Now showing items 41-60 of 312

    • It means the world to us: Writing from the Cheshire Prize for Literature 2021

      Poole, Simon; Parkin, Harry; University of Chester; Storyhouse (University of Chester Press, 2022-11-06)
      The 2021 Cheshire Prize for Literature Anthology
    • Unlocked: Writing from the Cheshire Prize for Literature 2020

      Poole, Simon; Stephenson, William; University of Chester; Storyhouse (University of Chester Press, 2021-11-04)
      The 2020 Cheshire Prize for Literature
    • Poetry in a pandemic: Digital shared reading for wellbeing

      Blundell, Judith; Poole, Simon; University of Chester; Storyhouse (Taylor & Francis, 2022-11-28)
      Unexpectedly taking place in the midst of a pandemic, this research examined historical and contemporary assumptions about the relationship between storytelling and wellbeing and asked how a shared reading group might be used to help repair individuals and communities as they emerge into the post-Covid world. It asked how storytelling can help us to come to terms with the collective trauma we have experienced by developing empathy and enlarging identity, and considered the role of digital technology in creating safe spaces for connection and reflection. The research aimed to provide a nuanced and in-depth account of the experience of shared reading for wellbeing, and to make practical recommendations for the future of such initiatives in community settings. It identified significant risks in shared reading and asked how these can be minimised, whilst being wary of stifling the many benefits of creativity by becoming too risk averse.
    • Religious Education

      Holt, James D.; University of Chester (Learning Matters, 2023-03-27)
      What is RE? What does subject knowledge look like in RE in the Primary school?
    • Conversations within a nursing home: An ethnographic study of the lived experience of residents, visitors and staff

      Moran, Paul; Chapman, Hazel; Mansfield-Loynes, Kate A. (University of Chester, 2021-09-01)
      This thesis uses an ethnographic study to explore the lived experience of those living, working and visiting a nursing home. This tripartite has traditionally been hidden from view, given no forum to voice experiences in a meaningful way within a sector which is seriously underfunded. By using the work of Erving Goffman as a foundation I utilise a therapeutic reflective Marxist lens to explore the lived experience of the tripartite and examine the neo-liberal practices that abound within health services. I relate the tripartite voices through a series of narratives that underline that care, in and of itself, is significant and that it is emphasised through the everyday-ness of their experiences that cuts through the institutional practices and power imbalances inherent within the social care arena. There are complexities that arise when attempting to understand the messiness of the nursing home and wider social care arena but, as a nurse that has spent the majority of their working life within it, I have been able to navigate and draw some conclusions around what it is to live, work and visit this marginalized sector. I have explored what it means to age in today’s society and the inherent ageism, discrimination and stigma that accompanies the ageing process. I have reviewed what ‘home’ is and that an individual’s personal history of ‘home’ supports an individual’s sense of belonging and continuity which is integral to well-being and thus a literal place and an ideal. However, the legislation and regulation that wraps itself around elderly care inexorably leads to a sense of surveillance which provides a power imbalance. This power imbalance is reviewed against Goffman’s work around Total Institutions (1961). By thematically analysing my data I have realised that the conversations and observations were part of a greater map which, due to its subject matter, was complex but interconnected. Ultimately, there were three themes that took precedence: Death (of self; social death and of life as we know it); Personalization of care and expectations and; Environment and business policy. All the statistical evidence points to a future where there is an ageing population with increasingly complex co-morbidities which will be situated within the reality of a decreasing younger population. I conclude that there is a need to reframe sickness to health-care within the rhetoric around older people and their requirements from a healthcare system, coupled with a necessity of educating the wider population on societal prejudice and discriminations to an ageing population. There is also a need to engage further with the current conceptualizations of care at a deeper and philosophical level.
    • Active agents of change: A conceptual framework for social iustice-orientated citizenship education

      Egan-Simon, Daryn; University of Chester (SAGE Publications, 2022-05-03)
      Social justice–orientated citizenship education (SJCE) can help young people to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to work collectively towards solutions to problems such as human rights violations, global poverty and environmental sustainability (DeJaeghere and Tudball, 2007; Banks, 2017; Hartung, 2017). Furthermore, SJCE can enable young people to think critically, consciously and compassionately and allow them to grow intellectually with a concern for equality and justice. This paper presents a conceptual framework for SJCE for educators and educational researchers wishing to explore citizenship education within social justice contexts. The framework is based on four constitutive elements: agency, dialogue, criticality and emancipatory knowledge, and has its philosophical foundations deeply rooted in the values and principles of critical pedagogy (Kincheloe, 2004; McLaren, 2014; Giroux, 2016). This conceptual framework for SJCE is ultimately concerned with developing justice-orientated active agents of change who are concerned with making the world more democratic, equitable and just.
    • Towards a Latter-day Saint Theology of Religions: Living theologically in a pluralist world

      Holt, James D.; University of Chester
      This article will draw on the experiences of the presenter as a Latter-day Saint who has been involved in teaching world religions and in inter-faith activities over the last 30 years in striving to accomplish two tasks. First, with regard to Latter-day Saint belief it seeks to formulate a theology of religions. To assist with the construction of a theology of religions the paper will utilize existing Christian scholarship on theology of religions. This will argue that the debate surrounding theologies of religion and engagement with other religions from the perspective of wider Christianity can be used to help to develop a Latter-day Saint approach to these issues. The role of any theology of religions should not be merely to inform a person’s belief but also to provide a basis for inter-faith relationships. Thus the second task of this paper is to explore how a Latter-day Saint theology of religions may influence the Church and its members’ engagement with other religions. The main argument will be that Latter-day Saint involvement in inter-faith conversation can continue to flourish, but must do so with a much firmer background and idea of intent. Establishing a theological background for dialogue will provide Latter-day Saints with a greater understanding of why these interactions are important, and will offer the principles that conversations should uphold and be guided by. This article begins an exploration of the framework for inter-faith dialogue within a pluralist world. The main writings within Mormonism with regard to other religions have tended to focus on surface convergence and have sometimes been apologetic in nature. Other writings have been of the attitude that Mormonism should stand independent from the world and its religions. This article attempts to posit a middle way, where both strands of Latter-day Saint teaching are respected. While some Mormon engagement with other religions has been taking place, the majority has been focused on particular traditions with no systematic development of a theological paradigm for such engagement.
    • Reaching Survivors Project - Final Report 2021

      Poole, Simon; University of Chester; Storyhouse
      An evaluation report on the 'Reaching Survivors project' run by CSASS
    • Pen-y-Graig Woodland Centre Final Evaluation Report March 2022 of a Welsh Government Pilot Programme

      Poole, Simon; University of Chester; Storyhouse (Pen-y-Graig Woodland Centre, 2022-06-01)
      This is a report that offers an evaluation of the Welsh Government funded Pilot Programme at Pen-y-Graig Woodland Centre.
    • Supporting beginning teachers to audit and develop their knowledge, skills and understanding in Religious Education

      Holt, James D.; Rushforth, Lucy; Harris, Lara; University of Chester
      This book helps mentors working with beginning teachers of religious education to develop their own mentoring skills, and to provide the essential guidance their mentee needs as they navigate the rollercoaster of their first years in the classroom. Offering tried and tested strategies, it covers the knowledge, skills and understanding every mentor needs. Practical tools offered include approaches for developing subject knowledge and lesson planning, as well as guidance for the effective use of pre- and post-lesson discussion, observations and target setting to support beginning religious education teachers.
    • Developing beginning teachers’ understanding of knowledge and skills in the RE curriculum

      Holt, James D.; University of Chester (Routledge, 2022-12-29)
      This book helps mentors working with beginning teachers of religious education to develop their own mentoring skills, and to provide the essential guidance their mentee needs as they navigate the rollercoaster of their first years in the classroom. Offering tried and tested strategies, it covers the knowledge, skills and understanding every mentor needs. Practical tools offered include approaches for developing subject knowledge and lesson planning, as well as guidance for the effective use of pre- and post-lesson discussion, observations and target setting to support beginning religious education teachers.
    • Religious Education

      Holt, James D.; University of Chester (Learning Matters, 2019-10-07)
      How can trainee teachers begin their careers with a clear understanding of all the curriculum subjects? This book addresses the nature of subject knowledge in all foundation curriculum subjects. It deconstructs the elements of each subject through an exploration of the nature of the subject, a coverage of the 'skills' a study of this subject develops and through detailed analysis of case studies from practice. At a time when concerns about the lack of breadth in the primary curriculum are being voiced, this book supports busy trainee teachers to truly understand and be ready to teach all curriculum areas.
    • Understanding Sikhism: A Guide for Teachers

      Holt, James D.; University of Chester (Bloomsbury, 2023-01-26)
      Sikhism is often the religion that teachers have the least confidence in teaching, despite being the fifth largest religion in the world, and being commonly regarded as one of the six main religions to be taught in schools. This book fills that gap in knowledge and expertise by exploring the beliefs and practices of Sikhism as a lived religion in the modern world. It engages with Sikh beliefs and practices and provides students and teachers with the confidence to address misconceptions and recognise the importance of beliefs in the lives of believers, in a way that will enable readers to go forward with confidence. Aspects of Sikhism that it explores include the concepts that form the central beliefs of Sikhism, and then the expression of these beliefs in worship, daily life, and the ethics of Sikhs in the modern day. Each chapter includes authentic voices of believers today and provides opportunities for the reader to consider the concepts and how they can be respected and taught in the classroom.
    • Creativity in the lives of English teachers: voices through found poetry

      Matthews, Martin; University of Chester (Taylor & Francis, 2022-07-25)
      This arts-based research explores the place of creativity in the lives of a focus group of teachers of English in an English secondary school who work within an increasingly performative educational system. As well as interrogating the place of creativity in their lives, the study explores how found poetry can be used as a research method to collate, analyse and then represent data. The poems are produced from semi-structured individual interviews. The participants were able to scrutinise and reflect upon the poems before returning for a second interview. This process helped strengthen the findings and gave a deeper understanding of their experiences regarding creativity. The findings suggest that the participants have limited space to be creative, or to think differently in their teaching practice. The limited space to be creative comes from normalising practices of a performance culture, but the restrictions are extrinsic and internally imposed by the participants.
    • To What Extent do the Approaches to Leadership of General Further Education College Principals Sustain a Culture that Enhances Institutional Outcomes?

      Lambert, Steve; Poole, Simon; McCarroll, Andrew S. (University of Chester, 2021-09-01)
      What educational leadership does - not what educational leadership is. This powerful benchmark statement supports me to tell the stories of principals, middle managers and teachers within different General Further Education College settings. In this interpretive hermeneutical examination of the concepts of leadership and culture from the perspectives of three levels of General Further Education College staff I consider and interpret what they think and believe about contemporary approaches to leadership and the establishment of organisational culture through an examination of their lived experiences. I use a thematic analysis to shine a light on the experiences of three principals, three middle managers and three teachers in three institutions. The impact of the Incorporation of General Further Education Colleges since April 1993 and the subsequent marketisation and significant increase in accountability is well documented over many decades. The recognition of the dichotomy which exists in the further education sector between competing business requirements and approaches to student learning have shaped approaches to leadership and the culture required in individual colleges and the further education sector. My analysis is framed by two leadership relationship models. Nietzsche’s master and slave morality is utilised in conjunction with Graen and Uhl-Bien’s leader-member exchange theory to examine present approaches to leadership and the relationships they produce to inform macro and institutional sub-cultures to meet the competing demands on the further education sector and individual General Further Education Colleges. This framework is supported by theorists concerned with the evolution of further education leadership type and cultural development in a sector driven by market forces and government policy. The thesis highlights the impact of leadership approaches on college direction and how these concepts impact on organisational outcomes.
    • The practical application on middle leaders of performing coaching interventions on others

      Lambert, Steve; University of Chester (SAGE Publications, 2022-05-31)
      The role of middle leaders in bringing about improvement in schools is well documented in the UK and abroad, with the ever-present demand for raising standards and achievement. At the same time, the benefits to individuals from receiving coaching or mentoring is also well documented. However, little is known about the benefit to those providing coaching. This article outlines some initial findings emerging from the first stage of a study exploring the benefits to middle leaders in secondary schools in England in their ability to recognise emotions having provided some coaching interventions to others. All participants were asked to complete an online emotional recognition test. After which a subset of the participants provided coaching to a member of staff from within the school for one academic term. After which participants resat the emotional recognition test. Most participants saw their ability to recognise emotions improve as a result of providing the coaching interventions. This is particularly important given existing literature that suggests due to the demands of the role, middle leaders have a deficit in their ability to recognise emotions, leading to a negative impact on those with whom they work.
    • “Hey you there!” An autoethnographic exploration of the impact of neoliberalism on the role and identity of the primary school teacher

      Moran, Paul; Hulse, Bethan; Duncan, Susan J. (University of Chester, 2021-10)
      The purpose of this thesis is to explore the agency of teachers in the development of their professional identities. The research is grounded in my lived experience as a primary teacher, senior leader and mentor of trainee and newly qualified teachers during the tumultuous three decades that followed the 1988 Education Reform Act. It is the result of an extensive period of research into and reflection on my experiences, actions and compromises during this period. Teacher identity is often seen as a dynamic and fluid process; one that is influenced by a range of factors and contexts (Beijaard et al, 2004). I conceptualise the influence and effects of neoliberalism as an example of a dominant ideology on the role and identity of primary teachers through the utilisation of Althusser’s theory of the interpellation of the subject by ideology (1971/2001). Although, Althusser saw schools as the major ideological state apparatus (ISA), he did not provide any detail on what takes place within the classroom (Macris, 2014). This research applies Althusserian theory to the experiences of teachers and explores the extent to which ideology can be seen as constituting teacher-subjects who in turn take up their interpellative roles within the educational ISA. An autoethnographic methodology is adopted making the author’s voice and experience central to the research while also conducting dialogue with professionals at the start of their careers. Data, gathered from a wide range of sources, are presented in the form of a series of vignettes focussing on three main areas which emerged from analysis - centralised curriculum control, Ofsted and performativity. From this emerge questions about the scope and nature of agency exercised by teachers during the course of their professional and personal development which are explored through an Althusserian lens. The findings show how ideology exisiting in the material practices of twenty first century schools have shaped the way teachers construct and communicate their professional identity but also that there exists within this the possibility of retaining personal values and convictions and using the two-way process on subjection in ever changing and innovative ways.
    • An analysis of the common characteristics of intervention strategies used in secondary education

      Power, Michael; University of Chester (British Education Studies Association, 2021-12-01)
      This paper considers the question ‘what are the common characteristics of intervention strategies used in secondary education?’ This is an important question because understanding the characteristics of intervention strategies allows for a clearer understanding of the resource cost and unintended implications (Outhwaite, et al., 2020) of the use of intervention strategies in secondary schools. Although this paper doesn’t explore the resource cost or implications of these strategies it provides a framework through which practitioners can begin to analyse the intervention strategies used in their own settings. The study aims to identify the common characteristics of intervention strategies within a sample of intervention strategies taken from one comprehensive secondary school in the Northwest of England. This practitioner enquiry was conducted using thematic analysis to identify the characteristics of a sample of intervention strategies, alongside the study of commonality within the sample by looking at which characteristics are more prevalent when compared to the average number within the same sample. The research is situated within ‘post-positivism’ which “straddles both the positivist and interpretivist paradigms” (Grix, 2004) and makes use of both interpretivist and positivist methods through thematic analysis of characteristics and he statistical analysis of commonality. The two most common characteristics within the sample were found to be reactivity to a trigger or stimulus such as underperformance in a test, which was present in all 23 intervention strategies. Having a measurable outcome such as improving reading age, was present in 22 of the 23 intervention strategies in the sample making it the second most common characteristic from this sample. The least common characteristic was for intervention strategies to focus on child’s motivations – for example intervention strategies that make use of things students are interested in such as football. This was only present in 5 of the 23 intervention strategies.
    • Moving in the wrong direction: A critical history of citizenship education in England from the early twentieth century to the present day

      Egan-Simon, Daryn; University of Chester
      This article critically explores the development of citizenship education in England from the early twentieth century to the present day. Using Westheimer and Kahne’s (2004) citizenship education framework as a lens, it is argued that citizenship education in England, from the early twentieth century to the present day, has failed to move beyond education for personal responsibility and civic participation, towards a more justice-orientated conceptualisation. It is maintained that citizenship education during much of the twentieth century was framed around personal responsibility, deference and patriotism. However, with the election of the New Labour government in 1997 and the introduction of citizenship education as a statutory secondary school subject in 2002, there was a move towards the development of participatory dispositions and the enhancement of political literacy in young people. From 2010, however, there has been a retrograde shift towards citizenship education for personal responsibility and character education (Kisby, 2017; Starkey, 2018; Weinberg and Flinders, 2018), as well as an increased focus on Fundamental British Values. The article concludes by considering the recommendations from the House of Lords’ (2018) report on citizenship education and argues that, while they may help reposition citizenship education within a participatory framework, they still fail to move towards a justice-orientated conceptualisation of citizenship education which focuses on the solidarity of the global community and how best to take actions that benefit all of humankind.
    • Measuring emotions and empathy in educational leadership

      Lambert, Steve; University of Chester (IGI Global, 2021-11-30)
      Educational leadership requires a combination of transformational and transactional leadership. However, this combination is not in equal parts, instead favouring transformational leadership. This approach to leadership is principally focused on an individual’s social interactions and their ability to identify emotions and to react empathetically to those of others. Opposing this is transactional leadership which focuses on the processes necessary to achieve a desired outcome, regardless of the individuals involved (Psychogios & Dimitriadis, 2020). Many leadership theorists suggest the ability to have and display empathy is an important part of leadership (Bass, 1990; Walumbwa et al., 2008). However, until recently the focus of determining an individual’s ability to recognise emotions has been through a self-reporting questionnaire. Yet these questionnaires can only be used to report emotional feelings, which are expressed emotional manifestations in our body, incurring sensational changes picked up by self-awareness, such as anger, sadness and joy. Therefore, what individuals are actually doing is reporting their awareness and externalising of the sensation based on what the person perceives the emotion to be. This chapter explores the use of neuroscientific techniques, primarily electroencephalogram (EEG) and eye-tracking to better understand empathy. What this chapter highlights are that these techniques are more accurate at measuring an individual's ability to recognise emotions than the traditional self-reporting questionnaire.