Abstract
This study investigated the representations of teacher voice in literature that focuses on the teaching and learning of low prior attaining students. It considers two research questions: firstly, how is the complex relationship between a teacher’s beliefs and observable practice represented in literature and to what extent is the subjectivity of interpretation acknowledged? and secondly, what could be the impact of giving priority to teacher voice in academic and other professional literature?This is a mainly library-based study that uses the tenets of meta-theory to review the evidence in both academic and professional literature of the underlying assumptions of the researchers and authors. A sample of five current (2014 to present) research publications, as well as a sample of four publications that practitioners recommended as useful in the teaching of learning of low prior attaining students were reviewed and the findings compared. Although these are small samples, they afford the opportunity to open the discussion on the representation of teacher voice as well as consider the purpose of educational research.
After comparing the two different samples the results show that the literature chosen by practitioners seemed to put the voice of the teacher as central in the interpretation of the teacher’s beliefs and practice and furthermore, focused on proposing and critiquing practical strategies that the teacher could introduce in the classroom. This was not always evident in the sampled current literature where the beliefs and practice of the teacher was often interpreted through the subjective lens of the researcher.
| Date of Award | 5 Dec 2018 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
|
| Supervisor | Alf T Coles (Supervisor) & William J Browne (Supervisor) |