Reading Education - Essay Example

? READING EDUCATION RESEARCH 2 Reading Education Research 2 Introduction This essay presents a comparative analysis of two research texts: “Pathways and transitions, Post-16 (Ball et al 2000)” and “Boys, Girls, and Achievement: Addressing the Classroom Issues. (Francis, B 2000.)”. The two research texts are analysed by highlighting the sorts of social theory that have been applied and developed in them, and how they ‘lighten what we perceive and experience’ in our early years, families, career lives, identity tussles and political orientations. As such, this essay seeks to explain the differences and similarities of social and cultural theory in the two studies. It also explains the reasons why the research was undertaken focusing on historical and social contexts. Finally, this essay explains how the two studies used particular research methods to set the bases for the theoretical claims they raised. Comparison of the Role of Social and Cultural Theory in the two Studies Ball et al (2000: 2), affirms that the study they conducted is theoretically informed and historically based. The authors proceed by providing four dimensions in which the Social and Cultural Theory plays a role in young people’s relations with self and others, identities and opportunities in terms of their identity, social class and gender. In both studies, we find that, despite the changes in gender patterns, the post-16 choices were still influenced by the past gender regimes of subject and career in making of post-compulsory education choices. Macrae and Magurie (1999) as cited in Ball et.al. (2000, p. 11). “Yet some Gendered patterns [of decision making and choice] in education [after completing compulsory school] have not changed” Becky Francis (2000, p.8). Students tend to revert to traditional choices where girls tend to choose arts/humanities subjects and boys science subjects. Another similarity we get from the two sources is that, the gendered class room culture brought about verbal and physical dominion by boys, and that their relationship influences their socio-cultural theories. The author has also included the teachers, who are part of the classroom environment, as a factor in the roles socializing of the boys and girls. A similarity in the two sources is that they have a theoretical framework that relates achievement with social class and race or ethnic difference. On the theoretical border line of consumerism, gender and identity, In the report Choice Pathways and Transitions, the identity of the group under monitoring (cohorts) is no longer based on the old judgments based on class or gender but on the key aspect of identity; social class (Ball et.al. 2000, p.3). In the book addressing the classroom issues, the author cites griffins (1998) where he stated that many boys who are under-achieving, the difference is because of race and social class. Both sources also state that ethnic enculturation is a major impact while considering students achievements. Phoenix (1987) explained that ethnicity affects the constructs of gender (sex) and power. Different cultures take different behaviours as gendered in varying (more or less gender specific) ways. Social class also influences culture constructions (Skeleton, 1997). Cultural theory in addressing the class room issue, also add that children school differently due to their social class; middle-mothers guarantee their children schooling success than working-class mothers. In the book addressing the classroom issues, the decision making for students is influenced mainly by the classroom inequalities, their social life and cultural issues e.g. association of language with femininity (Francis B., p.5), the association gender with roles e.g., girls cannot do hard subjects like mathematics. This is contrasting with Choice, pathways and transition report, where decision choices were influenced by the theoretical framework of individualism rather than as a result of structured constraints like classroom inequalities like in the earlier case. Good choices were seen as individual effort, and bad choices were seen as individual responsibility. According to the educational research by Francis B, the female researchers’ plight in 1970 and 1980 originated from the claim that children in schools are socialized into a constrained role suitable for their sex. As a result, initiatives like women into sciences and engineering, Girls into sciences and technology attempted to change the girl child perception of them. Sciences fields and technology were avoided by many girls, and even if they pursued them in the ‘O-level’ they performed poorer than boys. This issue disturbed female researchers as these subjects were a ticket to access highly remunerated careers. This is contrasting with path, choice and transitions report where decision making role was for the young people were influenced by their parents who constantly gave advice and support. It also states that the choices made by the young people shifted and changed at different times, unlike in Francis’ where ladies continued to make wrong choices even in ‘O-level’ studies due to their perception of some subjects like mathematics. The report Choice, Pathways and transitions, give several parties, which influence in choice making while joining post-16 colleges. Teachers normally gave special advice based on their subject area for post-16 students. The research on the Sample also showed that the family played a major role the lives of almost all the sample students chosen under study (cohorts). It further explains the competition which exists within the providers of courses, the institution needs and students needs conflict. Students usually get chances not even in their second-choice institutions; some students also apply courses not originally planned for, i.e., they effectively choose the institution but wrong route. This contrasts with Becky Francis’ Addressing classroom issues where major changes in patterns in gendered issues happened; girls no longer had low aspirations on their post-compulsory education, taking masculine subjects were no longer a choice to them, but it became compulsory (Francis B, 2000, p.6). This standardization of the education policy in Britain in regimes of Thatcher in 1980s and John Major in 1990s restructured the economy of Britain Francis Becky (1998, p.7) cited that according to Arnold et.al (1999) increased than industrial jobs and by 1989, service sector jobs accounted for 70 per cent employment in Britain. In the culture of masculinity in Britain categorized that industrial and manufacturing jobs were for men while the skills required in the now increased service sector were for feminine gender. Reasons for Undertaking the Research This essay focuses on the social and historical contexts of the themes that motivated the undertaking of this research. There are four main reasons why this study was conducted. The first theoretical borderline was to study the effect of the increase and outspread of the culture of individuality and the economic science of individualisation. Here, the study noted that there have been, in the duration of one generation, some revolutionary changes to the distinctive experiences of youth and one among the most often contested of the changes is the issue of decision making whereby young people have a certain extent to which they view their decision making as personal or individual choice and not as a product of structured conditions, which must be satisfied. The social heave of individualisation has clearly established attitudes and notions of youth who have been upraised in Thatcher’s Britain. Recently, the youth have started viewing their poor or bad choices as a subject of individual responsibility. They have begun to see good or informed choices as an issue of individual merit or effort besides being simply as a result of intuition or good luck. The study indicated that when individualisation and economic individualism work together, the result is a reflex project that leads to identity formation that will dissolve the continuing division-based type of structural inequalities. The second reason for the study was to research on the increase of social and economic schism. For the last two decades, the principles of individual responsibility and the free will to choose have been practised time and again by policies and politics neoliberal administrations. But, on the other hand, this has led to increase in polarisation of the social aspect of people. The study sort to find out the claims that there is a strong notion of prosperity and financial security enjoyed by a section of contract, part-time, and workers having low skill or no skill at all. Ainley (1998) described a group of unfocused youth having no hope for tomorrow and too lazy to improve their poor living conditions as ‘wasted youth’. In the current societies, there are these young people who do not have skills and qualifications and may well be fated towards joining their fellow wasted youth. The lives of many young people were found to be severely disrupted and distorted as a result of poverty, family stress and disruptions, and acute forms of economic and social polarisation as they advance from their youth and join young adulthood. Thirdly, the study sought to shed some light on the young peoples’ issues related to their leisure, identity, and consumerism. It was established that young people are busy faking new identities as they transit into their early adulthood from their youth. There is a notion that young people are what they consume, and hence they should take in what they desire to be. In this respect, the manner of living that reflects their values and attitudes and their individual, distinct personalities confuse. The youth of today do not simply forge their identities like it was done in the old times with respect to class or gender. Rather, the identities are on the basis of other key aspects such as social class. Some young people were found to be participating in expressions of consumption of youth more than others. This is mainly because of the difference in their financial ability. It is well known that clubbing, consumption of recreational drugs, drinking, smoking, fashionable clothing, and other ‘cool’ lifestyle accessories are expensive. A few get money from their parents while the majority prefer ‘flexible’ part time jobs. Others are unemployed. Lifestyle choices are, therefore, part and parcel of the youth culture, but they are also affected by their gender, socio-economic, and ethnic differences. Finally, the study wanted to find out the condition of work in the present day society. Status, occupation, and identity are highly interwoven. People are what they do. Work cannot be detached from them. However, this is not always so when it comes to the youth and late adolescents. In fact, there is evidence confirming that they most of the time ‘postpone’ or ‘put on hold’ their work identities (Clarke, 1999). The project report gave constraints which influence choices of the young people as they transition from school to the working environment (transition). The finding here was consistent with other researchers work (Du bois-Reymond, 1998; Bynner, 1997; Furlong, 1992) that young people believe that they have choices but luck, determination and hard work are the main factors which contribute to the success. The second text by Becky Francis, aimed at exploring the building of gender inside the secondary school classroom, with emphasis on the issue of power and achievement. Previous research conducted in the 70’s and 80’s indicted that there was indeed rampant gender inequalities in the classroom Francis, B (2000, p.4). In this case, girls were being discriminated by their male counterparts, their teachers and the school system itself. As a result, this was believed to lead to the underachievement of girls in sciences and mathematics, in compulsory education level and low transition of women from the compulsory education to universities and colleges. The study shows that standardising the education system was the first step towards solving the problem of girls being marginalised. This standardisation led to both boys and girls ting the same subjects at first to ensure girls did not choose to avoid some subjects deliberately. Francis, B also attempts to discuss some of the ways in which power inequalities and gender relationships are maintained, and the also explores the obvious changes in these patterns. Masculinity and femininity were noted by Furlong (1992) as only being notional concepts. Sex is described by Jackson (2002) as being the biological differences that exist between women and men. Gender, on the other hand, refers to the social building of different behaviour due to being a man or a woman or a by or a girl. He continued to note that notional femininity and notional masculinity are different in more ways other than the difference in sexes. They are also understood differently by different people. In the Western societies, the two genders are considered to inhibit two sets of different attributes. They associate males with rationality, strength, aggression, competition, having superior mind, having a passion for science and technology, being active, and independence. Females, on the other hand, are considered to be emotional, frail, caring, highly cooperative, concerned about the body, lovers of nature and arts, being passive and less competitive, and dependence. The text also outlined how the education system can be changed for the better, so as to eliminate tradition gendered regimes of thinking in a socially constrained culture of separate roles. It explains how the classroom culture of gendered roles affected the choice of girls as far as the kind of subjects to take. Girls avoided they only took arts subjects and left the ‘masculine subjects’ e.g., science and mathematics for the boys (p. 8). Finally, this work also sought to outline the problems that arise in the perpetuation of opposing constructions of gender, in both boys and girls, and describes methods by which the normal production of gender differences might further be disrupted. Research Methods Used Ball et al (2000) mainly used qualitative methods. They used interviews their findings on the study. The author states that the 59 cohorts used as to carry out the report to a success were interviewed, 15 intermediaries (people who gave advice) were also interviewed and 10 parents (p.4). The team also interviewed in each of the institutions their cohorts decided for post-16 education. It is through interviews that the project team concluded that the families had a greater impact on career choice on their children (p.15). As a convention, interviews are known to be very effective methods of compiling data for research. The information gathered is first-hand, and hence is not distorted. They are also able to give the interviewer the flexibility and dynamism required when they encounter different people. The same question may be asked in a different way in case the interviewee fails to comprehend it the first time. The author also employed the sampling research method. In the report, for the project team to continue to explore issues on the project e.g., structural and material, a sample was constructed. The sample incorporated such that, it took into account the routes and pathways of market routes and market pathways. This is stated in the method section of the report on page 6. Samples are also effective research method especially when the data is to be drawn from a very large population. It is not possible to interview everyone. Samples are, therefore, designed to represent all the different individuals that are required to participate in the research. The finding from each of the sample is assumed to represent the entire group of individuals. The groups have, therefore, to be chosen with care so that the individuals in them have much in common as possible. Observations and ethnography were also used by the author and his team to carry out the research. Ethnography is the qualitative method of listening, observing the knowledge or working of systems of a group. The project team in the report on Choice, Pathways, and transitions had a ‘base school’ in Northwark Park, which is a post-16 education/training provider. The team visit the school and over the two years of the project, the carried out observation and ethnography on the group. The team maintained contact with the cohorts, and they even employed a research assistant (Vikki Charles) who have the right skills for the job. The research assistant made calls and booked appointments with the cohorts. This is ethnography, and behaviour movements of the cohorts could be detected (p.5). The team with these methods had been able to find out the characteristics of the group e.g., they had different ethnic groups, small and diverse ethnic minority, others had dual-heritage and others refugees. Ethnographic methods made their relationship with the cohorts to improve, and they (cohorts) could even share their stories e.g., involvement in illegal activities (p. 6). Finally, the authors borrowed hugely from other works of literature that speak of this topic. The many citations used extensively in the research document indicate that there were many issues that were part of this research and have already been discussed before by other writers. Referencing them helped the authors from reinventing the wheel as far as certain issues are concerned and hence enabling them to save time required for the research. Francis, B (2000) used similar research methods to the ones discussed above. Her study employed ethnographic and qualitative styles. It was carried out in three secondary schools during the year 1998 – 1999 (pp. 21). Interviewing and sampling were used. The combination of these methods, she explains, was triangulation which would in turn lead to more accurate findings from the research. The combination would also reduce the inconsistencies that are often witnessed in data collection and information gatherings. The three schools used for the research were located at different places in London. The schools were chosen in a zonal manner to represent the different social classes and ethnic mixes in London. One school, Sandyfields Comprehensive School, is located in inner London, and it neighbours council estates. The school had pupils from minority ethnicities especially those from the Caribbean and East Asia. Girls were much less than boys, but the still outperformed the boys. The second school, St. Mark was run by the Catholic Church. Here, girls were much more than the boys, but they still outperformed them. The third school, Richardson Comprehensive School, is located in the working class area of greater London. It was, therefore, a large school. The school performed averagely, and the distribution of girls and boys was fairly even. The three schools formed the first, second and third samples respectively. The second method that Francis used was classroom observations. Classroom observation was used to document the pupil behaviour and their interactions in the classrooms (pp, 21). The respondents (pupils and teachers) were informed beforehand about the research hence creating in them an informed corset that led to increased cooperation and success of the research. The problem with this method was that the behaviour of the respondents changed slightly due the presence of the researcher. Another problem was the inability to capture the classroom talks because all the pupils used to talk at the same time. Conclusion The two studies acknowledge and appreciate that the events of the world affect all people, but they do so differently on the youth. These youths assume their choices, pathways and transitions in a dynamic urban environment full of many opportunities, challenges, oppressions, despairs and excitements. The main argument in this essay is that young people lead their life differently as a result of their differences in gender, the social class they belong to and the identities they fake or assume. Another argument is that the social, individual and material resources desirable to live a reflexively organised lifestyle are not equally reachable to all. The researchers found out that there are organizational factors like unemployment, poor pay, discrimination (in terms of gender, race, or social class), lack of support, interrupted schooling, lack of formal qualifications, low self-confidence, and poverty as forming track-lines through the lives of some young people. 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