22nd-25th september

Imagining better education

Durham University, School of Education

We are pleased to welcome you to the third conference of the School of Education, Imagining Better Education 2020. A conference for researchers whose work pertains to Education. Together we are all trying to make education better, and what better way to do this than by listening to each other and presenting our own research. This is a great chance to learn from those who have jobs in education, but also to learn from colleagues about their views on education and their life in academia.

Conference Programme

Where sessions are for all delegates (welcome/poster spotlight/break/keynote sessions) these sessions will take place in stream 1. Otherwise, please join the relevant stream for the talk you wish to attend. Names of presenters and presentation titles are given here with abstracts and speaker profiles in alphabetical order on subsequent pages. This programme can also be found in the Notebook attached to the Teams channel entitled “IBE 2020”.

Tuesday 22nd September

Time

9:30-9:45

9:50-10:20

10:25-10:55

10:55-11:15

11:15-11:45

11:50-12:50

Stream 1

Welcome

Anna Pilson

Voicing Inclusion: Creating Conditions for Collaboration and Co-production with Disabled Children in Educational Research

Caner Erkan

An investigation of how research evidence can be best disseminated to teachers

Break

Priyanka Bhatia

Teachers’ agency within the context of digitalization in public and private education: Case study of Punjab, India

Dimitra Kokotsaki

Resilience during your PhD

Stream 2

Holly Bennion

Exploring and representing refugee pupils’ views and experiences of belonging, acceptance and integration through dance and movement

Harriet Broadfoot

Exploring Experiences of Compassion in Early Childhood Education

Lubis and Guningrat

Sustainable Development Goals 2030 for Generation Z: Local Case Study from Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan (SMK) Telkom Bandung City, Indonesia

Nadia Siddiqui

Using secondary data

Stream 3

Mel Yeung

Toward an inclusive and effective citizenship education: A critical analysis of citizenship and education theory through a political lens supported by a qualitative case study

Whelan and Thomas

Project Based Learning: Going places, meeting people and doing and making things

Catherine Montgomery

Wednesday 23rd September

Time

9:30-10:00

10:05-10:35

10:40-11:10

11:10-11:30

11:30-12:00

12:10-1:10

Stream 1

Welcome and poster spotlight

(Counihan/ Murphy/ Tan)

Lubis and Thoifur

Connecting The Dots For Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030: Ecopreneurship and the SDGs in Telkom University Indonesia

Michael Priestly

How can universities balance assessment demands alongside student wellbeing?

Break

Eric Fu

Most Wanted Skills in the Future Labour Market: Views of Gen X in Australia

Vikki Boliver

to be held on stream 1

Contextual admissions to University

Stream 2

Amie Waterman

Studying without a ‘safety blanket’: navigating family-oriented higher education as an estranged student

Richard Stockton

Developing arts-based research methodology for understanding English language learner identity: Learning in a time of globalism in context

Tom Fryer

Graduate outcomes: how can you map a literature that doesn’t exist?

Stream 3

Martina Diehl

The Trouble with Poetry: Teachers’ perceptions on poetry teaching and learning in the secondary classroom

Cal Harris

Bridging the gap between theory, practice and graduate attributes in higher education – a case study of curriculum design and development in an undergraduate law module

Thursday 24th September

Time

9:30-9:45

9:50-10:20

10:25-10:55

10:55-11:15

11:15-11:45

11:50-12:50

Stream 1

Welcome

Randa El-Soufi

Professional habitus, gender and nursing education in Lebanon and the UK

Pedro Catela

The student-consumer hegemony: rethinking interpersonal trust in UK creative arts higher education.

Break

Nikki Rutter

Child-violence toward teachers in primary schools: not the school’s problem?

Chris Brown

Using social media for research

Stream 2

Talk withdrawn

Vicky Butterby

Nothing to lose? Imagining better educational opportunities for young people experiencing loss* 

Pipit Novita

Educating Beyond Teaching: Exploring stakeholders’ views on the quality of pre-service English teacher education in urban areas in Indonesia

David Henderson

Academic and non-academic CV writing

Stream 3

Katie Allen

Longitudinal working memory predictors of mathematics across primary school

Sharon Riddle

The positionality of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in UK higher education structures

Helen Cramman

Finding and applying for funding

Friday 25th September

Time

9:30-9:45

9:50-10:20

10:25-10:55

10:55-11:15

11:15-11:45

11:50-1:00

Stream 1

Welcome

Sophie Anderson

Designing A Randomised Controlled Trial to Test the Relationship Between Academic Buoyancy and Mindfulness

Zahra Alqahtani

An exploratory study of e-learning stakeholders’ experiences of developing, implementing and enhancing e-courses in one Saudi university

Break

Nomisha Kurian

‘Of course I want peace for every child but…’: the moral dilemmas and challenges of protecting children from violence

Christos Tsinopoulos

to be held on stream 1

Project management for your PhD

Stream 2

David Prendergast

An investigation into the impact of dialogic teaching and Socratic questioning on the development of children’s understanding of complex historical concepts

Pian Shi

An Omission Among the Measurements on Moral Identity - The consistency between moral cognition and moral behavior

Michaela Oliver

Exploring and developing domain-specific reasoning in primary English

Stream 3

Dean Rowell

Using Music in Primary Schools to Improve Learning Outcomes

Caiwei Wu

The impact of dialogic teaching and philosophy for children on thinking and academic attainment: A Pilot Study

Speaker Profiles

Vikkki Boliver

Vikki Boliver is a Professor of Sociology at Durham University and a member of the Durham Evidence Centre for Education, the Centre for Global Higher Education based at Oxford and UCL, and the Higher Education and Social Inequality research group at Durham. Vikki’s research focuses on understanding and addressing socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in patterns of application and admission to higher education, especially the UK’s most prestigious and academically selective institutions. 

Vikki's talk will draw on recent research which advances the evidence base and ethical case for using contextual data on the socioeconomic circumstances of university applicants to achieve fairer access to higher education.

Chris Brown

Professor Chris Brown is Professor in Education and Director of Research at Durham University's School of Education. Chris is seeking to drive forward the notion of Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) as a means to promote the collaborative learning of teachers. The aim of this collaborative learning is to improve both teaching practice and student outcomes, not only in individual schools, but also in the school system more widely. To this end Chris has co-edited is co-editor of the Emerald’s Professional Learning Networks Book Series and is co-founder and co-convener of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement’s Professional Learning Networks research network. Alongside his research into PLNs Chris also has a long-standing interest in how research evidence can and should, but often doesn’t, aid the development of education policy and practice. Here he has edited/authored a number of books, scores of papers and has presented and keynoted on the subject at a number of international conferences in Europe, Asia and North and South America. Chris also has extensive experience of leading a range of funded projects, many of which seek to help practitioners to identify and scale up best practice.

Chris will be talking about the use of social media for research, including promoting and disseminating research findings, improving engagement, and increasing participation.

Helen Cramman

Dr Helen Cramman is an Assistant Professor (Research) and Departmental Research Grants Coordinator in the School of Education. Her research focusses on evaluation of educational interventions and understanding skills development in STEM subjects, with a particular interest in practical work in science. She is an experienced project manager and has led and collaborated on multiple large interdisciplinary projects.

Helen will run an interactive session looking at approaches to developing research ideas, looking for funding, and tips on how to write a good funding application. Should they wish to, participants can bring along specific questions about research funding.

David Henderson

My professional background is in careers information, advice and guidance. I am currently employed as a Senior Careers Adviser within the Careers & Enterprise team at Durham University. I have a particular remit to provide 1:1 and group careers support to PGR students across all faculties at Durham University. Working in partnership with Durham Centre for Academic Development, I am involved in planning and delivering career workshops in support of the researcher development programme. I also co-ordinate PGR career talks and events in partnership with doctoral alumni and employers. I am part of the management team at the Careers & Enterprise Centre and currently line manage placement and work experience staff.  

I will talk about CVs for both academic and non-academic job applications, looking at the similarities and differences between them and different areas of emphasis.

Dimitra Kokotsaki

Dimitra is an associate professor at the School of Education at Durham University. She is currently leading the post-graduate research programme in the school and supervises research students. Her research interests include the identification and improvement of the educational, behavioural and socio-psychological conditions in educational institutions with a specific focus on creativity, engagement, resilience and well-being. She will present this workshop alongside Martina Diehl, a PhD student in the School of Education.

 

In our workshop, we will conceptualise the doctoral process as a journey, which presents wonderful opportunities for personal growth, self-fulfilment, the enhancement of knowledge and development of research skills. At the same time, the journey can be challenging, often marked by ambiguity, loneliness, isolation, difficulty, confusion. Developing resilience and coping strategies can act as protective factors against distress or low levels of well-being. In this interactive workshop, we will draw on the relevant literature and consider useful practical strategies that can help students develop resilience so that they can effectively bounce back from difficulties that are an unavoidable part of the doctoral journey.

Catherine Montgomery

Catherine Montgomery is Professor in the School of Education at the University of Durham. Catherine’s research focuses on internationalisation of higher education and she has a particular interest in transnational higher education in China and East Asia. Catherine has worked on international and comparative research projects in Denmark, Mexico and Vietnam. Catherine is part of Durham School of Education’s research cluster on International and Comparative Research.

Catherine will talk about issues, methods and approaches in international and comparative research, focusing on the complex nature of research in an international and intercultural context. The session will draw on Catherine’s experience of international research projects and also the work she has been doing with the British Library’s digital collection of international PhD theses.

Nadia Saddiqui

Dr Nadia Saddiqui has academic expertise in education research and equity in education. She has led important education research projects contributing evidence for educational policy in England. Her research interests are to explore the stubborn patterns of poverty and inequalities through population datasets and large scale surveys such as National Pupil Database (NPD, England), Higher Education Statistics (HESA), Annual Survey of Education Report data (ASER, Pakistan), Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (LSYPE). By using these secondary data resources, she investigates the indicators of disadvantage that determine children’s academic attainment, well-being and happiness, and access to pathways for successful life.

Workshop title: Do we always need to collect primary data for PhD projects?The workshop session will be on utilising secondary data in education. We will discuss different secondary data and how PhD research projects can increase the scale of their research by using existing data resources. The workshop will have one hands-on activity as a taster which will help to understand how research questions can be answered using secondary data. The exercise for data analysis will give some basic results and we will see how claims can be drawn from these results.

Christos Tsinopoulos

Christos is a Professor of Operations and Project Management at Durham University Business School.  His work focuses on the activities customers and suppliers employ to use data and integrate their processes to develop new products and processes. He works with practitioners, international scholars, and professional organisations to identify questions that are relevant, and apply rigorous methodological techniques to address them.

Christos will present some of the recent work on project management focusing on the critical success factors.  In addition to sharing experiences, he will also explain the role of stakeholders, particularly in relation to managing a research project.

Conference Abstracts

Katie AllenLongitudinal working memory predictors of mathematics across primary school

Interest in, and evidence for, the involvement of working memory in mathematics is increasing as the performance of school leavers is under constant scrutiny. Understanding how components of working memory relate to aspects of mathematics is, however, limited. The stability of this relationship when other cognitive predictors are included is not known, nor is whether the relationship is stable over time. Longitudinal visuospatial and verbal working memory predictors of mathematics were assessed in Year 3 children (time 1) and related to mathematics performance two years later in Year 5 (time 2). Results revealed a shift in the predictive power of visuospatial measures from spatial-simultaneous at time 1 to spatial-sequential at time 2. Verbal working memory remained significantly predictive at both time points. Similarly, in a further study, relationships across Years 2 to 5 were identified, indicating a shift toward visuospatial predictors in older children. This method of identifying children at risk of poor mathematics performance appears feasible, as long as a broad cognitive profile is considered. I will discuss the main findings of the project, along with their implications and our future aims.

Zahra AlqahtaniAn exploratory study of e-learning stakeholders’ experiences of developing, implementing and enhancing e-courses in one Saudi university

The use of e-learning technologies is gaining momentum in all educational institutions of the world, including Saudi universities. In the e-learning context, there is a growing need and concern among Saudi universities to improve and enhance quality assurance for e-learning systems. Practicing quality assurance activities and applying quality standards in e-learning in Saudi universities is thought to reduce the negative viewpoints of some stakeholders and ensure stakeholders’ satisfaction and needs.

As a contribution to improving the quality of e-learning method in Saudi universities, the main purpose of this study is to explore and investigate strategies for the development of quality assurance in e-learning in one university in Saudi Arabia, which is considered a good reference university using best and ongoing practices in e-learning systems among Saudi universities. In order to ensure the quality of its e-learning methods, Saudi university has adopted Quality Matters Standards as a controlling guide for the quality of its blended and full e-course electronic courses. Furthermore, quality assurance can be further improved, if a variety of perspectives are taken into consideration from comprehensive viewpoints of faculty members, administrative staff, and students.

This qualitative research involved the use of different types of interviews, as well as documents that contain data related to e-learning methods in the Saudi university environment. This exploratory case study was undertaken, from the perspectives of various participants, to understand the phenomenon of quality assurance using an inductive technique.

The results revealed six main supportive factors which assist in ensuring the quality of e-learning in the Saudi university environment. Essentially, these factors are: institutional support, faculty member support, evaluation of faculty, quality of e-course design, technology support, and student support, which together have a remarkable positive effect on quality, forming intrinsic columns, connected by bricks leading to quality e-learning. Quality Matters standards are considered to have a strong impact on improving faculty members' skills and on the development of high-quality blended and full e-courses.

Sophie AndersonDesigning A Randomised Controlled Trial to Test the Relationship Between Academic Buoyancy and Mindfulness

With government policies in English schools promoting character building and resilience amongst pupils as a key priority, an evidence-based approach is vital to ensure the most reliable practices available are implemented. This requires exploration of interventions that are scientifically proven to generate impact. The findings of a recent systematic review exploring the construct ‘academic buoyancy’, a type of everyday resilience typically experienced by students, has highlighted early evidence to suggest that academic buoyancy is a malleable construct and further tentative evidence to identify mindfulness as a promising intervention. Mindfulness describes a state of awareness which arises through paying attention in the present moment. Over recent years, Mindfulness Based Interventions (MBIs) have captured the attention of researchers and educational practitioners and interest in the application of MBIs within educational settings is increasing.

The final stage of this doctoral research is to test the relationship between academic buoyancy and mindfulness using a randomised controlled trial design. The aim of this presentation is to present a brief overview of the systematic review findings, discuss how a randomised controlled trial will be designed and implemented in English schools and consider what implications an intervention of this kind could have for researchers, educational practitioners and policy makers.

Holly BennionExploring and representing refugee pupils’ views and experiences of belonging, acceptance and integration through dance and movement

In contemporary society, global population movements and forced migration stemming from political instability and conflict have significantly increased the number of displaced people worldwide. By the end of 2020, there will be an estimated 82.5 million ‘people of concern’ including internally displaced people, refugees, asylum-seekers, and stateless people (UNHCR, 2020). Diversity arising from migration presents challenges and opportunities for education systems. School play a pivotal role in refugee resettlement and well-being and preparing active citizens for life in diverse, cosmopolitan societies. Recently, there has been a flourishing body of participatory research championing the multiple ‘voices’ of children and young people through innovative, arts-based methods.

This paper focuses on the theoretical and methodological considerations of performative arts-based research, specifically dance and movement as a form of data collection, analysis, and dissemination with refugee children. It is based on the author’s ongoing doctoral project investigating the lived experiences and situated views of belonging, acceptance, and integration of primary school-aged refugee pupils in the North East of England. Essentially, this paper asks: What happens when we use dance/movement in research with and for refugee children? I invite us to consider the links between performative arts-based research, pupil voice, and pupil participation - perhaps questioning notions of what it means to engage in ‘research’.

Priyanka BhatiaTeachers’ agency within the context of digitalization in public and private education: Case study of Punjab, India

In 2015, Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi launched the Digital India Campaign with the aim to empower the economy and the citizens of India (Government of India, 2020). The campaign has launched various digital initiatives within educational domain, which the study aims to explore. The drive towards digitalization not only creates conditions but also contexts (Shah, 2016) that shape practices in society. This presentation will describe a study to investigate teachers’ agency within such policy initiatives in public and private education. The research will adopt a multiple case study approach with mixed methods of data collection. The four research sites will be four public and private schools in both urban and rural areas of Punjab, India using purposive sampling. Bourdieu’s habitus, field and doxa and Foucault’s governmentality will be the theoretical framework for the research study to understand teachers’ dispositions along with the subjective influence of policies on teachers to deeply make sense of how teachers identify themselves within different types of Indian schools that further shapes their practices. The presentation will introduce the research agenda for the project by exploring the policy initiatives, the theoretical framework and the methodology adopted for the study to understand the policy- practice interplay within the Indian context of digitalization.

The research study will provide nuances of the impact and influence of the Digital India Campaign on teachers in both public and private schools, which seems to be unresearched at the moment.

Harriet BroadfootExploring Experiences of Compassion in Early Childhood Education

With increasing concern for planetary well-being, empowering children as global citizens to live sustainably by fostering compassion in Early Childhood Education (ECE), is of high global relevance. However, though positioned as a core global competency, as a contested concept there is a vast gap in knowledge regarding how it is experienced in ECE. My paper presentation details how I responded to this by exploring how one Pre-School in England experience compassion in their daily lives (Broadfoot and Pascal, 2020). Fieldwork gathered different perceptions and interpretations through observation, interviews and focus groups, to produce a multi-voice account. Within a sociocultural framework, the thematic analysis illuminates the ways compassion is experienced and expressed, its role and key characteristics of compassion. Together the findings provide a provocation for embedding compassion in ECE as an approach to sustainability, shifting perspective in education towards needs, rights, capabilities and well-being. The presentation concludes with an overview of my forthcoming praxeological doctoral study, which will build upon these findings by exploring what affords a compassion enabling environment. As young children’s learning depends upon lived experiences in their environment (human and non-human), the results intend to inform practice, pedagogy and curriculum transformation for the well-being of the planet.

Broadfoot, H. and Pascal, C. (2020) Exploring experiences of compassion in the daily rhythms of one early childhood community, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, DOI: 10.1080/1350293X.2020.1783922

Please refer to the vignette (entitled “Vignette for Broadfoot Presentation”) in the Notebook section of the Teams channel (“IBE 2020”) before this talk.

Vicky ButterbyNothing to lose? Imagining better educational opportunities for young people experiencing loss* 

I am a teacher and cross-disciplinary researcher, with a special interest in imagining better educational opportunities for marginalised learners. The research I would like to share and discuss formed part of my PhD research, which used creative methods and intersectional enquiry to explore with young people, their lived experiences of loss. As young people shared their stories, different (yet often entwined) forms of loss began to emerge: loss of childhood (through exposure to violence, abuse and neglect and through unrecognised and undocumented caring responsibilities); loss of opportunity (in particular loss of educational opportunities but also lost access to pro-social hobbies and activities), and loss of agency (especially for care-experienced young people). The losses young people experienced often generated within them a desperate search for connection; connections that led to or compounded existing contact with anti-social behaviour, youth justice and/ or social services.

The stories many young people shared were particularly damming in relation to their experiences of education - it doesn't have to be this way! Educational settings have the potential to act as transformative, hopeful, safe and inclusive spaces for all young people, including those affected by loss. During the session, we will explore and discuss ideas for loss-informed policy and practice that stemmed from young people's stories and from their creative work. We will also explore and discuss together how we, as educators, can help and support young people who have, or are, experiencing loss.

*loss in this instance refers to more than loss through bereavement but rather as a multi-faceted concept, determined and defined by young people and practitioners working with young people.

Pedro CatelaThe student-consumer hegemony: rethinking interpersonal trust in UK creative arts higher education

This paper presents ongoing research on the impact of the student-consumer hegemony in the development of trust between teachers and students in the context of the UK creative arts higher education. It addresses the need for discussions of trust in teacher-student relationships, reviews current definitions of the concept in existing research, and outlines the agenda for the ethnographic study to follow.

While there are some studies related to trust in business degrees (Jabbar et al., 2017), there appears to be a significant gap in research on how neoliberal policies influence trust between teachers and students in the creative arts HE specifically – a setting that not only includes an overrepresentation of at-risk and non-traditional students, which have been shown to benefit greatly from effective teacher-student relationships (Bacon and Bennett, 2012; Meehan and Howells, 2018), but also promotes the use of pedagogical strategies that are conducive to the development of these relationships (Hagenauer and Volet, 2014).

It is argued that the definitions of trust in current scholarship are often insular, and that a new, holistic definition of trust is required to fully represent student relationships with faculty, in order to develop cultural capital that is of value for students and teachers alike.

Counihan, Iyer, Shukla and Harlow (Poster)Rethinking accountability and performativity culture of publicly audited private schools in Uttar Pradesh, India 

In India, low-cost private schools (LCPS) are a popular choice for poor parents because they provide better learning outcomes and are cost effective relative to free government schools (Day Ashley et al., 2014). Notwithstanding their popularity, these schools have come under threat due to the regulatory landscape enforced by the Right to Education Act RTE (2009). Although well intentioned, the Act focuses on ‘schooling inputs’ rather than ‘learning outcomes’ – mandating providers to redevelop infrastructurally incurring large unsustainable costs, inter alia (Iyer & Counihan, 2018). As such, many schools have since closed or continue to receive threats through sanctions and penalties (Kingdon, 2017). The Northwest region of Uttar Pradesh reacts to the regulatory landscape with estimates of 1.4 million children failing Board examinations (UP Board, 2019); continuous low reading performance in primary year groups (ASER, 2019) and as per the data from DISE[footnoteRef:1] school buildings not conducive for teaching and learning. [1: ]

This study is work-in-progress with the aim to investigate the performance of low-cost and government schools operating in Districts of Uttar Pradesh - post RTE Act (2009) implementation. Our work is situated within a vehement debate on the role of LCPS functioning in a post RTE (2009) world (Kingdon, 2017). To date, knowledge of their adaptability and survival is unknown. Therefore, using an explanatory mix-method framework (Creswell, 2011), the study is twofold. Firstly, we aim to analyse school access and learning quality gathered from publicly available performance databases. These data will help to form an online index – providing a publicly available dashboard allowing for comparison of schools and greater scrutiny of performance. The dashboard shall facilitate the measurement of key educational drivers to assess the learning outcomes of children in the most deprived areas of UP. In doing so, it shall outline the gap between policy and practice and this in turn shall uncover trends of learning across different areas of the state.

Second, using the same District data, N = 45 private school proprietors will be sampled from low-to-high performing schools to take part in semi-structured interviews. Our aim is to understand how the intended and unintended regulatory landscape has impacted access, equity and quality in their schools. For this purpose, we adopt the definitions of technical efficiency and pedagogic indicators as suggested by Urwick & Junaidu (1991).

References

ASER. (2019). Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2018. New Delhi: ASER.

Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2011). Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications Ltd.

Day Ashley, L., Mcloughlin, C., Aslam, M., Engel, J., Wales, J., Rawal, S. Rose, P. (2014). The role and impact of private schools in developing countries: A rigorous review of the evidence. London: Department for International Development.

Iyer, G. & Counihan, C (2018) When a right goes wrong: The unintended consequences of India's Right to Education Act, Journal of Economic Affairs, Vol. 38 (3), pp367-379

Kingdon, G. (2017) The Private Schooling Phenomenon in India: A Review. IZA Discussion Paper No. 10612, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2940602

Urwick, J & Junaidu, SU (1991) The effects of school physical facilities on the processes of education: a qualitative study of Nigerian primary schools. International Journal of Educational Development 11,1,19-29

Hindustan Times (2019): “UP Board Results 2019: Lucknow’s Overall Performance Good,” 28 April, https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/up-board-results-2019-lucknow-s-overall-performance-good/story-sNh2hKWVUmhLNpTC6NmlPM.html.

Martina DiehlThe Trouble with Poetry: Teachers’ perceptions on poetry teaching and learning in the secondary classroom

Poetry plays an important role in the subject of English in secondary schools. Not only does poetry create the opportunity to learn about playing with language, it also allows students to familiarise themselves with the cultural heritage of the British Isles. However, in societies that are becoming increasingly multicultural and where societal and technological innovations are constantly being made, the classic poems by predominantly white (British) men in pre-twentieth century texts lead to an alienation of the language of poetry for learners and teachers. In this case study four semi-structured teacher interviews are presented. There are four recurring themes that will be discussed: creativity, engagement, time and assessment. These themes shed light on a number of issues within poetry teaching and learning, including the difficulty to keep students engaged within a time-constrained curriculum and a stagnant anthology of love and war poetry.

Although the focus is on poetry in the English classroom, the implications within the themes of creativity, criticality, engagement and assessment occur frequently in the wider frame of secondary education. The aim is to explore why these areas are problematic and what teachers are doing to combat the narrative of the spoon-fed learner.

Randa El-SoufiProfessional habitus, gender and nursing education in Lebanon and the UK

This study examines how Lebanese and British nurses define nursing education and the place of gender using a comparative perspective.

Traditionally, nursing has started as an apprenticeship, primarily an occupation for women. Today, nursing education involves a university qualification including doctoral education; it also comprises nursing specialisations. However, it is still dominated by women.

In an effort to elucidate the complexities related to gender, a sociological approach, mainly utilising Bourdieusian concepts of habitus, field and capital is used in this study. This qualitative study explores nursing education and the meaning of gender in Lebanon, a developing country to a developed country, the UK. To capture the meaning of gender, a highly culturally-bound term, the researcher utilised 20 semi-structured interviews and 3 focus group meetings in each country which were audio-recorded and manually transcribed using thematic analysis. These can help depict the meaning of gender and how it is affected by cultural differences as they display the meanings nurses place on gender. The participants are professional nurses and nursing students coming from a diversity of ages, years of experience and nursing specialties from both genders. Emotional capital, a concept that was appropriated from Bourdieu, can be closely related to gender and nursing care and worth exploring in a comparative perspective. The professional habitus is also a context-bound concept as it is influenced by the educational and professional culture. The talk will include the conceptual framework, aims of the study and research questions, methodology and research design, fieldwork progress and primary findings. The talk is a useful sociological study of gender, emotional capital and emotional labour viewed from a Bourdieusian and a comparative lens. 

Caner ErkanAn investigation of how research evidence can be best disseminated to teachers

There is a popular trend emphasising that research evidence should be presented to teachers in an effective way to ensure they consider research evidence in practice The literature is abundant with numerous assumptions on effective ways to disseminate research evidence, however, what works best in practice is an important question to be answered and is the purpose of this ongoing doctoral research.

Firstly, it was decided to reveal what is already known regarding the effective ways of disseminating research evidence to teachers by conducting a systematic review. The researcher screened 54671 records and identified 31 studies to include in the synthesis. Based on the review, the researcher regarded ‘workshop with follow-up support’ as a promising way of disseminating research evidence and decided to test it as an intervention by conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT). 4 primary schools were allocated to the treatment group, and 5 to the control group. Teachers from the control group took a workshop training on how to pick up research evidence and were also given research summaries and evidence-based resources. The evaluation investigates the impact of the intervention on teachers’ utilization of research and attitudes towards adoption evidence-based practice. The researcher is currently collecting the post-survey data.

Tom FryerGraduate outcomes: how can you map a literature that doesn’t exist?

Narrow economic graduate outcomes, such as employment status or salary, are increasingly used to judge apparently ‘low-value’ courses by the UK Government. At a time when the value of a university education is being questioned, research that takes a broader perspective on graduate outcomes and the value of a degree has never been more important.

This paper adopts Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) scoping review methodology to ask: how can we map the literature on graduate outcomes? The main conclusion is that no unified ‘graduate outcome literature’ exists. This research area is fragmented into disparate sub-literatures, which often fail to identify as ‘graduate outcome’. The paper then sets out to map these various sub-literatures for the first time, using a modified scoping review methodology to assess the general shape and characteristics of this research area. The literature is found to disproportionately focus on narrow economic outcomes. However, some sub-literatures take a broader approach, which provides promising avenues for future research.

Through mapping this non-existent literature, this paper hopes to help unite research on graduate outcomes and facilitate collaborations between different sub-literatures in the future. It is only together that we can challenge misconceptions and broaden the value of a university education.

Eric FuMost Wanted Skills in the Future Labour Market: Views of Gen X in Australia

Preparing young people for economic participation is one of the major aims of education. However, the once linear transition from education to work was significantly disrupted by the process of deindustrialization and the restructured economy and labour market in many Western societies. What skills are most needed for young people to navigate the highly uncertain labour market in the future and be able to practice their economic citizenship effectively become a pressing topic. To explore the possible content of these skills, interview data was collected from 29 Australians (aged 45-46 in 2019) from all walks of life. Born between 1971-1981, this cohort was categorised by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as Gen X (ABS 2005). Their over 20 years of experience navigating the changing labour market in Australia give them the edge to comment on the future of the labour market. In the interviews, they were asked to predict the most needed skills in the labour market in 2030 base on the reflection of their experiences with the changing labour market. Drawing on this interview data, this paper explores the most wanted skills in the labour market in 2030. The findings of this research will inform the teaching and learning practices of educators and students in and outside of school, and also bring insights into our imagination of better education.

Cal Harris Bridging the gap between theory, practice and graduate attributes in higher education – a case study of curriculum design and development in an undergraduate law module

Barnett and Coate (2005) argue that ‘curriculum’ is a term which is ‘missing’ in public debate, government policy and educational literature in higher education. In discussing curriculum as a valuable device to evaluate higher education, Blackmore and Kandiko (2012) argue that “control of the curriculum is a source of power in universities and has vast financial implications” (p.6).

The effectiveness of an undergraduate module’s curriculum in bridging the gap between theory, practice and graduate attributes is analysed. The module is part of an undergraduate law degree in a university in the North of England. Drawing on the relevant curriculum design literature, the module was redesigned last year in an attempt to minimise the aforementioned gap. Initial results indicate that student satisfaction with the module has improved significantly.

Kelly (2009) distinguishes between the ‘planned curriculum’ and the ‘received curriculum’, in that the former is present through the course syllabus or prospectus, while the latter is the “reality of the pupils’ experience” (p.9). The analysis identifies 4 different ‘curriculum levels’ for the module and reveals a number of ‘unintended consequences’. Such consequences are theorised to widen the gap between academic theory, practice and graduate attributes (the research hypothesis). A ‘backward-design’ model of curriculum development that was subsequently introduced is analysed. The impact of the curriculum changes and development (at the ‘intended, designed and assessed’ levels) upon the ‘learned and received’ curriculum level is analysed, and further improvements are advocated.

Barnett, R., & Coate, K. (2005). Engaging the Curriculum in Higher Education Berkshire and New York: Open University Press.

Blackmore, P., & Kandiko, C. B. (2012). The networked curriculum In P. Blackmore & C. B. Kandiko (Eds.), Strategic Curriculum Change in Universities: Global Trends (pp. 3-20). Oxon, New York and London: Routledge.

Kelly, A. V. (2009). The Curriculum: Theory and Practice (6th ed.). London, California, New Delhi and Singapore: Sage.

Nomisha Kurian‘Of course I want peace for every child but…’: the moral dilemmas and challenges of protecting children from violence

Tackling violence against children and ensuring safe environments for learners to grow and flourish have been identified as priorities within education (WHO, 2020). Yet, there is little research on the moral dilemmas and challenges non-Western teachers might face in this pursuit. To address this gap, this talk utilises primary data from an Indian school. Interviews with eight teachers and four students are analysed, drawing on theories of peacebuilding and violence prevention. Firstly, the talk discusses a teacher’s response to a student witnessing domestic violence. Thereby, it explores the contentious terrain of home-school boundaries and societal stigmas. Secondly, the talk discusses a teacher’s attempt to help a physically abused child labourer. This data flags the challenges educators face while trying to tackle systemic inequalities and the danger of schools reproducing exclusionary structures. Thirdly, the talk discusses the intergenerational politics of children endorsing corporal punishment. It seeks to demonstrate how socio-economic pressures and historical legacies might lead to children legitimating violence against their own bodies. By exploring the fractures and gaps within school violence prevention efforts in an understudied non-Western context, the presentation aims to offer insights into the structures and norms perpetuating violence against children and the need for criticality, context and reflexivity in efforts to build safer schools and societies.

World Health Organisation. (2020). The Global status report on preventing violence against children 2020. WHO: Switzerland.

This presentation is based on my article in the Journal of Peace Education - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17400201.2020.1728237

Lubis and GuningratSustainable Development Goals 2030 for Generation Z: Local Case Study from Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan (SMK) Telkom Bandung City, Indonesia

The Sustainable Development Goals 2030 or SDGs 2030 are made up of 17 goals covering all aspects of sustainability. Challenges to implementing the SDGs 2030 are particularly acute in Indonesia where awareness of the SDGs amongst the high school students is generally low.

In this study, we particularly focus on achieving SDG 4.7 – using education to ensure all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development. We describe the design of the ecopreneurship approach to monitoring issues at a local level in Bandung City and then use the insights gained to indicate how learning can be achieved by a continued and sustained focus on monitoring learning.

We begin by encouraging students to identify issues that they are concerned about, with an assumption that any issue identified will fall within the purview of the 17 SDGs. Each issue is then tagged with a plurality of actions taken to address it. Finally, we tag the positive or negative changes in the issue as perceived by the students. This data is used to broadly indicate quantitative measures of high school student learning when solving an environmental problem in Bandung City, in turn telling us how SDG 4.7 is being achieved.

Lubis and ThoifurConnecting The Dots For Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030: Ecopreneurship and the SDGs in Telkom University Indonesia

With a few swipes on a smartphone, these days many people around the world already being hammered by climate change impacts. Like other countries, Indonesia has a responsibility to discuss the pressures and demands in the marketplace that are driving the opportunities for ecopreneurs with an eye toward sustainability. As a country whose Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), in general, embraces the future of their next generation, each new academic year brings a new announcement of the students’ start-up ventures embracing sustainability and environmental issues. However, the impacts of the student’s start-up ventures on ecopreneurship and the SDGs 2030 are not well known. This study is about the potential for the student’s start-up ventures to contribute to the SDGs 2030. To illustrate the challenges and possibilities of the ecopreneurship and the SDGs, this study explored a few cases from student’s Ecopreneurship Projects (EPs) and its background knowledge and practices, which is based on SDGs 2030. The cases of student’s Ecopreneurship Projects (EPs) in Telkom University Indonesia exemplifies the challenges to accelerate progress towards the SDGs 2030 for every undergraduate student. Finally, this study points out the importance of student-centered approaches in developing a curriculum for ecopreneurship subject at higher education.

Killian Murphy (Poster)Seeing is believing! Agent-Based Models as a classroom tool for teaching concepts and coding in biology. 

Barriers to fieldwork exist for many reasons such as physical ability, financial cost, and time availability. Unfortunately, these barriers disproportionately affect minority communities and create a disparity in access to fieldwork experience in the natural science community. Travel restrictions and the global lockdown has extended this barrier to fieldwork across the community and led to increased anxiety about gaps in productivity, especially for graduate students and early-career researchers. In this paper, we discuss Agent-Based Modeling as an open-source, accessible and inclusive resource to substitute for lost fieldwork during COVID-19 and future scenarios of travel restrictions such as climate change. We describe the benefits of Agent-Based models as a teaching and training resource for students across education levels. We discuss why and how educators can implement this method into their classroom with a plethora of examples from the literature on how Agent-Based Models can be applied broadly across life-science teaching. We aim to amplify awareness and adoption of this technique to broaden the diversity and size of the Agent-Based Modeling community in biology. Finally, we discuss the current challenges facing Agent-Based Modeling and discuss how the field of quantitative ecology can work in tandem with traditional field ecology to improve both methods and extend skills across the entire community.

Pipit NovitaEducating Beyond Teaching: Exploring stakeholders’ views on the quality of pre-service English teacher education in urban areas in Indonesia

Teacher quality has become a competitive area of research to improve the quality of education. In Indonesia, several attempts have been made to enhance the quality of teachers. However, these efforts do not show significant results yet. The reviews of national policies for education in 2015 called for more quality in teacher education to improve the quality of teachers. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to explore how stakeholders (student teachers, educators, Head of English Department, Dean of Faculty of Education, teacher graduates and their principals) perceive quality in teacher education regarding influential aspects, strengths, weaknesses, and possibilities for improvement at pre-service English teacher education in a private and state university in Indonesia. First, quantitative data was collected from 409 student teachers using the existing questionnaire from Coherence and Assignment Study in Teacher Education (CATE). Subsequently, qualitative data are also collected from 42 interviews with other stakeholders. The study has shown that the quality of inspiring educators as the most influential factor in the quality of teacher education. The results also indicate the importance of educating future teachers beyond teaching to meet the demand of dynamic of education and linked the theory into practice throughout the program

Michaela OliverExploring and developing domain-specific reasoning in primary English

The importance of teaching reasoning in schools is widely recognised. Yet this has presented teachers with difficulties, particularly in primary education. This research aims to stimulate explicit teaching of reasoning in primary English lessons. Drawing on socio-cultural theory and cognitive history, a theoretical framework of five reasoning ‘styles’ important within English has been constructed.

Four main task structures were developed to explore the feasibility of targeting three reasoning styles in English lessons: genre-based reasoning (GRE), analogy-based reasoning (ARE) and language-based reasoning (LRE). Exploratory activities were used with groups of KS2 students (aged 7-11) from five classes across two schools (approximately 150 students). Two main group types were audio-recorded: researcher-supported and independent groups.

Transcripts of 25 audio recordings from 11 lessons were coded using an adapted version of the Cambridge Dialogue Analysis Scheme (CDAS). Additional codes were developed to operationalise domain-specific reasoning in English. The theoretical framework of reasoning styles and the accompanying coding instrument represent original contributions to existing research.

Three main findings will be shared in the presentation. First, the reasoning styles investigated are realisable in the primary classroom; they can be promoted, captured, operationalised, and measured. Second, proportions of domain-specific reasoning appear to vary according to task structure used. Third, proportions of domain-specific reasoning appear to vary according to the presence or absence of adult support in groups. This talk will explore domain-specific reasoning and suggest ways in which it can be promoted in primary English.

Pian ShiAn Omission Among the Measurements on Moral Identity - The consistency between moral cognition and moral behaviour

Moral identity can be literally understood as a kind of personal identity concerning morality. In other words, it refers to the self-importance of being a moral person from the perspectives of consciousness and behaviour. The stronger one’s moral identity is, the more consistent his or her moral behaviours would be with his or her moral thoughts. Therefore, to test how strong one’s moral identity is, not only should the self-importance of moral principles be checked, but also the consistency between moral principles and real moral behaviours. Moreover, the consistency varies among individuals ranging from completely consistency to completely inconsistency, which has been bothering educators for a long time. The moral discrepancy has been challenging moral education in schools, at least in China. Most of the time, students’ moral values in mind are well developed in school through courses. However, their actual behaviours in moral contexts of daily life are not always consistent with their built moral values. Moreover, their moral behaviours in school are different from that outside school. The ideal moral education is supposed to get individuals to stick to their moral values when they respond to moral events no matter where they are. Moral identity indicates how strongly individuals are willing to behave consistently with their moral values or principles in mind. Therefore, educators are focusing on strengthening students’ moral identity and finding out the influencing factors. It is necessary to have a better understanding of the discrepancy and the individual difference before the development of any educational interventions or strategies. A scale on moral identity which would demonstrate the extent of the discrepancy would be helpful for educators and researchers to understand moral identity better. This paper considers several major measurements on moral identity which have been used widely by researchers through a semi-systematic review. The effectiveness and limitations of a series of empirical tests around moral identity are analyzed. By doing this, the paper reveals that there is a crucial facet of moral identity which rarely has been touched or perhaps ignored with regard to measurement for a long time——the consistency among moral principle, moral behaviour intention and real moral conducts. (1) According to the definitions of moral identity, the consistency implies the degree of one’s moral identity. The majority of the existing measurements actually just test the vision of moral values or personal identification in terms of morality through questionnaires or interviews, which would not draw the whole picture of individuals' moral identity, especially the degree of one’s moral identity. (2) Even though there are some efforts in attempt to relate self-importance of moral values to community service, donation or other pro-social behaviours, most of the behaviours were not tested in real contexts, but in hypothetical scenarios in questionnaires. (3)The tested specific moral behaviour or behaviour intention does not really respond to the general moral values. Given the limitations of current measurements, this paper proposes an approach which combines three elements: testing the self-importance of moral values and specific moral behaviour intentions through questionnaire; observing respondents' corresponding real behaviours in an experimental environment; focusing on examining the moral consistency among the above three variables. Since the proposed approach is just a hypothesis based on current measurements, its application and possible limitations are discussed.

Key words: Moral Identity, Measurement, Moral Consistency

Anna PilsonVoicing Inclusion: Creating Conditions for Collaboration and Co-production with Disabled Children in Educational Research

My presentation gives an overview of my PhD project, including aims, rationale and methodology, before addressing how I have begun to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on the study. It firstly explicates my rationale for utilising Participatory Action Research (PAR), adapted via a Critical Disability Studies lens, as my PhD methodology. Adopting collaborative and inclusive research methods such as PAR can be a valuable methodological tool for supporting disabled children and young people to engage in what Annamma, Ferri and Connor (2018) term as intellectual activism. It then provides overview of my methodology, explaining how participants will work together using virtual and creative research methods to co-produce knowledge, and to develop a holistic understanding of the intersecting forces impacting on their lives. It finally discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on my project, giving a frank overview of how and why my project has necessarily changed. This presentation may be useful for those interested in exploring collaborative and inclusive research methods in education, and for people who are in a similar position of altering their PhD project in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

References

Annamma, S. A., Ferri, B. A., & Connor, D. J. (2018). Disability Critical Race Theory: Exploring the intersectional lineage emergence, and potential futures of DisCrit in education. Review of Research in Education, 42, 46-71.

David PrendergastAn investigation into the impact of dialogic teaching and Socratic questioning on the development of children’s understanding of complex historical concepts

Research has shown teachers ask hundreds of questions. Most of these are closed, seeking a specific pre-determined answer (Tienken, Goldberg, & DiRocco, 2018). Initiation-response-feedback, or IRF, is a pattern of discussion between the teacher and learner. This is the prevailing method of questioning in the England’s schools, according to the literature. Students do talk with each other in class but do not routinely engage in collaborative talk (Mercer & Howe, 2012). Dialogic teaching does not have a definitive definition but Alexander offers: “… a pedagogy of the spoken word that is manifestly distinctive while being grounded in widely accepted evidence and in discourse and assumptions that have much in common” (2018). Put simply it is an approach to teaching and learning that focusses on the learning potential of talk (Fisher, 2007, 2009). Socratic questioning (SQ) as part of an overall dialogic approach seeks to advance knowledge and understanding. It consists of probing, following on questions, challenging assumptions about knowledge.

This study seeks to investigate the impact that dialogue and SQ have on the development of children’s understanding of complex historical concepts. Complex historical concepts are related both to first order concepts like “the Crown” (which can mean anything from headwear to constitutional jurisprudence) and second order concepts like historical interpretation. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, including a quasi-experiment: implementation of a SQ intervention in classes in secondary schools. There will be a pre and post assessment, focussing on talk. The unit of analysis so to speak consist of students, teachers, and the researcher. The intervention will be delivered by the researcher working alongside the regular teacher and using the topic that would generally be taught. The study will examine the positionality of teachers in relation to dialogic pedagogy through interviews and lesson observation. The research hypothesis is based on my understanding of the literature and my own professional experience. I conjecture that dialogic approaches to teaching engage students in their learning: all students have the opportunity to respond to and ask their own questions and under the guidance of the teacher students’ ideas and understanding/attitudes towards history as a subject can be improved. The topic will be of interest for teachers of history interested in the role of talk in learning and researchers interested in dialogic learning.

Alexander, R. (2018). Developing dialogic teaching: Genesis, process, trial. Research Papers in Education, 33(5), 561-598.

Fisher, R. (2007). Dialogic Teaching: Developing Thinking and Metacognition through Philosophical Discussion. Early Child Development and Care, 177(6-7), 615-631. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ771168&site=ehost-live

http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&id=doi:10.1080/03004430701378985

Fisher, R. (2009). Creative Dialogue: Talk for Thinking in the Classroom. Abingdon: Routledge.

Mercer, N., & Howe, C. (2012). Explaining the dialogic processes of teaching and learning: The value and potential of sociocultural theory. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 1(1), 12-21. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2012.03.001

Michael PriestlyHow can universities balance assessment demands alongside student wellbeing?

Student mental health is a critical public and political concern which has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been argued that cultural and structural change across the whole university is required to address the multifactorial challenge of multiple mental health determinants and consequences at university. To date however, relatively little is known about how pedagogical, curricula, and assessment policies and practices impact on student mental health and wellbeing. This talk will present the findings from a co-authored paper examining the tensions that arise when assessment design and practices are balanced with student wellbeing, alongside pedagogical, practical, and policy considerations in higher education. Drawing on thematic analysis of national student (n=65) and staff (n=33) focus groups conducted during the University Mental Health Charter consultations, the findings elucidate five emergent tensions which must be navigated within a given context to balance the needs of assessment and student wellbeing; namely; challenge vs threat; traditional vs novel assessment; individual vs collaborative assessment; ideal vs practical assessment; and feedback vs criticism. These findings will provide a point of access for critical exploration of the theoretical rationale, research design, and preliminary findings underpinning the authors doctoral research. This talk will conclude by offering policy and practice recommendations to develop both better education and better student wellbeing.

Sharon RiddleThe positionality of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in UK higher education structures

The number of international students in UK universities has risen significantly over the last fifty years, leading to the birth and development of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) services in order to provide academic literacy support. EAP units occupy diverse positions in university structures, including locations in faculties, central services or part of private companies.

This presentation will describe a qualitative study which aims to uncover how these different structural positions shape EAP practice and practitioner identity. The concept of positionality will be explored, focusing on three aspects: organisational position, social position and spatial position. This will be followed by a discussion on how Pierre Bourdieu’s ‘thinking tools’: habitus, capital, field and symbolic violence can be used as a theoretical lens for the study. Initial work to ‘map’ the organisational positions of EAP units will be described, and data collection methods and challenges faced in the development of this ‘EAP Mapping Database’ will be discussed. Initial insights revealed from this exercise will then be considered.

To conclude, reflections will be shared on the position of EAP and wider HE structures in the unfolding context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dean RowellUsing Music in Primary Schools to Improve Learning Outcomes

The aim of this talk is to present an argument that the inclusion of music in primary schools could essentially enhance pupil performance. This paper will present my research drawn from my role studying towards the preparation of an Ed.D Thesis. I argue that the greater involvement of music in primary schools could essentially be of great benefit to young children, both in their behavioural skills and potentially contribute to an initiative to improve academic skills generally. I will refer to a number of music support groups, interventions, and indicate the results of my findings supporting my argument. I will refer to literature such as the Plowden Report, 1967, and the Henley Review setting the context historically as to the poor representation of music in schools. Essentially, The Durham Commission Report on Creativity and Education (2019) has highlighted the position where there has been a lack of creative element in schools and that art and design, dance, drama and music have lessened in their significance within the curriculum. Moreover, there has been consistent evidence that has been offered by researchers that music included in schools, could contribute to a greater sense of morale and well-being which is linked to a possible improvement in academic performance. Debate amongst theorists such as John Dewey, Elliot Eisner and specialist Mike Fleming have indicated that the inclusion of creativity as a pedagogical tool within an education setting has been shown to have positive effects. I will be referring to the areas of my research regarding the contribution, of music support groups and the inclusion of Whole Class Ensemble Tuition. I will make an additional general reference to the trial explored by Ibbotson and See where the Kodaly-inspired music method was used yielding results supporting a perceived improvement in learning outcomes amongst children of Early Years. Those who work within the education sector and decide on educational policy could potentially benefit from attending the talk . The implications are to re-visit creative methods of music and engage with the opportunities this presents to promote learning outcomes.

Nikki RutterChild-violence toward teachers in primary schools: not the school’s problem?

Primary-aged childhood violence contradicts our understanding of childhood, power and vulnerability. Nevertheless, awareness is growing, particularly in relation to childhood violence within the home in the form of child-to-parent violence. Research evidences that this violence occurs beyond the home, with estimates that ¼ teachers are assaulted by their pupils each week with many of these children identified with social, emotional, and mental health needs. These pupils are increasingly likely to be excluded from school. with an increase in funding to expand alternative provision for those children who are excluded, special schools are expecting an influx of pupils who use violent strategies.

When compared with violence and aggression from adults, there is poor awareness and multi-agency working when risk-assessing violence and aggression from children. Increasingly we are seeing educators being expected to manage extensive teaching commitments whilst being trauma-aware, knowledgeable in mental health first aid, early intervention, and child-centred-practice in a class of over thirty pupils.

In this presentation, I posit that risk models applied to adult violence and aggression, particularly multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARAC) should be applied to childhood presentations of violence and aggression. Thus, expanding knowledge and providing additional resources for early identification and support. Through a child-centred MARAC, there is opportunity for schools to remove responsibility from the teachers, placing it with multi-agency units. Units which can collate information on families, and provision, directed services to holistically support families, and consequently schools.

Richard StocktonDeveloping arts-based research methodology for understanding English language learner identity: Learning in a time of globalism in context

This is a report on developing methodology for arts-based research (ABR) in the educational field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). Creative writing production of students of English as an additional language (EAL) serves as data. Analysing and interpreting themes generates understanding of particular, contextualized learner identity: the aim of the project. I ran three exploratory pilots. In Pilot Zero, I coded Indonesian high school EAL student poetry for identity themes, serving as proof of concept. Pilot 1 prompted intermediate-level learners to use Zoltán Dörnyei’s L2 self-guides to metaphorize identity issues into stories. Pilot 2 had advanced participants retell Indonesian folklore anew, reflect on its meaning, and the fact of being English speakers in a global world. I find the social-constructivist model, with void subjects positioning themselves in sutured fields—and—an essentialist model of identity, i.e., integralist silos founded on magical singularities, underlie learner identities in crisis, stabilized by the traditionalist ought-to self, while an ideal self positionally relocalises its future given the cosmopolitan learning experience. English language teachers will find interesting the discussion of ABR methodology, theory of identity, L2 motivation, story, and the surprising place of magic and tradition in this particular learning context.

Yiyi Tan (Poster)What could be the best indicators for disadvantage in Contextualised Admission (CA) policies in China?

The equity of access to higher education has been a popular focus in China. Chinese government has implemented contextualised admission (CA) policies such as giving extra credits to students from remote provinces, minority groups and rural prefectures to improve their HE attendances. Despite these efforts, the inequity of HE enrolment has not met its targets. The research is limited because mostly it is about transition from high schools to HE, few of which traced back to basic education period. Furthermore, few scholars doubt the accuracy of disadvantaged indicators (e.g. province, ethnicity, etc.) used in the Chinese CA policies. Therefore, this study investigates the selective processes in education but also tries to avoid ecological fallacy as much as possible. It collected data from government website, HEIs official website as well as two large-scale longitudinal datasets (CFPS with samples of 14960 families and CEPS with samples of over 20000 middle-school students) and one large-scale cross-sectional dataset (CGSS with samples of over 10000 families). Through analysing these data, this study intends to explore further into both HE and compulsory education to find more accurate, reliable and accessible individual-level indicators for disadvantage in the CA policies.  

Amie WatermanStudying without a ‘safety blanket’: navigating family-oriented higher education as an estranged student

Policies and understanding around student experience in higher education (HE) are built from assumptions that students have a positive family support network. For example, undergraduates receive maintenance loans depending on their parents’ income, assuming continued financial dependence on parents, while student accommodation is often only accessible during term-time and contracts terminate for students to ‘return home’ in the summer.

However, estranged students are a group for whom barriers arise within this family-oriented HE context. These are defined by Student Finance England as students under 25 who have had an irreconcilable lack of contact with both parents for at least twelve months. The growing field of literature into estranged students’ experiences presents this group as being disadvantaged in HE for being unable to draw upon family capital and resources, both practical and emotional, that the sector assumes.

This presentation offers insight into estranged students’ experiences of HE. It begins by discussing British idealisations of family before exploring how this manifests itself in HE policy and practice. It draws on the wider literature and interview transcripts from 2018 to explore how estranged students navigate this family-oriented system, considering structural and experiential barriers faced and feelings of deficit compared to ‘typical’ students, and proposes ways to tackle these barriers in HE.

Whelan and ThomasProject Based Learning: Going places, meeting people and doing and making things

Since April 2019, the Centre for Learning and Teaching (CfLaT) at Newcastle University has been developing curriculum projects with schools that have authentic, real-world links with the university, employers and community organisations. The PBL Goes to University project is based on Community Curriculum Making, where school pupils undertake projects which are planned and conducted with community members and accommodate pupil curiosity, creativity and responsibility.   So far, we have worked with over 20 schools across the region and beyond, helping to embed PBL into their curriculum and empowering teachers to think about teaching their subject in a different way, incorporating visits to campus and places of interest, and outreach sessions by academics, students and employers. Cross-curricular themes mean teachers and students develop team-working and communication skills and develop social and cultural capital.

Projects are built around four key areas: an “entry event” to inspire and introduce; a series of PBL sessions embedded into the curriculum, often incorporating visits from external providers or to university or local employers; a “product” which is created by the students; and a final “showcase” where students can share their learning and present their work to invited guests.

Drawing on collected data and case study examples, we will discuss the following questions:

· What are common issues that arise when practitioners and external partners begin to establish a working network?

· How can teachers be supported in embedding PBL that is sustainable and reusable into a secondary curriculum, which incorporates authentic links to higher education, local employers and community organisations?

Caiwei WuThe impact of dialogic teaching and philosophy for children on thinking and academic attainment: A Pilot Study

Philosophy for Children (P4C) is an education approach that helps children to question, reason, construct arguments and collaborate with others. Although P4C has been applied for a long time in western countries, it is still a new area in mainland of China. Few empirical data was found if it can work based on Chinese education environment.

This presentation reports a pilot randomized controlled trial of philosophy for children (P4C) as an intervention to promote thinking skills in mainland of China. 178 Year-7 secondary school (age 12-13) from one school participated in the study, from whom 90 students were randomly assigned to P4C and the other 88 to business-as-usual control. The intervention ran for one month. Results of the study showed that the students who were taught P4C lessons experienced a small improvement in thinking skills, measured using a composite of validated critical thinking tests. Classroom observations and interviews suggest that implementing P4C lessons in China is challenging for both teachers and students. This talk will discuss the positive outcomes as well as challenges I have found so far in the pilot trial, and the potential methods of how to improve in future.

Mel YeungToward an inclusive and effective citizenship education: A critical analysis of citizenship and education theory through a political lens supported by a qualitative case study

This case study is based on data collected from three hours of political/civics education lessons in a year 5 classroom in Gateshead and aims to explore the potential for creating an effective and culturally sensitive form of citizenship education in the UK. It examines several teaching methods which aimed to make lessons interesting and records the difference in students’ political knowledge and critical thinking before and after the lessons. The political education took shape in teaching of the topic of political participation, grounded by an examination of current issues through recent popular movements. The medium of debate is used as a tool to aid year 5 students to critically examine a complex issue which explores and tests the capacity of classroom-based teaching to foster dissent and critical thinking as a form of political education. This talk briefly explores theoretical examinations of citizenship and education with integrated vignettes and data from a qualitative study focusing on the experiences of pupils. It ultimately uses this to explain the results which emphasised the importance of creating a citizenship education which encourages critical thinking and dissent.

Once again, we would like to thank you all for joining us for the Imagining Better Education Conference 2020. We hope you enjoy the conference and are able to use the platform to connect with other researchers in your field, no matter your location or experience.

If you have any questions of feedback you would like to give us then you can contact us by email at imaginingbetter.education@durham.ac.uk or on Twitter @ImagineBetterEd. Or maybe you’d like to tell us how you imagine better education. We’d love to hear from you!