Exploring the sail training voyage as a cultural community. Eric John Fletcher Doctor of Education (EdD) School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences i Declaration I declare that all the material which is not my own has, to the best of my ability, been acknowledged. The material in this thesis has not been submitted previously by the author for a degree at this or any other University. Signed: Date: October 2017 Acknowledgments I would like to thank the sea-staff, teachers and crew for allowing me to share their sail training voyage, this study was only made possible through their consent and enthusiastic participation. It was a privilege and a pleasure. My thanks also to Dr Pam Woolner, EdD Degree Programme Director and the lecturers from the taught EdD modules and assignments; and Drs Jill Clark and Peter Sercombe for their invaluable advice and guidance as my doctoral supervisors. I should also like to thank Barry, Charlotte and Wendy for their feedback on earlier drafts of this thesis. Finally, I would like to thank my examiners, Professor David Leat (Newcastle University) and Associate Professor Pete Allison (Pennsylvania State University), for challenging and stimulating my thinking on the issues raised and discussed in this thesis. ii Exploring the sail training voyage as a cultural community. Table of Contents Abstract 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 2 1.1 Background 2 1.2 Position Statement 10 Chapter 2: Literature Review 23 2.1 Background 23 2.2 Outdoor Adventure Education 27 2.3 Sail Training 33 2.3.1 The historical origins of sail training 34 2.3.2 Extant sail training studies 39 2.3.3 The challenge of being at sea 44 2.3.4 The sociocultural and historical legacy of being at sea 47 2.4 The sail training voyage as a cultural community 51 2.4.1 Apprenticeship 57 2.4.2 Guided participation 58 2.4.3 Participatory appropriation 59 2.5 The sail training vessel as a total institution 61 Chapter 3: Research Process 72 3.1 Foreground 72 3.2 Research Design and Methodology 75 3.2.1 Ethnographic approach 75 3.2.1.1 Case Study 78 3.2.1.2 Participant Observer 79 3.2.2 Insider or Outsider? 80 3.3 The Voyage and the Study Participants 84 3.4 Ethical Approach 87 3.5 The Study 91 3.5.1 Pre-Voyage (T0) 94 3.5.2 On-Voyage (T1) 95 3.5.2.1 Audio recording 97 iii 3.5.2.2 Field notes 99 3.5.3 Post-Voyage (T2) 100 Chapter 4: Analysis and Findings 103 4.1 Analysis 103 4.2 Findings 107 4.2.1 Seal’s Story 107 4.2.2 Doormat’s Story 115 4.2.3 Salmon’s Story 122 4.2.4 Donald Duck’s Story 127 4.2.5 Salmon and Paul’s Story 134 4.2.6 Seasickness 139 Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusion 147 5.1 The sail training voyage as a cultural community 147 5.1.1 Another way for learning 149 5.2 The stranger approaching the cultural community 164 5.3 Conclusions 172 5.4 Implications 177 5.4.1 For Sail Training practitioners and providers 177 5.4.2 For policy makers and funders 178 5.4.3 For researchers 179 List of Figures 1. Fortune Line - example of becoming a crew member 96 2. Seal at the helm with crew winching in the headsail 110 3. Doormat and the debilitating effects of seasickness 117 4. Doormat at the helm; a cure for seasickness? 117 5. Hoisting the mainsail 122 6. Salmon with two of her crew mates, and self-amalgamating tape, on the bow 124 7. Group image of the crew in the cockpit 131 8. An example of sitting-on-the-rail 134 9. Paul’s Voyage Fortune Line 137 10. Salmon’s Voyage Fortune Line 138 11. Millie, the Bosun, and Mickey Mouse on the helm 144 iv 12. Most of the crew in the cockpit 149 13. Learning by Observing and Pitching In (Rogoff, 2014) 150 List of Tables 1. Vessels by tradition or ideology (after McCulloch, 2004) listed with Sail Training International (at 16 January 2017) 42 References Appendices Appendix A – Crew name and Pen Picture Appendix B – Research Briefing Sheet Appendix C – Consent Form: Crew Appendix D – Consent Form: Sea-staff Appendix E – First Mate’s Voyage Report Appendix F – Voyage Pack Appendix G – Plus/ Minus/ Interesting composite responses Appendix H – Extracts from the out-of-field notes Appendix I – Schedule of post-voyage semi-structured interviews Appendix J – Analysis: self-amalgamating tape Appendix K – Analysis: seasickness v vi Abstract Studies have demonstrated that participation on a sail training voyage, as a structured educational activity that is more than mere adventure (McCulloch et al., 2010: 661), enhances self-constructs, and inter- and intra-personal skills. Many studies have followed an outcome-based approach to measure various self-constructs at pre-, on- and/or post-voyage intervals, however, there has been limited investigation as to how these outcomes may be generated; or how they may be ‘laminated’ in participants’ personal and social development, and thereby influence skills for life and work, such as social and emotional skills and supporting educational attainment (Feinstein, 2015). The origins of modern day sail training voyages are to be found in the traditions and practices of the age of sail, representing a rich socio-cultural and historical setting for participants to explore the voyage experience. This study takes an ethnographic approach to explore a six-day sail training voyage as a ‘cultural community’, and how this concept may generate beneficial outcomes through apprenticeship and guided participation (after Rogoff, 1990; Rogoff and Angelillo, 2002). Few studies on this topic have extended their scope of interest beyond the young crew participants; this study engages with all of those who sailed on the voyage, comprising twelve 12- and 13-year old girls, two teachers, and the full-time and volunteer sea-staff (and the researcher as a participant observer). This voyage- based case study uses a range of methods, including visual methods, as pre-, on- and post-voyage research activities, complemented with a post-voyage photo elicitation activity and semi-structured interviews to construct a rich, detailed account of the study voyage. Keywords: Sail training, cultural community, apprenticeship, guided participation, well-being, character, adventure education 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Background The study reported here considers the challenges facing today’s children and young people, as they embark on their journey towards adulthood, and how sail training, as an educative experience, operates to bring about positive outcomes. Extant sail training research has concentrated on the identification and measurement of outcomes, such as self-constructs, and inter- and intra- personal skills, that contribute to well-being. Although some research activity has studied the sustainability of these outcomes, there has been scant attention to investigating how such outcomes are generated. This study breaks new ground by exploring the process for change, using Barbara Rogoff’s concept of the cultural community (Rogoff, 1990; Rogoff and Angelillo, 2002) as an orienting framework; an approach that has enabled a new perspective. The context for this study is today’s more complex society; and society is the setting where children and young people encounter the demands and challenges of growing up, developing foundational skills, attitudes and behaviours needed for them to realise their potential, to flourish and to prosper as full and active members of our contemporary society (see, for example, Hagell (Ed.), 2012). The well-being and character of children and young people is the key motivation for the conduct of the current study. It is increasingly recognised that the traditional measures of a society’s success, such as economic production, have failed to consider the well-being of their citizens and inform adequately the development of social policy (see Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi, 2008; United Nations, 2013). In the UK, the 2008 Foresight Mental Capital and Wellbeing Project identified several major challenges expected to affect our nation in the next 20 years, these are: the demographic age-shift, changes in the global economy and world of work, the changing nature of UK society, changing attitudes, new values and expectations of society, changing nature of public services, and new science and technology (Foresight, 2008: 11-12). This study highlighted that: ‘[…] if we are to prosper and thrive in our changing society and in an increasingly interconnected and competitive world, both our mental and 2 material resources will be vital. Encouraging and enabling everyone to realise their potential throughout their lives will be crucial for our future prosperity and wellbeing.’ (ibid: 9). In considering these challenges there has been an increasing capacity to measure and monitor societal and individual well-being. For example, the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) Measuring National Well-being (MNW) programme collects and analyses data from a wide range of sources and domains to inform social policy (see ONS, 2016a; 2016b). There is also greater recognition that social and emotional outcomes are ‘important signals of a flourishing or struggling child’ (Feinstein, 2015: 3), and that such outcomes ‘provide important signals about likely outcomes [for future life] above and beyond what is picked up by measures of literacy and numeracy’ (ibid: 7). Drawing on a variety of evidence collected between 1975 and 2005, it has been proposed that there are ‘long-term and substantial rates of adolescent emotional problems […] in the UK, the general pattern of change across psychosocial indicators suggests that [these rates] remain at historically high levels’ (Collishaw in Hagell (Ed.) 2012: 24-25; see also Youth Parliament, 2015; Thorley, 2016).