Presentations Â
Munevver Meltem Yige Teaching Art to students with Special Educational Needs in primary schools: A comparative Case Study of Turkey and the UK. Supervisors: Prof Naz Rassool, Dr. Gil Hopper
This paper reports on teaching Art in Primary schools in Turkey and the UK with a specific focus on students with SEN. Under the main research question; ‘What learning opportunities does art education offer to students with SEN?’ issues about primary schools inclusion policy and practices will be investigated from the perspectives of primary school teachers, head teachers and Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs). The focus of this study is on the main concerns and opportunities presented to primary school teachers, head teachers and SENCOs in catering for the needs of SEN children in art lessons. Revealing key school staffs’ perceptions on the effects of art education on students with SEN and reflections on art teachers’ own practices in art classes is the main aim of this study. Exploring participants’ perceptions will help to compare the two countries’ educational practices. Underlining the differences and similarities between the opinions of teachers, head teachers and SENCOs is essential in order to create a more efficient and more inclusive model of art education since the main aim of inclusion is to supply equal education opportunities for all students. Highlighting these similarities and differences in the procedure of inclusion as well as art education in these two countries will enable researcher to comprehend how perspectives evolved on these two subjects throughout history. The most suitable way to pointing out the differences in the policies as well as inquiring on teachers’ and other school staffs’ perceptions in two different countries is utilising multiple case study. The first part of data collection has been done in three primary schools in Turkey and the second part of data collection took place in three primary schools in the UK via semi-‐ structured interviews with head teachers, SENCO’s and Art teachers. A discussion on these results in relation to implications for educational practice will be attempted in this paper.
Selma Ashikuti Language equality and language equity in Namibia: what do the best schools tell us? Supervisors: Dr Xiao Lan Curdt-‐Christiansen & Ms Barbara King This study examines language equality and language equity in Namibia’s top ranking secondary schools. Namibia is a medley of languages, and the national language policy for schools promotes multilingualism as it permits most indigenous languages to be part of the school curriculum. While Namibia’s language policy for schools stipulates that all learners must study English and one of indigenous languages as subjects from Grade 1 (Republic of Namibia, 2003), it does not specify which indigenous language should be included and taught. The questions that arise are: (a) Are all indigenous languages made available to learners in the country’s top schools? (b) Are the language options in Namibia’s top schools representative of the country’s mosaic of languages? (c) What conditions, if any, accompany the language options made available to learners? (d) How should schools address concerns of language inequality and inequity? To answer these questions, I carried out a study of school stipulations regarding language options in Namibia’s top 20 secondary schools. The study is guided by theories of language equality and language equity and uses discourse analysis to examine the representation and status of indigenous languages in the country’s top 20 school’s subject option guides. Preliminary results indicate that indigenous languages are gravely underrepresented in the country’s top school with Afrikaans and German being, arguably, overrepresented.
Tomasz John The Rhetoric of the Internationalisation of Pedagogy and Curriculum in Higher Education – opportunities and challenges Supervisor: Prof. Viv Edwards, Dr Daguo Li The internationalisation of Higher Education tends to be theorised in the literature at the organisational, strategic level, with an emphasis on marketization. There are, however, few in-‐depth investigations of interactions between international students and academics informed by accounts of the experience of practitioners or students. Drawing on contemporary work and thinking in the areas of cross-‐cultural pedagogy and curriculum, my research seeks to fill in the research gap as it creates space for the voices and experiences of both student and staff working in international education. Within a Bourdieusian framework, my study explores both cultural and linguistic dimensions of the issue, using a case study approach based on a southern English university. Data from a survey, interviews and focus groups discussions with students, academics and senior staff directly concerned with the delivery of the internationalization agenda suggests how, from a cultural perspective, the international student experience can be a ready asset, triggering a reconsideration of contemporary realities and practices. From the linguistic perspective, the data highlight the kind(s) of English appropriate for communication in international higher education where English serves as a lingua franca. The presentation will explore a selection of themes from the findings chapters and possible ways forward of what might be needed for the university to bring itself interculturally and linguistically in line with the international status it claims.
Muteru Leah Nyawira Parental participation in English State schools: The case for Kenyan Points Based System (PBS) migrants. Supervisors: Prof Naz Rassool, Dr. Gil Hopper This research aims to capture the struggles and triumphs of a small group of skilled Kenyan workers who migrate to the UK for the purposes of work and are accompanied by their school-‐age children. To try and gain a better understanding of Kenyan, Points Based System (skilled), migrant parents’ experiences of participating in their child’s school, a systematic qualitative enquiry exploring the experiences of Kenyan PBS migrants through interviews and focus groups was carried out. The interviews were transcribed and verified by the participants. After thoroughly familiarizing with the data, coding and organizing the data into themes was conducted using computer-‐aided software – Nvivo. The main findings of this research are that positive relationships with their children’s’ schools led to more educational participation by parents and more academic success for their Kenyan children. Negative relationships led to children failing to achieve expected academic success or, their parents withdrawing children from UK state schools, moving them into Independent schools or, sending the children back to Kenya to continue with their studies. However, Kenyan PBS parents social capital both in the UK and in Kenya seemed to be an important influence in determining participation in schools, with parents that had strong social capital and ties within the UK leading to more participation in UK state schools while high social capital and ties in Kenya and not the UK led to non-‐participation in the UK state schools. This suggests that relationships within the destination country are important for PB migrant families, in relation to the educational success of their children.
Nantikarn Simasangyaporn The effect of listening strategy instruction on Thai English language learners’ level of self-‐efficacy, listening comprehension and strategy use. Supervisors: Prof. Suzanne Graham, Dr Jessie Ricketts Listening is often perceived by language learners to be the most difficult aspects of language learning (Field, 2003; Graham, 2006) and could be even more complicated for Thai learners of English because of large language differences. Such difficulties may have a negative influence on learners’ sense of control over their learning and consequently on their self-‐efficacy for English listening. Some studies have found the use of language learning strategies to increase language learners’ level of self-‐ efficacy for and proficiency in listening comprehension (Cross, 2009; Goh, 2008; Graham & Macaro, 2008; Thompson & Rubin, 1996; Vandergrift & Tafaghodtari, 2010). However, more empirical evidence of the effectiveness of strategy instruction is still needed (Chamot, 2005). The present study focuses on the relationship between listening proficiency, strategy use and self-‐efficacy, and the effect of strategy instruction on these variables for Thai university-‐level learners of English. Using a quasi-‐experimental pretest -‐ posttest design, the mixed-‐method instruments included in this study are listening comprehension tasks, a set of questionnaires and stimulated-‐recall protocols. Seven listening strategy lessons were given to intervention groups while comparison groups received regular listening lessons. In this presentation, initial findings from statistical data analyses will be presented.
Louise Pagden Free schools -‐ the battle between autonomy and accountability. A comparison of vision and reality for Free school governing bodies Supervisor: Dr. Carol Fuller Since their inception in 2010, Free schools have multiplied rapidly; there are now 250 open in England, with more than 100 opening in the coming year. However there is little empirical evidence on the set-‐up process and the possible problems and opportunities encountered by the governing bodies. This study aims to address this gap. The research presented in this paper will examine the extent to which Free schools’ and visions and ambitions are reflected in reality. The presentation will focus on two case-‐study schools: one championed by a consortium of churches and a fourth-‐ sector organisation; the other spear-‐headed by parents. The paper compares and contrasts the views of governing body personnel in the set-‐ up period with their experiences once the school is open. The data was gathered through 15 semi-‐structured interviews and analysed using a variety of methods. School documentation, including policies and web-‐literature has also been analysed. The results highlight pressures that act upon free schools, which either facilitate or prevent their vision from becoming a reality. Despite relative freedom, both schools’ visions remain a relatively traditional approach to schooling. However, elements of their visions, which were intended to set the schools apart, have been more difficult to achieve.
Hamda Alnaimi Qatari Twelfth Grade Students Occupational and Higher Educational Decisions.
Supervisors: Dr Carol Fuller , Prof. Andy Goodwyn My research is about Qatari twelfth grade students’ educational and occupational choices and the factors affecting their decisions. Two secondary schools were selected: one boys and one girls. These schools were selected as they had the highest numbers of attendance for Qatari students in twelfth grade. A questionnaire survey was conducted at the beginning of the school year. After analyzing the questionnaire results,21 student volunteers (10 in the boys school; 11 in the girls) were asked to participate in the study; chosen depending on certain criteria. Participants have been interviewed once and will be interviewed a further two times: the first time was when they were still in school, the second interview will be after leaving school and the third one will be four to six months from leaving school. This study is be a mixed methods, longitudinal study centered around this school to work transition. The research aim is to explore how Qatari twelfth students make their educational and occupational decisions and what are the factors affecting this decision. This paper will focus on some of the data collected from the surveys and interviews in relation to this.
Research Posters
Faihan Alotaibi Teachers’ perceptions of the efficacy of social stories in the development of social skills for students with autism in Saudi Arabia Supervisors: Dr. Yota and Dr. Andy Kempe This study explores Saudi teachers’ perceptions of the efficacy of social stories in the development of social skills in students with autism in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in two phases. Data were collected in sequential quantitative and qualitative phases. Participants in this study were 100 teachers in the quantitative phase and 15 teachers were interviewed. In this poster, the researcher will present the data result in the qualitative second phase in which an understanding of teachers’ experiences was deepened by conducting semi-‐structured interviews with a purposeful sample of fifteen teachers of diverse experience, covering six initial themes: the social story concept; sources of social stories; the effectiveness of social stories in improving social skills in students with autism; barriers to using social stories for students with autism; cultural consideration and context of social stories; and factors which contribute to the best use of social stories to developing of social skills for students with autism.
Harriet Speed Is there an improvement or systemic effect of contextualized grammar teaching using cognitive linguistic strategies on the attainment of Year 9 learners in writing tasks? Supervisors: Prof. Andy Goodwyn and Dr. Alison Silby The poster will outline and critique the literature around the conceptualized topics of the study, define the scope of the study and identify gaps within the literature to justify originality. These topics include contextualized grammar teaching, cognitive linguistics, writing and attainment. The poster will include proposed research questions and suggested methods and methodology to meet these successfully.