Discover the world at Leiden University ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching
Teachers and students as
co-researching partners pupil participation in an
educational action research project
Ben Smit
CARN 2013, Tromsø, Norway November 8, 2013
ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching
Intro
2
ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching 3
Project ‘Students as co-researchers’ (Utrecht University of Applied Sciences)
Starting points:
Children are not seriously involved in matters that
concern them and they have little influence in
decisions that affect them, neither in education (schools,
classrooms), nor in research
Teachers are hindered in their professional autonomy
by constraints in system and life world
Good education is supposed to educate young people
for a democratic society
So: why are pupils not genuinely participating in
research and decision-making on their own education?
ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching 4
Aims:
Enabling student participation (democratic education), by:
Creating a context for the classroom practice (a site-based
set-up or practice architecture), that allows:
Students and teachers to enter into a partnership as co-
researchers, based on:
Mutual recognition, respect and trust, that stimulate:
Change in ‘sayings’, ‘doings’, and ‘relatings’ of the
individuals in the practice (students, teachers, educators), that
fosters:
Sustained changes in the practice architecture of the
site.
Project ‘Students as co-researchers’
ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching 5
School years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011
Characteristics:
Students and teachers as co-researchers, as equals
External educational setting (museum, library)
Authentic research question
Student learning perspective as leading principle
Focus not only on the content of teaching and
learning, but also on the methods (pedagogy, didactics)
Possible transfer to daily school context
Project ‘Students as co-researchers’
ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching 6
Project ‘Students as co-researchers’
Action research on student learning:
10 classes; primary and secondary education
Each class: research team 3-5 students – teacher– educator
External context (museum, library)
Enable changes in learning within these sites
Student involment in learning process (student participation)
Positive student-teacher behavior and relations.
Development and facilitation of a participation strategy:
10 teachers (2 still in initial teacher training program), 4 teacher
educators (facilitators), 2 coaches
Working meetings (communicative space): developing teacher’s research
skills and exploring and mutual understandingdispositions towards
student participation ; preparation/evaluation of phases in research by
teams; workshops for students at school.
ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching 7
Organizational set-up of partnerships
External
educational sites
Research teams
Legend
teachers
facilitators
academic researchers
process coach
3-5 pupils + teacher
external educator
3-5 pupils + teacher
external educator
3-5 pupils + teacher
external educator
3-5 pupils + teacher
external educator
3-5 pupils + teacher
external educator
3-5 pupils + teacher
external educator
ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching
Multi-faceted concept; in various domains. E.g.:
youth consultation
listening to children
pupil voice / student voice
student participation
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Participation
ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching
In this project:
Active involvement of pupils in decision-making on
educational matters that affect them and concern them.
Covers a broad domain: e.g. curriculum content and
design; teaching methods, pedagogy, and didactics;
school context.
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Pupil/student participation
ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching
Participation – model Hart
8. Child-initiated, shared decisions with adults
7. Child-initiated and directed
6. Adult-initiated, shared decisions with children
5. Consulted and informed
4. Assigned but informed
3. Tokenism
2. Decoration
1. Manipulation
deg
rees of p
articip
atio
n no
n-p
articip
atio
n
Ladder of Participation. Adapted from Hart, R. (1992). Children's Participation: from Tokenism to Citizenship
(p.8). Innocenti Essay. Florence, Italy: UNICEF International Child Development Centre.
ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching
Patterns of partnership – model Fielding
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Fielding, M. (2011). Patterns of Partnership: Student Voice, Intergenerational Learning and Democratic Fellowship. In N.
Mockler & J. Sachs (Eds.), Rethinking Educational Practice Through Reflexive Inquiry: Essays in Honour of Susan
Groundwater-Smith (pp. 61-75). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer.
6. Intergenerational learning as
participatory democracy
in which there is a shared commitment to
/ responsibility for the common good
5. Students as joint authors in which students and staff decide on a
joint course of action together
4. Students as knowledge creators in which students take lead roles with
active staff support
3. Students as co-enquirers in which staff take a lead role with high-
profile, active student support
2. Students as active respondents in which staff invite student dialogue and
discussion to deepen learning /
professional decisions
1. Students as data source in which staff utilize information about
student progress and well-being
ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching
Intersubjective or mutual recognition –
Honneth / Thomas
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Honneth, A. (1995). The Struggle for Recognition: The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts (J. Anderson, Trans.).
Cambridge/Oxford, UK: Polity Press.
Thomas, N. (2012). Love, rights and solidarity: Studying children’s participation using Honneth’s theory of recognition.
Childhood, 19(4), 453-466.
Love-based
(affective)
Strong emotional attachments; affection, trust
Children as recipients and givers of care and affection
Outcome: mutual recognition of independence
Rights-based
(legal)
Respect for persons implied in modern legal relations;
recognition as being morally responsible persons
Children as right-bearers and rights-respecters
Linked to: social respect, self-respect
Solidarity- or merit-based
(social, relational)
Social relations of symmetrical esteem; recognition
according to the socially defined worth of the
individual’s characteristics
Outcome: sense of being ‘valuable’
Threefold conceptualization
ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching 13
Partnerships Partners Description “Project”
Student, teacher,
educator
Research teams; equal partners in
the action research activities
Research on student learning
in external setting
Student, student All students in the class were
involved in designing, conducting
and presenting the research.
Some represented their fellow-
students as members of the
research team
Research on student learning
in external setting
Teacher, facilitator
(teacher educator)
Collaboratively adapt suggested
working methods and activities to
the local site; temprarily take over
some of the teacher tasks
Enable student participation;
foster democratic principles;
mind inclusiveness
Teacher, facilitator,
academic researcher,
process coach
Professional and educational
development group, in regular
working meetings
Development of participation
strategy
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Recognition
Type of recognition Description Outcome
Self-recognition
(individual)
Recognition of oneself (student,
teacher) as a right-bearing and
capable person; attesting to one’s
own capacity for responsible
agency
Self-identity
Self-confidence
Sense of responsibility
Mutual recognition
(social)
Recognition of the other;
reciprocity; acknowledgement
Respect
Trust
Esteem
Agency
Succesful recognition is contingent on our circumstances, capabilities and
intentions. Circumstances change, capabilities and expertise have different
levels, intentions can be ambivalent or opaque. (Connolly, 2007, p. 135)
ICLON, Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching 15
Students as co-researchers
Contact
Ben Smit
More information
Smit, B. H. J. (2013). Young people as co-researchers: enabling student
participation in educational practice. Professional Development in Education.
39(4), 550-573. doi: 10.1080/19415257.2013.796297
Smit, B. H. J., Plomp, L., & Ponte, P. (2010, 28 November - 2 December).
Pupils and teacher as co-researchers: conditions for equal voices. Paper
presented at the Symposium ‘Consulting young people: Why student voice
matters’ (chair: Professor Susan Groundwater-Smith) at the AARE
Conference 2010: 'Making a difference', Melbourne, Australia.
Documentary “Students as co-researchers” (2012). Available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8p8fLBx54I (15:13 minutes)