Oscar Odena

Consulting pupils in Assessment for Learning classrooms: the twists and turns of working with students as co‐researchers

Research literature on students as researchers demonstrates a spectrum of constructive ways in which students are being actively engaged in school and classroom action inquiries. Any identified tensions lie in the degree to which students themselves are genuinely engaged as action researchers. Increasingly, externally driven agendas for change and improvement are appropriating action research as means to facilitate teachers in developing new skills and tailor‐making national initiatives. According students appropriately democratic roles in such research processes are a lot less evident. This paper illustrates and discusses some of the difficulties, tensions and positive outcomes of engaging with students as co‐researchers at Key Stage 3 within a nationally funded project that intersects an action research policy framework supporting the introduction of Assessment for Learning throughout Northern Ireland. Issues discussed include student research advisory groups, students as data gatherers and students acting as co‐interpreters of video‐taped and image‐based classroom data.

A generative model of teachers’ thinking on musical creativity

This article draws on and extends a four-year investigation of creativity in music education with particular reference to the perceptions of six secondary school teachers (Odena & Welch, 2007; Odena, Plummeridge, & Welch, 2005). A comprehensive review of recent literature in musical creativity is provided, which complements and reinforces the theoretical framework of the original study. A qualitative approach was used for data gathering, including a video elicitation interview technique and Musical Career Path questionnaires. Transcripts were subsequently categorized using NVivo. Taking into account other recent studies, previously unpublished data is examined and a generative model of how the teachers’ thinking about creativity might develop over time is suggested: the teachers’ past in-and out-of-school experiences and their daily classroom teaching shape their perceptions of musical creativity; this occurs as a continuing interaction that has the potential to modify the teachers’ perceptions over time. Educational implications are considered in the conclusion.

Using software to tell a trustworthy, convincing and useful story

This paper discusses the potential of specialist software to develop category construction in qualitative data analysis and considers how the uses of software may best be reported to substantiate researchers’ claims. Examples are examined from two recent projects: a consultation of pupil’s perceptions of assessment for learning strategies and an exploratory enquiry on employing music as a tool for inclusion in post-conflict Northern Ireland. From this experience, a number of suggestions on how to support the researchers’ claims are made and a model of knowledge generation is put forward. Some of the practical implications outlined are discussed within the context of social research, but it is acknowledged that the suggestions also apply to any field in which knowledge is generated from qualitative data.

How doctoral students and graduates describe facilitating experiences and strategies for their thesis writing learning process: a qualitative approach

This study considered the sources of facilitating experiences and strategies for thesis writing from doctoral students and graduates (N = 30). The sample was balanced between science and social science knowledge areas, with equal numbers of English as Second Language (ESL) participants in both groups. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to explore issues around feedback, training, cohort experiences and personal strategies for writing. Four hundred pages of transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis with the assistance of specialist software (NVivo). A generative model of academic writing development was chosen to frame the analysis. Fifteen themes emerged, three of which are discussed: supervisors’ feedback, personal organisation and ESL learning strategies. Results show the perceived benefits of individually tailored supportive feedback and the importance of the students’ resilience. Original learning strategies from ESL students that may benefit non-ESL students are also considered. The conclusions outline implications for supervisors and students across knowledge areas.

Some challenges of practice based/centred enquiry

Finding a methodological approach within which to work is not straightforward for practitioner-researchers engaged in practice centred enquiry. These enquiries typically have a qualitative orientation, sometimes centred on a small sample of participants, allowing for an in-depth analysis of particular cases and interactions rather than a general analysis of populations. These projects tend to result in knowledge that is useful for other practitioners and in the researchers’ enhancement of their own reflectivity skills-set. Authors of such projects also become practitioners with increased sensitivity and understanding of how research knowledge is produced and reported. This chapter focuses on these issues within the context of music education research.

Multicultural Dialogues in Post-Conflict Music Education Settings

Odena’s chapter develops his previous empirical education work in Northern Ireland and Cyprus. The opening section outlines the meanings of the main concepts used throughout the chapter, including multicultural education, ethnicity and integration. In the second and third sections, Odena discuss recent international developments and his advocacy for increased research is highlighted in post-conflict contexts if we are to increase understandings of the potential of music education research and practice for building genuine multicultural dialogues in conflict-affected settings. The concluding section offers implications for policy leaders, practitioners and community organisers, comprising nine principles for the design of pedagogies of multicultural education in post-conflict environments.

Musical Creativity Revisited: Educational Foundations, Practices and Research

How is creativity understood and facilitated across music education settings? What is the power of creativity in enhancing individual and group learning? How is musical creativity used as a tool for cross-community integration? How can we research the interactions of those engaged in musical activities aimed at creative development? These are just some of the questions addressed in this fascinating new monograph. Musical Creativity Revisited is an authoritative volume of insights from theory, practice-based research and methodological analyses. Its chapters celebrate the diversity of the many different ways in which young and adult learners develop musical creativity. Following on from Musical Creativity: Insights from Music Education Research (Ashgate, 2012) Odena offers novel examples from practice and precise suggestions on how to research it. This book will be an essential point of reference for students, researchers, practitioners and practitioner-researchers interested in music education and creativity across the arts and social sciences. The chapters have been organised into three sections - Foundations, Practices and Research - including examples from in-depth studies focussed on a secondary school in England, Higher Music Education in Spain and out-of-school settings in Northern Ireland. This is a book that will fascinate readers, inspiring them to think deeply about the many different ways in which musical creativity can be developed, its purposes and how to research it.

Using Specialist Software to Assist Knowledge Generation: An Example from a Study of Practitioners’ Perceptions of Music as a Tool for Ethnic Inclusion in Cross-Community Activities in Northern Ireland

This chapter discusses how using specialist software for qualitative data analysis may best be reported to substantiate researchers’ claims. The first part outlines a generative model of social knowledge development as a means to understand the role researchers play in producing new knowledge, and it suggests where software, if used, may be placed within this model. In the second part of the chapter some possibilities of software for Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS) to assist researchers in substantiating their assertions are discussed. This is exemplified with an examination of the interview analyses processes employed in a study on using musical activities as a tool for inclusion in intergroup settings in Northern Ireland. Implications for those interested in advancing race and ethnicity within education are considered in the concluding section.