Students' Views about Their Friendships in the Transition from Primary to Secondary School - Essay Example

views about their friendships in the transition from primary to secondary school By General definition of voice Voice can be defined as a chance to air out or express opinions, given the chance to have an active involvement in deliberations dealing in decision making (Thiessen & Cook-Sather, 2007, pp112-178). As a political theory it can be understood as a term that combines the past and the present, including the emotional and the intellectual ways of understanding or knowing, in public and private context of the different parts of life including the social and cultural life,voice highlights the truths and fictions, it constantly addresses the inquiries about power and knowledge, the questions about how decisions are made, whoever is included and those excluded those who are advantaged and the disadvantaged, as a result. The nature of voice dictates its effects, the two nature of voice includes the weak and the strong, weak voices literary described as under projected voices are those that are always in support of the aim for the modest reforms underpinning to the status quo, strong voices are described as projected voices they are always for strong democratic demands it is an extended voice that incorporates the public as a whole, the public voice includes the calls for dialogue, reciprocity, recognition and respect. The sound democratic voices can be described as public struggles to be heard, to be listened to and handled seriously. Student Voice Students voice is giving the students an opportunity to raise their issues of comfort including issues on food, uniforms, school lockers, the conditions of toilets and for the case of those joining high school issues on how they are treated by the seniors; it also means students having dialogue on issues that it takes to have a smooth learning process in school, the connection between the learning environment and the community, the different improvement strategies to improve the school capacity, ways of promoting training other than just the overall performance of the students. Listening or taking concerns with student voices is essential in any learning environment or community in general (Thiessen & Cook-Sather, 2007, pp112-178). It helps in understanding lifestyle of the students, the ways in which they carry out themselves; their perception of life, what they consider most important and how the lifestyle they choose affect their performance in school. In the dialogue or forums for listening to the student voices, after understanding the student views such platforms can be used to help building the student ability giving then new life skills and adequately preparing them for the transition in life from one level to another. Giving the students opportunity to open up and increase their concerns helps in empowering the students building their courage in making personal decisions and improving their readiness in addressing life issues that affect their learning process to make the students adapt adequately to new levels in case of transition (Gunderson, 2007, pp 234-267). The student voice also helps making the students have a feeling of self-propelling their education process with full ownership, the students develop the abilities to take part in decision making actively and policy developing on the critical issues that affect their life as students (Thiessen & Cook-Sather, 2007, pp112-178). Listening to student voices and considering their ideas during decision making helps in improving the students behavior and thus reducing the calls for corrective disciples Participation Participation can be defined as the means by which the students are incorporated in influencing decisions about change in their own lives, changes in others and the communities where they emanate. It mainly includes recognizing the students as experts in their own lives, considering them as helpful members in influencing research, policy making and practicing, and developing the informed services (Thiessen & Cook-Sather, 2007, pp112-178). Participation can be considered as transformative concept as it understood as a way of life of being able to see the world as well as being in the world. It does not only mean working with the teachers and community but also keeping in mind the implications that come with what an individualare doing. Student participation is a better way of learning the student life and getting their voices, the encouragement of student participation helps in increasing the student self- esteem as they develops the feeling of worth by the allowing than to participate in vital aspects in the community that affects their lives and the learning process. Participate in research Participatory research is the research type in which both the researcher and those being researched become actively involved in the research process (Miller & Woodward, 2011, pp145- 178). It is can be employed in trying to learn the different aspects of student life that affects their learning and involving the very students during such research, the students to raise their issues and the researchers to make their observations (Gunderson, 2007, pp 234-267). This approach helps in eliminating the power imbalance between those learning about the student and the students and improving the quality of the information gathered during the interactions, this approach helps in encouraging quantity and corresponding and quality of the information gathered, including the student researched allows for the use of relevant tools of data collection, getting the most acceptable methodologies, therefore, the student participation guarantees quality findings. The student participation also benefits the students develop a variety of skill that is transferable, the students also develop their social skills and networks by working with other students and adults like teachers and the community. Critical argument Critical argument is a process in which the students engage each other on discussions and make rational conclusions at the end of every discussion, the students always must be able to defend their positions in each decision is arrived. Epistemology This theory in philosophy that concerns the study of knowledge, it describes the sufficient conditions of the knowledge, the sources of such knowledge, giving the structure of the knowledge, and the one who has the knowledge. The two main approaches in epistemology are positivism and interpretive. Positivism This epistemological approach that views the use of the method of logic, physical sciences or natural sciences in making observations or studies in the social world. The data available can be used while formulating the theories that aid in improving human condition, this approach considers the one carrying out the research to be value free, keeping to the objectives and always neutral (Thiessen & Cook-Sather, 2007, pp112-178). This approach maintains that the society just like the physical world keeps operating in accordance to the law. Interpretivism This approach views the social world to be made of multiple and subjective realities, in such a way that individuals interact with and do the interpretations of society valuing it above numerical data, the interpretive researcher goes to the field having gathered prior insight concerning the research topic in question, but assumes the insight gathered not to be sufficient enough to develop a fixed research design because of the complex, unpredictable and multiple nature of what is considered reality (Miller & Woodward, 2011, pp145- 178). The main objective of the underlying approach is to understand and make interpretations of the human behavior other than making generalization and predicting causes and the effects. Comparisons of the two epistemological approaches The positivism approach the researcher has direct access to real compare to interpretive in which the researcher lacks. The approach also has single external reality which lacks in interpretivism. Qualitative methodology Qualitative methodology is an act and procedures of carrying out a research process including the various roles of the person dong the research (Thiessen & Cook-Sather, 2007, pp112-178). It describes the systematic methods employed during the research process; it gives a theoretical analysis and gives the necessary principles associated with the research problem. It is mainly based on the epistemological approaches, it can be based on the positivist approach considering the society to be studied by the natural sciences taking keenly the measurements, validity and reliability (Dallalba, 2009, pp212-223). If the interpretive approach is considered then the society is analysed via the experience of the people who lived, considering their words and the stories. There are several methods of taking data including interviews, observations, and focus groups. Focus groups The process mainly focus on the qualitative method in which the entire research population is divided into groups and then each group given research questions and the data collected for each group. The students are divided into groups and each group asked the question about their views about life. Features The group members must be similar in socioeconomic and demographic factors, like taking female students, for a group the members must be likely to have different views. The focus groups should consist of eight to twelve members. Discussion s mostly last 90mins, the discussions must always be based on group interactions rather than individual ideas, the moderator for the discussions must have good experience with the issue being discussed. Advantages The focus groups provide data that are detailed as it involves discussions from more than an individual. Researching on the people’s ideas in regard to the new product can form advertisement base. Disadvantages They are not efficient in making full coverage of the data in case of a common issue compared to individual interviews. The members of the focus group may fail to provide their honest ideas in front of others on feelings of what other members may feel. The method can be expensive compared to other methods if it calls for compensating each individual member of the group. The results gathered from the focus group discussions may be inaccurate if the moderate is biased in controlling the discussions or the moderator leading the group to make some predetermined conclusions. Bibliography Thiessen, D., & Cook-Sather, A. (2007). International handbook of student experience of elementary and secondary school. Dordrecht, Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3367-2. Sideridis, A. B. (2010). Next generation society: technological and legal issues ; third international conference, e-democracy 2009, Athens, Greece, September 23-25, 2009 ; revised selected papers. 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