education as a research context Flashcards
theme
who/ where you’re researching
e.g pupils, teachers, parents, schools, classrooms
method
one of the research methods
e.g questionnaires, interviews
study
is the issue that you’re going to research
common ones: achievement, labelling, attitudes, subcultures
researching pupils
power and status
less power than adults = difficult to share their views
formal methods = reinforce power differences
Overcome power by using group interviews
ability and understanding
take care in how you word Qs so they understand
use language in different ways to adults
memory is less developed
pupils are not a homogenous group - age/gender/class differences
vulnerability
ethical issues - does it benefit them taking part?
need to be aware of what the reserach involves
child protection laws - researchers need DBS checked
gatekeepers controlling access to pupils
researching teachers
power and status
tecahers have more status
The nature of the classroom reinforces their power - not completely indepdenent, heads etc constrain what they can do
researchers will need a cover to do covert’ - supply teacher = less status
impression management
they’re used to being observed
‘put on act’
social actors so we put on a face when in the public eye
need to get backstage, e.g staffroom, to know what they’re like - but researcher in small social space = may be treated with suspicion
heads may influence what tecahers will be picked to ensure school looks good
researching classrooms
highly controlled setting
= may not accurately reflect how everyone feels
fairly small space = easy to observe
gatekeepers
Control access to classrooms
peer groups
pupils may be insecure about their identity and status = more sensitive to peer pressure and the need to conform affects the way the respond
necessary to observe them fill out a questionnaire if done in classroom
researching schools
unlikely to have the time to investigate more than a few = risk research being unrepresentative
large scale surveys are good but may lose insight that can be obtained from irl observations
gatekeepers
have the power to refuse research
may believe research will interfere with learning and undermine the teacher’s authority
heads may steer researchers away from sensitive situations
school organisation
complex highly organised - have daily and yearly timetables
researching parents
can influence what goes on in school
how they raise their kids
Involvement in school
parental permission
Whether they give may depend on the sensitivity
impression management
may make themselves seem more involved
Researchers’ own experience of education
personal expeirence of education can dull their awareess of how different educational environments are from other social settings
have spent years in school and uni = see them as natural so need to be aware of their taken for granted assumptions
will be well educated themselves = difficult to emphasise with uderachievers
study of a lab experiment
teachers were given photos of children from different social backgrounds - equally divided by gender and ethnicity
Teachers were asked to rate the children on their performance, parentla attitudes to education …
lower class kids rated less - teachers based ratings on similarities between the photos and kids theyv’e taught
= teachers label based on class and use these labels to pre-judge
