The Interaction Between Students and Teachers in Citizenship Education
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Interaction Between Students And Teachers In Citizenship Education Michalis Kakos PhD thesis University of York Department of Educational Studies 2007 ABSTRACT This is a study of the interaction between students and teachers in the context of Citizenship Education within a secondary comprehensive school in northern England. Citizenship Education was introduced as part of the statutory curriculum for English secondary schools in 2002. Among the subject's purposes is the 'increase [of] the knowledge, to democracy' (QCA, 1998, 40). skills and values relevant ... participative p. For this, a shift in the school's ethos is advocated aiming to promote students' active participation and the development of a feeling of ownership towards their school. The study analyses data collected during the second and third years of the implementation of Citizenship Education in order to examine the ways that interaction between students and teachers supports or obstructs this shift in the school's ethos. The study is based on a methodological framework which draws on interactionist studies and symbolic interactionism. This framework allows the study to present teachers' and students' perspectives about their interaction and their views about their own roles within Citizenship classes and more generally in the school. The study suggests that students' and teachers' perspectives about the external expectations directed towards their roles, together with their own expectations and the overall institutional conditions lead them to interact with each other in a way that does not allow the establishment of the ethos that citizenship education advocates. Furthermore, it is noted that teachers and students feel personally detached from their roles, preventing their interaction from having the flexibility that could allow it to change. This detachment extends to the community of the school which appears divided and weak in active participation. The study suggests that the sense of ownership that Citizenship Education aims to develop is not only an important outcome but also a necessary condition for meaningful active participation. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Ian Davies for his guidance and especially for his patience, his continuous help and support. I am very thankful to the students and the staff of all the schools involved in this study. I am particularly grateful to everyone at Hillcliff High for their support and for their genuine interest in this work. Special thanks to my friends, Thomas, Venia and Agis for the long discussions on the issues with which this study is concerned and for the ideas that these discussions generated. I would like to thank my students Yuki, Jo, Paz, Tim, Kaori and Graeme for sharing with me their questions, ideas and enthusiasm on these issues. I am especially grateful to my friends Jacqueline and Louise for the time, support, and numerous corrections made during proofreading. Foremost, I thank my family. 4 To Maya and to Vicky, of course Contents Part 1, Chapter 1 Introduction 11 Part 2 Literature Review 20 Chapter 2: The Historical Background 21 1. Introduction 21 2. From the 19thCentury to the 1970s 23 3.1970s & 1980s 29 a. The 1970s 29 b. The 1980s 35 4. Recent developments: The introduction of the programme for Citizenship Education. The Crick report 38 Chapter 3: Ethos, Discourse and Hidden Curriculum 44 1. Introduction 44 2. Ethos 44 3. The Hidden (or unwritten) curriculum 48 Other perspectives on the function of the hidden curriculum 52 Functionalist views 53 Neo-Marxist views 54 4. The notion of 'Discourse' in the work of Foucault 58 5. Summary 61 6. Citizenship Education: A discussion about discourses 62 a. The individualistic discourse of education 63 b. The 'business-like' school 65 c. Citizenship Education in the school programme 67 7. Conclusions 71 Chapter 4: The interaction between students and teachers 74 1. Introduction 74 2. Symbolic interactionism 75 a. The psychosocial theory 75 b. Symbolic interactionism as methodological approach 80 3. Selective review of studies into the interaction between students & teachers 83 4. Summary and conclusions 96 Part 3 Methodology 99 Introduction 100 Chapter 5: The framework of the research 101 1. General principles 102 2. The framework 109 a. Power 111 b. Empathy 113 c. Expectations 115 d. External conditions 115 3. The relationship of this model to the study of Citizenship Education 116 6 Chapter 6: Data collection and key issues 119 1. The researcher 119 2. The pilot study 120 3. Main study 123 4. Data collection 124 a. Interviews 124 b. Observations 126 c. Role-plays 128 i. Investigating perspectives: Goffman and dramaturgy 129 ii. The design, the performance and the observations of the role-plays 132 iii. Conclusions: The strengths and limitations of the method 136 d. Field notes 137 5. Data analysis 137 6. Validity 139 7. Sampling 143 8. Selection of the school and access 144 9. Ethical issues 145 Chapter 7: Hillcliff High 147 1. Students' population 147 2. Teaching staff 147 3. The school's reputation in the local community 148 4. Students' views of the school 148 5. Policies and peer counsellors group 149 6. The behavioural policy 149 7. The Ofsted report 151 8. Citizenship 152 Part 4 Discussion 154 Introduction 155 Chapter 8: Describing teachers' and students' roles in Citizenship Education - an egocentric performance 156 1. Teachers' role 158 a. Control of space - classroom's ownership 158 i. Use of classroom: Safety, ownership and interaction avoidance 160 ii. Classroom walls: decorations and displays of academic value 165 iii. Layout and interaction control 167 iv. Conclusions 172 b. Control of content 174 c. Control of processes 185 2. Students' supporting roles 197 3. Conclusions 204 Chapter 9: Flexibility and inflexibility: variations in interaction 206 1. Flexibility, inflexibility, subject and teachers' attitudes 211 2. Flexibility, inflexibility and the 'old timers' 220 3. Conclusions 227 7 Chapter 10: The invisible audience 229 1. Introduction 229 2. The invisible management 230 3. The invisible Government 236 4. Parents' involvement 240 5. Conclusions (and a few steps beyond) 243 Chapter 11: Trapped in their roles? 251 1. Introduction 251 2. From interaction avoidance to role interaction 253 3. Functional empathy, individuality and role interaction 258 4. Citizenship Education in the context of the interaction between students and teachers 264 Part 5, Chapter 12: Conclusions 275 1. The thesis 277 2. Implications for policy makers 282 3. Implications for teacher trainers 282 4. Implications for schools 283 5. Future research 285 a. Methodological suggestions 285 b. Areas for future research 289 References 292 Appendices 306 1. Appendix 1 The interaction 307 2. Appendix 2 Table of pilot study data 308 3. Appendix 3 Overview of the main study 310 4. Appendix 4 Students' interview schedule 314 5. Appendix 5 Teachers' interview schedule 315 6. Appendix 6 Observation schedule 317 7. Appendix 7 Key to notation on interview transcripts 324 8. Appendix 8 Analysis Diagram 326 9. Appendix 9 Day Plan 327 10. Appendix 10 Hillcliff High 328 8 Abbreviations AEC Association for Education in Citizenship DES Department of Education and Science Df ES Department for Education and Skills KS Key Stage LA Local Authority NCC National Curriculum Council Ofsted Office for Standards in Education PE Physical Education PSE Personal and Social Education QCA Qualifications and Curriculum Authority RE Religious Education Y Year 9 10 Chapter 1 Introduction This is a research project initiated by the introduction of Citizenship Education as a statutory subject of the English curriculum for secondary schools in 2002. Implementing a methodological framework which was developed on the basis of the theory of symbolic interactionism, the research set out to explore the interaction between students and teachers in the context of Citizenship Education. The context of this study is a secondary comprehensive school in Northern England, which this study refers to by the pseudonym 'Hilicliff High'. The collection of data took place in two stages, the first of which commenced in April 2003 and the second in March 2004 and lasted for a total of about six months. This allowed the study to follow closely the development of the school community's plans, the difficulties which arose and the formulation of school members' perspectives in relation to the incorporation of the methodologies and the aims of the Citizenship Education curriculum into the school's practices. The results of this study suggest that students and teachers reproduce through their interaction roles, practices and an ethos which they consider as being inconsistent with the aims and methods of Citizenship Education. In this sense, the study points out that the challenges for the successful implementation of the subject go beyond some objectively defined obstacles and can be also located in the perspectives, beliefs, conceptions and misconceptions of the members of the schools' communities. Citizenship Education was introduced into the English secondary school curriculum in 2002 following the publication of the report of the Advisory Group on Citizenship 11 (Crick report) in 1998 (QCA, 1998). The aim of the group, as stated in the report, was to achieve: 'no less than a change in the political culture of this country both nationally and locally: for people to think of themselves as active citizens, willing, able and equipped to have an influence in public life and with the critical capacities to weigh evidence before speaking and acting; to build on and to extend radically to young people the best in existing traditions of community involvement and public service, and to make them individually confident in finding new forms of involvement and action among themselves.' (QCA, 1998, p. 7) In order for this change in the political culture to be achieved, the report makes specific recommendations in relation to the teaching methodologies, the role of the school in the community and the role of the students in the school.