CLAREC Alumni Theses

Applying a critical quantitative lens to examine the learning outcome differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in Peru

Broeks, M. (2024). Applying a critical quantitative lens to examine the learning outcome differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in Peru [Apollo – University of Cambridge Repository]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.114078

Abstract: Across the world, Indigenous Peoples disproportionally suffer from persistent historical inequalities. In Peru, Indigenous children obtain lower scores on academic tests than their non-Indigenous peers. Despite efforts to tackle these inequalities and a growing consciousness that pejorative societal views towards Indigenous populations need to change, discrimination against these groups continues to be salient in Peruvian society. A deficit discourse that perpetuates views on Indigenous individuals as less able or ignorant is still present. Furthermore, structured efforts within academic research to tackle this narrative are lacking. Unfortunately, few quantitative researchers take steps to assess biases in data collection or analyses that can mask or exacerbate group differences. Based on these issues, this thesis has two aims. First, to examine the extent to which the choice of indigeneity definition and outcome measure influence Indigenous to non-Indigenous learning outcome differences. Second, to gauge the extent to which child, household and structural factors could explain differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children and whether this varies depending on how indigeneity is defined. The motivation of this thesis is to showcase that a deeper and more critical engagement with statistical data can provide new insights on the processes that may explain educational disadvantages of Indigenous children in Peru. Following equality of opportunity theory, this thesis is grounded on the notion that children should have the same chances to succeed in education regardless of their background. The first aim is addressed through four research questions (RQs). RQ1 is to what extent have previous studies that examine education outcome differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in Peru critically reflected on their choice of indigeneity operationalisation and outcome measures? Indigeneity is a complex social construct and operationalising it through survey data is difficult. This warrants the question of whether different operationalisations of indigeneity matter when researching Indigenous groups’ education outcomes. Similarly, when researching the education outcomes of diverse groups comparatively it is important to assess the cross-cultural validity of the data. Inbuilt biases in data collection tools can systematically advantage one group over another and magnify or mask group differences. To provide an empirical example, this thesis examines survey data from Peru to answer RQ2, to what extent does the way that indigeneity is operationalised influence the magnitude of the observed between group differences? and RQ3, to what extent are available education outcome measures appropriate to study the learning of Indigenous children comparatively? When examining RQ3 focus is also placed on RQ5, are findings consistent across different indigeneity operationalization? To address the second aim, two research questions are examined. Namely, RQ4 to what extent are group differences attributable to personal attributes as compared to structural and educational opportunity factors? And RQ5. RQ4 is grounded on the Quantitative Critical Race Theory (QuantCrit) and Indigenous Statistics principle that indigeneity does not drive educational performance or pose an innate disadvantage. Rather it is assumed that observed educational differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children must be driven by other factors. These can be structural barriers or biases that are built into the research process. Findings from RQ3 inform the choice of outcome measure to examine this question. Finally, RQ5 extends the data exploration from RQ2. It seeks to empirically show whether the categories used to define Indigenous children influence research conclusions. This thesis’ methodology follows a critical quantitative framework based on QuantCrit and Indigenous Statistics principles. These emphasise that the categories used to collect and analyse statistical information shape research conclusions, and therefore researchers should be reflexive about their research choices. Hence, reflexivity is built into the integrative review and the empirical analyses of the Peru Young Lives survey. To address aim one, an integrative review of the literature, t-tests and Differential Item Functioning analyses are undertaken to examine different indigeneity definitions and the validity of outcome measures. Reflexivity is incorporated in the integrative review by examining whether researchers explained their rationale for and critically evaluated their analytic choices. Reflexivity is integrated in the empirical analyses by using a multidimensional operationalisation of indigeneity alongside binary ones. Using a multidimensional definition helps this research move away from a simplistic binary conceptualisation of indigeneity and enables capturing to some extent the complex social and evolving nature of indigeneity in Peru. Comparing results to those of binary definitions further enables showing how conclusions may vary depending on how groups are categorised. To address the second aim the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition technique is used. The Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition enables breaking down the difference between groups into an explained portion attributed to differences in endowments and an unexplained portion that captures differences in the returns that groups obtain from a factor. Reflexivity is built into these analyses through the careful selection of the main outcome measure. The mathematics test is chosen because it shows no between-group bias. Furthermore, the variables included in the analysis are categorised as either personal attributes or structural and educational opportunity factors. The categorisation of some variables into these groups deviates from mainstream approaches. For example, while maternal education is often considered a personal attribute of the mother that is driven by personal choices, in this thesis it is considered a structural variable because it reflects educational access opportunities the mothers had. Finally, analyses are undertaken using a multidimensional and two binary indigeneity definitions, to show how different definitions can influence research conclusions. The integrative review reveals a clear trend. Authors of past studies rarely engage critically with the data they use, nor do they reflect on their research choices. Most reviewed studies use a single factor to define indigeneity, commonly the language of the mother, despite other information being available. In addition, most use the vocabulary test as the primary outcome. However, this thesis’ empirical analyses show that the choice of indigeneity definition does matter. Definitions based on ethnicity yield smaller between group differences than those based on the language of the child. Further, the cross-cultural validity analyses of the outcome data, identified biases in the vocabulary data, the outcome most used in the literature. However, bias is not found for the mathematics data, suggesting that it is more suitable for undertaking group comparisons. Lastly, questions flagged for bias vary with the indigeneity definition. Together, the analyses for aim one reveal a pattern of linguistic disadvantage affecting Indigenous children. Further, the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition analyses show that the score difference in mathematics is entirely attributable to the explained portion. This means that differences are due to difference in endowments between groups. Only structural and educational opportunity factors contribute to the explained gap. Maternal education is consistently the most important factor, covering almost half of it. This is followed by grade repetition, rurality, region and wealth index. Importantly, child characteristics do not contribute to this portion. In terms of the unexplained portion, results are not statistically significant. This suggests that there is insufficient evidence that the score gap is due to differences in returns between groups. These results are consistent across indigeneity definitions. This thesis highlights the need for a more critical engagement with quantitative data to study the education outcomes of Indigenous children in Peru. It makes a unique contribution by using a critical quantitative framework. It has shown that the choice of indigeneity definition and outcome can influence the observed differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. Finally, this thesis corroborates that score differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children are mostly attributable to structural and educational barriers. These findings emphasise that the observed outcome differences are not due to being Indigenous and highlight the importance of framing the identified differences as educational debts society owes Indigenous children. Therefore, addressing inequalities that affect Indigenous children early on has the potential to improve their long-term educational prospects. Supporting them throughout their educational journey, addressing linguistic disadvantages and promoting school completion have the potential to equalise outcomes.

Utopian thinking in higher education and its relationship with social movements: Reshaping societal roles to build alternative worlds

Da Trindade, A. (2024). Utopian thinking in higher education and its relationship with social movements: Reshaping societal roles to build alternative worlds[Apollo – University of Cambridge Repository]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.109579

Abstract: In the post-pandemic world, the socio-political and economic landscape presents extraordinary challenges, including humanitarian crises, climate issues, escalating inequality, poverty and marginalisation. How can we reimagine and reconceptualise societal frameworks to foster a more egalitarian and just society? This study advocates for the concept of “insurgent utopia”, a subset of the broader notion of “concrete” or “real” utopia elaborated by Levitas (2010, 2013) and Wright (2010) respectively. Focusing on Brazil, this research examines the role of public higher education institutions (HEIs) in effecting societal change, with an emphasis on their cultural and social contributions and their engagement with social movements committed to transformation. This research builds on theoretical foundations drawing from discussions of political, humanitarian, economic and environmental crises, the roles of universities in these contexts and the potential for transition models to create a more equitable and sustainable society. It underscores the value of utopia as a pedagogical process and a method for exploring possibilities through an academic lens, marrying hope with education, as expounded by Bloch (1996) and advocated by Freire (2005). Methodologically, this research applies a critical realist approach, emphasising reflective science and “responsible critique” (Elder-Vass, 2022). The methodological plan employs dialogic techniques and the extended case method (Burawoy, 1998); and is committed to “research as militancy”. This approach enhances the methodological application of critical, emancipatory, and militant ethnography, all the while endorsing the concept of plural knowledge development, as explored in this thesis. The empirical research involves three ethnographic case studies in Brazil: the Federal University for Latin American Integration (UNILA), the Popular University of Social Movements (UPMS) and the Florestan Fernandes National School (ENFF). These cases illustrate various interactions of universities with specific social groups in promoting transitions to alternative futures, particularly by exploring what is characterized as their “third mission.” The study yields three key findings: (a) concrete utopia is most effective when championed by those directly affected by the desired transformation; (b) transition projects gain strength by incorporating insurgent utopias, emphasising engagement and pedagogical experimentation and valuing collective action; and (c) universities can expand their social role by actively collaborating with social movements, becoming allies in social transformation processes, promoting responsible criticism and providing a fertile space for experiments that explore the realm of possibilities within rigid structures, as articulated by the concept of “sowing” (Walsh, 2017). The primary contribution of this research lies in proposing an adaptable transition framework that can be discussed, applied and refined in practice, inspiring academics to reassess the role of universities in societal transformation. As for its limitations, the study initially relied on virtual interactions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, shifting to in- person research once pandemic-related restrictions were lifted.

Deep mediatization in education: school teachers’ voices using a critical realist ontology

Ansaldo, S. (2023). Deep mediatization in education: school teachers’ voices using a critical realist ontology [Apollo – University of Cambridge Repository]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.106347

Abstract: This thesis delves into the multifaceted aspects of media and technology adoption by teachers in schools from Chile and England, exploring their lives, concerns, conditions and characteristics that shape the use, adoption, or rejection of media, platforms, and software. I draw on a ‘deep mediatization’ approach in education to make visible processes by which media (traditional and digital) increasingly permeate various aspects of society, shaping the way people interact and experience the world. However, I argue that the mediatization approach tends to undertheorize causality claims, which can be attributed to a lack of reflection on the ontological underpinnings that sustain such claims. The described ontology neglects the shaping force of reflexivity and people’s own concerns as a mediatory element between agency and structure in the relationship between technology and people and institutions. Considering those shortcomings, I adopt critical realism as a complementary metatheory to develop a combined approach in which mediatization can dialogue with critical realist ontology, giving cultural contextual elements and agential power more weight and influence. Likewise, I also consider that critical realism, in its development of reflexivity, has not engaged productively with issues around media and communication, especially in terms of how media contents, infrastructure, and interactive elements participate in the elaboration and stimulus of concerns and internal dialogues. To do this work, teachers’ concerns and voices were placed at the centre of the analysis using an approach from within. First as a normative issue, considering that teachers are the core of the educational process and deserve to be heard and included in the analysis of their field. Second in practical terms I follow the idea that concerns are not only a subjective element with no sociological effects. Instead, concerns might also have a direct impact on the material world shaping practices, decisions, inclinations, and tendencies. I also argue that in this comparative study, the accelerated adoption of new platforms and digital tools in learning environments, because of Covid-19, shows that the material circumstances, cultural background, historical context, and teachers’ visions and concerns are conditions that enable or impede the uses of those new tools, enabling a causal analysis with an explanatory focus. In those terms and following critical realist ontology, I claim that agential powers influenced by (and influencing) culture matter more in some contexts than in others, which is exemplified by the pandemic scenario. I conclude that there is a current process of mediatization in which structural forces, related to the surge of the EdTech market, are pushing for the adoption of certain technologies; however, that process is highly dependent on reflexivity and cultural and historical context, which conditions causal mechanisms and their effects  

Dialogic teaching for students with conditions within the autism spectrum

Trigo Clapes, A. (2022). Dialogic teaching for students with conditions within the autism spectrum [Apollo – University of Cambridge Repository]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.95512

Abstract: This investigation contributed pragmatically and theoretically to the current knowledge of practices that support autistic students in mainstream schools. It focused on the support of the participation of verbal autistic students in formal class activities in mainstream classrooms. This is a relevant topic for investigation due to the growing number of autistic students attending mainstream classrooms in England and reports suggesting they often experience sensory, social and understanding difficulties in this context. Autistic students’ social difficulties are frequently salient, hindering their engagement with class activities. As part of this investigation, a set of teaching strategies that could facilitate the participation of autistic students in formal class activities was created to address this issue. These strategies were based on empirically tested ones commonly used as part of dialogic teaching. Dialogic teaching represents a pedagogical approach and stance towards learning that recognises the crucial role of language and social interactions in development and learning. It was deemed as a beneficial pedagogical approach because it promotes a safe class environment in which all voices are valued and makes the class goals and participation expectations explicit for all. Accordingly, this approach can promote openness to different views and forms of participation and provide guidelines for the students’ participation. However, dialogic teaching mainly considers non-autistic cognition and communication, representing a theoretical gap in the literature. Therefore, consistent with the neurodiversity perspective that framed this investigation, these dialogic strategies were adjusted to the communicative characteristics of autistic students drawing on evidence-based practices for supporting autistic individuals. A design-based approach was adopted because it enabled me to create and iteratively test and refine the strategies based on current literature and my collaborations with teachers in mainstream classrooms in England. This approach also permitted the simultaneous development of an underpinning practical theory for the created strategies in the form of design principles. The principles and strategies comprised a design framework that I designed, tested and refined throughout four design cycles. These cycles involved: 1) the development of a prototype of the framework based on literature (Cycle 1), 2) the trial and refinement of the framework in a multiple-case intervention study in which three teachers from different schools put the framework’s strategies into practice in their mainstream primary school classrooms that included one autistic student each (Cycles 2 and 3); and 3) the creation and implementation of a self-paced online professional development course in which 11 teachers took part (Cycle 4). The in-depth analysis of class interactions, teachers’ interviews and feedback obtained in the online course led to the creation of a design framework comprised of 11 design principles and 39 associated strategies. These support teachers’ planning of accessible class discussions for autistic students and guide their contingent support to these students’ participation. The findings of this investigation highlight that class discussions can be accessible if discussions are explicit and teachers conduct them in response to the students’ capabilities and promote accessible ways of participation. 

Schools deciding the purpose of education: Policy enactment in a context of goal-expanding, high-stakes accountability reform

Marfan Sanchez, J. (2022). Schools deciding the purpose of education: Policy enactment in a context of goal-expanding, high-stakes accountability reform [Apollo – University of Cambridge Repository]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.89523

Abstract: New shared challenges across the globe are pressing educational systems towards pursuing an expansion in the range of goals to pursue, revaluing the social and personal development purposes of education. Efforts to develop educational policy based on a broader approach to education are increasingly emerging. These new goal-expanding policies are installed on top of the educational reform infrastructure that countries already had, merging with it. In many countries, this previous policy scenario has been a high-stakes accountability reform based on standards, creating a goal-expanding, high-stakes accountability reform. This research focuses on the Chilean system of education quality assurance (SAC being its initials in Spanish) as a case of goal-expanding, high-stakes accountability reform. In this type of policy, newly introduced social and personal development aims and long-standing academic goals interact within a bureaucratic accountability system. However, the reform’s mechanisms prioritise academic goals as measured by standardised tests over other results. The research aims to understand how schools address this contradiction, what educational goals prevail in the enacted policy, and why. Conceptually, I employ policy enactment theory, focusing on educators’ interpretation of the policy goals, their translation into practice and how this process is influenced by aspects of the schools context, people’s sense-making and the policy strategies. I complement policy enactment theory with school change and professional development theories, engaging in particular with cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) to build a conceptual framework in which policy enactment can be observed as a process of organisational and professional learning.
Data come from case studies conducted in four primary schools in Santiago, Chile, where I carried out semi-structured interviews with school leaders and teachers, observed multiple sessions of selected organisational routines and analysed the schools’ improvement plans. I used NVivo to conduct a thematic analysis at the school case level and then made comparisons across settings to identify patterns and differences that allow for new theoretical developments. The results show that schools create new roles, teams, rules and meetings to meet SAC’s academic goals only, motivated by a widespread sense of continuity with previous policies, local reputation concerns, and an understanding of SAC as a system that prioritises pupils’ test results. To achieve this, all schools follow two different rationales. The first one consists of an accountability-coping logic in which schools emphasise internal control, practice repetition and standardisation. The second one is a teachers’ collaboration rationale, which promotes productive conversations that lead to professional learning and development of new practices. These two rationales compete for schools’ time and focus, although I argue that only the latter can produce practice transformation, promote school improvement and expand the range of educational goals that a school enact. Meanwhile, schools tactically address the social and personal development goals, but without incorporating them into teachers’ practice. Across schools, educators consider that these new goals have always been present in schools’ work and expressed in their pedagogic identities. Educators also mistrust the social and personal development measurement tools and complain of the lack of instruments to convert them into actionable goals. Thus teachers’ lack of a professional grammar, a shared conceptual and operational infrastructure to analyse the teaching and evaluation of social and personal educational goals plays against their incorporation in the enacted version of SAC. I conclude that the SAC is failing to expand schools’ focus but rather exacerbates an academic expectation mandate in a way that does not promote schools’ capacity to do things qualitatively differently. Schools show agency when facing the enactment of SAC by modifying the central elements of their organisational structure, including the creation of new organisational routines. However, in schools threatened by the consequences of the high-stakes accountability reform, those routines are used to focus teachers’ practice on repetition and standardisation, thereby failing to expand the horizon of possibilities for teachers in a way that could promote continuous practice improvement. Only when schools can control the SAC accountability pressures and cease to feel threatened, can they use the new organisational routines to develop new types of practice and expand the range of educational goals. In this sense, the SAC incentives paradoxically inhibit the development of continuous improvement practices that could lead schools to achieve the expanded goals. The research finishes by discussing the implications of the results for theory and policy.

Exploring and developing the self-determination of Mexican young adults with intellectual disability following a dialogic approach

Rubio Jimenez, A. L. (2021). Exploring and developing the self-determination of Mexican young adults with intellectual disability following a dialogic approach [Apollo – University of Cambridge Repository]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.82551

Abstract: The aim of this study was to explore the understandings and experiences of self-determination of a group of Mexican young adults with intellectual disability, in particular, how self-determination could be promoted or hindered in dialogue. In this research self-determination is understood in terms of a person’s conscious and intentional decision-making in interaction with a supportive context of opportunities and encouragement. Self-determination theories emphasise interaction and relationality. Moreover, educational programmes to promote self-determination of young adults with intellectual disability commonly rely on interaction between students and educators to set goals and make plans to achieve them. Yet published studies tend to follow individualistic approaches and employ methods that fail to attend to the interaction and relationality of self-determination, and to the young people’s voices and perspectives. The current project aims to contribute to the field of self-determination, internationally and specifically in Latin America where studies on the self-determination of young adults with intellectual disability are scarce. This project also aims to contribute to the field of dialogic theory which has highlighted the need to widen and deepen the understanding of dialogic education through the inclusion of diverse perspectives, and yet has until now left aside the voices and perspectives of people with intellectual disability. This research involved 10 Mexican young adults with intellectual disability who are students at the university-based transition programme: Building Bridges. I facilitated group discussions with these students and three teachers around topics that were of the students’ interest. I also observed naturally occurring interactions of these students with other people in university, work and independent-living contexts. Fieldnotes and verbatim transcriptions were generated. Thematic analysis of the data generated led to the development of six themes that interplay in the students’ decision-making process: decisions, aspirations, preparation, challenges, self-advocacy and supports. Sociocultural discourse analysis of conversations about the students’ ‘Challenge of the Month’ goals showed how the students’ agency (i.e., intentional decision-making) is negotiated in the interaction and how students’ volition (i.e., conscious decision-making) could be promoted through dialogic interactions. Potential constraints on students’ agency and volition development are evident when discussions of concrete courses of action are prioritised over discussions that would lead students to reflect more deeply on the motives behind their goals, and when educators fail to delve into the students’ aspirations and decisions and instead propose other ‘more viable’ options straightaway. This dissertation upholds the importance of studying self-determination as a contextual and relational phenomenon which could be promoted or hindered in dialogue. The findings may encourage educators and researchers to create opportunities for engagement in dialogic interactions with young adults with intellectual disability in order to collaboratively reflect on important life decisions and aspirations and thus promote self-determination.

Including children with disabilities in Colombian Escuela Nueva schools

Hayes, J. (2021). Including children with disabilities in Colombian Escuela Nueva schools[Apollo – University of Cambridge Repository]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.82462

Abstract: Like many countries in the Global South, Colombia has committed itself to providing quality, inclusive education for children with disabilities. However, while there is general agreement on the principle of inclusive education as something to be pursued, its meaning and nature is contested. Furthermore, a growing body of literature has questioned the relevance and application of models of inclusive education that have been generated in countries of the Global North, and subsequently, exported to Southern contexts. Moreover, there is a notable absence of literature that engages with how to operationalise inclusive education in a way that acknowledges, and is responsive to, the differing realities and priorities of rural contexts in countries of the Global South. Colombian educators have developed and implemented a successful child-centred model of rural education, called ‘Escuela Nueva’. As a learner-centred approach for multigrade classrooms, its design includes elements that could support the education of children with disabilities: children of different ages and abilities learn at their own pace, working in teams through the provision of self- instructional learner guides; participatory tools build class cohesion; and student committees contribute to decision-making in the school. In contrast to traditional models of teacher training in Colombia, teachers are trained using the same principles and materials as those that they will use in the classroom and learn how to facilitate, rather than direct, lessons. However, there is very little research that has explored teacher practice and children’s experiences in rural contexts, whilst none has examined both Escuela Nueva and disability. Consequently, my research aimed to explore how the school staff, parents and children of five rural Escuela Nueva schools in Colombia, understood and addressed the educational needs of children with disabilities. Adopting a qualitative case study approach, I conducted 46 interviews and 15 non-participant classroom observations across the five rural schools of Las Colinas, over a period of eight months. This included interviews with 11 school staff, 14 parents and five senior staff from Foundation Escuela Nueva. To seek the views of children, I i used a multi-method visual participatory approach with 53 children aged between 7 and 11 years, of whom, 26 were children with disabilities. My findings suggest that, while Colombian legislation advocates for a biopsychosocial understanding of disability, all participants understood disability as an individual deficit, thus reflecting the medical model of disability. Consequently, the impact of intersecting factors, such as poverty and rural location, on parents’ ability to support their child with a disability were often not recognised by teachers. Moreover, the bureaucratic disability diagnosis and support systems are designed for urban populations and do not recognise the challenges that rural parents face when trying to access them. Thus, multiple disconnects were observed between state systems, schools and parents. Challenging deficit accounts of rural teacher practice, my research into how children’s needs were addressed in EN classrooms revealed that the majority of teachers delivered high quality, inclusive teaching using the EN approach. Nevertheless, the findings problematised some elements of the EN model in terms of the extent to which they were able to support children with disabilities. My research revealed how the capacity of an EN teacher to deliver inclusive education is affected by a range of factors at multiple levels, of which the EN materials and tools are just one. Emphasising the role of context, teachers located in small, single-class schools had increased demands on their time, but less access to support from colleagues, than those in multi-class schools. Moreover, no teachers had received training on disability and the Escuela Nueva microcentre support structure for teacher practice had not been sustained. Consequently, I argue that, not only should state and school processes address the needs of the child, but also, the needs of those that are implementing them. Teachers require ongoing, situated, support that addresses not only support for their practice, but also, includes processes that build upon local strengths to address the disconnects and dilemmas that teachers and parents are facing within their context.

Teachers’ formative assessment of reading comprehension in Chile: challenges and opportunities

De Padua Nájera, M. E. (2021). Teachers’ formative assessment of reading comprehension in Chile: challenges and opportunities [Apollo – University of Cambridge Repository]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.86671

Abstract: This thesis identifies and analyses the challenges of, and opportunities for, reading comprehension assessment practices with a formative purpose in Chilean classrooms. This research conceives assessment as a bridge between teaching and students’ learning. It also combines the cognitive and sociocultural perspectives of reading and assessment to create a framework where individual elements of reading instruction, such as reading comprehension skills or reading engagement, are situated in a context that defines how meaning is built and what reading and assessment practices are valued. The research was conducted as a multiple-case study, working with five teachers from primary and secondary schools. The teachers were selected considering their use of a formative approach to assessment within a context of socioeconomic vulnerability. This recognition of context was seen as necessary considering Chile’s education inequality. Interviews, assessment material analysis and classroom observations were selected as research methods. The data collected were analysed using thematic and discourse analysis. The research findings suggest that teachers’ assessment practices and beliefs were aligned with a formative purpose in general terms. However, these practices had to deal with the pressure of two forces which represented a relevant challenge to the formative approach from a sociocultural perspective where reading and assessment practices are conceived as mutually influenced by the context and social interactions. One of these forces comes from the broader educational system and includes distrust of teachers’ capacities and the prominence of a summative approach toward assessment. The other force comes from students’ beliefs, needs and sociocultural background, including, for example, the significant motivational effect of grades. These forces can blur or block the formative purpose of the assessment practices observed. This research contributes to the development of educational research in an understudied area in Chile (classroom assessment in connection with a specific school subject) and demonstrates the potential of combining not only different sources of data collection but also different perspectives to analyse the data: thematic analysis and discourse analysis. Additionally, this research enriches the discussion about formative assessment practices by distinguishing between its instructional dimension (the application of assessment strategies commonly described as part of a formative approach without reflecting on the nature of learning or reading comprehension) and ontological dimension (that requires understanding assessment, learning, and reading comprehension as a situated and complex phenomenon). The consideration of these dimensions highlights the implementation of a formative approach as a process that requires much more than the understanding of the purpose of formative assessment and the application of assessment strategies aligned with that purpose; it also comprises understanding learning as a subject-specific and situated process that needs the active participation of students and the consideration of teachers’ beliefs, professional capacities, and knowledge.

Pedagogy and culture through the voices of teachers and students: contextualising effective teaching and learning in primary schools of the Dominican Republic

D’Angelo, S. (2020). Pedagogy and culture through the voices of teachers and students: contextualising effective teaching and learning in primary schools of the Dominican Republic [Apollo – University of Cambridge Repository]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.64124

Abstract: The Dominican Republic is an anomaly in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, as it has one of the highest rates of economic production, yet low learning outcomes according to global and regional comparative evaluations. In 2012, the Ministry of Education (MINERD) launched its Educational Revolution to improve the education system through a competency-based curriculum (CBC) and other reforms. However, Dominican public schools continue to face low levels of learning and high levels of school violence. This study contributes to the literature on effective teaching and learning by examining Dominican teachers’ and students’ perceptions of effectiveness in the context of their schools and classrooms. In this study, the notion of pedagogy is understood as both a cognitive and affective process that is locally situated. I draw on the notion of craft knowledge, the practical knowledge learned from classroom experiences (Brown & McIntyre, 1993) to centre the voices of teachers and students. I employ an ethnographic lens and diverse methods to enquire into the sociocultural processes shaping teacher and student perceptions and practices in two schools on the country’s north coast. Findings suggest key differences between schools, which shape teachers’ and students’ perceptions of effectiveness. However, all teachers perceive similar challenges, including: the resource- and time-constraint environments in which they work; student conduct; parents’ lack of involvement; and unfulfilled promises by the MINERD. Within these material, social, and political conditions, effective teachers foster culturally congruent communication through a notion I describe as ‘tough love;’ and provide learning opportunities by transforming the CBC into tangible resources or by making connections to students’ lived experiences. At the same time, marginalised groups, including girls, nonconforming and homosexual boys, students of Haitian descent, and over-aged learners face particular challenges and inequities. The findings thus highlight a complex interplay of both constructive and destructive aspects of pedagogy. I conclude by proposing an adapted framework to understand craft knowledge in the context of the Dominican Republic. The framework highlights the importance of understanding teacher perceptions of their roles, their students, and the curricular subjects they teach; as well as the cultural and personal values and beliefs shaping those perceptions. Moreover, it situates craft knowledge into a socio-ecological system (Bronfenbrenner, 1977) to consider the multifaceted dimensions of teaching and learning. In this system, challenges and opportunities are presented, highlighting the importance of leveraging culture and context to improve effectiveness.During her time as a PhD student at Cambridge, Sophia’s research focused on the role that national and subnational contexts and cultures play in shaping teaching and learning in the Dominican Republic. She employed a ‘building on strengths’ approach by centering the voices of teachers and students, or those most closely involved in everyday pedagogical practices. In addition to her research, Sophia worked as a teacher, teacher trainer, and educational consultant for various international development organizations, including the Overseas Development Institute, EdTech Hub, Chemonics, and the World Bank. Her work supported research initiatives and creative projects across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East.