets, and shape culture in their communities’ and ‘big society’. The case study draws from a post-positivist and an interpretivst approach. The mixed methods case study included qualitative interviews with two teachers and two students that focused on their experiences, concerns and aspirations. The findings revealed that leadership systems of value enabled learning to start with students and fostered collaboration between teachers and teachers, and teachers and students’ learning, assessment for learning and planning. Collaboration was underpinned by healthy relationships characterized by friendliness, trust, respect and an ethic of care, an inclusionary approach, a...
Rewriting the future: Young people's stories of educational engagement
Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling, 2020
Young people's educational trajectories are always provisional. This article considers young people's perspectives about enablers and barriers to continued education, and questions models of aspiration-raising that prioritise particular trajectories and are critical when young people cannot engage. Participatory methods enabled 30 young people aged 12-24 from disadvantaged areas in northwest England to imagine steps towards future possible selves. Through collaborative story-making with researchers, they established that inter-generational relationships are important to these journeys, especially support from adults who believed in their capabilities and encouraged young people's influence over decisions for change.
Participatory Pedagogy, 2018
The UK Government requires all schools in England to promote ‘Fundamental British Values’. These include democracy, and as Hart (1992) states: ‘A nation is democratic to the extent that its citizens are involved’. My research questions how ’involved’ pupils are within schools and how democratic our schools are. Recent findings from Robinson (2014) found that pupil participation in schools is not as effective as believed. Hart (1992) developed a Ladder of Participation to illustrate the levels of participation and non-participation of young people in schools. This has been used for developing and enhancing the work of school councils for many years, though arguably much of the work can still remain around the lower, tokenistic or ‘consultation’ levels. My research aims to explore pupil participation and voice within the classroom, and within teaching itself. Education has the potential to be socially transformative when that education system actively recognises and engages the learners as agents for their own learning. James and Pollard (2011) argue that pedagogy could influence social aspects such as increased social justice or economic prosperity. Further to that I would argue that engaging in a transformative, ‘participatory’ pedagogy utilises critical, creative and collaborative thinking to greater effect, enabling learners to become ‘transformers of their world’ (Freire, 1968, cited in Robinson & Taylor, 2007: 12). Through this research I have been able to develop a Participatory Pedagogy Framework based on Hart’s ‘Ladder of Participation’ (1992) and, by incorporating the work of Florian and Linklater (2010), adapt it for use within general classroom practice as an approach to developing pupil voice and engagement in learning. My paper will endeavour to outline the key aspects of the theory around the development of my Participatory Pedagogy Framework and the initial outcomes from a small-scale action research project exploring the educational effectiveness and practicality of employing the framework in a primary classroom.
Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 2020
There has been a long-standing call for the participation of young people in decision making in school. However, research to date has mostly focused on pupil councils and is rarely conducted in areas of socioeconomic deprivation-the contexts for this study. In national examinations, the schools chosen had higher than average attainments given their catchments. The research sought to understand if and how young people would make a link between their participation rights and 'doing well' at school. Using mobile and visual methods, a situated, social-material approach was taken to data collection and analysis. We found participation opportunities were supportive in four arenas: formal curriculum, wider curriculum, decision making groups, and connections with the wider community. This framing provides a heuristic for rights-based participation in educational practice.