Teachers' Ways in Times of Fluidity
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TEACHERS’ WAYS IN TIMES OF FLUIDITY Ingunn Elisabeth Stray TEACHERS’ WAYS IN TIMES OF FLUIDITY IDIOSYNCRATIC CULTURAL RESPONSES TO GLOBAL EDUCATIONAL REFORM MOVEMENTS Doctoral dissertation University of Agder Faculty of Humanities and Education 2017 Doctoral dissertations at University of Agder, 175 ISBN: 978-82-7117-872-7 ISSN: 1504-9272 © Ingunn Elisabeth Stray, 2017 Printed by: Wittusen & Jensen Oslo CONTENTS Foreword and Acknowledgements ......................................................................... vii Summary ................................................................................................................ xi PART I—Aims and Theoretical Framework .............................................................. 1 Chapter 1 ................................................................................................................ 3 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 3 A global educational agenda? .....................................................................................................5 Global Educational Reform Movements and links to modernity. ................................................7 The need for critical studies and alternative visions in education. ........................................... 10 Chapter 2 .............................................................................................................. 19 The Concept of Refraction in Policy Research ........................................................ 19 Educational studies of policy refraction. .................................................................................. 22 Initial use of the concept of ‘refraction’ within education policy studies. ................................ 23 The concept of ‘policy’ in studies of ‘refraction’—the influence of Stephen Ball. .................... 24 Refraction used as way to predict and monitor policy implementation processes. ................. 24 Refraction as a critical lens in educational research. ............................................................... 25 Refraction and the field of education—embodied policies evident in practice. ....................... 26 Refraction and efforts to mend the policy ‘implementation gaps’. .......................................... 26 Chapter 3 .............................................................................................................. 31 The Theoretical Framework of the Study ............................................................... 31 Interpretation and hermeneutics.............................................................................................. 31 Narrative. .................................................................................................................................. 39 Critical narrative and pedagogy. .............................................................................................. 46 ‘Habitus and agency’—the individual as carrier of historical narratives. ................................. 49 Metaphorical sketches of modernity. ....................................................................................... 52 The concept of modernity in the study. .................................................................................... 64 Part II—Research Design and Approaches ............................................................. 65 Chapter 4 .............................................................................................................. 67 Research Design .................................................................................................... 67 Narrative interpretation as three levels of abstraction. ........................................................... 68 The hermeneutical arch—a visualised model. .......................................................................... 71 Research collaboration and the question of validity and trustworthiness. .............................. 74 The question of plausibility. ...................................................................................................... 75 Life stories and narrative competence. .................................................................................... 76 The question of validity............................................................................................................. 77 Participants. .............................................................................................................................. 78 Movement from interview to Life Story. ................................................................................... 80 Categorisation of the interviews and selection of cases........................................................... 82 Historical periodisation: Grand narratives on Norwegian history of education. ...................... 85 The significance of Goodson’s five Rs in the research project. ................................................. 89 ii Metaphorical use of concepts and sketches. ............................................................................ 90 The dialectic positioning between a universalist and situational relativist perspective. ......... 91 Consent, anonymity and trust. ................................................................................................. 92 The outside-perspective of written Life Stories......................................................................... 93 PART III—Analysis ................................................................................................. 97 Chapter 5 .............................................................................................................. 99 Interpretation of Three Life Stories ....................................................................... 99 Unvalidated impressions from the Life Story reconstructions. ................................................. 99 Narrative style. ....................................................................................................................... 101 Disclosing the narrative plot. .................................................................................................. 102 Hierarchy of priorities. ............................................................................................................ 112 Narrative style. ....................................................................................................................... 114 Disclosing the narrative plot. .................................................................................................. 115 Hierarchy of priorities. ............................................................................................................ 123 Narrative style. ....................................................................................................................... 125 Disclosing the narrative plot. .................................................................................................. 126 Hierarchy of priorities. ............................................................................................................ 142 Chapter 6 .............................................................................................................147 Third Level of Abstraction—Deep Phase of Interpretation ....................................147 Similarities and differences in the three narratives. ............................................................... 151 iii Metropolis: centre—periphery dimensions. ........................................................................... 152 Idiosyncratic cultural responses to GERM. ............................................................................. 157 Chapter 7 .............................................................................................................161 Fourth Level of Abstraction—Theoretical Synthesis ..............................................161 Diffractive/reflective vs. refractive policy enactments. .......................................................... 163 PART IV—Discussion and Conclusion ....................................................................169 Chapter 8 .............................................................................................................171 Discussion and Conclusions ..................................................................................171 The first level of abstraction—the Naïve phase. ..................................................................... 172 The second level of abstraction—the structural phase. ......................................................... 174 The third level of abstraction—the Deep phase. .................................................................... 175 The fourth level of abstraction—Metaphor as a keystone to ‘think more’. ........................... 180 The need for listening ears. .................................................................................................... 200 References ...........................................................................................................203 List of Appendices ................................................................................................213 Appendix 1—Three Stories of Teachers’ Life and Work .........................................215 Heidi ....................................................................................................................217 Heidi’s