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The vignettes approach has emerged as a popular tool in quantitative and qualitative research. It has proven to be particularly effective in measuring sensitive topics. This paper focuses on the construction and validation process of questionnaire-based vignettes, which were used as an instrument to examine Omani secondary school girls’ cultural tolerance pre- and post-implementation of a school-based intervention. A total of 241 girls completed the vignettes-based questionnaires, of whom 116 were in the experimental group and 125 in the control group. This was followed by a semi-structured interview. The interview was conducted before and after the intervention with 16 participants, of whom eight were from the experimental group and eight from the control group. The study shows that vignettes are useful in generating a sophisticated understanding of abstract concepts. Vignettes offer the possibility of investigating tolerance in a context-related situation, eliminating possible misinterpretation of the questionnaire statements. Future research should be directed towards examining the effectiveness of different types of vignettes and the efficacy of vignettes as a research and teaching and learning tool. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An exploration of the significance of ability beliefs in four case study schools in contrasting systems (independent and state comprehensives) provides a foundation for this paper. Through four delimited case studies using observations, semi-structured interviews, telephone interviews and multiple perspectives, rich data emerged. Subsequently, drawing on dynamic concepts of identity, consideration was given to the ways in which teachers in case study schools reflected dissonance in their beliefs and actions. These dissonant moments were captured and analysed in relation to the many narratives helping to shape teacher identity and consideration was given to a sense of belonging to community and educational values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the extent to which diversity in the backgrounds of students and diversity in the forms and characteristics of universities combine to produce diversities in learning experiences and outcomes. It draws on a recent major national study in the UK which has been investigating how student learning is mediated by a series of social and organisational factors. Fifteen case studies of student experiences in different universities lay at the heart of the study and provide extensive qualitative and quantitative evidence about the realities of diversity in UK higher education. The paper reports both diversities and commonalities in the student experience and its outcomes, some of which challenge the predominantly hierarchical and reputational conceptions of diversity and differentiation currently dominant in debates about UK higher education. The student 'voice' on these matters as reported here does not fully coincide with current policy priorities and 'voices'. Student perceptions of the ways in which they have changed as a result of the experience of higher education embrace a range of factors within which the social and the personal are at least as important as the academic. Although the focus in this paper is on student learning on undergraduate degrees in the biosciences, business studies and sociology, a model of university learning contexts and settings is presented which may have wider applicability to achieving a better understanding of higher education's increasing diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2016, the Chilean Ministry of Education implemented the new School Admission System (SAS) designed with the goal of equalizing access to schools for the most disadvantaged families and reduce educational segregation. Yet it is not clear if the SAS is sensitive to socio-cultural minorities and their particular conditions. Hence, in this article we explore the school choice experiences of parents from three socio-cultural minorities under the new SAS: Mapuche – indigenous families, Latin American migrant parents, and parents with children with disabilities. Using an intersectional theoretical approach and a qualitative research design, we show that while in some cases the implementation of SAS impedes previous discriminatory processes, in others this new system alone has not yet overcome long-established and inherent educational inequalities in Chilean education. Besides, SAS has also resulted in new challenges in the school choice processes of these parents. Their experiences with the SAS express the intersection of different axis of inequality, according to the conditions and historicities of each group of families. Finally, we reflect on the challenges that the policy faces in regard to develop an educational policy that is fairer to all families, in the context of the unequal and marketized Chilean educational system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a qualitative analysis of classroom discourse in Italian primary schools, this paper analyses the micro-processes that are emergent moment-by-moment in the unfolding interactions between teacher and pupils. More in particular, our purpose is to identify the conditions under which the interactive orientation of a sequence changes. We argue that unpredictable emergent contributions function as turning points, re-directing and changing the sequence’s orientation. The results show that the turning points introduce changes in the sequences as far as three discourse characteristics are concerned: (a) communicative pattern; (b) lesson objective; and (c) role of primary knower. The discussion points out the importance of these results for the teachers’ work and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the careers guidance and career decision‐making processes associated with the introduction in Britain of a new, voucher‐based training scheme called Training Credits (TCs). Initially, we set the context for this pilot scheme in relation to other literature about the school‐to‐work transition and outline briefly the nature of the scheme and the particular case study under investigation. Following this data are provided from the first sweep of a longitudinal study of TCs in action, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. This is an interpretative investigation, focusing on the meanings given to TCs by different stakeholder groups engaged in the operation of TCs. The data are presented in the form of ‘collective stories’ of three groups of stakeholder involved in the careers guidance process. These were the pupils themselves, their careers teachers and careers officers responsible for giving guidance. These collective stories are presented as thick description, predominantly in the interviewee's own words, to allow readers to make their own interpretations of the data and to minimize oversimplification through our own interpretations as authors and researchers. These stories are followed by a discussion of some key theoretical issues that arose from the data. We identify technically rational approaches implicit in the introduction of the TC scheme as a whole and in the guidance processes supposed to operate within it. These are contrasted with a culturally based, interactive interpretation of the ways in which the different stakeholder groups made sense of the initiative. Our analysis suggests that official guidance processes were at odds with the ways in which pupils actually made career decisions, and that the success of the TC pilot scheme under investigation may be jeopardized by its failure to involve the careers teachers in the development of the scheme in ways which might give them a sense of ownership or at least shared involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article describes a qualitative study into the occurrence of the side effects of school inspection through in-depth interviews in five case schools. The study investigates the extent to which strategic activities, disturbing effects and emotional side effects occur in the case schools. The study also aims to understand features that may explain these side effects. Most research to date has been conducted in England, which is considered a ‘high-stakes’ inspection context whilst ‘low-stakes’ inspection contexts are generally regarded as causing fewer undesirable side effects. This hypothesis, however, is not confirmed by the results of this study. Although the Flemish education context provides a ‘low-stakes’ inspection context, schools in this study engage strongly in strategic activities to produce a better image of the school and school staff members suffer from severe emotional side effects due to the inspection. By contrast, only limited disturbing effects on normal school life were observed. These side effects are affected by principals’ attitude towards the inspection, by schools’ perception of inspectors’ behaviour and by the inspection judgement. The article includes a discussion of the impact on side effects of several particularities of the Flemish education context, such as the absence of central examinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, conducted within the interpretive paradigm, aimed to understand how democratic education is constructed around the theme of 'responsible and active citizen' in the national core curriculum in Northern Cyprus. An in-depth document analysis was conducted, to examine the extent to which the learning outcomes across the curriculum are aligned with the competence descriptors in the Council of Europe's Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC). This framework was used as a guide and a tool to obtain a European and global perspective. The findings revealed that there is alignment, to a certain degree, between the learning outcomes and the RFCDC competences. This confirms that some of the major concepts of democratic education are incorporated in the core curriculum. The findings also indicated that in this curriculum, democratic education focuses on knowledge and engagement at a basic level. In doing so, it undermines the experiential side of citizenship learning, and active participation in democratic life. The study also sheds light on the use and nature of the RFCDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides in depth understanding of the occurrence of team learning activities and social–emotional reactions within team meetings and their relationships by observing team meetings. In addition, the teams' assessment regarding both their teamwork and emotions they experienced during their teamwork were investigated by conducting team discussions with two of the observed teams. The findings revealed that all of the team members of all teams engaged in different kinds of team learning activities such as sharing experiences and reflecting about work tasks. The researchers also observed various social-emotional reactions such as solidarity, cheerfulness and tension. They identified patterns of positive social-emotional reactions and team learning activities in the data. The findings of the analysis of the team discussions provided additional information about the interpretation of the teamwork as well as the emotions team members experienced during their teamwork. The present study highlights that the use of observations in combination with team discussions is appropriate to gain in depth understanding of team learning in relation to emotions during teamwork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Home schooling has become increasingly widespread in recent decades. Much research has been conducted regarding different aspects of the practice, including parents' reasons for choosing home schooling. These are often quantitative studies that directly examine these reasons and frequently cite rational reasons. In contrast, the present research is a qualitative study that examined stories in order to understand the initial reasons underlying the decision of parents to educate their children at home. An analysis of interviews with 25 mothers who home school their children yielded numerous reasons for home schooling, including some that have not been cited in the research literature. Unlike previous studies, the present examination indicated two categories: rational, deliberate change and arbitrary change. The use of open research tools that indirectly inquire about the reasons for choosing home schooling enabled the identification of a second category, arbitrary change. The implications of these results for researchers of home schooling, home-schooling families and policy-makers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this qualitative longitudinal study is to create a more in-depth picture of the emergence of team learning behaviours throughout the lifespan of temporary project teams. In order to grasp the emergence of these behaviours, three project teams were followed from the start until the end of their project during a period of three months. Three team meetings spread over time were audiotaped and coded using a coding schema set-up to identify individual verbal behaviours and transform them into team learning behaviours. During the analysis, attention was given to the differentiation in the occurrence of different types of basic and facilitating team learning behaviours and in the occurrence of topics of learning behaviour (task – process – social) over time. Overall, no time-related patterns in terms of occurrence of type and topic of basic and facilitating team learning behaviours were found over the three meetings and across the three teams. The main driver for the occurrence of different team learning behaviours could be attributed to be the scope of the meeting during which they occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]