Robert G. Burgess

Supervision of Doctoral Students in the Natural Sciences: expectations and experiences

Abstract Within the natural sciences and engineering, literature relating to postgraduate education, in particular the process of completing a doctorate, remains generally scarce. That which does exist emphasises the role of the supervisor in effecting successful completion and points to a wide range of activities performed by supervisors. There remains, however, little by way of accounts of the actual experiences of supervisors or students when engaged in the process of doctoral supervision. It is these experiences which form the basis of this paper which focuses upon doctoral students and their supervisors in the disciplines of physics, mathematics and engineering science. Data for the paper have been collected, as part of an ESRC funded project, by means of in‐depth interviews with students and supervisors in nine universities in England. In particular, we address students expectations of PhD supervision, the extent to which expectations have been met, and within the context of the ‘career’ of the PhD,...

Parents are welcome: headteachers’ and matrons’ perspectives on parental participation in the early years

Parental participation has been at the centre of policy initiatives on the education of the young child since the 1960s with the compensatory programmes of Head Start in the United States and Educational Priority Areas in the United Kingdom. With these initiatives, equality and partnerships were to be achieved through parent participation. However, as Valentine and Stark [1979], commenting on experiences in the U.S.A., remark, “An exclusive emphasis on parent education has come to dominate the Head Start parent involvement component” [p. 311]. In the U.K. there continues to be much talk of “parents as partners” (Atkin, Bastiani, & Goode, 1988; Smith, 1984). Yet, in a study which we conducted in 1989 (Burgess, Hughes, & Moxon, 1989a), we found that parent education formed a major element of parental involvement in the education of children under 5.

Some Fieldwork Problems in Teacher-Based Research

ABSTRACT This article examines a way of conducting educational research which may have relevance for the classroom teacher. It is argued that the teacher might take a teacher‐as‐researcher role in schools and classrooms. This style of research requires a knowledge of several fieldwork techniques and raises several fieldwork problems. Special attention is given to questions of access, fieldwork roles and the ethics and politics of doing teacher‐based research.

Trends and developments in postgraduate education and training in the UK

Some of the main trends of postgraduate education and training in UK universities can be summarised as followed : The establishment of organisational structures to overcome the isolation of postgraduate students. An increase in the types of postgraduate course on offer. A concern with submission and completion rates. Issues surrounding the quality of postgraduate courses. With these developments in mind, the A. reviews some of the postgraduate education and training policies and discuss some of the issues and implications

Chapatis and chips: encountering food use in primary school settings

This article focuses on a case study of food and eating practices in a co‐educational, multi‐ethnic primary school. It illustrates discrepancies between the formal curriculum for food and the actual food consumed in school. Themes to be explored further are children’s understandings about meals and snacks and the cultural significance attached to each.

Something You Learn to Live With? Gender and Inequality in a Comprehensive School.

ABSTRACT This paper provides a discussion of some of the ways in which gender relations in school influence the day‐to‐day lives of women teachers. In particular, it focuses on life in the staff common‐room, staffroom humour, ‘womens’ work and womens careers using in‐depth interview data and documentary evidence that were collected while conducting a broader study of a comprehensive school.

Sociology of Education courses for the intending teacher: An empirical study

The sociology of education in Britain has developed from a research activity based mainly at the London School of Economics to a subject which is now taught and examined in universities, institutes and colleges of education. Research developments in the early days were mainly concerned with the contribution sociology could make to understanding education in modern society (Halsey et al., 1961). However, these research activities did not constitute a specialised subject in colleges and departments of education or in departments of sociology (Bernstein, 1974).

Case studies of educational innovation: Returning to Kensington elementary school

Abstract This article provides an account and critique of the Kensington Elementary School studies — a major example of restudy within case study research in education. An assessment is provided of the value of these accounts and the way they can be used by other researchers as well as a discussion of the way these studies relate to issues of educational innovation.

Reviews : Michael Young (ed.), Malinowski Among the Magi: The Natives of Mailu, London: Routledge, 1988, £35.00, vi + 355 pp

Bronislaw Malinowski is not only one of the major figures of twentieth-century anthropology but he is also credited with being the originator of intensive fieldwork methods. Much of our knowledge of Malinowski’s approach to fieldwork comes from his classic study Argonauts of the Western Pacific, where the great author outlined an ideal approach for doing fieldwork. In particular, Malinowski was critical of early writers (especially traders, travellers, and missionaries) who, he argued, did not provide sufficient detail about the conduct of their work. Malinowski also argued that it was important to distinguish between direct observation, native statements and interpretations, and the inferences of the author. Furthermore, he claimed that ethnographers should cut themselves off from other Europeans in order to gain an appreciation of everyday life. Yet, we might ask: how successful was Malinowski? In part, an answer is provided in his reflections on fieldwork that are contained in A Diary in the Strict Sense of the Term, which reveals how difficult he found it to live up to his own lofty ideals. However, with the publication of Malinowski Among the Magi: The Natives of Mailu we get further insights into Malinowski’s early fieldwork.