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Examining the positionalities of a teacher teaching in lower track science classrooms
Author
Ong, Michelle Meixue
Supervisor
Teo, Tang Wee
Abstract
The objective of this study is to identify the factors which shape the political and relational positionalities of a teacher and understand how these positionalities may influence pedagogical practices, classroom management strategies and teacher-student relationships.
Through a case study approach, a secondary school physics teacher, with about thirty years of teaching experience, was selected for the study. The data sources for this study were drawn from a larger project which involved 39 Singapore public and co-ed schools and 247 classes. The case study involved two schools and four Normal track classrooms per school. The physics teacher was teaching in one of the case study classrooms. Selected lesson videos, interviews with students of the selected teacher, and the interview with the teacher contributed to the data sources for this study. As described by Barton (1998), there are three forms of positionality: political, relational and dynamic. This study is focused only on the political and relational positionalities of the teacher. These two prescriptive categories were used and codes were then applied to the interview transcript of the teacher.
From the coding process, it was found that under the category on political positionality, two sub-categories were found to emerge from the data: ‘consciousness-of-the-self’ and ‘consciousness of structures’. ‘Consciousness of structures’ refer to school structures and ‘national structures’, such as national criteria for lateral transfer between tracks. ‘Consciousness-of-the-self’ refer to the teacher’s own perceptions of lower track students and perceptions of the traits of teachers suited to teach lower track students. Family and schooling backgrounds were found as factors shaping the relational positionality of the teacher. In sum, the above factors, which influenced the political and relational positionalities of the teacher, may have accounted for the curricular choices and the classroom management strategies adopted, as well as the extent of teacher-student relationships. The findings from the present study were then used to propose implications for school leaders and key school personnel, for the professional development of teachers, and for researchers. The limitations of the study and recommendations for future research directions are also discussed.
Through a case study approach, a secondary school physics teacher, with about thirty years of teaching experience, was selected for the study. The data sources for this study were drawn from a larger project which involved 39 Singapore public and co-ed schools and 247 classes. The case study involved two schools and four Normal track classrooms per school. The physics teacher was teaching in one of the case study classrooms. Selected lesson videos, interviews with students of the selected teacher, and the interview with the teacher contributed to the data sources for this study. As described by Barton (1998), there are three forms of positionality: political, relational and dynamic. This study is focused only on the political and relational positionalities of the teacher. These two prescriptive categories were used and codes were then applied to the interview transcript of the teacher.
From the coding process, it was found that under the category on political positionality, two sub-categories were found to emerge from the data: ‘consciousness-of-the-self’ and ‘consciousness of structures’. ‘Consciousness of structures’ refer to school structures and ‘national structures’, such as national criteria for lateral transfer between tracks. ‘Consciousness-of-the-self’ refer to the teacher’s own perceptions of lower track students and perceptions of the traits of teachers suited to teach lower track students. Family and schooling backgrounds were found as factors shaping the relational positionality of the teacher. In sum, the above factors, which influenced the political and relational positionalities of the teacher, may have accounted for the curricular choices and the classroom management strategies adopted, as well as the extent of teacher-student relationships. The findings from the present study were then used to propose implications for school leaders and key school personnel, for the professional development of teachers, and for researchers. The limitations of the study and recommendations for future research directions are also discussed.
Date Issued
2018
Call Number
Q181 Ong
Date Submitted
2018