Writing about teachers: How British and American Ethnographic texts describe teachers and teaching

Atkinson, Paul; Delamont, Sara

doi:10.1016/0742-051x(90)90029-5

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…It has been pointed out that British and North American ethnographers constitute two separate networks in educational research, separated by national and disciplinary boundaries (Atkinson & Delamont, 1990). However, from the Swedish point of view, it seems to be more of an Anglo-American network than two separate networks.…”

Section: An Unilateral Actor-networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnography in action. How ethnography was established in Swedish educational research

Larsson

2006

Ethnography and Education

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The emergence of new research practices is the general theme in this text. The case is ethnography as an approach in Swedish educational research. Ethnography is now an established approach in educational research in Sweden. What was the process behind this position? The paper will follow a trajectory that starts in the 1960s and discuss how ethnography was established and consolidated in educational research in Sweden. The paper discerns five phases of formation, starting in the late 1960s through to today. The unilateral relation to Anglo-American ethnographic networks is discussed. An actor network metaphor is used as a tool in the interpretation of the process. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the knowledge of ethnographic research as well as the process of change in research practices generally.

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Section: An Unilateral Actor-networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnography in action. How ethnography was established in Swedish educational research

Larsson

2006

Ethnography and Education

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“…There is, however, little empirical evidence about young children's experience of school education (MacDonald, 2009) and children feel that they have little influence over what happens at school, perceiving it to be a place of compliance to teachers who hold the power (Einarsdóttir, 2010). Asymmetric adult-child power dynamics are similarly apparent in educational research (Burke, 2010;Atkinson & Delamont, 1990) where adult voices take the focus in research about 'ability' in schools with grouping and organisation dominating the field. As the experts in the experience of being children (Harcourt, 2011), children offer highly valuable perspectives in terms of the impact that 'ability' has upon them.…”

Section: Children's Experiences Of Schoolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children’s lived experiences of ‘ability’ in the Key Stage One classroom: life on the ‘tricky table’

Gripton

2020

Cambridge Journal of Education

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Within the wealth of research on 'ability' in education, there is a missing perspective: the perspective of the child. Whilst 'ability' informed practices such as 'ability' grouping are commonplace in the UK, how these are experienced by the young child has previously received only limited attention in research. Using case study evidence, this article demonstrates that children's lived experiences of 'ability' are highly individual and shaped by a broader range of social, structural and pedagogic aspects of classroom life than previously thought. Implications are that a wide range of teaching choices can potentially affect a child's experience of 'ability' and that the impact of these are particularly profound for some children, shaping their perception of themselves and others. Children's perspectives therefore offer a challenge to the hegemonic discourse of 'ability' in education and the classroom practices upon which it is based.'ability' upon children in classrooms and therefore provide the missing piece in understanding 'ability' in schools. 'Ability' in Education'Ability' is an educational phenomenon that exists as a socially constructed, more palatable term for 'intelligence' (Stobart, 2014; Gillborn & Youdell, 2011) and is pervasive in education in the UK (Marks, 2016). It stems from what Collins (2003) terms 'ability profiling' where children are deemed to be functioning, or capable of learning, at a level somewhere along a linear continuum from low to high 'ability'.Academic positions about the nature of 'intelligence' or 'ability' are entrenched with social, political, ideological and religious beliefs (White, 2005;Deary, 2006) and have promoted 'intense and often bitter public debate' (Laosa, 1996, p155) due to being rooted in societal economic and class structures (Oakes, 2005). Practice in schools is influenced by institutionalised notions of 'ability' as fixed and hierarchical which reinforce and reproduce social inequalities (Brantlinger, 1990). This IQism (Gillborn & Youdell, 2001) is prevalent in UK education policy where labels such as 'more able' (DfE, 2012;Ofsted, , 2015, 'the most able' (DfE, 2018), 'bright' (Gibb, 2018 and 'high ability' (the Teachers' Standards for all teachers in England and Wales, DfE, 2011, p.12) are commonly used. Dorling (2010) suggests that international comparison measures within an increasingly globalised educational market (Ball, 2012), the 'datafication' of education (Roberts-Holmes & Bradbury, 2016) and significant economic pressures (Hamilton & O'Hara, 2011;Flint & Peim, 2012) create an educational environment in the UK where 'ability' thinking pervades and 'ability' informed practices flourish.In this sense, schools fit and support the existing social order (Oakes and Guiton, 1995).For educators and policy makers, the notion of 'ability' or 'intelligence' as a single faculty on a linear scale is alluring in its simplicity (Lucas & Claxton, 2010). It reductively deems children's learning predictable and 'unproblematically known' (Drummond & Yarker, 2013, p.5)...

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“…I sought to focus upon evolving social relationships during the visit, seeking to capture and understand the complicated, contradictory and multi-dimensional nature of lived experiences. This was informed by ethnographic principles of intense engagement within a natural setting (Atkinson & Delamont, 1990) and building empathy with informants to understand their relational, social experiences in an embodied social practice (Mills & Morton, 2013). My participation as a researcher (and not a student, or teacher), potentially afforded me a 'neutral' identity, with some distance from both, enabling me to build independent rapport.…”

Section: Data Collection and Field Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contested Perspectives on the Social Impacts of a Residential Field Trip

Gee

2019

Journal of Experiential Education

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Background: Research into outdoor learning reveals social benefits for trip participants, both individually and collectively. However, this is not universal, and individual participants can experience increased isolation from the wider group. Purpose: This research investigated the underexplored negative experiences of an individual trip participant, in the context of a program promoting collectivist beliefs. Methodology/Approach: An ethnographic methodology was adopted to include full immersion into all aspects of the week-long trip. Data were collected by observation and interviews and analyzed using a conceptual framework around individualism and collectivism. Findings/Conclusions: The teachers perceived the trip as successful, in meeting their collectivist goal of enhancing group cohesion, and data revealed the building of community feelings among the majority of participants, alongside feelings of belonging, togetherness, and mutual support. However, one participant exhibited contrasting individualist perceptions and experiences around interpretations of freedom, privacy, adversity, and cohesion. Implications: Trip leaders need to be mindful of participants as individuals, taking care to neither seek nor project a blanket group identity over all. Within the confines of health and safety and duty of care boundaries, and commensurate with the age range of trip participants, accompanying teachers should understand and respect individual needs within collectivist group socialization agendas.

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Writing about teachers: How British and American Ethnographic texts describe teachers and teaching

Cited by 8 publications

References 30 publications

Ethnography in action. How ethnography was established in Swedish educational research

Ethnography in action. How ethnography was established in Swedish educational research

Children’s lived experiences of ‘ability’ in the Key Stage One classroom: life on the ‘tricky table’

Contested Perspectives on the Social Impacts of a Residential Field Trip

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