Max A. Hope

Learning from differences: a strategy for teacher development in respect to student diversity

Drawing on evidence gathered as a result of collaborative action research carried out in 8 secondary schools in 3 European countries, this paper proposes an innovative strategy for helping teachers respond positively to learner diversity. The strategy merges the idea of lesson study with an emphasis on listening to the views of students. The research suggests that it is this latter emphasis that makes the difference as far as responding to learner diversity is concerned. It is this that brings a critical edge to the process that has the potential to challenge teachers to go beyond the sharing of existing practices in order to invent new possibilities for engaging students in their lessons. The paper also considers some of the difficulties involved in using this strategy.

Exploring Inclusive Practices in Primary Schools: Focusing on Children's Voices.

This paper reports a small-scale research project which took place in one primary school in the north-east of England. The study aimed to listen to children’s views about how the practices of teachers helped and/or hindered their sense of inclusion in classrooms. Inclusion was understood here in a broad sense rather than specifically relating to children with special educational needs. Participatory research tools were used as part of group interviews with children from three different year groups. Even though the children were mostly happy with their school experience, it was noticeable that there were some areas for concern for some children that related to four interconnecting themes: unfairness, shouting, loneliness and seating plans. All of these themes seemed to be connected with children’s interpersonal relationships – with teachers and with each other – and can be seen as crucial in terms of understanding inclusion in schools and further developing existing practices.

The danger of subverting students’ views in schools

This paper is firmly grounded in the position that engaging with students’ voices in schools is central to the development of inclusive practices. It explores the tensions that can be created when efforts are made to engage with students’ voices in relation to their experiences of learning and teaching. An example from a three-year research and development project, which worked alongside teachers to use students’ voices as a way of developing inclusive practices, is used to illustrate these tensions. This project, though showing that students’ voices can be a powerful means for understanding learning and teaching in schools, also encountered challenges with these processes. This paper focuses on the experiences of one secondary school which (possibly inadvertently) subverted and undermined students’ voice initiatives and explores the potential negative impacts of this on individual students, on students as a whole, and on teacher development. By doing this, suggestions as to how such tensions can be avoided in schools are offered, with the aim being to allow a genuine engagement with the views of students.

Small and perfectly formed? Is democracy an alternative approach to school leadership?

In recent decades, education policy has changed considerably so that now, numerous types of schools are available in the ‘marketplace’. The most recent additions to this landscape are Academies and Free Schools, with freedoms to make more choices about curriculum, structures and leadership. In this climate, this paper takes one school as a case study – a radical democratic school from the independent sector – and explores its structures, processes and model of leadership. This school is unique because it has no Head Teacher and is run as a self-governing community of students and staff. The paper concludes with an argument that this school represents a new form of radical structuralism and offers a model of leadership which might be valuable in other educational settings.

‘This feels like a whole new thing’: a case study of a new LGBTQ-affirming school and its role in developing ‘inclusions’

ABSTRACT The notion of inclusive education has multiple meanings and the precise definition remains contested. In particular, the debate rages as to whether it is appropriate for some schools to offer specialised provision to particular cohorts of students rather than to educate everyone within a common school. This manuscript foregrounds rich empirical data from students, parents and educators at Pride School Atlanta, described as ‘the South’s first school for LGBTQ students’, a new small, democratic, private school with the explicit intention of creating a ‘thriving space’ for ‘gay, straight, queer, gender-queer’ children, young people and families; a space that moves ‘beyond safety’. By drawing on Dyson’s [2012. ‘Inclusion and Inclusions: Theories and Discourses in Inclusive Education.’ In World Yearbook of Education 1999: Inclusive Education, edited by H. Daniels and P. Garner. Oxon: Routledge] work on ‘inclusions’ and moving away from the simple binary of what is inclusive/exclusive, this manuscript addresses the question of whether a school, which offers specialised provision to a small group of students, can play a role in inclusive education. It argues that this model of schooling, described by one student as ‘a whole new thing’ offers opportunities for presence, participation and achievement, recognition and achievement.

Creating Spaces for Autonomy: The Architecture of Learning and Thinking in Danish Schools and Universities

This chapter focuses on the concept of space and its relationship to autonomy and perceptions of freedom in education. It includes a review of the literature that indicates the links between physical and metaphorical spaces and learning are still largely unexplored. Eriksen noted in 1973 that our understanding of educational space had not developed in tandem with new concepts of the learning process (Eriksen, 1973). Nonetheless, current research suggests that the environment in which learning takes place can have a significant impact on both the construction of meaning in education and the dynamic of learning (Montgomery, 2008).

Conceptions of person-centered education in the 21st century: developing a position statement for ways of being in educational organizations

Across the world, policies and practices within education are changing, and this presents a small window of opportunity for person-centered educators to put principles into practice within mainstream educational systems. In this context, it is important that person-centered educators are explicit about what we believe in terms of classroom practice and beyond. This article uses one small school in England as a prism through which to explore key facets of the person-centered approach to education. This school is not explicitly person-centered - it is a democratic school – but the values, ethos and practice of this school dovetail with the person-centered approach. The article concludes with a provisional “position statement” as to what we might expect to find within all person-centered educational organizations.