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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?


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’


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




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.


Organizational set-up of partnerships

External

educational sites

Research teams

Legend

teachers

facilitators

academic researchers

process coach

3-5 pupils + teacher

external educator


external educator


external educator


external educator


external educator


external educator


Multi-faceted concept; in various domains. E.g.:

youth consultation

listening to children

pupil voice / student voice

student participation

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Participation


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


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.


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


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


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


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)


Students as co-researchers

Contact

Ben Smit

[email protected]

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)

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8p8fLBx54I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8p8fLBx54I

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