An Orientation to This Bookâs Focus
The study documented in this book explores the processes and experiences of a group of pupils taking responsibility for delivering a programme of teacher professional development (TPD) with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for their teachers in an English secondary school. The body of research which exists in this area is extremely limited, and where comparative studies or literature can be drawn upon, they are either sketchy or pertain to socio-cultural conditions which are both distinct and removed from the English educational system reported here. Although parallels are made with an Arab-Israeli study (Gamliel and Hazan 2014)âas will become evident in Chap. 3âwhat does emerge is the unique contribution that this book makes to the existing bodies of literature on student voice, and teachersâ professional development, particularly in terms of exemplifying the ways in which pupils can become empowered to initiate and support aspects of their teachersâ professional learning.
The motivating concerns that led to the study documented here stem from my own experiences and beliefs as a teacher, not only in recognising pupilsâ technological knowledgeâregardless of their ageâand their enthusiasm and willingness to share this expertise with their teachers but also how empowering this exchange can be for both pupils and teachers. In my role as a teacher educator, I have seen pupils as young as five assist trainee teachers who are new to using an Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) by showing them how to perform a particular operation or function which helps to move the lesson forwards. Pupils clearly enjoy assisting in this way and teachers are thankful for their input, and to me, this seemed to be a suitable mediumâin terms of promoting student voiceâwith which to explore how traditional power relations can be reversed and therefore reconfigured. Although this process of role reversal whereby the pupil becomes the âteacherâ and the teacher becomes the learner may be threatening for some teachers, I have seen first-hand in the classroom how it builds positive relationships between teachers and pupils which are centred around teaching and learning. The research study reported here was therefore perceived to present an opportunity to extend and formalise these transformative partnerships. Given the existing body of student voice literature which reports on the benefits of pupils and teachers working collaboratively (Fielding 2011; Mitra and Gross 2009; Rudduck 2005), another motivational factor behind the study was to improve relationships between teachers and pupils at the same time as shifting cultures within the school with the aim of embedding what the pupils and teachers referred to as the Teach a Teacher project into school policy. In doing so, it was hoped that this partnership would establish a self-sustaining system of ongoing TPD at The Appledawn School (pseudonym).
My interest in this area of research, which draws upon the concepts associated with student voice and TPD, stemmed from a secondment to the now defunct, but then internationally respected, British Educational and Communications Technology Agency (Becta). My remit for this secondment which took place between 2008 and 2009 was to produce a report for Becta detailing the ICT competencies and skills of the UK teaching workforce. What follows is a summary of how that research sparked my interest for the study documented in this book.
There were two research findings uncovered by Bectaâwhich for meâstood out as being significant. The first was that nearly 40% of secondary school teachers and 20% of primary teachers had sought advice from pupils about the use of ICT (Kitchen et al. 2007). The second was the extent to which newer technologies were reportedly underemployed in lessons with the use of instant messaging, wikis, blogs and other Web 2.0 tools being very rare at the time with many teachers being mostly unfamiliar with these types of application (Becta 2008). Given that most pupils of secondary school age engage with social media on a daily basis, my premise was that if teachers could be taught how to use these applications by pupils, then teachers could use their pedagogical knowledge to incorporate these technologies into their subject teaching. The idea, therefore, was that allowing pupils to access and use these tools in lessons would not only bring about greater engagement with their learning but also enhance student-teacher relationships. Although ambitious in principle and given the unpredictable nature of empirical school-based inquiry, events did not transpire or develop as anticipated. In fact, rather than addressing teachersâ knowledge with using new and emerging technologies, the pupils in the study reported here were engaged in providing their teachers with ICT training in the use of Microsoft Office software such as PowerPoint and Movie Maker.
In 2013 I began the fieldwork at Appledawn, which is a co-educational academy for eleven- to eighteen-year-olds with approximately 1200 pupils on role. Along with a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) who acted as the gatekeeper for the research, it was agreed to carry out the project with Year 8 pupils (twelve- to thirteen-year-olds). This year group was chosen because they were neither new to the school nor did they have the pressure of studying for examinations. Sixteen pupils and eight teachers were involved in the project with pupils volunteering and then nominating and approaching the teachers they wanted to work with. Overall, I spent eighteen months in the school, and although I parted ways having completed my fieldwork in 2014, the project (under internal leadership) continued to develop and was still active at the time the gatekeeper left the school to take up another post elsewhere in 2017.
Given that the study reported in this book involved pupils and teachers using technology, there is, subsequently, some discussion of the generational digital debate in Chap. 6. It is important to establish at this point, however, that this book supports the view that it is necessary to take into account how peopleâs experiences, attitudes and backgrounds, as opposed to just their age, may determine how they respond to or engage with ICT and that the belief that age alone presents a barrier to teachers engaging with technology may therefore be unfounded. Teachers with traditionally held beliefs, for example, those favouring children climbing trees rather than using computers (Cordes and Miller 2000), may choose to resist using technology in their teaching or as part of pupilsâ learning, even if they are technologically competent themselves (Hermans et al. 2008).
This book presents an argument for a much-needed step change as to how, and from whom, teachers may receive or otherwise engage with support for their professional learning. The overarching aim and purpose of using an innovative student voice initiative was not just to support teachersâ professional development with ICT but also to provide a medium to build trust and empathy and thereby develop and enhance relationships between pupils and teachers. The research questions for the study reported here are as follows:
To conclude, although technology plays a distinct role in this study, it is not the main focus since this book neither seeks to present a caseâor studyâconcerning the effectiveness or merits of specific digital technologies in education nor does it seek to investigate or make judgements concerning the benefits or processes of preparing teachers in-service for the routine or advanced use of ICT in teaching. Technology, as well as teachersâ and pupilsâ digital literacy skills, is incidental to this book and so ICT serves as the meansâor rather the vehicleâfor the study, whereas the synergy between TPD and student voice forms the ends and therefore the main focus of this book.
The Literature: Student Voice and Teacher Professional Development
This book positions itself in relation to the bodies of literature on student voice and TPD. The function of these two facetsâvoice and TPDâis crucial to this book because they provide conceptual coherence in offering explanations as well as justifying conclusions which are important in terms of establishing the unique contribution that this book makes to these two areas. Although considered in more detail in Chaps. 2 and 3, the fundamental gap in knowledge highlighted here concerns a conspicuous lack of literature pertaining to any student-led initiatives in the UK which involve pupils taking responsibility for orchestrating their teachersâ professional learning and development.
Over the last two decades, seeking the views of students has gained prominence as an accepted forum in schools, not just as a way of valuing pupilsâ unique perspectives on often-neglected issues (Fielding 2010) but also as a vehicle for steering school reform (Mitra 2004). The success of student voice initiatives and the extent to which they are democratic processes is largely dependent upon strategic leadership and the school environment that this generates (Barber et al. 2010; Smyth 2006). However, although school leadership and the debates concerning democracy when implementing student voice initiatives are not the primary focus of this book, they are given some consideration in Chap. 2.
From a wideâand ever-growingâbody of literature on student voice, it becomes clear that there is a diverse landscape and disparity in terms of policy, practice and the perceived benefits and shortcomings that pupil-led initiatives have in relationship to the role that these may or may not play in schools (cf. Batchelor 2006; Bragg 2007; Demetriou and Wilson 2010; Fielding 2011, 2016; Gunter and Thomson 2007; Mitra et al. 2012; Rudduck 2004, 2005). Although there are studies which investigate pupilsâ involvement in school-wide reforms or where students take on leadership roles (e.g., Goodman and Eren 2013; Lavery and Hine 2013; Taines 2014), research in this area is still thin on the ground. Research on pupils providing TPD for their teachers is virtually non-existent, and the only cases found (EdFutures 2018; Gamliel and Hazan 2014; Pachler et al. 2010) are considered later in this book, although other studies do exist outside of the school setting where teenagers ...