Educational Criticism and Connoisseurship

The goal of this chapter is to provide an explanation of qualitative inquiry through the lens of educational criticism and connoisseurship using a case study example. The writers provide a breakdown of educational criticism and connoisseurship with an explanation of how a researcher might use educational criticism and connoisseurship in data collection and communication of findings. Additionally, the chapter will provide options for data collection, management, analysis, and interpretation. The chapter will also include a list of published studies that exemplify qualitative inquiry, including case studies, ethnography, and phenomenology, using educational criticism.

Will the benefit equal the effort? An investigation into the personal significance of the changes signalled in a mandated curriculum to New Zealand secondary school teachers

<p>A new school curriculum was implemented in all New Zealand schools during 2008 and 2009 and was mandated at the beginning of 2010. The changes signalled in the new curriculum required teachers to incorporate key competencies into their teaching and to move to student-centred practice which involves students in the decisions about their learning. It was possible that this social constructivist approach represented a change in teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning and to their practice. Much of the literature on educational change appears to overlook the transformational nature of the learning needed to bring about changes in beliefs and practice and teachers’ personal motivation to engage with it. Unless change is of personal significance to individuals they are unlikely to be motivated to engage with it. Using Eisner’s (1998) method of educational criticism, this case study is an investigation into the personal significance of the new curriculum to the teachers’ reality. In the spirit of educational criticism, the lens of an educational connoisseur was used to first develop an understanding of the teachers’ reality followed by that of an educational critic to evaluate what occurred. Over a two-year period the study involved semi-structured interviews with twelve secondary school teachers in three schools, observations of the classroom practice, and analysis of school documentation and societal messages. While all the participating teachers’ espoused beliefs that were congruent with the philosophy of the new curriculum, constructivist practices were observed in the practice of only two teachers. What prevented the other teachers’ wholehearted engagement in the implementation of the new curriculum was not their beliefs about teaching and learning but rather, the extent to which external pressures determined their priorities. These pressures included the misalignment of the school goals and cultural norms, the impact of NCEA assessment regime, time constraints, leadership issues, lack of conceptual understanding and the absence of professional learning to support transformative learning.</p>

Will the benefit equal the effort? An investigation into the personal significance of the changes signalled in a mandated curriculum to New Zealand secondary school teachers

<p>A new school curriculum was implemented in all New Zealand schools during 2008 and 2009 and was mandated at the beginning of 2010. The changes signalled in the new curriculum required teachers to incorporate key competencies into their teaching and to move to student-centred practice which involves students in the decisions about their learning. It was possible that this social constructivist approach represented a change in teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning and to their practice. Much of the literature on educational change appears to overlook the transformational nature of the learning needed to bring about changes in beliefs and practice and teachers’ personal motivation to engage with it. Unless change is of personal significance to individuals they are unlikely to be motivated to engage with it. Using Eisner’s (1998) method of educational criticism, this case study is an investigation into the personal significance of the new curriculum to the teachers’ reality. In the spirit of educational criticism, the lens of an educational connoisseur was used to first develop an understanding of the teachers’ reality followed by that of an educational critic to evaluate what occurred. Over a two-year period the study involved semi-structured interviews with twelve secondary school teachers in three schools, observations of the classroom practice, and analysis of school documentation and societal messages. While all the participating teachers’ espoused beliefs that were congruent with the philosophy of the new curriculum, constructivist practices were observed in the practice of only two teachers. What prevented the other teachers’ wholehearted engagement in the implementation of the new curriculum was not their beliefs about teaching and learning but rather, the extent to which external pressures determined their priorities. These pressures included the misalignment of the school goals and cultural norms, the impact of NCEA assessment regime, time constraints, leadership issues, lack of conceptual understanding and the absence of professional learning to support transformative learning.</p>

Juxtapoetics: Aesthetic Uncovering of Racist Logics Within a Crisis Intervention Team Training’s Instructional Arc

Through Educational Criticism, I composed narratives and poems around a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training for police officers through its intended, enacted, and received curriculum. Within analyzing CIT’s instructional arc, I juxtaposed voices: ideas left solitary were incomplete, simplistic, or, at times, naïve. Thus, I weaved voices and scholarship together or against each other for depth of meaning, nuance, and contestation. Juxtapoetics exposed the complexity of well-intended individuals and localized interventions situated within institutions reifying the White supremacist milieu and disrupted linear rationality and universality of Whiteness.

Broader Strokes: The Curricular and Pedagogical Possibilities of Multiage Educational Settings

Multiage classrooms seem to be an idea of the past, as students in most schools across the country are grouped by age. However, research by Goldman (1981), Rhoades (1966), and Eisner (2003) argue that multiage grouping has significant social, behavioral, and intellectual advantages for students. Using educational criticism and connoisseurship as a methodology, this article examines the accounts of a professor who taught in a multiage school environment within the United States, as well as observations of a multiage school in the Masaka district of Uganda. This study aims to understand how curriculum and pedagogy interact within multiage system, as well as whether those interactions help or hinder students. Through interviews observations, and classroom artifacts, it was found as Perez, Breault, and White (2014) argue curriculum functions as a space, not only a given content trajectory. Additionally, it was found that in creating a space where community was encouraged, the school was able to move toward pedagogy of love.