Steve Bartlett

Practitioner research or descriptions of classroom practice? A discussion of teachers investigating their classrooms

This article outlines how a group of primary school teachers from a cluster of nine schools in a networked learning community enquired into their classroom teaching. The teachers each identified an area of practice that they were developing in their classroom and wanted to evaluate, such as the benefits of pupils working in teams, or the creation of role‐play areas. They decided what evidence they needed to collect and how to collect it. They met as a group and also individually with a mentor several times to share experiences and to discuss progress. At the end of their projects they presented findings and their analysis to each other. Their evidence and conclusions were also presented to other teachers at their school and sometimes at other schools within the cluster. The article considers whether, in the light of critiques of other similar teacher researcher projects, these data gathering and analytical activities may be legitimately described as research. The authors conclude by suggesting that the investigative processes carried out by these teachers constitute an effective form of professional learning. The authors contend that it is the systematic collection of evidence and the critical examination of the teachers’ own practice that characterise such enquiry as research notwithstanding the emergent, rather than well‐developed, use of traditional research conventions.

Are the contradictions and tensions that have characterised educational provision for young people with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties a persistent feature of current policy?

English educational policy for pupils displaying disturbed emotions and behaviour has been characterised by inconsistencies, oscillating between discourses of inclusion and exclusion. While the social inclusion agenda presents an opportunity to improve the educational experience of this traditionally underserved population, it appears that inconsistencies remain a feature of current policy. This small case study describes the contradictions faced by a cross-section of education and childrens services professionals involved in practice or policy implementation in the secondary phase. Within this English Local Authority district, professionals highlighted confused and contradictory messages for the treatment of and priority afforded to young people with behaviour, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) within the education system. The findings heighten a concern that the pressure on Local Authorities and school leaders to effect academic achievement at the highest grades may overshadow attempts to address the educational and other developmental needs of disadvantaged pupils, including those with BESD.

The evolution of Education Studies in higher education in England

In this article we examine the recent development of Education Studies as an undergraduate subject of study in England. The evolution of Education Studies is inextricably linked to the political context which it exists to critique. Changes within teacher education have spawned education studies in a number of guises. It is only latterly that policy changes have created the conditions for Education Studies to thrive as a subject in its own right. The genesis of the subject is traced through a brief historical analysis and its current various manifestations are outlined. The nature of Education Studies is discussed. Fundamentally, the authors contend that Education Studies provides a set of analytical discourses that facilitate critique of shifting knowledge bases, policy contexts and socio-economic developments as they impact upon education.

Buttercups and daisies: building a community of practice amongst teachers in a Brazilian university

This article examines the promotion and adoption of action research as an instrument of institutional change by academic staff in a Brazilian rural university. The results of the research are presented showing the mobilisation of a group of volunteers, the implementation of their action research projects and the sustainability of the process. Particular attention is drawn to the significance of an insider change agent/facilitator as the initiator of the action research process and how his role became superfluous as the networks evolved into true communities of practice. On reflection the original composite daisy model of Melrose and Reid has been discarded in favour of a simpler buttercup‐type flower model of analysis to describe the process.