Scholarly Works - Education
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Item Open Access How was your playtime?(2020-02-01) Fuller, Rozi; Gaile, Jacqueline; Adams, Catherine; Gibson, Jenny; Gibson, Jenny [0000-0002-6172-6265]How was your playtime? is an artistic response to the findings of the Social Communication Intervention Project and the Hopscotch project. It shows the experiences of children with communication difficulties during school breaktimes.Item Open Access Accepted version Peer-reviewed International Perspectives on Practice and Research into Children's Rights(Centro de Estudios en Derechos Humanos, 2018-04-10) Sainz, Gabriela Martínez; Ilie, Sonia; Ilie, Sonia [0000-0001-9893-0086]"The discussion in this book take into account the need for not only focusing on individual perspectives and practices but also examining the social structures that impact on children's rights.Item Open Access Literature search protocol for the African Education Research Database(REAL Centre, University of Cambridge, 2018-06-04) Mitchell, RD; Rose, Pauline; Mitchell, Rafael [0000-0002-4553-2487]; Rose, Pauline [0000-0002-6701-6774]This methodological note provides an overview of the ‘Mapping education research in sub-Saharan Africa’ project. It presents the protocols for the literature search, data extraction, and development of the African Education Research Database.Item Open Access Accepted version Peer-reviewed Teaching for transfer between first and foreign language classroom contexts: developing a framework for a strategy-based, cross-curricular approach to writing pedagogy(Equinox Publishing, 2019) Forbes, K; Forbes, Karen [0000-0001-8981-8236]Writing is a skill which is actively taught in both first (L1) and foreign language (FL) classrooms, yet surprisingly few cross-curricular links are made. This paper, aimed at both practitioners and researchers, presents a framework for designing and implementing a strategy-based, cross-curricular approach to writing pedagogy in schools. It firstly considers the factors which should be taken into account when designing such an intervention in both L1 and FL classrooms. It then outlines the key steps in the implementation of such a programme of strategy-based instruction. To exemplify this, the paper reports on data throughout from an empirical study involving a classroom intervention of explicit strategy-based instruction which was delivered firstly in the German FL classroom, and later also in the English classroom of a Year 9 (age 13-14) class in a secondary school in England. The aim was to help students to develop their writing strategies and to encourage transfer between languages. Findings suggest that while a programme of strategy-based instruction can improve strategy use and attainment in writing within a particular language context, effects are most powerful when there is collaboration between L1 and FL teachers. Evidence therefore calls for a multilingual approach to writing pedagogy.Item Open Access Accepted version Peer-reviewed 2D:4D digit ratio and religiosity in university student and general population samples(British Psychological Society) Richards, G; Davies, William; Stewart-Williams, Steve; Bellin, Wynford; Reed, Phil; Richards, Gareth [0000-0003-0233-0153]The ratio of index to ring finger length (2D:4D) is used as a proxy for prenatal sex hormone exposure. It has been hypothesised to correlate with religiosity, though no published research has explored this possibility. Here, we initially examined 2D:4D in relation to self-reported religious affiliation and questionnaire measures of general religiosity, spirituality, religious fundamentalism, and religious commitment in male (N = 106) and female (N = 105) university students (Study 1). Although no significant correlations were observed between 2D:4D and the questionnaire measures, females who affiliated with organised religions had higher right and left hand digit ratios compared to agnostic or atheist females. Study 2 attempted to replicate these findings in an adult general population sample (N = 172 males, N = 257 females), but did not observe significant effects in either sex. Overall, these findings suggest that high 2D:4D may be relatively-specifically associated with increased religious affiliation in young, highly-educated, females.Item Open Access Accepted version Peer-reviewed Soldiers of the Queen: Reading newspaper fiction of the South African War (1899-1902)(Oxford University Press (OUP), 2018) Rawlinson-Mills, E; Rawlinson-Mills, Elizabeth [0000-0001-8060-5488]This article considers the status of ‘Tommy Atkins’ in popular and literary culture at the end of the nineteenth century. Drawing material from the short stories published in the illustrated weekly The Sphere in the first year of the South African War, I argue that newspaper fiction illuminates and contributes to the complex and changing relationships between society and the military, during a period of impassioned public engagement with a controversial conflict. I argue that earlier Victorian conceptions of ‘Tommy’ as a disreputable scoundrel were challenged during the conflict by fictional representations of soldiers which blur traditional distinctions of class and rank. In making my case, I demonstrate that the physical juxtaposition of fictional with non-literary content on the newspaper page can be read as a form of silent editorial commentary, contesting the notion that parallels and contrasts between proximate items are attributable to chance. I consider the Sphere’s short stories as meaningfully connected to one another, establishing relationships between stories in separate issues by Thomas Hardy, Marie Corelli and others, as well as between the Sphere’s stories and other texts, such as the popular play Tommy Atkins and Rudyard Kipling’s phenomenally influential poem ‘The Absent-Minded Beggar’. At a time when newspapers were under pressure to conform to a hegemonic pro-government narrative, I argue that the Sphere’s editor, Clement Shorter, found in fiction, and its presentation on the newspaper page, a space for disruptive and potentially subversive questions and counter-narratives.Item Open Access Published version Peer-reviewed Sustaining and Scaling Pedagogic Innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Grounded Insights For Teacher Professional Development(2018-03-21) Hassler, B; Hennessy, S; Hofmann, RJ; Hennessy, Sara [0000-0002-9050-4995]Developing sustainable and scalable educational initiatives is a key challenge in low-income countries where donor-funded short-term projects are limited by both contextual factors and programme design. In this concept paper we examine some of the issues related to in-service teacher development in the context of sub-Saharan Africa, grounded predominantly in our experiences of over 5 years of iteratively developing, refining and evaluating an intensive school-based professional learning programme for primary school teachers. “OER4Schools” integrates interactive pedagogy, Open Educational Resources (OER) and use of mobile devices (where available). The focus of this paper is on identifying what the main factors are perceived to be in sustaining and scaling up such a programme, from the perspectives of participating teachers, workshop facilitators and the research team. Synthesising our previous research and drawing on recent work in the field, we identify the key characteristics of effective and sustainable professional learning in low-resourced contexts. Such characteristics include effective peer facilitation, school-based active learning, explicit programme structure, appropriate scheduling and resourcing, and mitigating resource constraints through use of OER. Our conclusions thereby offer insights concerning the importance and impact of wider influences on participation and engagement of stakeholders and lead to recommendations for programme design and implementation, that should be taken on board by future initiatives.Item Open Access Published version Peer-reviewed Operational, interpersonal, discussional and ideational dimensions of classroom norms for dialogic practice in school mathematics(2018-06-01) Hofmann, Riikka; Ruthven, Kenneth; Ruthven, Kenneth [0000-0002-5186-6707]While research suggests that interactive pedagogy drawing on students’ ideas can improve learning outcomes, it has been found difficult to change mathematics classroom practice in this direction. The reasons for this difficulty remain poorly understood, hindering change at scale. This paper focuses on the under-researched normative aspect of such practice which shapes participants’ actions and expectations. Drawing on theories of social practice and interaction, we define norms as recurrent and socially obligating patterns of, and rationales for, behaviour in a particular social practice. We then examine empirically what and how (new) norms associated with this type of pedagogy are manifested in classroom discursive activity by examining talk across 21 school mathematics lessons by 12 teachers implementing a dialogic intervention. While there is a clear distinction between surface norms and underlying rationales, and a consistent set of surface norms relating to classroom talk can be identified, deeper analysis finds norms to be multi-dimensional. We illustrate how a surface norm, such as ‘Respect others’ ideas’, can be enunciated in terms of multiple underlying rationales which we term operational, interpersonal, discussional and ideational. Our findings shed new light on why the dialogic intentions of such interventions are often realised in a superficial way. We further examine the ways in which teachers hold students and themselves accountable to the ideational dimension – the dimension that relates to taking students’ ideas seriously in classroom dialogue.Item Open Access Accepted version Peer-reviewed Strategy development and cross-linguistic transfer in foreign and first language writing(Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2020) Forbes, K; Fisher, L; Forbes, Karen [0000-0001-8981-8236]; Fisher, Linda [0000-0001-7916-9199]Abstract In an increasingly multilingual world, empirical knowledge about the reciprocal influence between the mother tongue (L1) and a learner’s acquisition of foreign languages (FL) is crucial yet remains surprisingly scarce. This paper examines how an explicit focus on metacognitive strategy use within a FL (German) classroom impacts students’ development of writing strategies in the FL, and whether any such effects transfer to another FL (French) and/or to the L1 (English). Based on a quasi-experimental design, the study involved a two-phase intervention of strategy-based instruction primarily in the FL classroom and later also in the English classroom in a secondary school in England. Data were collected using writing strategy task sheets. Key findings indicate high levels of cross-linguistic transfer, both from one FL context to another and from FL – L1, evidenced especially by an improvement in the quality of students’ planning and a reduction in the number of errors. Findings support the development of a multilingual, strategy-based pedagogy for writing where L1 and FL teachers collaborate to encourage and facilitate connection-making across language contexts.Item Open Access Accepted version Peer-reviewed Humanism, modernism and designing education: exploring progressive relations between Australia, New Zealand and the West Riding of Yorkshire 1930s–1970s(Taylor & Francis, 2018-03-02) Burke, Catherine; Burke, Catherine [0000-0002-1997-7810]This article takes as a starting point the career of Sir Alec Clegg, Chief Education O cer for the West Riding of Yorkshire (1945–1974), and traces his professional connections with educationists in Australia and New Zealand. In exploring the nature of global exchanges between educators, artists, architects and designers in the decades immediately before and after the Second World War, the intertwining of modernism and progressivism is critically explored in the wider contextual frame of the Arts and Crafts Movement. The notion of increasing the humanity of the classroom occupied the e orts of a constellation of individuals caught up in the desire to redesign schooling in ways that would regenerate democratic relations of living in the post-war world. It is suggested that a common thread connected those concerned to strengthen democracy through combining progressive and modernist attitudes with the potent legacy of the Arts and Crafts Movement.Item Open Access Published version Peer-reviewed Depression symptom trajectories and associated risk factors among adolescents in Chile.(Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2013) Stapinski, Lexine A; Montgomery, Alan A; Heron, Jon; Jerrim, John; Vignoles, Anna; Araya, Ricardo; Vignoles, Anna [0000-0002-9268-212X]Adolescence is a key period for studying the development of depression, with studies in Europe and North America showing a pattern of elevated risk that begins in early adolescence and continues to increase as adolescents age. Few studies have examined the course of adolescent depression and associated risk factors in low and middle-income countries. This longitudinal cohort study examined depression symptom trajectories and risk factors in a sample of socio-economically disadvantaged adolescents in Chile (n = 2,508). Data were collected over an 18-month period as part of a clinical trial for secondary students aged 12 to 18 (median age 14). Clinical levels of depression were prevalent in this sample at baseline (35% for girls and 28% for boys); yet latent growth models of symptom trajectories revealed a pattern of decreasing symptoms over time. There was evidence of an anxiety-depression developmental pathway for girls, with elevated anxiety levels initially predicting poorer depression outcomes later on. Poor problem-solving skills were associated with initial depression levels but did not predict the course of depressive symptoms. Critically, the declining symptom trajectories raise important methodological issues regarding the effects of repeated assessment in longitudinal studies.Item Open Access Accepted version Peer-reviewed Feet, footwork, footwear, and “being alive” in the modern school(Centre for Study of History of Education, 2018-03-04) Burke, Catherine; Burke, Catherine [0000-0002-1997-7810]Item Open Access Accepted version Peer-reviewed Mapping folk devils old and new through permanent exclusion from London schools(Taylor & Francis) Kulz, CRThe process of permanent exclusion from school offers a heightened example of the rejections necessary to keep the English neoliberal education treadmill running. This extreme end of education's disciplinary apparatus illuminates trends less immediately legible across the system, namely how securitisation and neoliberal governance heighten inequalities. Unpicking the dynamics at work behind exclusion shows how racialization and marginalisation are not reduced, but reproduced through this educational format. This paper maps how securitisation and neoliberal governance work together through permanent exclusion to reproduce racialised folk devils old and new, drawing on discourses of criminal blackness as well as the radicalised Islamic terrorist. It will also explore how exclusion policy is negotiated and translated into daily practice by exploring parental accounts of their child’s permanent exclusion alongside the narratives of head teachers in London.Item Open Access Accepted version Peer-reviewed Education of people with disabilities: a capability-context framework of culture(Informa UK Limited, 2018-05-28) Hammad, T; Hammad, Tehmina [0000-0002-4707-0626]People with disabilities find themselves at the margins of ideas on education in the rights-based and the agency-focused frameworks (the capability approach). This article socially situates the rights-based framework to extend agency as an educational opportunity to make it participatory in cross-cultural contexts, and individually locates the agency-focused framework to enhance agency as multi-dimensional educational experience-outcome journeys across cultural contexts. This extended scope of rights and enhanced capacity of agency is advanced as the capability-context framework of culture. The framework focuses on analytically distinct yet connected emerging agents with capabilities of both dialogical discourses (retrospective reflexivity – macro-mechanisms) and dialectic narratives (bounded participation – micro-structures), which can provide access to deep social structures, and their many ways of being (micro-mechanisms) and specific ways of doing (macro-structures) that enable, but also disable the social choices of people with disabilities, to open new possibilities for them, and for all across contexts.Item Open Access Accepted version Peer-reviewed Do Financial Education Interventions for Women from Poor Households Impact Their Financial Behaviors? Experimental Evidence from India(Informa UK Limited, 2018) Bhutoria, A; Vignoles, A; Vignoles, Anna [0000-0002-9268-212X]Policy makers have invested significant resources in financial education to improve financial literacy of the poor, reduce bad financial decision-making, and increase take-up of financial services and products. Yet there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of such interventions, especially in developing countries. This paper provides evidence from a clustered Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) where a relatively light (a day of training) financial education program was offered to a large sample of women (n=1281) from poor households in non-formal community settings. The educational intervention was a significant departure from the more costly traditional classroom style adult education interventions. It was based on simple ‘Rules of Thumb’ and used a goal-oriented and action-focused approach, targeted at changing behaviors. We find evidence of modest, positive treatment effects for some outcomes including an increase in personal savings, achieved at a relatively low cost of training per participant.Item Open Access Published version Peer-reviewed Private schooling and labour market outcomes(Wiley, 2017-02-01) Green, F; Henseke, G; Vignoles, A; Vignoles, Anna [0000-0002-9268-212X]Though a relative small part of the school sector, private schools have an important role in British society, and there are policy concerns about their negative effect on social mobility. Other studies show that individuals who have attended a private school go on to have higher levels of educational achievement, are more likely to secure a high-status occupation and also have higher wages. In this article we contribute new evidence on the magnitude of the wage premium, and address a puzzle found in previous studies: how to explain the direct pay premium whereby privately educated male workers have higher wages even than their similarly educated peers. It is commonly conjectured that the broader curriculum that private schools are able to deliver, coupled with the peer pressures of a partially segregated section of society, help to inculcate cultural capital, including some key ‘non-cognitive’ attributes. We focus here on leadership, organisational participation and an acceptance of hard work. We find that privately educated workers are in jobs that require significantly greater leadership skills, offer greater organisational participation and require greater work intensity. These associations are partially mediated by educational achievement. Collectively these factors contribute little, however, to explaining the direct pay premium. Rather, a more promising account arises from the finding that inclusion of a variable for industry reduces the private school premium to an insignificant amount, which is consistent with selective sorting of privately educated workers into high-paying industries.Item Open Access Accepted version Peer-reviewed Enabling graduation for whom? Identifying and explaining heterogeneity in livelihood trajectories post-cash transfer exposure(Wiley, 2018) Sabates-Wheeler, Rachel; Sabates Aysa, R; Devereux, Stephen; Sabates Aysa, Ricardo [0000-0002-1433-5667]We use a data set from a graduation programme in Rwanda to explore the heterogeneous livelihood pathways that programme participants follow during and after the programme period. We show that household characteristics, such as gender of household head and labour availability, will affect trajectories of change; yet, the impact of initial resources will depend on what outcomes are being measured and possible complementarities between them. This reinforces the importance of a multi-sectoral strategy for supporting livelihoods. We conclude that certain types of households need longer on a programme, as well as additional support to local enabling factors to support graduation.Item Open Access Accepted version Peer-reviewed Playground social interaction analysis using bespoke wearable sensors for tracking and motion capture(ACM, 2018) Heravi, BM; Gibson, JL; Hailes, S; Skuse, D; Gibson, Jenny [0000-0002-6172-6265]Unstructured play is considered important for the social, physical and cognitive development of children. Traditional observational research examining play behaviour at playtime (recess) has been hampered by challenges in obtaining reliable data and in processing sufficient quantities of that data to permit credible inferences to be drawn. The emergence of wearable wireless sensor technology makes it possible to study individual differences in childhood social behaviour based on collective movement patterns during playtime. In this work, we introduce a new method to enable simultaneous collection of GNSS/IMU data from a group of children interacting on a playground. We present a detailed description of system development and implementation before going on to explore methods of characterising social groups based on collective movement recording and analysis. A case study was carried out for a class of 7-8 year old children in their school playground during 10 episodes of unstructured play. A further 10 play episodes were monitored in the same space following the introduction of large, loose play materials. This study design allowed us to observe the effect of an environmental intervention on social movement patterns. Sociometric analysis was conducted for comparison and validation. This successful case study demonstrates that sensor based movement data can be used to explore children’s social behaviour during naturalistic play.Item Open Access Accepted version Peer-reviewed Things you should not believe in science(Association for Science Education, 2017-12-01) Taber, KS; Taber, Keith [0000-0002-1798-331X]ABSTRACT This article considers the relationship between belief and learning science. It is argued that belief in science (as a process) needs to be distinguished from belief in particular scienti c ideas and knowledge claims. Scienti c knowledge is theoretical and provisional – something to be adopted for its utility, not as articles of faith. The scienti c attitude is to always be sceptical and retain a critical attitude to what we think we know. Belief in scienti c knowledge is not only inappropriate in terms of scienti c values, but can also be unhelpful from an educational perspective. The science teacher should actually encourage students not to believe in the various theories, models and other products of scienti c work presented in class. This approach can avoid con icts with students’ personal beliefs, support scienti c literacy, and better prepare future scientists.Item Open Access Published version Peer-reviewed Digital Weberianism: Bureaucracy, Information, and the Techno-rationality of Neoliberal Capitalism(Indiana University Press, 2018) Chris Muellerleile; Susan L. RobertsonThe social infrastructures that constitute both public and private administration are increasingly entangled with digital data, big data, and algorithms. While some argue that these technologies have blown apart the strictures of bureaucratic order, we see more subtle changes at work. We suggest that far from a radical rupture, in today's digitising society, there are strong traces of the logic and techniques of Max Weber's bureau; a foundational concept in his account of the symbiotic relationship between modernity, capitalism and social order.