Kathy Hall

Methodological challenges in researching inclusive school cultures

This article addresses the methodological challenges faced in a pilot study of the processes and cultures of inclusion and exclusion in two primary school classrooms. The authors, who were the research team, engaged with a range of practical and ethical challenges, some of which face any researcher entering classroom contexts and some of which were specific to our focus on inclusive school processes and cultures. This article is about the latter: challenges of who decides that a school is inclusive and worthy of attention in an inclusion study; how we look for and recognize inclusive school cultures; how much we do and should change things that we find; and how to put children and their experiences at the centre of our research. We discuss the risks of pathologizing and objectifying children and a key issue that arose for us, the risk of problematizing teachers when (perhaps inevitably) we found more evidence of exclusionary than inclusionary processes at work.

Level descriptions and teacher assessment in England: towards a community of assessment practice

This paper presents findings from a study of the implementation of level descriptions in teacher assessment in England. Previous, theoretical work on assessment criteria suggests that interpretation and application are not straightforward and that practitioners need mechanisms to support consistent application of criteria, and the criteria themselves need to be made meaningful to teachers, pupils and parents. The extent to which a community of assessment practice, in which there are shared experiences through which professional judgements are problematized and contested, is evident in English primary schools is the subject of this study. The empirical analysis reveals that there are indications of such a community in some schools, although there are factors that threaten its survival and growth. A distinction is drawn between those schools that exhibited many of the features associatedwith a community of assessment practice and those where the stylewas of individual teachers tending to work largely in isolation from their colleagues. The conclusion locates the findings in a broader policy context that is marginalizing teacher assessment.

Novice teachers as ‘invisible’ learners

The present study focuses on the way novice teachers, who are part of a one-year postgraduate diploma in post-primary teaching, have opted to negotiate their status as school teachers. In particular, it asks why novice teachers prefer to hide as they scramble to learn how to teach. On the basis of three separate interviews spaced out though the teaching year 2009 (January, March, May), a team of university-based tutors probed for student reactions to competence-based issues. Adopting a sociocultural perspective, this study drew upon roughly 10% of the pre-service student cohort (n = 17), each in a different placement location. The study looked, in particular, at their negotiating power, particularly the effect of school supports for their reality as learners. Findings suggest that without quality mentoring support, our pre-service teachers prefer to become ‘invisible’ as learners. Three pre-professional stances are identified: fragile, robust and competitive. The key finding is that none of these pre-professional stances mitigate pre-service students’ lack of negotiating power. On the other hand, informal school-based supports can help students considerably.

A Study of Teacher Assessment at Key Stage 1

Abstract This paper is based on semi‐structured interviews with 59 Year 2 teachers across 45 schools in one LEA. It documents their practice of and attitudes to teacher assessment and it proposes a developmental model which describes and explains their approaches. The assessment of process skills is analysed and the effects of assessment on childrens learning and teachers’ practice are discussed. The manageability of teacher assessment is also examined. The findings are linked with previous and subsequent studies on teacher assessment and suggestions for further research, based on these outcomes, are offered.

Authoring oneself and being authored as a competent teacher

What kind of self is being made available and denied to student teachers as they participate in life in their teaching practice schools? In addressing this question empirically, the article seeks to show the forms of meaning being made and experienced by student teachers and the identities that are authored, authorised and constrained. A sociocultural perspective on professional learning, with its emphasis on participation agency and identity, illuminates aspects of the process of becoming a teacher and highlights the tension that is there for students within available meanings. Having to opt to be a teacher at the expense of a learner identity constrains what is available to be appropriated in professional settings with potential consequences for how beginner teachers frame themselves, their learners and their colleagues.

Metacognition and Reading Awareness among Samples of Nine-Year-Olds in Two Cities.

Summary This short report investigates childrens metacognitive awareness and reading. It derives from a larger project which is seeking to understand how literacy and learning are conceptualized by pupils and teachers and, more particularly, to understand how pedagogy supports (and hinders) the acquisition of metacognitive awareness and learning strategies among nine‐year‐olds. It addresses the question: what metacognitive reading awareness have English and Irish pupils?; and a further question probed is: how does this awareness vary according to reading ability, country and primary classroom? A brief review of some relevant literature con‐textualizes the empirical study which is based on semi‐structured interviews with 60 pupils in schools located in urban areas of disadvantage in Leeds and Dublin.

International Handbook of Research on Children's Literacy, Learning and Culture

The International Handbook of Research in Childrens Literacy, Learning and Culture presents an authoritative distillation of current global knowledge related to the field of primary years literacy studies. Features chapters that conceptualize, interpret, and synthesize relevant research Critically reviews past and current research in order to influence future directions in the field of literacy Offers literacy scholars an international perspective that recognizes and anticipates increasing diversity in literacy practices and cultures

‘That’s just the way I am’: metacognition, personal intelligence and reading

Metacognition is thinking about thinking and there is fairly robust evidence that an awareness of one’s own understanding, especially in reading, is strongly linked with success. Readers who are alert to the problems in their understanding of what they read and can adopt a range of strategies to ‘fix’ these problems tend to be better readers. Kathy Hall and Julia Myers here explore how such awareness works in one child’s view of herself as a reader and suggest that such insights need to form part of a useful assessment of the child’s reading.

The Relative Importance of Class Size to Infant Teachers in England

Abstract This paper examines and compares the beliefs and attitudes of teachers of large and small infant classes in the north of England regarding class size with particular reference to its relative importance. Following an introduction which contex‐tualises the empirical study the details of the telephone and postal surveys are presented. The findings are analysed in relation to class size preferences, preferential treatment for some children and teachers, and the importance of class size relative to other factors, the latter being the main theme of the study. It seems that class size is not seen to be unidimensional in its influence on classroom events but that it interacts in complex ways with a range of other variables.

Primary Assessment in the Republic of Ireland: Conflict and Consensus.

This article is about the way influential groups understand the purposes and forms of assessment in primary education in the Republic of Ireland and the implications of this for official policy at national level. It describes the current assessment policy context and analyses the perspectives of teachers, policy-makers and parents. The methodology is based on qualitative, ‘elite’ interviews with national policy-makers and in-depth interviews with samples of teachers and parents. Themes investigated are: the conflict and consensus across groups in relation to the purposes of assessment; the interpretation of assessment in terms of key audiences for assessment information; and the faith in standardized testing.