What’s story-telling got to do with research?

post by VINI LANDER
Head of Research, Edge Hill University

The Respecting Children blog has been concerned with linking research evidence to demonstrate how issues of social justice and inequality have recurred over the last forty years.  The generation of empirical data is considered to be one way to support an argument and demonstrate a need for change within education policy or practice.  Researchers working in the field of “race”, ethnicity and education have built up a sizeable range of data to demonstrate how “race” and ethnicity in intersection with other factors such as poverty impact on the educational outcomes of minority ethnic children (Strand 2014), or how ethnicity affects the experiences of Black and minority ethnic trainee teachers in schools (Flintoff 2014; Pearce 2014). 

Response to “A Classroom Story” Jasmine Rhamie

post by JASMINE RHAMIE
University of Roehampton

I have read with interest and concern the Twitter debate generated by my blog “A Classroom Story” which was created as a counter-story. The characters William and the class teacher were representations of typical experiences composed from different accounts which were reported by Black male student teachers during a small scale research project in 2013.

Classroom Story

post by JASMINE RHAMIE
University of Roehampton

William dropped exhausted on his bed. He hadn’t realised how hard it would be to train as a primary teacher. After relaxing for an hour he carefully reviewed his teaching and marked children’s work. They had done very well and it was rewarding to note how well they had understood and progressed in maths. He thought about how he would move them on to the next concept and amended his planning in light of his marking and reflections.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

by VICTORIA SHOWUNMI
Institute of Education

As I stood in the bathroom about to wash my daughter’s face I noticed that she looked rather unhappy. I stopped what I was doing and asked her what was wrong.  The conversation went something like this:

Resilience, the Black child and the coalition government

post by JASMINE RHAMIE
University of Roehampton

In a climate of austerity and radical change in education, I am concerned about the challenges faced by Black parents to find ways to achieve the best educational outcomes for their children in an ever selective and competitive educational environment. The pace and direction of change is worrying and demonstrates the need for Black pupils to develop greater resilience in order to succeed in an education system set up to increase the purchasing power of the White middle classes to the disadvantage of Black pupils.