Graham Vulliamy

The Implementation of the National Curriculum in Small Primary Schools.

Abstract Since the introduction of the National Curriculum following the Education Reform Act of 1988, policy makers have increasingly questioned the ability of small primary schools to provide a sufficiently broad and in‐depth curriculum, especially at Key Stage 2 (age 7‐11). Research findings based on qualitative research in a national sample of 50 schools, of which nine had less than 100 pupils, are used to address this issue. Apart from problems with curriculum planning and the writing of policy documents in small schools, policy makers’ fears are shown to be largely unwarranted for two reasons. Firstly, they fail to recognise certain positive advantages for curriculum provision in small schools. These include greater opportunities for innovative curriculum and classroom organisation patterns and the likelihood of strong and realistic curriculum planning arising from head‐teachers who teach. Secondly, they make misguided assumptions about the nature of curriculum and classroom organisation in larger s...

Being a ‘professional’ primary school teacher at the beginning of the 21st century: a comparative analysis of primary teacher professionalism in New Zealand and England

This article analyses findings from two studies conducted collaboratively across two educational settings, New Zealand and England, in 2001–2002. These studies examined the impact of national educational policy reforms on the nature of primary teachers’ work and sense of their own professionalism and compared these impacts across the two countries. Adopting a policy ethnography approach, using in‐depth interview data from samples of teachers in each country, it is argued that there have been discursive shifts in the meaning of the three key terms, autonomy, altruism and knowledge, embodied in the classical professionalism triangle. These shifts reflect policy‐makers’ moves from a ‘professional‐contextualist’ conception of teacher professionalism towards the ‘technocratic‐reductionist’ conception that accompanies neo‐liberal educational reforms in many countries. Teachers in both countries experienced increasing constraints on their autonomy as they became far more subject to ‘extrinsic’ accountability demands. Whether these demands were perceived as enhancing or diminishing teacher professionalism depended on the manner in which they were filtered through the profession’s defining quality, namely teachers’ altruistic concerns for the welfare of the children in their care.

The impact of globalisation on qualitative research in comparative and international education

This is a revised version of the 2003 British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE) Presidential Address delivered at the 7th Oxford International Conference on Education and Development. The processes of globalisation have been viewed by some as a major threat to the qualitative research tradition in education. Two main aspects of the impact of globalisation on qualitative research are addressed here. Firstly, it is argued that given the vital role of culture in mediating global policies at different levels, qualitative research still has a very important role to play. Secondly, it is argued that the knowledge and information revolution associated with globalisation has created an increasingly positivist climate that represents both a challenge for, and a challenge to, comparative education as it is currently conceived—particularly in the UK. This is illustrated by the growing international interest in systematic review methodology and its associated privileging of quantitative ...This is a revised version of the 2003 British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE) Presidential Address delivered at the 7th Oxford International Conference on Education and Development. The processes of globalisation have been viewed by some as a major threat to the qualitative research tradition in education. Two main aspects of the impact of globalisation on qualitative research are addressed here. Firstly, it is argued that given the vital role of culture in mediating global policies at different levels, qualitative research still has a very important role to play. Secondly, it is argued that the knowledge and information revolution associated with globalisation has created an increasingly positivist climate that represents both a challenge for, and a challenge to, comparative education as it is currently conceived—particularly in the UK. This is illustrated by the growing international interest in systematic review methodology and its associated privileging of quantitative research strategies, such as randomised controlled trials, in evidence‐based policy.

Professional learning communities and teacher well‐being? A comparative analysis of primary schools in England and Finland

The article is a comparative analysis of the policy and practice of professional learning communities (PLCs) in primary schools in England and Finland. The concept of PLC has become a globally fashionable one and has been explicitly advocated in policy documents in both countries. Drawing from a database of qualitative semi‐structured interviews with primary teachers, four key themes affecting their work and well‐being are identified: the primary school community; collaborative working; continuing professional development and trust and accountability. The realities of PLCs as experienced by primary teachers in each country are contrasted. Similarities in teachers’ responses were found, especially in examples of education policy borrowing. However, the different cultural contexts in each country resulted in some fundamental differences that strongly influenced the nature of, and possibilities for, school PLCs. While ideal notions of PLCs may be difficult to realise, it is argued that it is an important concept worth developing for its potential contribution to teacher well‐being.

The Changing Role of the Primary School Deputy Headteacher.

ABSTRACT This paper examines the changing role of the primary school deputy headteacher following the implementation of the 1988 Education Reform Act. Based upon qualitative data from a national sample of 50 schools in England and Wales, it documents an ever‐expanding role and the ensuing tensions between class teaching and wider curriculum and managerial responsibilities. Pressures to reduce class size are leading to reductions in the numbers of non‐teaching deputies. Lack of non‐contact time creates difficulties for deputies familiarising themselves with the demands of headship. It is suggested that limited forms of job sharing between heads and deputies might be mutually beneficial.

Teacher research and special educational needs

This book provides case-study research and evaluation in special education needs, carried out by class teachers in ordinary and special schools. They discuss their experience of the problems and possibilities of teacher research and offer advice on information-gathering, analysis and writing up. This is a TES and NASEN 1993 award-winning title.

Issues and trends in qualitative research: potential for developing countries

Abstract This article builds upon previous work carried out by the authors in the field of comparative and international education, with special reference to the implications of globalisation and contemporary methodological trends for educational research in developing countries. Distinctions are drawn between methodology and methods in exploring the potential and limitations of qualitative strategies for researchers, policy-makers and development assistance agencies. A review of contemporary trends and developments draws attention to a related volume of new work, the value of case studies of educational practice, the importance of context and the dangers of uncritical international transfer. The article also examines linkages between post-modernism and the interpretivist paradigm, issues of data analysis and validation, and the possible benefits to be gained from practitioner research and evaluation in the process of research capacity building in developing countries.

A Comparative Sociology of School Knowledge

Abstract Despite a recently renewed theoretical interest in both North America and in Britain in the sociology of school knowledge, we still have little, if any, comparative empirical material from these two continents. This paper reports the findings of a sociological study, designed to replicate the previous English empirical work by Vulliamy, into music teaching in Ontario high schools. Unlike in England, no overt culture clash was found in Ontario schools between ‘school’ music and ‘students’ ‘ music, both because of the wider scope of ‘what counts as school music’ in Canada and because music is not a compulsory school subject there. However, by focusing upon the deep structure of the pedagogical process, as opposed to surface features of classroom interaction, it is argued that particular ideologies of the dominant musical culture are transmitted in very similar ways in both contexts. What is shared is a conception of music as equatable with musical notation. The ideological significance of this is p...

Changing classroom practice at Key Stage 2: the impact of New Labour’s national strategies

The article examines the impact of New Labour policies—particularly the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies and the subsequent Primary National Strategy—on classroom practice at Key Stage 2 in England. Evidence is drawn from fieldwork conducted in 2003–2005 from a sample of 50 schools, replicating a study conducted a decade previously in the same schools. The data base consists mainly of 188 transcribed in‐depth teacher interviews and fieldnotes from observation of 51 lessons. By comparison with other research studies on primary classroom practice from the 1970s through to the mid‐1990s, our study suggests that there have been more changes in the last five years in teaching styles and in classroom organisation throughout the whole curriculum at KS2 than in the previous two decades. Such changes include a dramatic increase in whole‐class teaching, the use of learning objectives shared with pupils and changes in pupil seating arrangements. Through compliance with centrally imposed changes in pedagogy, teachers’ experiences have led them to change some of their professional values concerning desirable pedagogy. The article concludes by considering some of the implications of our evidence for theories of educational change and of teacher professionalism.

Progressive Education and the National Curriculum: findings from a global education research project

Research into INSET on global education, based on in‐depth interviews with primary and secondary teachers, is used to explore the effects of the implementation of the National Curriculum on the aims and practices of progressive education. The findings challenge some of the most pessimistic predictions of progressive educationalists. It is argued that the original Conservative party policy intentions have been mediated and transformed by an amalgam of influences at all levels of decision‐making. Moreover, the ways in which teachers translate new initiatives into practice are dependent upon their prior beliefs and practices. This is illustrated by the different ways in which primary and secondary teachers in the sample reacted both to global education and to the introduction of the National Curriculum. Findings from the study are compared and contrasted with those from other research which reports the practical classroom implications of the National Curriculum, and are also considered in the light of recent...