DOCTORAL THESIS Primary Teachers
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
DOCTORAL THESIS Primary teachers’ reflections on their response to three phases of the PNS and their perceptions of the effect these responses had upon their experiences of teaching mathematics Penfold, Evelyn Award date: 2020 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 27. Sep. 2021 Primary teachers’ reflections on their response to three phases of the PNS and their perceptions of the effect these responses had upon their experiences of teaching mathematics by Evelyn Jane Penfold BA, MA A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD Department of Education University of Roehampton 2020 1 Abstract The government introduce policy in response to economic priorities and with a view to raising standards in education (Ward & Eden, 2009, Askew et al, 2001). Teachers are expected to respond to policy and their enactments are observed and assessed by colleagues and Ofsted inspectors. Their responses are affected by their teaching experiences, their capacity to make changes to their practice and their perceptions of how they should respond. I wanted to understand what teachers considered within a changing policy landscape and how their daily mathematics lessons were affected. I designed a qualitative, interpretative research study that involved interviewing 29 teachers. My sample consisted of head teachers, deputy head teachers, mathematics coordinators and class teachers. I drew on policy enactment theory to explore their responses. Social constructionism theory enabled the teachers and myself to co-construct an understanding of their actions and the effect of policy on their professionalism. I undertook a thematic analysis to facilitate the emergence of themes from the data. I found that policy was not enacted as intended by the government, particularly when the changes to teachers’ mathematics teaching were significant. Teachers have varying levels of security in terms of their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), which fluctuated as they experienced policy changes. Teachers made connections to policy when they reviewed and updated their practice. Conversely disconnections were made when teachers perceived that their PCK was more relevant than policy. Policy was a means of professional development, which depended on teachers’ capacity to recognise potential enhancements to their practice. My findings suggest that professional development should have a lasting effect in order for teachers to manage future policy changes. Teachers were autonomous when they perceived that they could act upon their professional judgement and adapt or ignore policy. In contrast teachers’ autonomy was limited when they perceived that policy superseded their professional judgements. 2 Contents Page Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... 2 Contents Page .................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... 8 Glossary of terms ................................................................................................................................ 9 Chapter One - Introduction................................................................................................................ 11 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 11 1.2 My research study ................................................................................................................... 12 1.3 Research aim, objectives and questions ................................................................................ 15 1.4 Rationale of my research design ............................................................................................ 16 1.5 Contribution to knowledge ...................................................................................................... 16 1.6 An overview of the thesis ........................................................................................................ 17 Chapter Two – Literature review ....................................................................................................... 19 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 19 2.2 Policy as a process ................................................................................................................. 19 2.2.1 Policy enactment .................................................................................................................. 21 2.3 Professionalism ....................................................................................................................... 22 2.3.1 Autonomy ............................................................................................................................. 23 2.3.2 Collaboration ........................................................................................................................ 24 2.3.3 Professional development .................................................................................................... 25 2.3.4 Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) ............................................................................... 26 2.3.5 New Professionalism............................................................................................................ 30 2.3.6 Accountability and performativity ......................................................................................... 32 2.4 Key policy events in England .................................................................................................. 34 2.4.1 The National Curriculum - a statutory policy document ....................................................... 34 2.5 The National Numeracy Project .............................................................................................. 42 2.6 The National Strategies........................................................................................................... 43 2.7 The National Numeracy Strategy ............................................................................................ 44 2.7.1 PCK ...................................................................................................................................... 45 2.7.2 Professional Development ................................................................................................... 48 2.8 The Primary National Strategy (PNS) ..................................................................................... 50 2.8.1 Blame ................................................................................................................................... 52 2.8.2 The removal of the PNS ....................................................................................................... 52 2.8.3 Summary of the two key policy events ................................................................................. 52 2.9 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 53 Chapter Three – Theoretical considerations ..................................................................................... 56 3 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 56 3.2 Policy enactment theory ......................................................................................................... 56 3.2.1 Interpretation of policy ......................................................................................................... 57 3.2.2 Translation of policy ............................................................................................................. 58 3.2.3 Reconstruction and remaking of policy ................................................................................ 58 3.3 Policy enactment research ..................................................................................................... 59 3.3.1 Policy enactment and teachers’ autonomy .......................................................................... 66 3.3.2 Autonomy and pressure ....................................................................................................... 69 3.4 Policy enactments and PCK ................................................................................................... 71 3.5 Social constructionism