Student Voice and the International Curriculum: Connections, Contexts and Spaces

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Student Voice and the International Curriculum: Connections, Contexts and Spaces Student Voice and the International Curriculum: connections, contexts and spaces Rohan Skene UCL Institute of Education Doctor in Education (International) i Declaration I Rohan Skene substantiate that the work produced in this thesis is my own. In the instances where information has been derived from other sources, I can confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. ii Abstract This thesis explores the relationship between student voice and the international curriculum and the significance of this relationship for learning in secondary schools. Framed within a social realist epistemology and employing individual and focus group interviews to gather teacher and student perspectives, this work employs an interpretive research approach, underpinned by established work on student participation and wider concepts of the curriculum and curriculum design. Curricular developments within a growing international secondary school sector, an under-realisation of the recognised benefits of greater student-teacher collaboration and a deficit in research available on the relationship between student voice and the international curriculum created the need to explore these notions further. Three European international schools are researched and contrasted, each one distinctly offering a linear, constructivist or mixed approach in delivering the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) or International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IBMYP) secondary curriculums. This study confirms that the authentic engagement of students and teachers in learning conversations is similarly problematic in an international context as in a national one. However, impediments to student voice can be negotiated through the creation of a shared space where pedagogical dialogical encounters are encouraged and where teacher and student interior authenticities are affirmed. Such a space can be theorised as the zone of dynamic collaboration embracing Shulman’s (1986) concept: pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The emergent research perspectives also suggest that whilst student voice activities can be achieved in both linear and process curricular designs, a constructivist approach to curricular design, as represented by the IBMYP may positively promote student voice due to its less prescribed nature. This thesis makes a theoretical contribution to closing the gap between student voice aspirations and real, practical collaborative outcomes. iii Table of Contents Reflective Statement ................................................................................................................................ 1 Module 1. Foundations of Professionalism in Education ..................................................................... 1 The Role and Responsibility of the International School Teacher in the light of Globalisation ........ 1 Module 2. Methods of Enquiry One (MOE1) ........................................................................................ 2 Theoretical and Conceptual Issues in Educational Research ............................................................ 2 Module 3. International Education ....................................................................................................... 3 The Global University Rankings: In the Competitive Knowledge Economy ...................................... 3 Module 4. Methods of Enquiry Two (MOE2) ........................................................................................ 4 ‘Growing into Grade Nine’, Knowledge and Learning in the International Curriculum: Pupil perceptions within Transition ........................................................................................................... 4 The Institution Focused Study (IFS) ...................................................................................................... 5 Student Voice and Student Councils: Perceptions and Power Relationships ....................................... 5 Thesis .................................................................................................................................................... 6 Student Voice and the International Curriculum: connections, contexts and spaces ...................... 6 Looking Ahead ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Reflective Statement References ............................................................................................................. 9 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ 10 Chapter One: Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter Two: Literature Review ............................................................................................................. 19 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 19 2.1 Student Voice: Terminology, Concepts, Theories ......................................................................... 19 Student Participation and Consultation .......................................................................................... 19 Student or Pupil Voice .................................................................................................................... 24 2.2 Contemporary Context ................................................................................................................. 28 Recent Issues, Debates and Questions ........................................................................................... 28 Collaboration and Consultation ...................................................................................................... 28 Student Voice – Contemporary Context ......................................................................................... 30 The Child, The Student, Drivers ...................................................................................................... 30 Student Voice Research .................................................................................................................. 35 Power, Authority, Identity .............................................................................................................. 35 Teacher Voice ................................................................................................................................. 41 2.3 Curriculum: Terminology, Concepts, Theories .............................................................................. 43 iv Curriculum- A Macro-Definition ..................................................................................................... 43 2.4 Knowledge and Curricular Constructions ..................................................................................... 47 Knowledge and the Curriculum ...................................................................................................... 47 Debates concerning Curricular Designs .......................................................................................... 50 2.5 International Dimensions ............................................................................................................. 57 International Schools and International Mindedness ..................................................................... 57 International Curriculum Research ................................................................................................. 59 2.6 Previous Research on Student Voice and the Curriculum ............................................................ 64 2.4 Key Findings from The Literature Review ..................................................................................... 69 Chapter Three: Methodology and Theoretical Perspective .................................................................... 73 3.1 A Statement about the broad nature of the data I am seeking to obtain .................................... 73 3.2 Theoretical Perspectives ............................................................................................................... 76 3.3 Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 82 Research Method Rationale and Implementation .......................................................................... 82 The Research Phases ...................................................................................................................... 83 The Institutions ............................................................................................................................... 89 3.4 An indication of some of the limitations and ethical considerations encountered with the methodology and ways that these were solved ................................................................................. 92 Comparative Factors and Ambiguity .............................................................................................. 92 Balance ........................................................................................................................................... 94 Time and Resource Management ................................................................................................... 95 Other Ethical Contemplations
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