Further Education Research

Project Summary

This project was jointly funded by the ESRC/TLRP. The research and field work stage began in July 2005 and was completed in October 2007. Ongoing analysis and dissemination took place through to 2010.
The ongoing aim of this project was to add to our knowledge and understanding of how learning and working in Further Education in Wales relate to each other. It drew from educational studies, the sociology of education and policy sociology. The distinctive focus of the project was on the ways in which learning of all kinds are a product of the social interaction between students and teachers and the ways in which learning processes are influenced by the policy framework through which Further Education in Wales is regulated, as well as the wider economic and social context in which learning and these interactions take place.
The approach adopted distinguished between those determinants internal to learning settings, such as classrooms and those which originate externally, such as the wider social context or from the previous experiences of students and teachers. Individual interviews with teachers and students and the completion of reflective journals, focus group interviews with students and ethnographic classroom observation have provided a rich data source. As yet, the data provide the only detailed ethnograthic investigation of FE classrooms in Wales.

Project Aims

The project aims to improve our understanding of the learning processes in further education by means of a study of every-day learning settings. Specifically, the aims of the projects are to:

Improve our knowledge of learning and working in FE in Wales and how these relate to each other;

Determine the ways and extent to which learner and professional identities are shaped by the setting in which they take place such as classrooms and the wider economic, social and cultural environment;

Engage with colleges and other users in the production of evidence-based research in order to improve the capacity of individual teachers and colleges to respond to learner needs;

Present evidence-based research and engage users (teachers, college managers and policy makers) in an informed dialogue.

Significance

Relatively little is known about learning and working in post-16 FE, and existing research offers limited insights into FE classrooms. While attempting to fill this gap, a distinctive feature of this project is on the ways in which learning outcomes of all kinds are a product of the social interactions of students and teachers.

A mixed method approach with an emphasis on classroom ethnography will produce a contemporary account of the sorts of social engagement that provide a context for learning to take place. Thus, learning is situated in the social processes through which it is achieved and the real social conditions in which these processes occur.

We are particularly interested in how students understand themselves as learners and how this not only reflects their previous learning experiences but also the profound influences of their families, peers and the wider communities in which they live.

A distinctive feature of the analytical approach is that teachers are also conceptualized as learners who continuously construct and reconstruct their own professional knowledge and practice. Like students, they also bring prior dispositions to the learning interaction which are reflected in, for example, their choice of pedagogy and their expectations of students. Understanding the determinants of teachers' dispositions and how these influence the learning interaction is a necessary condition for changing them.

The learning settings in which the interactions between students and teachers takes place are situated within the wider institutional contexts of their colleges, regulatory frameworks and changing policy contexts. It is important to consider, therefore, the nature of these contexts and how, if at all, they impact on learning and teaching. To this end, comparison with the results of the Transforming Learning Cultures in FE project in England will help to illuminate effects of an emerging and distinctive policy regime in Wales .

Our mapping and understanding of learning outcomes derives from the complex interplay of the social interaction between students and teachers, their dispositions to learning and teaching and the wider contexts in which this takes place.

Project Activities

The overall strategy of the project is to track the ‘learning journeys' of groups of FE students and lecturers over a two-year period. Research will be carried out across three colleges of FE to include a variety of academic and occupational areas. Data collection will include the use of semi-structured life-history and life-course interviews with students and teachers, the completion of an on-going learning journal by the same students and teachers and focus group interviews with additional students.

Ethnographic classroom observation will be carried out in a range of learning sites such as classrooms, laboratories and workshops and together with documentary analysis of schemes of study and other materials will provides detailed insights into the nature of the every-day social interactions.

The following table presents a summary of activities:

Project Staff and Contacts

The research is to be conducted as a partnership between the Cardiff University School of Social Sciences and the University of Wales , Newport. Moreover, in addition to the three colleges who have collaborated in the planning of the project, the project benefits from the active collaboration and support of ffrorwm (the Association of Colleges in Wales ), FENTO Wales and Dysg, the Learning and Skills Development Agency Wales.