I really enjoyed the ‘death of data’ 4 O’clock session a fortnight ago and couldn’t help myself contributing, albeit a bit late,  as I said at the session, I find it almost impossible to say ‘no’ to data which Maggie drawing on Denzin suggests should be labelled ‘empirical materials’ and are very much decided in advance whether it be simple pen and paper for observations or digital recording equipment.

For those of you who were unable to attend it was a stimulating session and my own dilemma was that of being ‘given’ or perhaps ‘gifted’ a book towards the end of my field research in a school shadowing learning mentors. The informant in the study had over a period of time expressed much concern over the home situation of the children in a deprived area. She had a degree in psychology, having briefly trained as a mental health nurse and strived in her setting to provided therapeutic work with the children, such as non-invasive massage, she often used positive reinforcement. She put great store on the SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) a national scheme.

In a conversation and she asked me if I was familiar with Lionel Shriver’s work ‘We Need To Talk about Kevin, I said yes and then she asked me if I had read Sebastian Faulk’s book Engleby, which I hadn’t. Later on at the end of the day she gave me a copy, mentioning that she had also given one to her head. 

My reluctance to go straight to the book as a piece of ‘data’ stemmed from my own inadequacy to cope with literature analytically, however in giving me the book Denise was not merely gifting me a ‘present’ but by this act also opening an opportunity to advance my own understanding of research possibilities. Denise had volunteered for the study and so feels she has something to contribute on education and reflective practice. As researchers we need to be attuned to how informants in opening up their private worlds may also be seeking to transform them.

Thanks thus to Yvette at the 4 o’clock seminar who directed me to  Strathern’s work the Gender of the Gift which very briefly and in a crude reading details how giving as a form of exchange in Melanesia is seen as a way of constructing a ‘dividual’, (Strathern sees Melanesian society as being relational and thus an ‘individual’ can only be seen in relation to the whole)  This develops new types of social relations and gifts “do not act as synecdoche for the person, they are understood as being drawn from one person and absorbed by another” (Strathern: 1988).  It is seen therefore as a way of transforming not just relationships between individuals but also of their composition. In Strathern’s case she focuses on how giving is seen as an act which is transformative of gender and indicative of much more complex ways of representing gender.

The dilemma here is one of a researcher is to make sense of what the informant in a study seeks to effect through the gift. Researchers particularly involved in areas relating to social justice often cite the notion of research as a way of transformation. It would appear that informants, in particular those who self-select by putting themselves forward also seek to transform. Certainly researchers can often become privy to information which is critical of the setting and while this may or may not relate to the core focus of the study, having ‘contracted’ to enter a research setting, it seems ethical to need to weigh how unexpected data may speak , rather than focusing on quick judgements about whether it fits the study even when our ability to make something of it may be limited. Thus rather than data being ‘dead’ perhaps we need to think about how we go about actively resuscitating it.

Rajesh Patel

One of the opportunities that becomes available to you as a PhD student is to be able to teach undergraduates. This is an opportunity that I took up not only to be part of the process of encouraging critical thinking among tomorrows graduates, but also to engage with my own work from a different viewpoint. On the whole teaching, in my experience, has always been  rewarding and exciting work and for the educational researcher an absolute must as the act of teaching creates our performative praxis in order for us to understand the ‘nature of the beast’ which is the object of our inquiry.

However, how does one square the theoretical ideas about the marketization of education and the commodification of knowledge, with the absolute performance of these issues in one’s own classroom? Particularly when discussing with third year students the issues around the influence of political ideology in education. Trying to stay true to your research; to the ideology that learning must be open to all and that authoritarianism from the pedagogue stifles creativity and divergent and critical thinking. This is difficult whilst dealing first hand with the attitude that the ‘information’ that you have as a ‘teacher’ is a mere commodity that should be ‘sold’ in reusable packages come essay and exam time. The clash of ideologies is never so poignant as when a student dismisses attempts to understand rather than ‘know’ in an overt and aggressive manner.

What this experience does, however painful it might be to go through in the immediate space of your seminar time, is show a need for the research that you are undertaking. A need for the examination of what is happening to our society and our education systems when dominant ideologies change them from places of creative and constructive controversy (a welcome position for advocates of critical inquiry), into institutions where pre-packed knowledge is bought and sold for high fees and low expectations.

It’s been a few days since I arrived home in Sweden, from my two-week visit to ESRI and Manchester Metropolitan University.  It was been a wonderful time at ESRI, where I learned a lot!

I would like to thank all the people that I met at ESRI, for being so kind and friendly to me. I especially would like to thank James and Gail who I met last week. Among other things, we talked about our thoughts about being a PhD student in England and in Sweden.

At ESRI I also had a lunch seminar, on October 3^rd, where I got some very good feedback on my research project. I also had meetings with some of the researchers at ESRI, which I appreciated a lot.

All in all, the visit at ESRI has inspired me to move on with my own research project, and overall, it has been very useful for my development as a PhD.

I hope that I in the future, in one way or another, can keep the contact with ESRI.

Finally, I want to thank you all and special thanks to Professor Harry Torrance who made the visit possible.

With best regards,

Tord Olovsson (Department of Education, Umea University)

This week marks a momentous occasion in my PhD journey… The ‘official’ beginning of my ethnographic field study at a Co-operative Secondary school in the North West of England. Perhaps ‘beginning’ is not quite the best way to describe this moment of my research, as before I even cross the school gate I have already spent many months trying to construct a ‘history of the present’ in order to prepare myself for a critical encounter with the micro and macro politics of ‘schooling’…

During the last twelve months I have been getting to grips with the key debates that have shaped the rapidly changing educational landscape, which presents itself as the point of entry for my research project. Keeping up to date with political policy reform and changes to the provision of state education within the U.K alone has been a challenge worthy of a PhD thesis in itself! However, my research interests lie at getting to the heart of how these moments of educational flux and uncertainty intersect with the identities and lives of teachers and learners as subjects and objects of educational discourse.  So, in order to gain a sense of how the ‘field’ of my research has been shaped by a variety of discursive practices I’ve also been busy reviewing literature and artifacts that span across a variety of disciplines, times and spaces.

In addition to this I’ve spent many months building relationships and making contact with professionals from the co-operative sector. The dialogues that have followed on from this have enabled me to consider how the theoretical underpinnings of my research so far might be mobilized and contested within the site of the co-operative school. In theory, at least, the values and principles of such schools are rooted in the historical and cultural practices of ‘co-operative organisation’ – which can be loosely defined as a group of people acting together to meet the common needs and aspirations of its members, sharing ownership and making decisions democratically.

Although co- operative schools have enjoyed a period of rapid growth in number over the last two years, and nearly 300 schools have adopted a co-operative trust or academy status to date, the development of a co-operative school identity remains fragile and uncertain. Without fail, whenever I am asked to describe my research project, the first question on everyone’s lips is ‘what is a co-operative school?  Therefore, the task that lies before me now as a critical ethnographer deeply committed to research that promotes social justice in education, is to attempt to capture how tensions and complexities are played out within the stories of ‘co-operation’ that I collect throughout the course of this research project.

I look forward to the months ahead with excitement and trepidation and hope that I can successfully navigate the ambiguous position of neither teacher or learner, insider or outsider but ‘researcher’- whatever that may mean…!?

Hello,

If it is possible, I would like to meet a Phd-student at ESRI just to have a little chat (perhaps over a cup of tea or coffee) about being a PhD-student in England, and maybe to compare it with the circumstances in Sweden.  My research interest is assessment in primary school. The current title of my thesis work is: The assessment-process in school year five and six in Swedish compulsory school – before and after the introduction of grading.  It is a study which includes methods like classroom observations and interviews, and intends to generate qualitative data.

If any other PhD-student is interested in meeting me we do not have to have the same research interest. I am interested in teaching and learning in general, also with other focuses than assessment.

I will have a lunchtime seminar, Wednesday 3rd of October (12.30-13.30) so maybe we could have the meeting in connection with this. But any other time during next week (1-5.10) works very well.

My email is: tordgoran.olovsson [at] pedag.umu.se

I look forward to meeting you all.

Tord Olovsson (Department of Education, Umea University)

Hi everyone!

I am Zhiyan, ESRI colleagues also knew me as Jenny. As a past-PhD student, I cannot help but share my experience of carrying out my doctoral study in there. The whole process was so unforgettable that lots of memories are still very fresh in my mind, even now, five years later. The experience radically changed how I had perceived research. The narratives of how to implement each stage of the project, especially how to best present my research findings deeply challenged my way of thinking, the way formed by my previous education in a different culture. Although people think that being inspired and challenged is all that a doctoral study should be, to me, that was only part of the story. What I harvested was not just intellectual refinement in thinking and writing, also the privileges of being mentored and supported by professionals and forward-looking experts in different areas of applied educational research. More importantly, what I was guided to do was not only the completion of the study, but the equipping of the skills for future development; for example, I had my first experience in using VLE in ESRI. I was encouraged and financially assisted to attend conferences and workshops. All in all, the skills I acquired from ESRI benefited me greatly in what I have done afterwards. Without the learning experience in there, I would not have the confidence and competence to work in a prestigious British university as my current job.  Doing a PhD requires persistence, but is very rewarding; and it is hard to accomplish without sufficient support. I must say that I was a very lucky one and I would not regret any minute of it.

Zhiyan Guo

Last week I was privileged enough to be invited to a day of discussion with an international group of researchers at ESRI. These researchers had come to Manchester to take part in a huge international conference held by the British Education Research Association (BERA), where me and about 700 other researchers and academics were presenting papers over three days of intense, thought provoking learning.

As all these people were coming together for BERA, ESRI decided to invite a few friends from other international research centres over to our place to discuss the nature of the beast, research. And more specifically data – what is it? Where do we get it? What on earth should we do with it? We also discussed the thorny issue of the health of qualitative research, is it really under fire, or is it as healthy as it has ever been and growing in strength. Important questions all.

The data day was an absolute pleasure to attend. The discussions were passionately held and revealed a deep love of and passion for qualitative research. A real human interest in the nature of data, in our relationship with data and thus with the world around us. The playful nature of research, the imaginative and creative ways in which researchers see and interpret the world was apparent. How our fictive and imaginative musings sit with the serious business of policy in our field of education. How we can create radical new visions of the future and reveal hidden versions of the present. The examples of data in the discussion group I was in ranged from an improvised music performance to a Prezi on the messiness of data, complexity itself as data and narrative interpretations from different standpoints and even mathematics as a qualitative experience.

I have to say that if I was to compare the musings from the data day to the maelstrom of information at BERA, if I was even able to compare them, I would have to say that the data day at ESRI gave more food for thought as a deep and reflective exercise, where discussion were able to range and flow, where relationships were made by deep understandings of perspectives and imaginaries, albeit in a fleeting way.

Qualitative research has to be protected because you just can’t quantify experience like that!!

Apparently we’ve all been taking a break, well from blogging at least! Scanning through the latest blog entries I found myself asking ‘What happens when the month of August collides within the time-space of the academic researcher? Does it make a difference? And, ‘Is it possible to take a break from being or becoming a researcher?

I used to associate the month of August as a time of freedom from deadlines and a space within which I could take a much more relaxed approach to work and family life. This August things are decidedly different. As I have negotiated the role of full-time PhD student over the last eleven months and created new assemblages of work, study and thought my sense of self and other has changed dramatically.

I was once content to stand and ponder the mundane details of everyday life, but this summer I found myself thinking and viewing life through multiple lenses and subject positions. Critical questioning has become an unshakeable habit, in the strangest of circumstances and despite being on ‘official’ leave!  Even as I lay beneath the perfect azure sky whilst on vacation and attempted to assume the role of ‘holiday-maker’ I couldn’t help but think…and watch…and question … everything!

Combining academic activities with everyday life appears to both be a blessing and a curse. The opportunity to undertake research activities of reading, thinking, writing, observing and talking with others (in just about any physical space imaginable) certainly has its benefits. In this respect, ‘doing’ research is not only exciting and rewarding but also extremely flexible.   At times it feels like the best job in the world. Despite this, I’ve found that drawing a line or constructing boundaries between the time when one is a ‘researcher’ and not, is not only incredibly difficult but also unhelpful as I feel that becoming aware of relational and cultural subjectivity has helped me to establish a more reflexive approach to life and research.

As I start the new term with the image of my youngest daughter setting off for her first day at High School and anticipate new beginnings and end points, I wonder how and whether my encounters with academic life will be all that different to hers?

Whether it’s defined as academic labour or a labour of love, one thing’s for sure- once you begin the PhD journey it’s almost impossible to see where your research ends and begins and you start to realise that we are always somewhere in between, wherever and whoever we are…

We’re taking a well-earned break from blogging in August. See you in September!

When I volunteered to contribute to the ESRI blog it seemed an excellent idea but as I’m now confronted with an empty page I’m faced with the question that has become rather familiar over the last two years… where to begin?!

I am on the brink of completing completing Phase A of the Doctor of Education (EdD) programme at MMU.  Phase A lasts for two years and is part taught, which is a key difference between the EdD and the PhD.  A requirement of Phase A is attendance at study weekends (seven inyear 1 and three in year 2).  The study weekends are made up from lectures, tutor and student led seminars, work in Action Learning Sets and lots of discussion.  Tea and biscuits are provided and plenty of time is spent clustered around the kettles debating issues that have arisen from the sessions. Students are required to submit four assignments during Phase A (each of five thousand words).  The assignments develop the theory and the content covered during the study weekends.

I should have been able to celebrate passing my final assignment a couple of months ago.  Instead, I didn’t pass assignment four!  That came as a real blow and reinforced (had it been necessary) that EdD students don’t just go through the motions but really do have to achieve the required level of academic enquiry.  It’s not really about being ‘clever‘ but being prepared to read and work hard.  I finished my re-write yesterday and will re-submit today.  It’s been a useful journey to revisit my writing and I believe that the lessons I have learned will be valuable as I approach my thesis.

The EdD Programme is designed to promote the professionalism of educators and its emphasis is on intervention in policy, practice and debate.  The aim of the EdD Programme is to promote research-based professional practice in education.  The EdD is not just for teachers, in fact many of my EdD peers are from a range of professions including health care, social work and exercise and sport science.

When I embarked on the EdD programme I felt secure in my knowledge and understanding of my professional practice and my place within my workplace.  I considered myself to be well read and able to comment on local, national and international issues with some knowledge.  Two years on and I know less than ever before!  The EdD has taught me to question, consider and reflect.  Is it really possible to find answers and to know facts? My bedtime reading now comprises a list of names I had never heard of before embarking on the programme – Foucault, Žiežek, Derrida, Lacan… While it doesn’t necessarily make for easy reading the challenge is never dull.

I still have a very long way to go before I complete the programme, (at least three years and about 60,000 words) but the journey is exciting and fascinating, although admittedly at times, bewildering and frustrating!  The input and support we receive from the teaching team is high class and I know that my personal and professional lives have been changed for the better as a direct result of the EdD.  I have adopted a more inquiring attitude into what I watch, read, observe and think that I know!

Watch this space and follow my journey.  Will I finally pass Assignment 4 and pass into Phase B? My fingers are firmly crossed!