Category: Researching with children and young people

Education in Primary Schools: climate and craft (EPICC)

Author Education and Childhood Research Group | Posted on

Associate Professor of Education, Verity Jones, announces new project – Education in Primary Schools: climate and craft (EPICC)

Verity Jones, Associate Professor of Education, Verity6.Jones@uwe.ac.uk.

I am excited to announce that I am to lead the EPICC team in a project funded by UWE’s Vice Chancellor Challenge fund. This work draws together a new interdisciplinary team to work with craftivists, schools and Sparks (the new sustainability department store and education hub in the centre of Bristol).

Climate change is a complex phenomenon that can make it challenging to consider across the primary curriculum, yet my previous research has shown that both teachers and pupils want more opportunities to explore this (Jones 2022). While many teachers continue to see Geography and Science as the natural homes for climate change content, the emotional, ethical, social and political issues relating to climate change found in debates and discussions can be difficult to address in the existing curriculum and more traditional pedagogies. With increasing concern regarding young people’s growing anxiety and worry around climate change (Jones and Podpadec 2023) there is an urgent need for educational practices that provide opportunities for engagement, address concerns, support emotional needs and facilitate collective response. Aitkens et al (2016) have called for pedagogy and policy that engages students in affective, tangible, and action-oriented ways. Craftivism – the use of crafting as a tool for activism –  is a vehicle for expressing human values; and as a leverage opportunity for sustainable transformation.  Craftivism can also provide an effective pedagogic medium through which to explore pupils’ culturally diverse meanings and responses to the climate crisis.

There is an urgent need for educational practices that provide opportunities for engagement, address concerns, support emotional needs and facilitate collective response – craftivism is a tool that can help

Currently, researchers at University of Bristol are exploring how craftivist activities can be used within secondary school settings from 11-14 years. UWE’s EPICC team will be extending this research into the primary sector (7-11 years) in partnership with artists from Sparks – the new sustainable department store and education hub in Bristol. This work will present a broader understanding of the challenges and benefits of such an approach.  

This project has four research questions:

  • In what ways can the creative methods of craftivism support interdisciplinary climate change education in primary schools?
  • How might the creative methods of craftivism help 8-9 year olds share, recognise and respond to climate change related emotion, understanding and behaviour?
  • How might involvement in craftivism improve 8-9 year old pupil’s voice and agency in responses to climate change?
  • How might craftivism express and facilitate diverse significations of, and responses to climate change? (diversity could include, but is not limited to gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, religion or other protected characteristics)

The team will be working with three schools from Bristol and three craftivists with expertise in working with textiles, e-waste and wood.  It is anticipated that the project will

  • Create resources and teacher guides that will be freely available on Global Goals Centre resource hub with workshops based on this work being develop and available to schools at Sparks
  • Conference presentations at International conference for Institute of British Geographers (Sept 2024) Climate Change Primary Education Research Network (July 2024) – BSA Sociology of Education and Climate Change Subject Group events
  • Journal articles – in Primary Science, Primary Geography (both teacher audience) to be submitted by July 2024, Environmental Education Research (education focus), Sustainability (ESD focus) to be submitted by Dec 2024

Watch out for further updates about this exciting project.

For more information please contact the EPICC team:

Verity Jones, Jon Mullholland, Chris Pawson, Lizzie Harrison

References:

Jones, V., Millett, R., & Pykett, J. (2022). Sustainable threads. Using immersive narratives to teach about the climate, wellbeing and social impacts of fast fashion. Geography Teacher, 47(2), 79-82.

Jones, V.  and Podpadec, T.  (2023). Young people, climate change and fast fashion futures. Environmental Education Research [online], DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2023.2181269. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13504622.2023.2181269.

Atkins, R., Taylor, R., & Wood, B. (2016). Planning for critically informed, active citizenship: Lessons from social-studies classrooms. Journal issue, (3), 15-22.

Dr Verity Jones, Associate Professor of Education at UWE reflects on how her research in sustainability has created new and exciting opportunities in Bristol and beyond…

Author Education and Childhood Research Group | Posted on

Dr Verity Jones, verity6.jones@uwe.ac.uk

Sparks have been flying the last few months with some electrifying leaps in sustainable education in Bristol and you are invited to come and take a peek on July 4th 5-6.15pm.

I have had the pleasure of working with Global Goals Centre for four years, throughout which we have been developing exciting, research informed climate and sustainable education. The dream has always been to have a physical site to work with schools and the public to engage, enthuse and educate on issues pertaining to the protection of people and planet for a sustainable future. In May 2023 this was realised with the opening of Sparks, a former department store in the heart of Bristol’s busy Broadmead shopping centre.

Sparks aims to disrupt what a department store is and invites you to reconsider the what, how and why of what you purchase.

Sparks has the usual departments of a large store  – fashion, home furnishings, electrics and food. The difference is that what is on offer has sustainability, education and community at its heart. Furnishings, electricals and clothing are preloved with opportunities to learn how to repair and mend. Food is locally sourced from 60 small producers and the gift shop provides a space for over 80 local creatives to sell their wares. At the centre of the store is the Department of Discovery where schools, colleges and other groups can come and take part in one of the workshops I have developed with Manu Maunganidze. Listening to the needs of local schools we offer creative spaces to explore fast fashion, global food supply, sustainable transport, migration and biodiversity at a time of ecological and climate emergency.

On 4th July, we invite teachers to come for a free tour and see what it’s all about.

We know that many young people are concerned about the planet and we have developed hopeful pedagogies to support learners in navigating their emotional responses to these issues. While it’s important to recognise facts about carbon emissions, habitat loss and changing weather patterns, we believe it’s also important to frame this situation in the good news stories of how people and organisations are working towards mitigation – and how we may be able to support these. Feeling part of the solution can be empowering.

Having opportunities to engage with issues of sustainability face to face is great, but I’ve been extending that reach nationally and internationally through the Climate Change Primary Education Research Network

As Chair of UWE’s Climate Change Primary Education Research network,  I have been organising termly online events that bring researchers, teachers and student teachers together to discuss their work and practice. Developing professional networks where up to date insights in sustainable education can be shared and critiqued are essential. In June I was able to reconnect with Disappearing Dialogue Collective – a community education charity in Kolkata, who I have previously partnered with in researching sustainable education practice in India. We delivered a hybrid event where I shared the work going on in the UK with teachers from India. In it we recognised the common challenges teachers face relating to lack of subject knowledge, resources, budgets and time to plan and deliver important learning about the environment as well as the successes.

As we prepare to end another academic year and plan for a new one, the English Curriculum remains stubbornly married to a view where climate and sustainability are notably missing. Networks, partnerships and collaborations with interesting and engaged people help to move thinking and practice on, and provide hope that the way we approach education for greater sustainable development is possible.

  • To join the Climate Change Primary Education Research Network please email verity6.jones@uwe.ac.uk and follow Verity on @VerityJones_Edu

latest publications:

Jones, V. & Podpadec, T (2023) Young People, Climate Change and Fast Fashion, Environmental Education Research, 10.1080/13504622.2023.2181269

Jones, V., Gupta, N., & Mitre, S. (2023). Climate change and sustainability education in India and the place for arts-based practice: Reflections from East Kolkata Wetlands. London Review of Education, 20(1), https://doi.org/10.14324/lre.20.1.48.

Jones, V., MacLeod C. (2022) Why Children Need to Read About Plants at a Time of Climate Change, Children’s Literature in Education, 10-29  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-022-09511-x

Education in a Complex World

Author Education and Childhood Research Group | Posted on

Dr Ben Knight, Benjamin3.Knight@uwe.ac.uk.

Architecture Media & Politics Society (AMPS) annual conference, Toronto, Canada.

26th-28th April 2023.

Last month I presented a paper entitled ‘Exploring the Complex, Emergent Choreography of Classroom Teaching & Learning’ at the annual AMPS conference at Sheriton College, Toronto. Delegates came from over twenty different countries and each speaker brought their own particular take on the complexities of education at all levels in a fast-changing world.

My own interest in complexity and education stems from my interest in complexity theory as a framework for understanding the emergent and non-linear ways in which educational systems, from classrooms to national curricula operate and how bottom-up and top-down forces collide to create change. There were a number of other complexity theorists present and it was great to be able to have informal and fruitful dialogue about our work and possible future collaborations. In particular, two colleagues from Edinburgh University are keen to stay in touch and work towards some joint outputs.

There were also speakers who interpreted complexity in the more general sense and presented about the challenges of adapting to Covid lockdowns, about the complexities of intercultural learning and about balancing learner autonomy with curricular and pedagogical constraints. The keynote, delivered by the Dean of Sheriton College, focussed on the challenging world of work-related learning and proposed strategies for designing programmes which productively combine university and industry-based learning experiences. As a teacher educator working in a changing professional and political landscape this topic was of particular interest. My own talk was about the complexity of classroom learning, how learning does not wrap itself into neat 60-minute packages or appear on cue when teachers would like it to. I discussed evidence from research and from the classroom itself that learning is a messy, unpredictable and indeterminate phenomenon which demands expert judgement from teachers. My central thesis was that since learning is not a single, mechanised process or a predictable ‘product’ of teacher input, teaching cannot be scripted. Rather, classroom expertise relies on teachers’ capacity to problematise pedagogical dilemmas and critical incidents. I drew on my doctoral research and some of my subsequent publications, and was able to promote my forthcoming book on teacher professional judgement. My presentation was well received and followed by a lot of questions from the floor. A highlight was being able to share the below model for teacher judgement which I’ve been working on. The model situates judgements as occurring during and away from the moment of teaching, mapping loosely onto Schön’s (1987) concepts of reflecting in and on action.

In particular, I emphasised the value of systems thinking and how understanding the classroom as a system with multiple internal moving parts which mutually influence each other can help teachers to make productive organisational judgements. It was so helpful to be able to stand up and articulate the above model to others for the first time, get feedback and answer thoughtful questions about it.

It’s always nice to present on day one of a conference. Firstly, because you can then relax, enjoy the remaining presentations and focus on others’ work, but also because it leaves plenty of time to engage with fellow delegates who have had the chance to listen to your work. Meals out on the two evenings provided ample opportunities for this. Informal conversation over a meal and a few drinks with colleagues from different parts of the world always offers opportunities for new learning, but also always reminds me of how similar we all are irrespective of our different experiences, how similar education is and how as educators we share similar triumphs and make similar mistakes, wherever we are in the world. The jetlag wasn’t fun, neither was the mouse in my hotel room at 3am, but despite this I’ve come away from this conference having:

  • Strengthened and clarified my own ideas and work through exposing it to peer scrutiny
  • Learned from colleagues sharing a diverse range of educational ideas and complexities
  • Networked and forged some promising connections for future collaborations
  • Toronto Maple Leafs – Logos DownloadPromoted my book
  • Sharpened my thinking
  • Become a Toronto Leafs ice hockey fan (go Leafs!)

How can we promote acceptance of stigmatised appearances in primary schools?

Author Bristol Inter-disciplinary Group for Education Research | Posted on

Primary Schools are excellent places for child development, learning and socialisation, but unfortunately can also be hubs for bullying, social isolation and stigma. The chances of a child having negative experiences during Primary School education increase if they have an appearance which is socially stigmatised. If you are wondering what a socially stigmatised appearance is… it essentially means having an appearance which significantly deviates from society’s ‘standard’ characteristics, for example being of a higher weight or having a visible scar.

Of course, no two children’s experiences will be the same and having an appearance which is deemed socially stigmatising does not necessarily mean a child will have a negative experience in or out of school. However, studies which have considered the experiences of children with various socially stigmatised appearances suggest it would be naïve to believe, in general, their experiences are the same as children who have a socially ‘normative’ appearance (e.g., white, able-bodied with no visible difference).

Why is this the case? Well, there are a number of factors at play here. External factors such as the media, parents, education and policy can all influence children’s attitudes towards other appearances. Think of a villain in a children’s film… a number of villains have an appearance which is deemed socially stigmatising. Scar from the Lion King? Ursula from the Little Mermaid? These messages likely influence children’s attitudes towards various appearances.

Children develop attitudes towards socially stigmatised appearances at a very young age – at around 4 years stereotyping and prejudice can exist. Although, some evidence suggests this is even younger, with stigma towards people of higher weight being present at the age of 3 years, according to one study. Another study found by the age of 5 children make judgements based on weight and are less likely to choose a higher weight child as a playmate. Children with facial differences such as burn scars, a birthmark or cleft lip and/or palate are also at risk, with evidence that they are less likely to be accepted by their peers. All of this evidence highlights how children who have a socially stigmatised appearance may be less accepted and judged accordingly. Therefore, it is unfortunately not surprising that studies have also found children with a socially stigmatised appearance have a lower quality of life and are more likely to be subjected to bullying.

This issue is not new. Research during the 1960’s painted a similar picture, whereby children consistently ranked a child with no socially stigmatised appearance as most preferred in comparison to various other socially stigmatised appearances. However, to date, majority of intervention? Efforts within psychology and body image have focused on secondary school children. However, attempting to promote acceptance of socially stigmatised appearances in children aged 11 years and above may be a fruitless endeavour, as attitudes are likely well ingrained by this age. It is important efforts be placed in younger age groups, when attitudes are still developing, in order to combat stereotypes and subsequent behaviours. 

Further, the majority of school-based body image interventions have focused on a medical (individual) model and less on the social (group) model. For example, consider a child who has a facial burn. This child may be perfectly happy with their appearance. However, if they are being teased, bullied or excluded from social events, previous efforts regarding the child’s body image, would attempt to help that child increase their self-worth and self-esteem. However, efforts are not focused on changing the attitudes and behaviours of children around that child. Providing body image interventions which target acceptance at a group level allow for improvements beyond just the individual.

There has been a handful of interventions developed which target Primary School aged children in a bid to do exactly this – promote acceptance of appearance, at a group-based level.  A pilot study of a recent body acceptance intervention, titled ABC-4-YC, has found promising findings in Australia. However, interventions developed to target this broader issue have either not been evaluated at all, or require further evaluation.

What is clear is that children develop attitudes towards appearance at a very young age and this can impact on the lives of those who have an appearance which is socially stigmatised. Yet, majority of the efforts to target this issue have focused on older children or at the individual level. Therefore, undoubtedly there is a need for evidenced-based school resources which promote acceptance of stigmatised appearances in Primary School-aged children. Efforts should be made within psychology, education and social policy in order to combat this issue in a sensitive, timely and age appropriate manner.

If you are interested in research on body image in schools, Appearance Matters: The Podcast! Co-hosted by Jade Parnell (me!) and Nadia Craddock delves into what we know about how we tackle body image within the classroom. This episode can be found here.

Jade Parnell is a PhD student at the Centre for Appearance Research, based in Health and Applied Sciences (HAS) at the University of the West of England (UWE). You can contact Jade directly via email: jade.parnell@uwe.ac.uk or twitter: @jadeparnell.

The Bristol Inter-disciplinary Group for Education Research (BRIDGE) – Seminar

Author Bristol Inter-disciplinary Group for Education Research | Posted on


Bristol Inter-disciplinary Group for Education Research (BRIDGE) invites you to a lunchtime seminar on Monday, 4th March 2019 — 12noon-1pm — Room 2S603. We are pleased to have Jade Parnell, the Centre for Appearance Research, the University of the West of England, and Dr Maryam Almohammad and Dr Jane Andrews, the Department of Education and Childhood, the University of the West of England.


Promoting Acceptance of Socially Stigmatised Appearances in Young Children in Primary School


Jade Parnell, the Centre for Appearance Research, the Department of Health and Social Sciences, the University of the West of England


In this talk I will discuss my PhD, which aims to promote acceptance towards various socially stigmatised appearances in young children. Appearance-based stereotyping and prejudice emerges in early childhood, and can exist by the age of 4 years. Children from negatively stereotyped or stigmatised groups (e.g., higher weight, visible difference) are at increased risk of experiencing stigmatisation from other children, resulting in negative outcomes such as poorer psychological adjustment and quality of life. The talk will focus on a recent study, where children aged 4-9 years, from various Primary Schools in the South West of England viewed, in a randomised order, five digitally designed, realistic child characters. The images included a character; with no stigmatised appearance, wearing glasses, of higher weight, with a facial burn and in a wheelchair. All characters had similar features (e.g., face shape, height, race and eyes), but varied slightly according to the stigmatised appearance. Children were asked open ended questions and quantitative measures assessing their attitudes and possible subsequent behaviours towards the individual characters. Discussion will consider the possible findings in relation to the literature; along with implications for researchers and education professionals regarding strategies for promoting acceptance of socially stigmatised appearances in young children.


Artmaking, Materialism, and Multilingualism in Welcoming Environments for EAL Learners


Maryam Almohammad and Jane Andrews, the Department of Education and Childhood, University of the West of England.


The Creating Welcoming Learning Environments project, known as CWLE, (AHRC-funded, AH/R004781/1)) is a follow-on project from the large grant Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, the Law and the State (AH/AH/L006936/1). The project involved a “creative collaboration”, using Vera John Steiner’s conceptualisation (2000), between creative artists, school-based teachers and teaching assistants, local authority advisory teachers and university researchers. The project operated on a co-operative development model of teacher development as articulated by Edge (1992) so that, through a series of workshops, teachers participated in arts-based practices, assembled artifacts and interpreted them to reflect on their identities, bodies, languages and cultures. This was prior to teachers engaging in a process of transformation of their first-hand experiences of creative techniques into activities for their own learners in the different school contexts they work in, including primary, secondary and special schools in England.


In this paper, we approach the data generated in the workshops and in interviews, using Bennett’s concepts of “thing-power” and “discursive agency” (2010). Bennett (2010) uses the term “thing-power” to describe the qualities that objects have that in many ways are indescribable and intangible. Power is among all material bodies, both human and more-than-human, and therefore does not belong to bodies independently, but rather happens because material bodies are always dependent on one another. This is known as distributive agency (Bennett, 2010). In the CWLE series of workshops, teachers worked with materials: cardboard, maps, colours, stones, textiles, dyes and symbols. Working with art materials teachers engaged with the role of objects in art and meaning-making and reflected on the potential of material transformation in EAL contexts. Materials constructed during our workshops serve as reflective tools on the body experience and materials surrounding the body. Teachers transformed the art practices in their school spaces, such as the use of the identity suitcase box. The artmaking of suitcase/boxes offered teachers and learners an opportunity to engage with the taken for granted value of both human-human and human-non-human relationships. Through a co-creative process and collective action between animate and inanimate things, teachers and learners could be seen to no longer separate human from non-human. In this sense, humans are no more valuable than materials and objects with which they interact. In our paper we analyse one example of educational practice in a specific secondary school in England. Therefore, not only the divide between human and non-human ceases to exist, and new ways for knowing the self and the object as interbeings emerge (Anderson & Guyas, 2012), but also the divide between the ‘us and them’ can be seen to finish. Distributive agency of materials may be seen to help humans cooperate with each other in the art-and-language classrooms.

English as an Additional Language and Creativity Conference 2018

Author Bristol Inter-disciplinary Group for Education Research | Posted on

EAL and Creativity – Using Arts-Based Methods for Supporting Learners of English as an Additional Language

Thursday 12th July 2018 9.00 – 4:00 pm

The University of the West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS16 1QY

CWLE team at the Department of Education and Childhood, the University of West England in collaboration with Integra Schools is pleased to invite practitioners to a one day conference.

Keynote speakers:

 

Professor Alison Phipps, Glasgow University:

“The Well in Welcome: Creating Welcoming Environments for All”.

Dr Mary Carol Combs, University of Arizona.

Learning in the Third Space: Pedagogies of Hope and Resistance

Programme Highlights

Creative art workshops

  • Adinkra Creative Links – Naa Densua Tordzro and Gameli Tordzro
  • Spoken Word, Broken Silence – Tawona Sitholé and Alison Phipps
  • Film-making and EAL Learners – Maryam Almohammad
  • Craft-making with EAL Learners – Jane Andrews

 Teachmeet:

  • Judith Prosser, Cotham School, Bristol
  • Karen Thomas (Portsmouth EMTAS) and Rebecca Reeve

The conference is free but please make a booking here so we can organise catering and transport.

For inquiries please contact Dr Jane Andrews  jane.andrewsedu@uwe.ac.uk and Dr Maryam Almohammad Maryam.Almohammad@uwe.ac.uk

Follow us on Tiwtter: @CWLE_EAL 

 

Engineering Science Education: Teaching Science Through Engineering

Author Bristol Inter-disciplinary Group for Education Research | Posted on

In UK primary schools there are very few teachers who have any scientific qualifications above GCSE level.  Many also report that they struggle with science subject knowledge and that this causes them to feel less confident about teaching science.  Unfortunately we know that these aspects can have a negative impact on children’s learning and attitudes to science.

Our work, supported by a grant from the Engineer’s Professors Council and a UWE Spur 6 grant, aimed to address this by using engineering as an alternative approach to teaching science.  UWE trainee primary school teachers (ITE students) were paired with UWE undergraduate engineering students working together within a knowledge exchange framework to design and deliver engineering activities to local primary school children.  The pairs of students worked together to challenge children to design and make solutions to ‘real-life’ problems such as designing and building a machine to clear up after a class party; a floating device to enable you to take your phone swimming with you and a device to carry secret messages to a friend.

Research findings have shown that rather than de-skilling the pre-service teachers, pairing them with an ‘expert’ engineering student appeared to be a vital contributor to the positive outcomes of the project.  Working as paired peers significantly increased the trainee teacher’s confidence in both engineering and science subject knowledge as well as their confidence in their ability to teach these subjects well which can directly contribute to positive outcomes for children.  The engineers reported that they were more likely to take part in public engagement activities in the future as a result of participation in the project.

Over 800 local primary school children have also had the opportunity to become engineers for the day at our ‘Children as Engineers’ conferences run jointly by the Departments of Engineering and Education and Childhood.   For the children who have participated in the project using an engineering approach to teaching and learning science has supported their scientific understanding, as well as helping them to engage with the engineering design process.  The children were more positive about science, and future career plans in science and engineering, and they demonstrated a much greater and more accurate awareness about engineers and engineering.

As a result of this work a toolkit for training teachers and engineers to jointly teach science through engineering has been developed. This has now been embedded into the undergraduate programmes for ITE and engineering students.  This work is being supported by a HEFCE (now Office for Students) grant which will help us to evaluate longer term, sustainable impact.  The development of a tool-kit which can be used by other higher education institutions is our long-term goal.

Enabling the students and children to work together challenges children’s preconceptions about engineers and the role that they play, supports engineering students in their public engagement skills and develops the subject knowledge of the trainee teachers.  In the words of teachers from the schools involved ‘The engineering project was amazing!!  The children gained so much’ ‘the whole school is absolutely buzzing’.

In the words of the students themselves…..

Engineering student participant- “working with the teaching students was sublime.  I was amazed at their skills in the classroom.”

 

ITE student participant- “I really enjoyed the day, it was extremely useful to work with the engineers.  I was surprised at how we were able to share ideas so well.  I learnt so much.”

 

ITE student participant- “I was amazed at how doing the practical work revealed so much about the children’s learning and understanding.  It has really made me think about the types of lessons I will do in the future.”

Dr Fay Lewis ,Senior Lecturer in Primary Math and Science Education

Jamie, joy and learning to read

Author Bristol Inter-disciplinary Group for Education Research | Posted on

 

You may have heard the expression “never work with children or animals” and having been a primary school teacher and now a lecturer in Primary Education I have always felt that this is rather an unfair maxim. From my experience, it is often children that offer a more insightful view of the world we have created rather than the adults who created it. Children are able to reflect on the world from their unique vantage point, unburdened by big picture pressures of the big ‘p’ and small ‘p’ politics of daily life: the politics of party political education policy and its ramifications in schools and classrooms.  However, working with children does offer an element of unpredictability, surprise and unplanned for diversions – and perhaps this is what the expression is hinting at. As a researcher at UWE Bristol, these are the qualities that make researching with children so powerful and engaging.

I have just completed my Doctoral studies researching the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check and drawing on the voices of teachers and children to evaluate the Check in its widest sense. Kushner identified evaluation as a social service and the data that it generates as representing “the people – their hopes, fears, aspirations and failures.” Children, in their open and generous responses provided just this and so giving a momentary insight into the world of children aged 5 and 6, in Year 1.

One child, let’s call him Jamie, left a particular impression. The struggle to become a reader was etched on his face and clearly, reading was a real challenge. In fact when introducing the research to the children and asking if they were happy to be part of it, he immediately volunteered “I’m no good at reading, it’s really hard,” suggesting he was therefore not suitable to be part of such a research study. Jamie repeated through the session that the only way to get better was to practice – every day. His ideas of perseverance and practice seemed to be, in part, repeated tropes from teachers and parents. He offered this as the way to learn to read but without any joy or delight in the process or even a sense of any satisfaction in the final destination. Jamie knew reading was important: he made this clear – he mentioned the need to read as an adult, to get a job, to find your way “around London” as he put it. Jamie seemed to have internalised a fear of not being able to read and a keen knowledge that his friends could. Jamie expressed how he was not as good as others at reading and his face seemed to express how tired he was by this constant ‘practice’ that he seemed to suggest was his ‘lot’ for some time to come. Jamie, whilst being only six was no longer a primary school child but, as described by his teachers, ‘a student’ ripe for intervention. How is it that this term ‘student’ has come to be used with reference to all school aged children where once it was only used to identify learners at University? Have we lost the fact that Jamie is a child and that he won’t recapture these years as a child at primary school?

Jamie expressed an almost treadmill approach to developing as a reader – learning sounds; being tested on sounds; reading allocated books; moving through the book levels until one day in the future moving to that enviable position of being a free reader. Each step will be marked out by daily practice. Not only that, but Jamie expressed what seemed to be an ‘obstacle race’ view of the process – adults putting unnecessary additional hurdles in the way of the drudgery. “We have to read alien words,” he said – words that don’t make sense to children “only aliens”.  Lucy piped up at this point to correct him:

“Miss Honey said that, um they are just to help you with your sounds they are not for any other use they just help with sounds – um, a bit of a waste of time.”

These children are taught by fabulous teachers who inspire and enthuse their classes and there were many children that reflected this as part of my research. It is the voice of Jamie though that is the voice that sticks with me. In the introduction I talked about the warning that you should “never work with children or animals” and Jamie is perhaps one of those children, not because he is difficult or disruptive but because of the uncomfortable truths he expresses. Yes, we do want to teach Jamie to read and for some children, like Jamie, it won’t always be easy. However we do need to learn how best to make this a joyful process and one that doesn’t become so focused on the mechanics of practice that we lose sight of the child ‘in the student’.

Jane Carter ,Senior Lecturer in Primary Education

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