Jon Swain

The Role of Sport in the Construction of Masculinities in an English Independent Junior School.

This article concerns the central role of organised sport in the construction of masculinity amongst Year 6 boys (10 to 11-year-olds) at an English independent (fee-paying) junior school. The data come from an ethnographic study of one years duration that investigated constructions of masculinity among two classes. The formal school culture consciously promoted a range of sports/games and made them an integral part of a competitive, masculine regime, although the informal peer-group culture gave primacy to football. The leading form of masculinity embodied was the sporty boy, which was sanctioned by the school, and this gave it a powerful cultural and social authority. The body played a vital part: groups of boys were classified and divided by their physicality/athleticism, which restricted the opportunities for most boys to compete for this ideal. Although I have taken the terms ‘hegemonic’ ‘complicit’ and ‘subordinated’ forms of masculinity’ from Connell, I found it necessary to propose another form and relation of masculinity, which I have called ‘personalised’. Personalised forms were made up from the majority of boys who appeared content to pursue their own types of identity and did not aspire to, or imitate, the leading form. Only a very few of the boys who were not sporty were subordinated by the dominant regime, although this was also due to a series of other factors which are further explored.

Teachers’ attempts to integrate research‐based principles into the teaching of numeracy with post‐16 learners

This paper describes some outcomes of a nine‐month design‐based research study into the professional development of 24 numeracy teachers with post‐16 learners. The teachers were encouraged to integrate eight research‐based teaching principles into their classroom practices as they implemented a set of discussion‐based mathematics learning resources. A mixed methods approach was used to evaluate the outcomes, including interviews and classroom observation. The paper examines teachers’ perceptions of the project, the reasons they found some pedagogical principles more difficult to incorporate than others, and the factors that enabled and impeded their use of the learning resources. In particular, it is noted that the principles that teachers considered to be most important were not the ones that they were observed using most effectively. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the research for initial and continuing teacher education.

Issues Involved in Designing and Administering an Assessment Instrument to Measure Adult Learners' Progress in Numeracy Classes.

This paper describes the process of designing and administering a sufficiently valid and reliable assessment instrument to measure the progress in attainment of adult learners studying numeracy, and discusses some of the inherent difficulties that were involved. The fieldwork took place during 2003–2005 and involved a sample of 34 teachers and 412 learners aged post‐16. The paper details how the lack of a range of suitable instruments, the heterogeneous nature of adult numeracy teaching, the remit and requirements of the research project and other practical factors, made it difficult to produce an instrument capable of measuring learners’ progress accurately, and hence to produce robust and reliable conclusions, generalisable across the whole sector. Having said this, and despite all the problems faced, the researchers still believe that the test has a sufficient degree of validity for the purposes of the study. The paper ends with some recommendations that may benefit other researchers when it comes to designing future numeracy assessments.

Changing the home literacy environment through participation in family literacy programmes

This paper presents findings from a study of family literacy provision in England and focuses on the effects of family literacy programmes on the home literacy environment. The fieldwork took place between September 2013 and December 2014 and involved 27 school-based programmes for pupils aged between 5 and 7, and their parents. The study used mixed methods, which involved observations of family literary sessions, a quantitative pre- and post-survey of 118 parents, and pre- and post-telephone qualitative interviews with a sub-sample of 24 parents. Building on previous theoretical work, the study conceptualises the home literacy environment into four areas (family resources; parental literacy behaviours and attitudes; parental beliefs and understandings; and family literacy activities and practices). The paper develops understandings of how parents translate and implement messages from family literacy into the home setting, and it shows how participation in these programmes leads to changes in family literacies across all four areas identified.

The role of family literacy classes in demystifying school literacies and developing closer parent–school relations

Abstract This paper is based on a large study of family literacy provision in England, which was carried out between July 2013 and May 2015. It explored the impact of classes on parents’ relations with the school and their children, and their ability to support their children’s literacy development. The study involved 27 school-based programmes for pupils aged between five and seven, and their parents. It used mixed methods, which involved surveys of 118 parents and 20 family literacy tutors, telephone interviews with a sub-sample of 28 parents, analysis of teaching plans and observations of classes. Findings showed that parents wanted to learn the ways the school was teaching their child to read and write, and by demystifying school literacy pedagogies and processes the programmes developed greater connectivity between home and the school, and parents felt more able to support their children’s literacy development at home.

The effect of Phase One training on young recruits' personal and professional development in the British army

This paper focuses on young men in the British army and their attitudes towards, and experiences of, Phase One basic training. The research, which took place in 2008–2011, used a longitudinal design. Using mixed methods, the findings draw on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 26 young trainees, and interviews and quantitative survey data with 1518 recruits, with an average age of 19.6 years. It reports on recruits’ motivations for enlisting and then tells a story of socialisation, transition and change from both civilian to soldier and from adolescent to man. Drawing on Goffmans theory of the ‘total institution’ the research is centred around two contexts – the outside training ranges and the indoor barracks. It argues that the army has a set of highly effective structures and processes that socialise individuals into the culture of the military organisation. By the time they pass out of Phase One training, recruits are in the possession of a set of norms, values, knowledge and skills, and have not only been transformed into competent members of the military organisation, but have also begun to take on and construct new forms of self-image and identity.

The relationship between basic skills and operational effectiveness in the British army

This paper draws on data that formed part of a major three-year longitudinal study (2008–2011), which set out to investigate basic skills (BS) provision and needs in the British army and its relationship to operational effectiveness. Using mixed methods, the findings draw on qualitative data from 60 semi-structured interviews with 26 young recruits and interviews and survey data with 1518 recruits, with an average age of 19.6 years. The research also uses testimony from their line managers and trainers. The first part of the paper looks at educational BS provision that the army provides. While the benefits of this provision are discussed, there is a debate about the extent to which BS programmes provide recruits with qualifications rather than enduring and transferable skills, which would make them more operationally effective and useful to the army organisation. The second part deconstructs the concept of what is meant by being ‘operationally effective’ and the role BS play in reaching this ultimate military objective.

Resisting Dominant Discourses of Femininity in a Working-Class Junior School

This paper describes different types of femininity within one working class UK junior school. The fieldwork took place between 1998-99 and the data come from observations and a series of interviews with twelve 10-11-year-old girls. The paper attempts to go beyond using typologies and argues that femininities are more nuanced and malleable, and also temporal and situated. Although all the forms of femininity were constructed through the heterosexual matrix, the findings differ from the work of other researchers in that only two girls attempted to perform Connell’s (1987) ‘emphasised’ form of femininity, and the others were able to resist this dominant discourse.