Ruth Boyask

Research-capacity building, professional learning and the social practices of educational research

There have been numerous attempts in the past few years within education research—and social science research more generally—to alter the character of research practice(s). In particular, there has been a systematic effort to address perceived shortcomings in research practice through a series of ‘research‐capacity building’ initiatives, aimed at the restructuring of professional learning. In this article the authors explore empirically the ways in which different modes of professional learning are implicated in the social practices of education research. These considerations lead to the conclusion that the currently dominant approaches to research‐capacity building are based on an underestimation of the difficulties in influencing the professional learning of educational researchers significantly and, thereby, changing the practices of educational research. More realistic expectations of these forms of research‐capacity building, in turn, suggest the need to develop alternative approaches that acknowledg...

Pedagogic relations and professional change: a sociocultural analysis of students' learning in a professional doctorate

The Professional Doctorate has become an increasingly popular doctoral route. Research has tended to focus on outcomes and ‘impact’ or on the epistemological nature of programmes and resulting student identities compared to other routes. This paper takes a different focus, examining the process through which students come to know about their professional practice via a Professional Doctorate in Education programme. It uses two cases, drawn from a wider, interpretive study of students learning experiences, to illustrate the complex and differing pedagogic relations that students develop across multiple spaces. The analysis uses activity theory and elements of community of practice theory to understand the various practices of students, their interrelationship with ‘the programme’ and the many factors that affect the way they can engage in ‘professional’ doctoral study. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential implications for the organisation of Professional Doctorates as they relate to pedagogy.

Construction of difference and diversity within policy and practice in England

Policy and practice responses to diversity and difference in pupil populations continue to challenge education systems around the world. This paper considers how teachers’ understandings of diversity and difference and their pedagogical responses at the local level are influenced by, and can be reconciled with, policy at the general level with its impulse for categorisation, normalcy and ‘ableness’. Two frameworks around orientations to diversity and types of pedagogic need are combined in order to examine this tension and develop possible responses. This is illustrated through the example of special educational needs as a type of difference. The paper argues that for critical, ethical and socially just pedagogies, policy needs to support teachers in acknowledging and troubling difference at the classroom level.

Nuanced Understandings of Privatization in Local Authorities' Services to Schools.

This article draws upon findings from the New Relations between Local Authorities (LAs) and Schools project to identify ideological and value-based differences between the models of service to schools adopted within four case study LAs. While each of the LAs has developed a privatized model of service, there are subtle differences between the models, which I term cooperative, entrepreneurial, community engagement and corporate. In this article I describe the differences between these models, and their underpinning values.

Aligning person‐centred methods and young people’s conceptualizations of diversity

Many existing studies of diversity are concerned with social groups identified by externally determined factors, for example, ethnicity, gender, or educational attainment, and examine, either quantitatively or qualitatively, issues delineated by these. In evaluating methods used in previous research, we consider ways in which the adoption of ‘person‐centred approaches’ in our research might better explore subjective perceptions of difference as experienced in young people’s schooling. We critically examine our initial findings in seeking to define the language and scope of difference expressed by young people aged 18–20 years with a variety of educational outcomes, including higher and further education, training, employment, and unemployment. We then propose some appropriate methodologies for further exploration of how difference is embodied and enacted during young people’s schooling years.

Democracy at work in and through experimental schooling

Through an exploration of two experimental schools, Oruaiti (1950s) and Discovery 1 (2000s), we aim to understand the socio-political contexts that create spaces for experimentation and examine their impact on mainstream schooling. Caught between competing, often contradictory, discourses such experiments struggle between the ‘regeneration’ and ‘reproduction’ functions of schooling. However, we argue that while they have limited impact on mainstream school reform, they contribute ideas of a democratic society and its citizenry. Consequently, they provide ‘windows’ into real-life laboratories in which social debates regarding the function and power of schooling, and specific visions of democracy are played out.

The public good in English private school governance

There exist some rare private schools that attempt to mitigate the anti-democratic qualities of the private schooling sector in England. This article reports on a study of private schools that aim to promote equality and participation through some aspects of their operations. It considers to what extent the governance structures within the schools support their aspirations and what this means for the public good more generally. English private schools are accountable to the state under The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 (hereafter Independent School Standards, 2014), corporate law and the majority are accountable under the Charities Act, which requires them to demonstrate public benefit. The schools reported here have a commitment to the public good that extends beyond these limited accountabilities, demonstrating the weaknesses of the public good as it is presently defined by the state and also advancing understanding on the extent to which the schools can be regarded as Fraser’s (1990) counterpublics.

Primary school autonomy in the context of the expanding academies programme

The transnational trend towards school autonomy has been enacted in England through the academies programme. The programme is poised to enter its third phase of expansion in light of government commitment to the conversion of all state-funded schools to academies. This article considers the moral implications of the expansion of the programme that aims to include all primary schools. It draws upon a study of schools in four local authorities to examine the extent to which autonomy and therefore academy conversion is desirable. In their relationships with local authorities, primary schools that have resisted conversion and primary schools that have already converted show ambivalence to the notion of autonomy which has been promoted by the government as motivation to convert. Indeed most of the primary schools in this study that have already converted are critical of the local authorities that are driven by business values. Given that expansion of the academies programme is likely to lead to more rather than less fragmentation in the education system, worsen student outcomes overall and see market values extended, it is concluded that the vision of autonomy for primary schools offered via the academies programme is both misleading and undesirable.

Autonomy and Governance in Local Authority Provision for Children and Young People

The role of local government in addressing issues of social equity is undergoing significant reconstruction in current educational policy reforms in England. The current conceptualisation of social provision places individual rights at the centre of policy, and social responsibility is represented as the work of individuals. Drawing upon a partnership project in Plymouth, England, and the analytical lens of refraction, the authors suggest that the ‘autonomy’ of local authority workers is embedded within systems of governance, including both traditional forms of centralised control, albeit obscured, and the new modality of networked governance.