Teaching through written assignments in the Open University: an approach to the “voice” of postgraduate students on Instructional Discourse

Abstract

This paper aims to approach and analyse students' views on educational work that is carried out through the preparation of and feedback on written assignments, which constitute a fundamental element of the Open University teaching procedure, by making use of the concepts of instructional discourse and regulative discourse from Basil Bernstein's theory, as well as the concept of institutional habitus. The research data were collected through semi-structured interviews with a sample of postgraduate students who were following the "Open Distance Learning" Module with the Hellenic Open University (HOU). The research findings reveal that the students would like Visible Pedagogies to be implemented during the conduct of distance teaching through written assignments. In particular, in contrast to the regulations of the HOU institutional habitus they would like to be provided with a great deal of time to produce their assignments, and for their assignments to be corrected by their tutors within a week. In addition, the students would like the requirements concerning the selection of the educational material they should consult, and the sequencing of their text, as well as the assessment criteria used to evaluate their written effort, to be made clear and obvious, as much prior to the preparation of their papers, as during correction of them.

Investigating the Teachers’ Pedagogical Practices in Multi-Grade Primary Schools: A Sociological Approach

“…This research made use of the concept of framing from Basil Bernstein's theoretical framework (2000,2015) as it allows us to observe and interpret the pedagogical practices that are implemented within the school classrooms through the daily interaction between teachers and pupils, sociologically (Koustourakis, 2014(Koustourakis, , 2020Moore, 2013;Morais, 2022). Consequently, the concept of framing can be used to highlight and analyse the pedagogical relationships that are manifest in multi-grade primary schools.…”

“…In particular, when the teacher clearly sets the operational rules of his classroom, the desired form of pupil behavior and the way daily school work is to be carried out, directing the teaching acts and the pupils' choices in a clear and visible manner, then a strong framing of R.D. is being applied, which is an element of a visible pedagogy (Bernstein, 2000;Koustourakis, 2013Koustourakis, , 2014Koustourakis, , 2018Koustourakis, , 2020Moore, 2013;Morais & Neves, 2011).…”

“…Then, the I.D. which reveals the way the teaching work is carried out in the interactive framework of the school classrooms in multi-grade primary schools is analysed through the following components (Bernstein, 1990(Bernstein, , 2000Koustourakis, 2017Koustourakis, , 2018Koustourakis, , 2020Morais, 2002): (a) In the selection of school knowledge to be taught to the pupils. In this case, when a teacher who is teaching in a multi-grade rural primary school relies on the everyday knowledge of the pupils to explain the school lessons, then he is implementing a weak framing of I.D.…”