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The impact of change : a whole school study to investigate if change in approaches to teaching writing has an impact on school culture

The impact of change : a whole school study to investigate if change in approaches to teaching writing has an impact on school culture
The impact of change : a whole school study to investigate if change in approaches to teaching writing has an impact on school culture

This thesis examines change in school culture. It is set against a background of two concerns. One originates at the micro level of governmental policy designed to improve standards of literacy through the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy. The second stems from the micro level with a need for internal school improvement to raise standards of children's writing. The aim of the study is to assess change in school culture through an enquiry into the attitudes of the teachers and the children towards the implementation of new teaching approaches to writing.

The core of the study is an interpretation and understanding of the culture of the school. Ethnographic forms of enquiry were used to describe and examine the impact of the new approaches to teaching writing and to explore school culture.

The binding theme is educational change with a focus on attitudes and behaviours in the teaching and learning of children's writing. The study sets out to find what the changes mean to those who undertake and undergo them. What teachers do has an impact on what they think and believe. What teachers believe is at the heart of the embedded ideology of commitment to and control of teaching and learning. Continued educational change thus influences change in school culture.

The initial identification of school culture was evident as an embedded caring 'Welfarist' culture. The educational changes have impacted on this deep level of culture to become the underlying foundation of an ideology of commitment to the continued learning of the whole child. The study leads to the development of a description of a 'nurturing learning infant school culture' and establishes a model that takes forward Hargreaves' model of an effective school and Stoll and Fink's moving school. The findings show that nationally and internally introduced educational change can significantly impact on the culture of a school. A model for a national 'nurturing learning infant school culture' is proposed.

University of Southampton
Jefferson, Stephanie Sharon
2dea5cce-cd37-4b9c-bbbf-6daf444c14ca
Jefferson, Stephanie Sharon
2dea5cce-cd37-4b9c-bbbf-6daf444c14ca

Jefferson, Stephanie Sharon (2001) The impact of change : a whole school study to investigate if change in approaches to teaching writing has an impact on school culture. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

This thesis examines change in school culture. It is set against a background of two concerns. One originates at the micro level of governmental policy designed to improve standards of literacy through the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy. The second stems from the micro level with a need for internal school improvement to raise standards of children's writing. The aim of the study is to assess change in school culture through an enquiry into the attitudes of the teachers and the children towards the implementation of new teaching approaches to writing.

The core of the study is an interpretation and understanding of the culture of the school. Ethnographic forms of enquiry were used to describe and examine the impact of the new approaches to teaching writing and to explore school culture.

The binding theme is educational change with a focus on attitudes and behaviours in the teaching and learning of children's writing. The study sets out to find what the changes mean to those who undertake and undergo them. What teachers do has an impact on what they think and believe. What teachers believe is at the heart of the embedded ideology of commitment to and control of teaching and learning. Continued educational change thus influences change in school culture.

The initial identification of school culture was evident as an embedded caring 'Welfarist' culture. The educational changes have impacted on this deep level of culture to become the underlying foundation of an ideology of commitment to the continued learning of the whole child. The study leads to the development of a description of a 'nurturing learning infant school culture' and establishes a model that takes forward Hargreaves' model of an effective school and Stoll and Fink's moving school. The findings show that nationally and internally introduced educational change can significantly impact on the culture of a school. A model for a national 'nurturing learning infant school culture' is proposed.

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Published date: 2001

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Local EPrints ID: 464478
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/464478
PURE UUID: e0adc393-6236-4022-a697-3dbbb1b42d0a

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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 23:41
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 19:32

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Author: Stephanie Sharon Jefferson

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