DOCSLIB.ORG

The Experiences of School Pupils (11-18) in the Zeitgeist of Performativity and Accountability

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Experiences of School Pupils (11-18) in the Zeitgeist of Performativity and Accountability MASTER COPY FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND HUMAN SCIENCES Southampton Education School The Experiences of School Pupils (11-18) in the Zeitgeist of Performativity and Accountability By Nigel Allen Matthias Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) University of Southampton, 2016 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND HUMAN SCIENCES Southampton Education School Doctor of Education The Experiences of School Pupils (11-18) in the Zeitgeist of Performativity and Accountability By Nigel Allen Matthias This thesis illuminates the educational experiences of school pupils (11-18) in a culture of performativity and accountability. It explores the tension between accountability, autonomy and performativity in English schools within an historical context and elucidates the experience of individuals within the English state school system. The study uses a biographical approach to explore the experiences of individuals who have recently experienced the English education system over the course of school years 7 to 13. Single-question narrative interviews were conducted with four participants who had recently completed compulsory education. These experiences are analysed through the lens of Literary Narrative Analysis (LNA) rather than more conventional methods. The thesis explores how the traditional methods of analysing literary texts can also provide a useful tool for the analysis of narrative interviews. The findings demonstrate that there is an orthodoxy in the narratives of participants’ school lives, suggesting an unwitting acquiescence to the masterplots authored by the pervasive grammar of the broader education system. Within these masterplots there are episodes of enlightenment and equilibrium, exchanges with inspirational characters and epiphanies through friendship and engagement in music and the arts. Teachers appear as both protagonists and antagonists, but participants’ narratives are also replete with dark plots of falling action and catastrophe, with their lexis replete with references to stress and anxiety, strengthened by powerful figurative representations of death and zoomorphic metaphors. The thesis concludes that government policy for surveillance and quality assurance of the school system must also enable provision for supporting young people as individuals, providing equally valued opportunities for the study of the arts as well as in the core academic subjects. 3 List of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................... 17 1.1 The Policy Context ........................................................................................................................................ 17 1.2 Personal Context ............................................................................................................................................ 18 1.3 Research Aim ................................................................................................................................................... 21 1.3.1 Emergence of the Research Question ........................................................................................ 22 2 A Review of the Literature .................................................................................................................................. 27 2.1 Traditional and Progressive Education .............................................................................................. 27 2.2 A History of Educational Debate ............................................................................................................ 28 2.2.1 Aristotle and the Beginnings of the ‘State Controlled’ Pupil Experience ................. 30 2.2.2 Locke and Rousseau – the Birth of the Progressive Educative Ideal .......................... 31 2.2.3 Kant, Dewey and Rational Autonomy ........................................................................................ 32 2.2.4 The Purpose of Education – a Summary .................................................................................. 33 2.3 Praxis – the Establishment of British Schools (1800-1944) .................................................... 34 2.4 The Influence of the ‘Butler Act’ and Beyond on the Pupil Experience (1944-1988) .. 34 2.5 The Emergence of School Effectiveness Literature and its Relevance to this Study .... 37 2.6 Challenges to the Orthodoxy of Schooling – the Impact on Pupil Experiences ............... 39 2.7 Hirsch and ‘Cultural Literacy’ – the Impact on Pupil Experiences ........................................ 39 2.8 Freire and the Oppression of the Learner Experience ................................................................ 42 2.9 Performativity and Accountability: English National Education Policy (2010-2014) . 44 2.10 The National Picture .................................................................................................................................... 44 2.11 Freedom and Surveillance in Coalition Government Policy ..................................................... 48 2.12 Autonomy as Façade? .................................................................................................................................. 51 2.13 The Inertia of the School Experience ................................................................................................... 53 2.14 Factors Impeding Change .......................................................................................................................... 53 2.15 The Institutional Grammar of Education ........................................................................................... 54 2.16 Performativity Culture ................................................................................................................................ 55 2.17 The Challenges of Improving the Experience of Schooling ....................................................... 56 2.18 The Pupil Voice in School Improvement ............................................................................................ 60 2.18.1 The Potential of Narrative Approaches .................................................................................... 62 2.19 Literature Review - Some Conclusions ............................................................................................... 63 3 Philosophy, Methodology and Methods ....................................................................................................... 67 3.1 Introduction and Summary ...................................................................................................................... 67 3.2 Towards a Definitive Lexicon – a Note on the Terms ‘Biography’ and ‘Narrative’ ........ 67 3.3 Philosophical Position ................................................................................................................................. 68 3.4 Theoretical Paradigms in Practice ........................................................................................................ 69 3.5 Why Choose a Biographical Research Method? .............................................................................. 71 3.6 A Personal Perspective on Narrative and Biography ................................................................... 73 3.7 Narratives of Schooling – What is missing from the ‘Pupil Voice’ Literature? ................ 74 3.7.1 What do we mean by Pupil Voice? .............................................................................................. 75 3.7.2 Pupil Voice and Narrative ............................................................................................................... 76 3.8 The Suitability of Biography for this Study ....................................................................................... 79 3.9 The Potential of Narratives ...................................................................................................................... 80 3.10 Power and Biographical Writing ........................................................................................................... 82 3.11 Towards an Ethical Framework ............................................................................................................. 83 3.12 The Research Design and Process ......................................................................................................... 88 3.13 Choosing the Participants ......................................................................................................................... 88 3.14 The Interview Process ................................................................................................................................ 89 5 3.15 Setting the Scene for Narrative Interviews ....................................................................................... 91 3.16 Narrative Interview Design ...................................................................................................................... 92 3.17 Literary Narrative Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 97 3.18 Organising and Interpreting the Data ................................................................................................. 98 3.18.1 Towards a model of Literary Narrative Analysis ................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 24178 Cover.Indd
    School Teachers’ Review Body Twenty-First Report – 2012 Chair: Dame Patricia Hodgson, DBE Cm 8487 £29.75 School Teachers’ Review Body TWENTY-FIRST REPORT – 2012 Chair: Dame Patricia Hodgson, DBE Presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Education by Command of Her Majesty December 2012 Cm 8487 £29.75 © Crown copyright 2012 You may re-use this information (excluding logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ or e-mail: [email protected]. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to: Office of Manpower Economics, Victoria House, Southampton Row, London WC1B 4AD http://www.ome.uk.com/enquiry/default.aspx This publication is available for download at www.official-documents.gov.uk ISBN: 9780101848725 Printed in the UK by The Stationery Office Limited on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office ID P002523873 11/12 24178 18534 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum. TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS Consultees Organisations which made representations and provided evidence to the STRB ASCL Association of School and College Leaders ATL Association of Teachers and Lecturers BATOD British Association of Teachers of the Deaf DfE/the Department for Education Department four unions
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of Academies on Educational Outcomes
    1 About the authors Natalie Perera is Executive Director and Head of Research at the Education Policy Institute. Natalie worked in the Department for Education from 2002 to 2014, where she led on a number of reforms, including childcare and early years provision and the design of a new national funding formula for schools. Between 2014 and 2015, Natalie worked in the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office. Natalie is the principal author of the EPI’s ‘Annual Report on Education in England’ and ‘Implications of the National Funding Formula for Schools’. Jon Andrews is Director for School System and Performance and Deputy Head of Research at the Education Policy Institute. Prior to this, Jon worked in the Department for Education from 2003 to 2016, most recently leading on statistics and analysis for the National Funding Formula for schools, the 2015 Spending Review and the white paper, ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’. Jon is the principal author of EPI’s ‘The Performance of Local Authorities and Multi Academy Trusts’ report and a series of publications on the performance of grammar and faith schools. Andrew Eyles is a PhD student at University College London and a Research Assistant at the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. He holds an MSc in Economics from the University of Warwick and a PGDip in Economics from the University of Bristol. His research interests cover labour and education economics and policy. Gabriel Heller Sahlgren is a PhD student at the London School of Economics and a Research Assistant at the Centre for Economic Performance.
    [Show full text]
  • Schools Causign Concern
    Schools causing concern Statutory guidance for local authorities January 2015 Contents Summary 3 Section 1: Introduction 8 Section 2: Schools causing concern 10 1. Schools eligible for intervention as a result of a warning notice 10 2. Schools eligible for intervention as a result of having been judged as “requiring significant improvement” or “special measures” 12 Section 3: Warning notices 13 1. Giving a warning notice 13 2. Making representations against the warning notice 14 3. Power of the Secretary of State to direct the local authority to consider giving and to give a warning notice 15 Section 4: Local authorities’ powers of intervention 17 1. Power to suspend the delegated authority for the governing body to manage a school’s budget 17 2. Power to appoint an Interim Executive Board (IEB) 17 3. Power to appoint additional governors 20 4. Power to require the governing body to enter into arrangements 21 Section 5: Secretary of State's powers of intervention 22 1. Power to appoint additional governors 22 2. Power to direct the closure of a school 22 3. Power to provide for the governing body to consist of interim executive members 23 4. Power to make an academy order 23 Section 6: Governance 22 Further sources of information 26 Associated resources (external links) 27 Other departmental resources 27 2 Summary About this guidance This is statutory guidance given by the Department for Education, on behalf of the Secretary of State, relating to maintained schools causing concern. Section 72 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 places a statutory duty on all local authorities in England, in exercising their functions in respect of schools causing concern as set out in Part 4 of the 2006 Act, to have regard to any guidance given from time to time by the Secretary of State.
    [Show full text]
  • Representativeness of the European Social Partner Organisations: Education
    Representativeness of the European social partner organisations: Education Objectives of study Economic background National level of interest representation European level of interest representation Commentary References Annex: List of abbreviations This report is available in electronic format only. Wyattville Road, Loughlinstown, Dublin 18, Ireland. - Tel: (+353 1) 204 31 00 - Fax: 282 42 09 / 282 64 56 e-mail: [email protected] - website: www.eurofound.europa.eu This study sets out to provide the necessary information for establishing and assisting sectoral social dialogue in the education sector. The report has three main parts: a summary of the sector’s economic background; an analysis of the social partner organisations in all EU Member States, with special emphasis on their membership, their role in collective bargaining/employment regulation and public policy, and their national and European affiliations; and an analysis of the relevant European organisations, in particular their membership composition and their capacity to negotiate. The aim of the EIRO series of representativeness studies is to identify the relevant national and supranational social partner organisations in the field of industrial relations in selected sectors. The impetus for these studies arises from the goal of the European Commission to recognise the representative social partner organisations to be consulted under the EC Treaty provisions. Hence, this study is designed to provide the basic information required to establish and evaluate sectoral social dialogue. Objectives of study The aim of this representativeness study is to identify the relevant national and supranational associational actors – that is the trade unions and employer associations – in the field of industrial relations in the education sector, and to show how these actors relate to the sector’s European interest associations of labour and business.
    [Show full text]
  • Ashdown House School V JKL & Anor HS1322.2019
    IN THE UPPER TRIBUNAL Appeal No. HS/1322/2019 (ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS CHAMBER) ON APPEAL FROM THE FIRST TIER TRIBUNAL (HESC) (SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS & DISABILITY) Tribunal Ref EH845/19/00048 BEFORE JUDGE WEST Appellant THE PROPRIETOR OF ASHDOWN HOUSE SCHOOL and Respondents (1) JKL (2) MNP APPEAL AGAINST A DECISION OF A TRIBUNAL DECISION OF THE UPPER TRIBUNAL ON APPEAL FROM Tribunal SENDIST Tribunal Case No: EH845/19/00048 Tribunal Hearing Date: 17/5/2019 HS1322/2019 ORDER Pursuant to rule 14(1) of the Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) Rules 2008, it is prohibited for any person to disclose or publish any matter likely to lead members of the public to identify the child in these proceedings. This order does not apply to (a) the child’s parents (b) any person to whom the child’s parents, in due exercise of their parental responsibility, disclose such a matter or who learns of it through publication by either parent, where such publication is a due exercise of parental responsibility (c) any person exercising statutory (including judicial) functions in relation to the child where knowledge of the matter is reasonably necessary for the proper exercise of the functions. DETERMINATION The decision of the First-tier Tribunal (SENDIST) dated 22 May 2019 (after a hearing on 17 May 2019) under file reference EH845/19/00048 does not involve an error on a point of law. The appeal against that decision is dismissed. The orders of 20 June 2019 and 4 July 2019 suspending the effect of the decision of the First- tier Tribunal cease to have any effect from the date of this decision.
    [Show full text]
  • Consultation Response
    RAS 22 Ymchwiliad i ffoaduriaid a cheiswyr lloches yng Nghymru Inquiry into refugees and asylum seekers in Wales Ymateb gan: Cymdeithas Genedlaethol yr Ysgolfeistri ac Athrawesau Response from: National Association of Schoolmasters and Women Teachers 1. The NASUWT welcomes the opportunity to submit written evidence to the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee (ELGCC) Inquiry into refugees and asylum seekers in Wales. 2. The NASUWT is the largest teachers’ union in Wales representing teachers and school leaders. GENERAL COMMENTS 3. The NASUWT acknowledges that the Refugee and Asylum Seeker Delivery Plan 2016-2019 (the Delivery Plan) seeks to present a holistic approach to supporting refugees and asylum seekers and welcomes the statement in the Ministerial Foreword that it contains: ‘…the collaborative actions which will enable asylum seekers and refugees to have the opportunities to learn, thrive and contribute to the economic, environmental, social and cultural life of Wales.’ 4. The NASUWT views those collaborative actions as vital to supporting schools and colleges to meet the needs of refugee and asylum-seeker children and their families. 5. The Union maintains that schools and colleges must be resourced and funded effectively around all necessary aspects of the integration of refugee and asylum seeker children and families into the whole school community and that cross-agency working related to the eight areas of collaboration identified in the Delivery Plan, which in itself must be funded NASUWT The largest teachers’ union in Wales Yr undeb athrawon mwyaf yng Nghymru 1 appropriately, must be available to school and college communities who are often the first point of contact for refugee families.
    [Show full text]
  • Health and Safety Reps Handbook 2020 (England)
    NASUWT England The Teachers’ Union Health and Safety Representatives’ Handbook Health and Safety Calendar Events Dates Health and safety inspections Meetings of school/college Health and Safety Committee NASUWT training courses NASUWT and other briefings This handbook, issued to all NASUWT Health and Safety Representatives, gives an overview of a range of health and safety topics and should be read in conjunction with other sources listed in the margins and the Health and Safety section of the NASUWT website. From the General Secretary Dear Colleague The NASUWT approach to health, safety and welfare at work stems from the view that health is a positive state of wellbeing, not simply the absence of injury or disease, and that work should enhance the health of workers and not undermine it. In the workplace, the NASUWT Health and Safety Representative is central to the work of the Union team. By working in partnership with the NASUWT Workplace Representative and other members active in the NASUWT, including your Local Association Secretary and your Health and Safety Co-ordinator, you can make a significant difference to the working environment. Improving the working environment in schools and colleges is a key responsibility for the NASUWT Health and Safety Representative. Organising around health and safety activity is an ideal way to engage NASUWT members in this activity and demonstrate the value of union membership. Research shows that a well-organised and unionised workplace is more likely to be safer and healthier. I hope that you will find this handbook useful. The first section contains basic information about the role and functions of Health and Safety Representatives and outlines the support that you can expect from the Union, including training opportunities.
    [Show full text]
  • Existing Academy: the Magna Carta School URN: 137116 Predecessor School: the Magna Carta School URN: 125258
    Existing academy: The Magna Carta School URN: 137116 Predecessor school: The Magna Carta School URN: 125258 Thorpe Road TW18 3HJ Academy conversion and predecessor schools Under the Academies Act 2010, schools may apply to the Secretary of State to convert to academy status. Such schools are known as academy converters. Upon conversion to academy status the existing school closes and a new school opens in its place. Although little may have changed, the academy converter is a new legal entity. Most academy converters have yet to have a section 5 inspection. However, to assist parents and other interested parties, information about, and the inspection history of the school which preceded the new academy are available here. It is important to note that, as the academy converter is a new school, which may not yet have been inspected, the inspection judgements of the predecessor school are not those of the new academy. However, the most recent inspection judgements of the predecessor school are taken into account by Ofsted for the purpose of scheduling the first inspection of the new academy converter. Some academy converters have replaced schools which were judged to be outstanding at their most recent Ofsted inspection. Under the Education Act 2011, most schools previously judged to be outstanding will be exempt from routine inspection. This means they will not be subject to inspection at regular intervals. However, three years after the predecessor school was last inspected it will be subject to Ofsted’s formal risk-assessment process, which may lead to an inspection. Finally, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 the Chief Inspector may decide to inspect any school in England if requested to do so by the Secretary of State, or if, based on information received by Ofsted, he judges that a school would benefit from inspection.
    [Show full text]
  • SOUTH WEST TUC DIRECTORY 2021 Working Shoulder to Shoulder with Trade Unions Since 1921
    SOUTH WEST TUC DIRECTORY 2021 Working shoulder to shoulder with trade unions since 1921. In 2021, Thompsons will have been fighting for the injured and mistreated for 100 years. The fight continues, as does our commitment to the trade union and Labour movement, changing lives for the better. 0800 0 224 224 www.thompsonstradeunion.law SOUTH WEST TUC DIRECTORY Welcome to the South West South West TUC TUC Directory. The unions listed Church House, Church Road, here represent around half a Filton, Bristol BS34 7BD million members in the South 0117 947 0521 [email protected] West, covering every aspect of www.tuc.org.uk/southwest working life. The agreements twitter: @tucsouthwest unions reach with employers benefit many thousands more. Regional Secretary Nigel Costley Unions provide a powerful voice [email protected] at work, a wide range of services London, East and South East and and a movement for change in South West Education Officer these hard times of austerity and Marie Hughes cut backs. [email protected] Unions champion equal Secretary opportunities, promote learning Tanya Parker and engage with partners to [email protected] develop a sustainable economy Policy and Campaigns Support for the South West. Officer Ines Lage West Country workers are facing [email protected] a squeeze on incomes whilst pay at the top continues to soar. Public services are being cut and privatised and rights at work attacked. There is a lot to do and the key is to build strong unions to speak up for people at work. The world of unions can Nigel Costley be complicated and this South West TUC Directory will be a useful Regional Secretary guide.
    [Show full text]
  • Learning Through Practice I
    POWER TO TEACH Leaming through Practice The Woburn Education Series General Series Editor: Professor Peter Gordon ISSN 1462-2076 For over thirty years this series on the history, development and policy of education, under the distinguished editorship of Peter Gordon, has been evolving into a comprehensive and balanced survey of important trends in teaching and educational policy. The series is intended to reflect the changing nature of education in present-day society. The books are divided into four sections - educational policy studies, educational practice, the history of education and social history - and reflect the continuing interest in this area. For a full series listing, please visit our website: www.wobumpress.com Educational Practice Slow Learners. A Break in the Circle: The Private Schooling of Girls: A Practical Guide for Teachers Past and Present Diane Griffin edited by Geoffrey Walford Games and Simulations in Action International Yearbook of History Alec Davison and Peter Gordon Education, Volume 1 edited by Alaric Dickinson, Peter Gordon, Music in Education: A Guide for Parents Peter Lee and John Slater and Teachers Malcolm Carlton A Guide to Educational Research edited by Peter Gordon The Education of Gifted Children David Hopkinson The English Higher Grade Schools Meriel Vlaeminke Teaching and Leaming Mathematics Peter G Dean Geography in British Schools Rex Walford Comprehending Comprehensives Edward S. Conway Dictionary of British Education Peter Gordon and Denis Lawton Teaching the Humanities edited by Peter Gordon
    [Show full text]
  • Why Would Schools Choose to Have Two-Year-Olds? an Exploration of ‘Quality’ from a Complexity Viewpoint
    Why would schools choose to have two-year-olds? An exploration of ‘quality’ from a complexity viewpoint. Andrea Cheryl Lancaster A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of: Doctor of Education The University of Sheffield Faculty of Social Sciences School of Education Submission date: September 2018 Abstract It is widely accepted that ‘quality’ is both a necessary attribute in the provision of early childhood education (ECE) and that it is also an extremely difficult concept to define. Multiple meanings co-exist within individual organisations and the wider education system. Building on the work of Edgar Morin, the French philosopher and sociologist, this study uses critical complexity theory as both a theoretical and methodological framework to explore how quality is being conceptualised in relation to the policy of schools offering Free Early Learning (FEL) places for two-year-olds. The thesis offers a case-study of four schools within one English local authority when they were just starting to offer two-year-old FEL places in Summer 2014. The research does not attempt to arbitrate over what is considered to be ‘quality’ provision or practice for two-year-olds. Instead it considers how current understandings of quality for two-year-olds in schools have evolved over time and how ideas about quality originating in the business sector appear to have informed practices such as early intervention strategies and the measurement of children’s academic outcomes. The argument is made that because of the impact of high-stakes accountability measures there is a danger that manufacturing or production-based understandings of quality become the norm and that other important understandings of quality are marginalised or lost.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cyberbullying of Post-Primary Teachers in Ireland
    The Cyberbullying of Post-Primary Teachers in Ireland Liam P. Challenor, M.Sc., B.Sc Doctor of Philosophy; Supervised by Dr. James O’Higgins Norman, School of Human Development Institute of Education, Dublin City University; Externally Supervised by Dr. Irene Connolly, Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology; Submitted July 2018 Declaration Statement I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of Doctor of Philosophy is entirely my own work, and that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright, and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed: (Liam Challenor) ID No.:15210242 Date: i Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge several people who were influential over the last four years of this project. I would like to begin by thanking to my supervisors; Dr. James O’Higgins Norman for his support and aid in funding the project, and Dr. Irene Connolly for her guidance, support and wealth of knowledge which helped me to refine my project. I would also like to thank Helena, my fellow PhD researcher and friend; it was a pleasure to share an office with you over these last four years and to support each other during our studies. I would also like to thank everyone in the National Anti- Bullying Research and Resource Centre for their support, brainstorming and debate.
    [Show full text]