Posts

Data and schools

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In this post I talk about educational research and how it’s used in school policy. I sort of ramble about a bit, but quite liked the process of writing it whilst the exploring sources at the same time! In recent weeks I’ve been enjoying being part of a teacher researcher group that we have setup at school. In the group we’ve talked about what we’re interested in and thought about the theme of autonomy in a bit of detail. More generally, we’ve discussed what constitutes good evidence in educational research with a common thread being that it’s important to look critically at studies that appeal to big data. This is prevalent in the educational research that informs practice in schools and arguably with good reason, as drawing from large meta-analyses can be seen as a ‘best bet’ when schools have limited means to conduct their own research and draw their own conclusions. But in this post, I’m going to first make the case that we need to be cautious about accepting large-scale quantitativ...
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About Adolescence

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I loved watching the Netflix series  Adolescence  and thought it was amazing television that carried some important messages with it. As a researcher who has been involved for the past few years in exploring the influences of schools, peer groups and social media on masculinity and femininity, it has been exciting to see the amount of attention that the series has drawn. With people talking about the program it feels like a great time for more research to be happening into adolescent gender constructions and performances (which is another way of talking about what it means, and what it’s like, to be a boy or a girl). There is some fascinating research around, and there is a fault somewhere that means that much of it is largely missed by the general public. So when something like  Adolescence  manages to get people thinking then that’s definitely a good thing. However, I would argue that a focus on incel culture, the influence of social media and the plight of young m...
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Location: QCGH+CG Bexhill-on-Sea, UK
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Exaggerated identities: 'becoming' online

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With the Euros happening at the moment, I’ve been reminiscing about ex-England players with the kids. Obviously Gazza came up, amongst a few others and I had a go at trying to liken him to current players. One of the differences, Naomi and I were telling the kids, is that back then there was a lot more crazy behaviour amongst footballers. Dentist chair, or sniffing-the-touchline-type celebrations were probably never really a great thing to see school children reproducing on the playground, but I would argue that for famous sports people and other celebrities, the coming of social media and a life online has contributed to a change in how influential people regulate their behaviour.  It is important to consider on different levels what teenagers are engaging in when they take to social media. On the face of it, a profile appears as a symbolic representation of an identity: if we are considering the exhibitional approach (which I’ve written about before here) then the title across th...
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Slow dancing with a mate

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When you’re writing up research you usually have to write an impact statement where you describe how what you’ve learnt about might be put to use one day. I’m pretty relaxed about the idea that my thesis (if it ever gets written) will mostly just occupy some dusty space in a university server somewhere, almost entirely untouched for the rest of time. But I’ve not got many regrets about taking it on because it has lead me into so many conversations about what it is to be a man or woman, and I know there is lots of good that has come from these. M y interest in this area came from trying to understand the lived experience of boys at school, and it’s still in this area where I hope a lot of what I’m learning might one day be able to be used.   I reckon that what my impact statement is going to focus on.  First and foremost, I talk to Naomi about all this stuff, and some of what I read is a catalyst to chats that mean I get to appreciate her position a little better. The school I ...
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Me: The Exhibition

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In the mid-to-late 90s my dad bought a computer that could access the internet. Sat at it in the kitchen, I could interact with people I had never met before, and probably never would again, through chat rooms such as  AOL instant messaging . Users were identifiable by a screenname which they chose themselves, and I could connect by clicking on their screenname and starting a conversation, usually with the shorthand question “asl?”, asking for their age, sex and location. I quickly lost count of the numerous alter-egos I created for myself, apparently liberated by the anonymity of having no visual identity. In conversations users could construct their own backstory and perform a personality of their choosing. Was there anything real in those interactions? Were they genuine insofar as they were unmediated by cultural regulations of face-to-face interactions, or simply fabrications and role-plays that were entertaining but not illustrative of the user’s ‘real’ identity?   I...
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All the world's a stage

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A post about Goffman's Dramaturgical Analysis and considering (a little) it's application in schools. Also a bit about online identities and the exhibitional approach, but more on that in another post. It was suggested to me once that I could, as a teacher, build a presence around school by putting a pin in the sole of my shoes. The idea is that even when you’re not seen, you’re heard – omnipresent and surveillant. The ‘tap tap’ of the teacher’s shoes like the ripples in a glass signalling the coming of T-Rex on  Jurassic Park . It means that if you’re ‘good’ then before you’ve turned a corner any trouble will have fled, and maybe it even extends your aura. I tried it for a while in an echoey building and I reckon it worked.  Within education there must exist hundreds of tricks that are employed to help build a persona. Pupils might need to mask emotions in order to maintain the characters they take on, and teachers might have to feign them so as not to upset students, or to h...
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