title: Performativity and affectivity: Lesson observations in England's Further Education colleges

authors: Edgington, Ursula

abstract: Teaching and learning observations (henceforth ‘observations’) are commonly used in a broad range of educational environments to assess teaching quality and support professional development. Research centred on observations in England’s Further Education colleges (FE), suggests these strategies are often ineffective because of tensions between ‘authentic’ teaching and the inherent performativity required by some managerialist policies (Ball 2003). This psychosocial study draws on interpretive interactionism (Denzin 1989) to explore lived emotional experiences of FE staff involved in observations and perceptions of embodied ‘performativity’.
 My research involved in-depth semi-biographical interviews with FE staff (n=14) which explored emotional experiences of teaching and learning within the context of their roles as observer and/or observee. Using my personal reflections as an FE teacher, together with my creative writing skills, fictionalised accounts are presented to demonstrate anonymised consolidations of the participants’ narratives (Sparkes 2002). Using conceptual tools from Bourdieu (1991) and the lens of psychoanalysis (Mollon 2002) I draw on Richardson’s (1997) ‘writing as a method of inquiry’ and Ochberg’s (2002) non-linear approach to data analysis to explore shared and disparate themes within the accounts, reflections and fictionalised texts.
 Vocational and personal learning experiences are argued to form a fundamental aspect of the professional habitus of FE staff (James, Biesta 2007). Outcomes from my innovative approach, illuminates this interplay of factors, specifically within the affectivity in the performativity of observations. Hence these findings provide an original contribution to knowledge in this area, by demonstrating how the potential tension in observations is situated in the personal significance of perceptions of an ‘in/authentic self’, rather than the performativity per se. Fictionalisation could be a useful tool to further explore lived emotional experiences of teaching and learning. Indeed, raising awareness of the perceived performativity intrinsic within the affectivity of observations could hold benefits for teaching practice more widely.

text: Performativity and affectivity: Lesson observations in England's Further Education colleges Teaching and learning observations (henceforth ‘observations’) are commonly used in a broad range of educational environments to assess teaching quality and support professional development. Research centred on observations in England’s Further Education colleges (FE), suggests these strategies are often ineffective because of tensions between ‘authentic’ teaching and the inherent performativity required by some managerialist policies (Ball 2003). This psychosocial study draws on interpretive interactionism (Denzin 1989) to explore lived emotional experiences of FE staff involved in observations and perceptions of embodied ‘performativity’.
 My research involved in-depth semi-biographical interviews with FE staff (n=14) which explored emotional experiences of teaching and learning within the context of their roles as observer and/or observee. Using my personal reflections as an FE teacher, together with my creative writing skills, fictionalised accounts are presented to demonstrate anonymised consolidations of the participants’ narratives (Sparkes 2002). Using conceptual tools from Bourdieu (1991) and the lens of psychoanalysis (Mollon 2002) I draw on Richardson’s (1997) ‘writing as a method of inquiry’ and Ochberg’s (2002) non-linear approach to data analysis to explore shared and disparate themes within the accounts, reflections and fictionalised texts.
 Vocational and personal learning experiences are argued to form a fundamental aspect of the professional habitus of FE staff (James, Biesta 2007). Outcomes from my innovative approach, illuminates this interplay of factors, specifically within the affectivity in the performativity of observations. Hence these findings provide an original contribution to knowledge in this area, by demonstrating how the potential tension in observations is situated in the personal significance of perceptions of an ‘in/authentic self’, rather than the performativity per se. Fictionalisation could be a useful tool to further explore lived emotional experiences of teaching and learning. Indeed, raising awareness of the perceived performativity intrinsic within the affectivity of observations could hold benefits for teaching practice more widely.

year: 2013

title: Personalising Learning: Exploring the principles and processes of the IEP for young, gifted readers

authors: Mazza-Davies, Laurie Lynn

subjects: personalising learning

abstract: This small-scale qualitative, action research study sought to establish the efficacy of using the Individualised Education Programme (IEP) as an assistive tool towards the differentiation of reading programmes for young, gifted and talented readers. Despite a growing awareness about the importance of curriculum differentiation for all students, research indicates how little some classroom teachers do to meet the needs of gifted readers.  The literature reviewed reveals how the prolonged mismatching of instructional reading programmes to the academic and emotional maturity of the gifted reader may well result in underachievement, and a diminished opportunity to learn how to react to challenge.

In November 2006, the New Zealand Ministry of Education launched its personalising learning initiative, which promotes the active participation of students in their education by creating their own learning pathways.  Students are encouraged to articulate their learning needs and preferences, and set goals in collaboration with their parents and family/whanau and teachers.  With its underlying principles based on collaboration and communication, together with its seemingly flexible structure, this study utilised the IEP as a personalising learning framework for young gifted and talented readers, and as a differentiation tool for their teachers. 

Over a five month period, the researcher worked alongside three Year Two/Three teachers from an urban, decile five primary school as they each identified one gifted reader from their classes, and together with the student and the student's parents, set about planning and implementing an IEP, using strategies and approaches suggested by the literature as the most apposite for gifted readers.  Data was gathered through in-class observations, participants' journals, focus group meetings, IEP meetings, and semi-structured interviews.  

This study reveals the use of the IEP holds great promise as a differentiation tool towards the personalisation of learning programmes for young, gifted readers.  Each student attended his or her own IEP meetings, indicated their learning preferences and needs, helped to set his or her own learning goals, and assessed their own achievement using the IEP goal indicators.  Significantly, for the teachers involved in this project, the IEPs proved not only useful as qualitatively differentiated planning frameworks for the students in the study, but many of the goals and strategies used proved pertinent for all children, in particular, for the 'top' reading groups.  In this regard, IEPs proved to be 'work-smarter' tools for the teachers involved, serving as planning blueprints for the most able readers in their classes, thereby creating inclusive rather than exclusive conditions for the gifted readers.  Furthermore, the insights gained by the teachers involved into the needs of their gifted readers ultimately challenged their personal teaching philosophies, and resulted in changes to their teaching practices for their gifted students.

text: Personalising Learning: Exploring the principles and processes of the IEP for young, gifted readers This small-scale qualitative, action research study sought to establish the efficacy of using the Individualised Education Programme (IEP) as an assistive tool towards the differentiation of reading programmes for young, gifted and talented readers. Despite a growing awareness about the importance of curriculum differentiation for all students, research indicates how little some classroom teachers do to meet the needs of gifted readers.  The literature reviewed reveals how the prolonged mismatching of instructional reading programmes to the academic and emotional maturity of the gifted reader may well result in underachievement, and a diminished opportunity to learn how to react to challenge.

In November 2006, the New Zealand Ministry of Education launched its personalising learning initiative, which promotes the active participation of students in their education by creating their own learning pathways.  Students are encouraged to articulate their learning needs and preferences, and set goals in collaboration with their parents and family/whanau and teachers.  With its underlying principles based on collaboration and communication, together with its seemingly flexible structure, this study utilised the IEP as a personalising learning framework for young gifted and talented readers, and as a differentiation tool for their teachers. 

Over a five month period, the researcher worked alongside three Year Two/Three teachers from an urban, decile five primary school as they each identified one gifted reader from their classes, and together with the student and the student's parents, set about planning and implementing an IEP, using strategies and approaches suggested by the literature as the most apposite for gifted readers.  Data was gathered through in-class observations, participants' journals, focus group meetings, IEP meetings, and semi-structured interviews.  

This study reveals the use of the IEP holds great promise as a differentiation tool towards the personalisation of learning programmes for young, gifted readers.  Each student attended his or her own IEP meetings, indicated their learning preferences and needs, helped to set his or her own learning goals, and assessed their own achievement using the IEP goal indicators.  Significantly, for the teachers involved in this project, the IEPs proved not only useful as qualitatively differentiated planning frameworks for the students in the study, but many of the goals and strategies used proved pertinent for all children, in particular, for the 'top' reading groups.  In this regard, IEPs proved to be 'work-smarter' tools for the teachers involved, serving as planning blueprints for the most able readers in their classes, thereby creating inclusive rather than exclusive conditions for the gifted readers.  Furthermore, the insights gained by the teachers involved into the needs of their gifted readers ultimately challenged their personal teaching philosophies, and resulted in changes to their teaching practices for their gifted students.

year: 2008

title: Ohaaki: A power station on Maori land

authors: Stokes, Evelyn

subjects: Ohaaki Geothermal Power Station

abstract: This paper is about a geothermal power station called Ohaaki, constructed over the period 1982-1989 on Maori land close by Te Ohaaki Marae and the ancestral papakainga of Ngati Tahu. This is a personal account of the impact of this project on Ngati Tahu rather than a history of the construction of the power station.

text: Ohaaki: A power station on Maori land This paper is about a geothermal power station called Ohaaki, constructed over the period 1982-1989 on Maori land close by Te Ohaaki Marae and the ancestral papakainga of Ngati Tahu. This is a personal account of the impact of this project on Ngati Tahu rather than a history of the construction of the power station.

year: 2003