Researching the History of Home-Based Education

Documentaries

2012-02-26T12:51:00.002-08:00

When I first began this research, I was keen to combine different source types including written sources, spoken interviews, online dialogues and films. In the Cambridge Education Faculty library I found Meighan, R. and Meighan, J. (1995) The Family Strikes Back! (Nottingham, Educational Heretics Videos). I found that film allowed a new and different insight into home-based education. I appreciated being able to look back over ten years to see these families learning at home. I recognised that the presence of a camera and editing may distort reality and that filmed sources are subject to the typical questions the historian asks regarding reliability and accuracy. However, I felt video sources might further my understandings beyond those gained from dialogues and written sources.

Over the past few months I have been considering looking at more videos in my work. Searching on youtube.com returns many sources, particularly from the United States. Thankfully some home-based educators have also suggested some sources to me. If you have a documentary (particularly from England or British Columbia) you would recommend, please email me - cdr34@cam.ac.uk

Here are a couple of documentaries I have found quite interesting and insightful into some of the beliefs and experiences of home-based education. The first is from the UK and the second from Vancouver, BC.

Travelling around British Columbia

2012-02-18T10:22:00.001-08:00

Over the last few weeks I have begun travelling around the British Columbian lower mainland. I had some previous knowledge of this area, but only as a tourist. Travelling around for the purposes of research had furthered my understanding and love of this area. I gaze out of the Greyhound bus windows at Beautiful British Columbia with its seemingly endless white and grey mountain tops, ragged coasts with dark green islands and great deep forests where the mist hangs between the trees. The weather has been very mixed: ranging from the -20°Cs a few weeks ago to and to around +7°C more recently; there has been waist deep snow, days upon days of drizzly rain, and many sunny days where the snow drips from the trees and they glow with amber inflections and black shadows.

At times I have wondered about getting a car for my travelling around British Columbia. While Vancouver has a good SkyTrain system, and there are many Greyhound coach services, I find that reaching some areas (even in Vancouver's sprawling suburbs) to be awkward. I spend a lot of time working through bus schedules, and drawing maps. I had decided against buying a car. Beyond the fact that I am not the most confident driver and felt that the combination of driving on the wrong side of the road, windy roads and often challenging weather conditions was too much to take on, I also found that it would likely be more affordable to travel by coach. I do however, hope to rent a car for my trip to the interior when the weather is less likely to prove a challenge.

In terms of travel, my visit to Powell River and back along the Sunshine Coast has been particularly interesting. Although this area is part of the mainland, there is no direct road and it can only be reached via boat or plane. I took light aircraft to reach Powell River. I had never been on such a small aeroplane before and was excited. I became a little nervous when the one flight attendant told me that I was sitting in an emergency exit seat and that in the case of an incident, I needed to open the door throw it out and clear the wing of any debris! During her announcement she informed us that in the case of emergency our seat cushion would serve as a flotation device. The plane was old and noisy. Although it was overcast, the flight was smooth and I felt quite safe. It was only later that I learnt of how old the aeroplanes in the fleet are and how there have been accidents in the past. Returning to Vancouver I took a coach trip (which included two ferry rides). On the ferry I learnt that many of the ferry boats are becoming quite old too and that sometimes the services are unreliable, and the ability to travel (and to arrive on time) is still at the mercy of the weather and the water.

During my trip I learnt that there were further harder to reach islands. I learnt of how at times residents needed to visit Vancouver for work or for medical attention. I learnt of how living in smaller outlying areas means that some children need to travel long distances to attend brick-and-mortar school, and that for those living on surrounding islands, this necessitates a ferry ride which is sometimes cancelled when the ocean is too rough. I learnt that the choice of school is often reduced, particularly at the high school level. While in such areas, these issues of geographic location influence some families in their opting for home-based education, for other families this is not seen to be a factor. Rather they have similarly varied reasons to those living in more accessible areas.

My trip to Powell River allowed me to gain some first hand experience of the nature of home-based education in a town in an outlying region. The conversations I had with several mothers reminded me, however, that relatively speaking Powell River is still quite populated and accessible. I am excited to see how I come to see this area after I travel further away from Vancouver, into the interior and further up the coast.

Networking and publicising research

2012-01-21T17:34:00.000-08:00

I have been exploring different modes of networking and publicising my research, both online and offline.

When I began the research as an undergraduate in late 2007, I felt quite comfortable posting about my research in online support groups and discussion groups, particularly on Facebook. Since then I have become a little more reserved. A few things have changed. Firstly, it seems there has been a change in the place of advertising on the internet. When I began the research sites like Facebook and youtube had fewer, if any, advertisements. Over the last few years both official online advertising and spam postings seem to have increased and become resented, and this may have brought a wider wariness towards postings on shared-interest or support groups from 'outsiders'. As such, I fear that my posts may be perceived as spam. Secondly, I have gained greater awareness and understanding of the mixed feelings of home-based educators with regards to research. While I have met many home-based educators who perceive research as desirable and necessary, I have read articles which are negative about home-based education research [- in England views towards research may also have changed due to government interest in recent years]. Thirdly my status has changed from that of undergraduate student to funded postgraduate researcher. I wonder whether this simultaneously brings a change in expected behaviour regarding posting and networking.

Having only ever received positive responses and participation from posting about my research in online support groups and sending emails to support group co-ordinators, I have decided that this reluctance and these concerns bring a valuable sensitivity but that it is acceptable to post a short line or two about my research with a link to this blog or my Facebook page which those who are interested may follow for further information.

Some home-based educators have posted about my research in newsletters, discussion forums and online support groups. I have had positive feedback from this and have consequently received many emails from those who have participated in my research by creating a reflective testimony on their experiences and insights, usually in response to the guiding questions found on my blog. Some home-based educators with longer term engagement or awareness on a wider level (having run support groups for example) also go on to consider the additional questions. I am very thankful to those who have helped me in this way!

Offline, I have been attending home-based education local meetings and larger organised events for home-based educators. I have found home-based educators to be welcoming and interested in my work. I began by conducting interviews at such occasions. Whilst these sometimes had a richness which some written responses lack, I came to realise that the written testimonies allowed for greater personal private reflection and considered responses. As such I decided to use meetings and events to further my understanding in an informal way, to build rapport and to network and publicise my research more than to collect data per se. This is working well and I have gained some detailed, candid and considered written reflections from those I have met at meetings and events, for which I am very grateful.

The question of networking and publicising research is one that needs careful consideration. Some groups (both online and offline) may wish to retain their privacy and this ought to be respected. As yet I have found many groups to be open and welcoming to me and my work and I am thankful for this.

Michael Fielding, 'Schools for Democracy'

2012-01-06T13:18:00.000-08:00

At the end of Michaelmas Term 2011 I attended a talk at the Faculty of Education, Cambridge by Michael Fielding entitled 'Schools for Democracy'. Fielding put forward an argument "for schools as democratic institutions in which the partnership between adults and young people takes seriously Dewey’s notion that democracy is a ‘mode of associated living embedded in the culture and social relationships of everyday life’." He outlined the 10 aspects needed to work towards radical democratic common schools. (full abstract).

Fielding considered examples of radical democratic traditions of education. Having attended a progressive boarding school, I had gained first hand experience of certain concepts he discussed such as the School Council. I had gained a wider familiarity with the traditions, methods and concepts Fielding spoke of through a paper I took as an undergraduate which considered progressivism in the early twentieth century. My awareness mostly concerned private provisions for the middle and upper classes. I thus found Fielding's examples taken from publicly funded state schools to be very interesting, and in particular his consideration of Alex Bloom at St George-in-the-East, a secondary modern school in Stepney in the East End of London. I was also interested the way Fielding drew on historical examples to support his argument that radical democratic traditions could be practicable and desirable alternative the schooling today.

For more on this topic please see Michael Fielding and Peter Moss's book, Radical Education and the Common School: A Democratic Alternative, 2010, Routledge (available from Amazon).

Sustaining Peak-Performance

2011-12-30T06:59:00.000-08:00

During Michaelmas Term 2011, I attended The University of Cambridge's 'Sustaining Peak Performance'. This one and half day course (one full day, and a half day a week later) was led by Mary Sharpe.

A number of topics were covered including:

What it means to flourish
Motivation (progress was seen to be the biggest motivator)
Flow
Stress and relaxation responses
The benefits of deep brain relaxation
Nutrition - healthy and unhealthy foods and the importance of hydration, eating a healthy breakfast and eating regularly
Physical exercise and the concept of high-intensity interval training
The benefits of learning new skills
Developing self-efficacy
Beliefs and the ability to change them
Positive psychology and building resistance

The instructional approach of this course was great. It combined (natural and social) scientific theories, research and evidence with reflective exercises, group discussions and practical activities. This combined approach was a major strength. The theories were not only interesting but offered a necessary grounding and credibility to the practical suggestions. The practical activities offered an experiential dimension which was essential given the real-life aims of the course for an audience containing many academics who spend protracted periods in theoretical and abstract realms.

Practical aspects included:

Massages (shoulder rub)
Deep relaxation exercises (guided meditation)
Short exercise session outside (games)
Plenty of water available on the tables to be drank through the day
Bowls of seeds, nuts and dried fruits on the tables to be nibbled during the day

Towards the end of the first day we created goals for the coming week and buddied up. My goals were:

Draw daily
Do at least 20 minutes exercise daily
Do a short guided meditation daily

I managed to draw and meditate most days. Although I did not do exercise everyday I did do more than usual and I think that it averaged at around 15 minutes a day. It was great to check in with my buddy during the week and at the second session. Although I lost sight of my goals at the end of term I hope to return to them in the new year.

I found the guided relaxations particularly useful. Although I had found this quite difficult during the sessions at the course itself, in my own space and lying down I found that I enjoyed and benefited from guided meditation. I explored different approaches to guided meditations variously using those I found on youtube.com and the one we were later emailed from the course itself. Here is an example from youtube.com:

I am glad I went on the course and thankful to Mary Sharpe and the University of Cambridge; although I was familiar with the majority of the lifestyle suggestions offered, I deepened my understanding of their theoretical bases. Thank you!

© Charlotte D Rochez

Skills Analysis One-to-One (Time-Management)

2011-12-23T22:45:00.000-08:00

The University of Cambridge offers a wide-range of courses for graduate personal professional development. More individualised resources and opportunities are also offered. In Michaelmas Term 2011 I chose to have a one-to-one skills analysis session. In advance of the session I was required to complete a self-analysis survey of my key skills. This offered me a great opportunity to reflect on my experiences and increased my awareness of my strengths and weaknesses.

As I cycled to the one-to-one session, I did not know what to expect. Maybe the 40 minutes would be spent reviewing my survey? Maybe I would have to do further tasks? I was warmly welcomed and asked what I wished to gain from the session. During this short informal conversation, I decided that I would most like to construct a way to manage my time in order to make the most of the two final years of my PhD.

We looked at my diary and at some time-management techniques. I was reminded that there was no such thing as 'managing time' but that rather we might manage ourselves. I was guided through a time-management to-do list which was seen to offer a practical solution to the question, '(How) Do you know what to do, when?'. I am finding this to be very helpful and have outlined it below:

What do you need to do to get that done?	How long do you think it will take to get this done?	Realistically, how long will it take to get this done?	What is the deadline?	When ought it to be ready by?	When will you start this?	When will you do this?
Use this column to break the larger task into a list of constituent jobs.	Estimate the time it will take to complete each job in the first column.	Multiply each estimate by 2.5.	The real deadline for each job.	This is a date at least a day before the deadline which creates a buffer.	The start date counteracts procrastination. It need not matter how much work is done on the start date so long as a bold start is made.	This encourages awareness of the time available. This time can then be blocked off in a diary.

It was recognised that the keys to time management were:

Clarity
Structure
Boldness

I used part of the session to break my goal of making the most of the next two years into constituent tasks and jobs. I later continued this during the evening as I relaxed and listened to music. I hope to develop my organisational skills further during 2012.

I would recommend the one-to-one skills analysis to other graduate students. The reflective coursework before hand encourages identification of individual strengths and challenges and the personalised session will afford deeper exploration of these and likely suggest some practical solutions too!

An evening at a home-based education parents' group

2011-12-09T18:35:00.000-08:00

In November I was kindly invited to a home-based education support group. It was an evening meeting for a group of parents from one area (some lived closer than others, all I think within an hour's drive of each other). One mother warmly welcomed a handful of other home educating mothers into her home, having made a selection of delicious cakes. One of the host's children was still awake, playing quietly and helping to serve cakes before shortly going to bed. The atmosphere was supportive, warm and open. The mothers spoke of their children's personalities and preferences and shared information regarding activities, events and local places to visit.

It was a great opportunity to gain an insight into certain elements of home-based education. The mothers openly shared their experiences and beliefs, both responding to my open-ended questions and discussing aspects they saw to be useful for my study. They spoke of their reasons for embarking on home-based education and the advantages and challenges they faced. They compared the reactions and support they'd received from family members and friends. They explained their educational and parenting approaches.

It was incredibly easy to talk to the mothers; they were open and willing to share. Given that I wished to network at this time and build a rapport and gain a true understanding, I felt it was better not to record the session. More importantly, I was highly aware that this was a support meeting that I had been invited to attend and so I did not feel it was appropriate or ethical to turn it into a research focus group. So, I simply told the mothers at the end how to find my research questions and that I hoped they'd either respond to these or that we might be able to arrange interviews in 2012. In an informal contextual sense the evening was a great opportunity for me to broaden my understanding of home-based education as these women openly shared their experiences, views and beliefs. I am very thankful for the invite and the conversations (and, of course, the delicious cakes!).

© Charlotte D Rochez

FERSA Peer Learning Group

2011-12-04T17:16:00.000-08:00

The Cambridge Faculty of Education Research Students' Association [FERSA] holds a variety of events including lunchtime seminars, the Kaleidescope summer conference and Peer Learning Groups. During Michaelmas term 2011, I decided to attend the weekly FERSA Peer Learning Group. Aside from my one-to-one supervisions I am finding this to be one of the most useful sessions I have ever attended at the Faculty of Education. I wish to share my experience with others who may be interested in attending the group or for anyone who may be looking for a technique to overcome writers-block or improve their writing sessions.

The format varies but this is the one I find most useful:

Write non-stop in silence for five minutes about what you had previously been writing about and what you wished to write about during the session (you can write ‘I can’t think what to write’ over and over just so long as you keep writing)
Write for a further three minutes about your planned writing, detailing the structure and the audience and allocating a word count and an amount of time
Write for the allocated time (45 minutes) without distraction
Write for five minutes about what you have just written and what you wish to write about next

There are some variations on this structure. Sometimes before the first five minutes we each say one sentence about our current writing project. Sometimes we break into pairs after the introductory exercises to discuss our writing and return to the same pairs for a short discussion at the very end of the session. I find the pair discussions useful to learn about another's work and to share ideas, experiences and challenges. Sometimes the 45 minutes is further divided into three 15 minute periods.

The sessions tend to be small with a friendly atmosphere. They offer peer support in the form of physical presence but without losing any personal work time. Whilst it is good to come with notes or ideas to be worked upon, the time is not to be used in looking up references or additional sources (these can be added later) nor is it to be frittered away in answering emails, reading, chatting, making cups of tea...

The five minute introductory exercise boosts my confidence for it reminds how much work I have done already. It also encourages a creative freedom to propose new avenues I might like to explore in my writing. The three minutes of further planning focus my attention and create a necessary structure to curtail rambling. The final five minutes are useful for they encourage the construction of a starting platform from which to continue writing at a later time.

The main writing session is brilliant. The feeling is somewhat akin to taking an essay-based examination. Beyond the larger amount I find myself able to write, I am often surprised at the directions my writing takes and the connections I make. The process sometimes highlights to me how much I already know about a topic. It also enables me to locate gaps in my reading and data and thus suggests the next steps in my research. I have long agreed with those who perceive writing a central form of thinking and analysis rather than the report of thought (Alasuutari 1995; Cresswell 1994, ch.11; Miles and Huberman 1984, 91). This session highlights to me the importance of writing during the research process.

I highly recommend this session and writing format. Beyond being a simple tool to raise writing productivity and improve creativity, it may also enable better time management, boost confidence and offer the writer new insights into their topic.

I believe the structure of this FERSA Peer Learning Group is borrowed from the University of Cambridge Graduate Development Programme's 'Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Writers' Group and based on Dr Rowena Murray's (2002) writing format.

References:

Alasuutari, P. (1995) Researching Culture: Qualitative Method and Cultural Studies (London, Sage Publications)

Cresswell, J. (1994) Research Design: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (London, Sage Publications)

Miles, M.B. and Huberman, A.M. (1984) Qualitative Data Analysis: A Sourcebook of New Methods (California, Sage Publications)

Murray, R. (2002) How to Write a Thesis (Open University Press)

Writing History in the Digital Age

2011-11-28T03:34:00.000-08:00

During Michaelmas Term 2011, Writing History in the Digital Age (edited by Jack Dougherty and Kristen Nawrotzki) was open for online peer-review. This "born-digital edited volume" sought to focus on a number of questions such as "Has the digital revolution transformed how we write about the past — or not? Have new technologies changed our essential work-craft as scholars, and the ways in which we think, teach, author, and publish? Does the digital age have broader implications for individual writing processes, or for the historical profession at large?"

My interest in the publication stemmed partly from my research methodology. Since 2007 I have been using Facebook as a means to network and publicise my research and to connect with home-based educators. I have also been using Facebook, MSN and email as platforms for engaging in ‘online oral history’, with real time interviews on MSN and Facebook chat, ‘monologue’ or ‘testimonial’ responses of experiences and insights posted to the Facebook group or emailed or messaged privately to me, and using the Facebook group's wall for ‘virtual focus group’ discussions. This sparked a broader interest in using the internet for research. I wondered about its potential to for studying ‘history-from-below’ which is traditionally linked to ‘oral history’. I also became interested in its potential to allow the researched to engage with research processes and products, its suitability for participatory research approaches and its ability to democratise research processes.

As I began my postgraduate study I was keen to continue to explore the use of the internet in research. However I found that little had been written on this. In exploring my methodology I found myself drawing on research and literature far outside my discipline. In Autumn 2010 I learnt of this initiative, Writing History in the Digital Age. At that time I had a look at the website and read a few of the early articles. It seemed like an exciting endeavour and led me to reflect in a blog post on how I thought modern technology influenced the way I worked. At this stage I did not know how broad a scope the book was to have. Indeed reflecting upon it now, I can see that the volume could be useful for those studying both history and other disciplines.

During summer 2011 a call was opened for article submission. I suggested an article entitled, “Is the Internet ‘the new millennium for oral history’?” which sought to consider whether the internet democratised history, with a particular focus on online oral history. Writing the essay was a good experience for me. However as I grappled with the finishing touches I realised I was not yet ready to post it online; my misgivings were in part those of confidence whereby I feared plagiarism and criticism, and felt that I was not ready to publish, but also a feeling that other proposed contributions were to cover that which I was to say. Also, I was somewhat intimidated by the editors’ suggestion that where possible they wanted to explore possibilities of digital and online citations. Through reading and reviewing the volume I learnt that this reluctance and nervousness regarding posting work online is shared by many students and some more experienced academics too.

Learning that the volume had gone live for open peer-review, I was keen to read the essays in the book. I would have read many of the articles in any case, either for their relevance to my work or out of general interest. However, I was excited and nervous at the prospect of being able to read and comment upon the articles at this stage before the final selection were revised and published. Just as Robert S. Wolff claims of Wikipedia in his essay in this volume, this open-review process offered some opportunity “to peer behind the curtain and if interested take a place at the controls”. As a student, this offered me an unusual prospect, something of a public apprenticeship or work-experience in reviewing and editing which offered entry into the online academic historical community and built my confidence to the point where I would feel more comfortable submitting articles for online publication in the future. Engagement in the open-review process also developed my thoughts on writing history in the digital age. I claimed in my previous post, “I feel that the internet offers the possibility of social research becoming a more openly democratic dialogic process”. Through Writing History in the Digital Age, I experienced a new way in which the very process of writing, editing and publishing historical accounts could better draw on conversation, community and collaboration.

As I worked through the essays I began by making coded notes in a private word document. At first I feared posting my comments publicly on the website in case my point would be covered elsewhere. However about half way through the book I gained the confidence to begin posting online. My nerves were eased when authors responded kindly to my comments, entering into a dialogue where further ideas, information and links were shared. I gained much from reading the comments and authors’ responses.

I found the commenting during the open-review particularly interesting in the sense that it seemed to serve as a platform for public academic conversation, for example, between two authors whose essays had similar substantive interest. Here the initiative demonstrated to me how dialogic, discursive aspects of history could be electronically written in the digital age. In this way the volume blurred the boundaries between a conference and a book, between speech and text. This blurring is a point I find central to my discussions on online oral history with “electronic discourse” of online textual exchange comprising “two-directional texts” (Boyd Davis and Jeutonne Brewer 1997, 11 cited Gary Burnett 2002, 160) seen to offer a unique mode of communication, melding aspects of writing and speech (Gary Burnett 2002, 160). I came to find this blurring attractive for it added an innovative dimension to the editing process; it increased the authors’ ability to access and engage with the wider dialogues which followed from, coincided with or contextualised their initial essay and offered them the chance to incorporate aspects from these dialogues into their work before the more official publication.

Online communication regarding the volume Writing History in the Digital Age was not limited to the comments on particular essays and general comments page. One author, Shawn Graham blogged about how on reading the book he had used a “topic model classifier at the level of individual paragraphs of this entire volume” to create a visualisation and the opportunity for labelling the volume which could be useful, for example for those interested in particular topics touched on in several essays. The book could also be followed on twitter under the tag #writinghistorydigitalage. Tweets included those regarding the progress of the peer-review and the number of comments, links to articles in the media about the book and links to other endeavours of similar interests. Authors tweeted further examples relating to their essays and commenters tweeted links to articles, cartoons or videos they felt related to the volume.

The book covered a wide variety of themes. Some contributions guided the reader through historiographical and epistemological issues related to writing history in the digital, showing for example how digital developments both challenged and offered insights into our conceptions of history, the past and time (Stefan Tanaka). Issues of a movement away from liner-perceptions of time (Daniel Faltesek) and the place of quantitative approaches (Peter Haber) were given more detailed consideration.

Several articles questioned how we write about history and engage with both primary and secondary sources in the digital age. Specific attention was given to the place of digital history projects (Sherman Dorn), informal writing of history on digital platforms (Alex Sayf Cummings), blogging (Jonathan Jarrett), video history (Marshall Poe), history computer games (Laura Zucconi, Ethan Watrall, Hannah Ueno, and Lisa Rosner), e-textbooks (Ellen Noonan), online encyclopedias (Julie Judkins). Some authors suggested new ways to engage with information whether with accessible quantitative data which could be publicly engaged with (Frederick W Gibbs and Trevor J Owens) or with extensive collections of primary sources being made available to subscribers (Kathryn Kish Sklar and Thomas Dublin). Many contributions gave practical suggestions for how digital platforms might allow new opportunities for analysis of data, with, for example, a practical account of how digital databases could be used an analytical tool, even including a template which could be downloaded by the reader (Ansley T. Erickson). Some gave examples of how digital media could serve for both analysis and representation, perhaps supporting the suggestion that forms such as ‘relational databases’ might themselves be seen as historical accounts (Jean Bauer) and that historians might simply present representations of data along with instructions of methodology for readers to engage with the data itself (Frederick W Gibbs and Trevor J Owens). Amongst such contributions I particularly enjoyed the articles on digital maps (Stephen Robertson) and visualisations (John Theibault) such as google N-grams (Frederick W Gibbs and Trevor J Owens).

A number of the pieces focused on Wikipedia and how it could be actively engaged with to teach of issues of authorship, content and coverage (Robert S. Wolff; Amanda I. Seligman; Shawn Graham; Martha Saxton, J. Scott Payne, Leah Cerf, and Melissa Greenberg). While each contribution had a different slant and focus, central themes were repeated. It was here that the comments between the authors were most interesting and I wondered whether the articles might have formed the basis of a collaborative piece incorporating their later comments and conversation. Thus, while the volume’s open-review process showed me how the digital age could foster a trend in history book publishing away from competition and towards collaboration, its wider publication process left me feeling that we are only beginning to explore its full potential in this regard. For, although at the time when short essay proposals had been submitted, the editors had suggested that authors might read the essay suggestions and look for opportunities to work together online, at the time of writing this blog post, this had not been fully realised. Despite feeling that it could have been beneficial for this to have happened at an earlier stage, I am hopeful that this might happen now, when the authors have greater insight into each other’s work following the peer-review stage of entire essays.

Beyond those focusing on student engagement with Wikipedia others looked at new opportunities for history students in the digital age, for example as undergraduates making a useful contribution through archival and coding work (Kathryn Tomasek). Some considered ways of teaching students in the digital age, for example with history courses utilising online virtual learning environments (Thomas Harbison & Luke Waltzer) or with courses which explored digital developments when seeking to afford students the skills and tools which might benefit the historian in the digital age (Adrea Lawrence). There was also the suggestion that students might use familiar digital tools in new ways; I was enthused by reading of the experiences of a pair of graduate students using email to support and offer accountability to each other (Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Sarah Manekin) I posted a link to the article in the FERSA [Cambridge Faculty of Education Research Student Association] Facebook group and received positive feedback and interest in establishing ‘accountability partnerships’.

In terms of my own substantive research interest I found Amanda Grace Sikarskie’s essay on using Facebook in historical research most useful and exciting. Other entries related to my interests in community history, oral history and history-from-below (Oscar Rosales Castañeda; Shawn Graham, Guy Massie, and Nadine Feuerherm). Whilst these essays seemed to suggest the potential for the internet as a place of democratic sharing to me, Leslie Madsen-Brooks’ piece offered a caution recognising that there was the potential for inaccurate or false histories to proliferate and gain public credence. This left me reflecting further on the difference between memory and history.

I have enjoyed reading and reviewing this publication; its exciting, challenging and engaging content was mirrored in its form.

© Charlotte D Rochez

Elina Druker, 'From abecedaria to ABC'

2011-11-10T15:27:00.001-08:00

Some seminars at the Faculty of Education (Cambridge) relate to my broader interests in the history of education. A good example of this was Elina Druker talk entitled 'From abecedaria to ABC: The history of the illustrated alphabet' (abstract).

Druker hung an exploratory historical interpretation on a series of beautiful and engaging images taken from a wide range of sources from the Medieval to the present day. Certain themes emerged through the talk. Druker discussed the relationship between language and reality. She highlighted how alphabets sometimes gave a sense of the physical and material form of letters whose bodies could be manipulated but also engaged their abstract nature, for example with visual ideas being used to emphasise different levels of meaning. Considering examples which involved the human form in illustrating the letters, invited reflection regarding the relationship between language and the body. Particularly interesting was Druker's interpretation of the use of the body to mirror the child's strain in learning the alphabet and the grace of language as may be seen in this early twentieth century circus alphabet:

Illustrated alphabets were seen to offer the possibility of cultural insights. While some illustrated alphabets and abecadarias may not have been intended for children, those which were could give insight into societal norms and values regarding childhood. Such insights could be gained through the depiction of children within illustrations, but also through the forms and methods of learning which were seen to change over time, for example from those which moralised and others which played with humour. There was seen to be a movement from knowledge and standards towards engagement both with the deconstructive and constructive nature of letters in modern and postmodern sources.

Druker further considered the aesthetic and artistic techniques employed in representing the alphabet including for example theatrical elements, the use trompe-l'œil, the use of rhyme and rhythm and the sequential nature of picture books.

Druker's talk drew on a wide range of alphabets and abacedaria's. Here are my favourite examples from her talk and found in online exploration following it.

Hans Holbein's 'Dance of Death Alphabet':

Hornbooks:

Giacomo Paolini's 'Grotesque Alphabet in Mythological Landscapes'

Dame Wonder's 'Amusing alphabet'

Edward Gorey's 'The Gashlycrumb Tinies':

El Lissitzky's 'Order for the Army of the Arts':

My personal favourites were Dr Seuss's 'On Beyond Zebra' where new letters are invented and Chris Van Allsburg's 'The Z Was Zapped' where each letter is depicted on a stage their physical form being manipulated in some way.

For me Elina Druker's talk was particularly memorable for it engaged with beautiful visual images for philosophical, sociological and historical interpretive reflections.

Lissa Paul, 'To Perceive Ideas shooting, expanding and maturing': The Educational Philosophy of Eliza Fenwick 1766-1840

2011-11-01T00:13:00.000-07:00

One of my broader educational interests is the history of progressive thought in education. As an undergraduate I particularly enjoyed an assignment I chose focusing on progressivism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. I very much enjoyed Lissa Paul's seminar entitled 'To Perceive Ideas shooting, expanding and maturing': The Educational Philosophy of Eliza Fenwick 1766-1840 (abstract). Paul portrayed Eliza Fenwick as a 'proto-feminist' and early progressivist whose contribution to the pedagogy and philosophy of education was limited by her commitments as mother and bread-winner. The influence of patriarchal culture may be seen to have not only limited Fenwick's contemporary contribution and legacy but also our understanding of the history of progressive educational thought. Paul's talk invited important lines of thought for me particularly given that home-based education is seen as a typically female profession (Rakestraw 1987; Thomas 1998). I returned to earlier questions I had had regarding the degree to which the history of home-based education could be seen as a feminist study.

References

Rakestraw, J.F. (1987) An analysis of home schooling for elementary school-age children in Alabama -Ed.D Thesis, University of Alabama

Thomas, A. (1998) Educating Children at Home (London, Paul Chapman)

FERSA Lunchtime Seminar

2011-10-24T03:02:00.000-07:00

The Cambridge Faculty of Education Research Students' Association [FERSA] holds a variety of events including Peer Learning Groups, Kaleidescope summer conference and a series of lunchtime seminars.

The lunchtime seminars usually take place on Tuesdays at 13.00 and consist of one graduate student giving a presentation followed by a discussion. The audience is typically made up of some masters and PhD students and one or two more experienced members of the faculty. The sessions are open and not too formal with tea, coffee and biscuits provided and attendees welcome to bring their own lunch. The series offers research students the opportunity to learn of each other's work and share their research interests, methodologies, experiences and challenges. The environment is supportive with students able to give and receive feedback, ask questions, suggest ideas, offer leads, recommend literature or sources and create networking contacts with others who have shared research interests.

On the 18th October 2011, I presented a FERSA lunchtime seminar entitled 'Researching the History of Home-Based Education in England and British Columbia, Canada'.

My presentation covered:

The origins of my study
The decision to compare England and British Columbia
Issues of terminology and definition
Research challenges regarding sampling
Research methods including the use of the internet in an online oral history approach and using facebook as a research tool
The historical background of home-based education
Changes in home-based education and its contexts
What the history of home-based education might tell us about wider socio-historical developments

Discussion turned to the use of the internet in research with specific focus on:

The use of blogs as a data sources
The use of social networking sites such as Facebook as research tools
The potential of research blogging and as a way to document research processes and potentially disseminate research findings in an open source manner

Question and discussion regarding my research focused on:

The implications of home-based education with regard to societal cohesion, social capital and social equality
The implicit philosophical and political assumptions behind home-based education and specifically whether state and society perceive education as a right or an obligation

I am very glad I decided to take one of the lunchtime seminars. The experience of preparing a seminar session gave me a useful distanced perspective on the work I had done to-date. The presentation experience was enjoyable and offered me an opportunity to develop my presentation skills. Most of all I enjoyed the discussion. It was interesting to hear others' perspectives on my research and I am thankful for the couple of sources that were suggested to me.

Reflections on using Facebook groups for research

2011-10-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

Since 2008, I have been using Facebook groups as one of my research tools. Here I reflect on my experiences and consider some of the advantages and challenges of using Facebook groups.

When I began this research as an undergraduate I set up a facebook group for the history of home education and found it incredibly useful for research. The group grew to have well over two-hundred members from around the world. The group wall was used for group discussions comprised of many shorter posts, most often begun by a question I had posted. Group members were also able to respond in greater length to my research questions by posting within the discussions tab (or privately messaging me with their responses). As my focus narrowed to specific consideration of England and British Columbia, I decided to set up two separate Facebook groups. Like the first group, these remained open with anyone able to become a member and follow the comments and discussions posted, however the discussions now had the regional context I required for my comparison.

I find Facebook to be a great way to communicate with home-based educators and network my research. Many home-based educators use the internet for support and networking and many use facebook. Wishing to network the research to those who may not use the internet I also attend home-based education events and ask social and research contacts to network my research to those who may not to use the internet. Aware that some may use the internet but not be keen on Facebook, I keep this blog which provides details of how to take part in the research via interviews (face-to-face or online) or emailed/snail-mailed response to my research questions.

I find using the pre-extant format of social networking sites and online software useful for it alleviates the researcher's need to program and test for user-friendliness and the respondents efforts to become familiar with the data collection tool. However I have to remain aware that such websites are subject to changes beyond my control at any point during the research process. For example, during 2011 Facebook changed its group formats. Groups with the old format were either to be archived or upgraded. Given that archived groups would be more difficult to locate, I thought it best to use the upgraded format. However the upgraded groups would no longer have the 'discussions' tab I had found so useful in earlier parts of the research. Rather, in upgrading the group, the comments posted the discussions tab, many of which were longer detailed responses to my research questions, would now become wall posts, which I feared might clog up the group's wall which hosted discussions comprised of a larger number of smaller comments. I therefore decided to set up new groups with the upgraded format. I created one for England and one for British Columbia. As an alternative to the discussions tab or the old format, I decided to use the 'documents' feature of the new upgraded format whereby I could post my research questions as a document and those who wished to share their longer responses (or testimonies) could post them as documents within the group. I am coming to prefer this tool over the discussions tab because it offers better facilities to edit documents after their creation.

Despite some minor inconveniences such as occasional spam postings, and a limited direct insight into the wider contexts of posts and respondents, I am finding Facebook groups to be a great tool for conducting this research. It allows those interested in the research to follow the research process as it develops. It enables home-based educators to share their experiences and understandings with others.

© Charlotte D Rochez

Becky Francis 'Instigating a Dialogue on Principles for Socially-Just Schooling'

2011-10-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

My broader research interests include the relationship between social class and education. I was therefore interested to attend Becky Francis's seminar entitled 'Instigating a Dialogue on Principles for Socially-Just Schooling' (abstract).

Francis began her talk with the suggestion that in their predominant focus on problems and concerns and failure to engage in constructive dialogue on solutions, academic sociologists ignored a moral imperative to be interactive. She suggested that academics ought to lead debates but were rather always catching up.

During the talk Francis touched on a number of topics including:

The language used in considering social injustice in schooling
Clive Harber's notion of 'Schooling as Violence'
Notions of schooling as reproducing and even actively producing inequality
Processes of distinction such as high stakes testing
Bowles and Gintis's and 'The hidden curriculum'
Credentialisation in education
Ivan Illich's arguments regarding credentialisation, access and advantage and his notions of students approaching knowledgeable tutors for learning
Institutional structures
Classroom management
The notion of the school as a panopticon
Children's compliance to norm - imposing heterogeinity and praising distinction
Philosophical questions on aims of education, curricula, freedom and choice
The educational options available to the elite, the disenfranchised and the masses
Locally relevant / engaging curricula versus national entitlement to 'high status knowledge'
Teacher professionalism and autonomy versus teacher limitations
Holding schools to account
The impact of the internet and the ability to "study almost everything we want online"
Human Scale Education

The talk gave an overview of several debates but failed to suggest the constructive solutions that Francis recognised to be so very needed. However it gave a useful starting point for encouraging thoughtful reflection and discussion on socially-just schooling.

'Introduction to Supervising Undergraduates' Training Course

2011-10-05T04:21:00.001-07:00

Considering supervising undergraduate students, I decided to attend the 'Introduction to Supervising Undergraduates Course' on 4^th October 2011. I found this to be informative, interesting and inspiring. Rob Wallach led the course, combining an open, participatory lecture style with some pair discussions. He was open to questions and gave some humorous examples as illustrations.

The course outlined Cambridge’s tripos, collegiate and supervision systems and recognised variations between faculties regarding teaching and assessments.

Although only short, the course was surprisingly comprehensive covering:

the objectives and learning aims of supervisions
the relationship between faculties and supervisions (and supervisors)
the location, nature and format of supervisions
different supervision approaches in terms of activities and content
supervisor skills
supervisor roles
behaviour of supervisees (expectations and how to deal with challenges)
exam preparation
assessing and commenting upon supervisee's work
the purposes, nature and role of supervision reports
liaising with directors of studies
how to find supervisor positions
further training for supervisors

I had first shown an interest in supervising during last year. However I had missed this course which had become a requirement a few years ago. However the course turned out to be useful rather than a mere formality.

Having been an undergraduate at Cambridge I was familiar with the nature of the supervision system but this was covered concisely. I also learnt of the implication of changes which had occurred since my undergraduate days. Most notably this included a move from one-to-one supervisions towards supervision groups of between two and eight students. It was explained that this move had been due to a combination of student preferences and financial expediency. I felt, and continue to feel, quite dubious of this change as I am a huge fan of one-to-one supervisions.

My experience as a supervisee is largely that supervisions consist of a discussion based on a piece of the supervisee’s written work which has been assessed by the supervisor prior to the supervision. This course suggested supplementary supervision approaches to me including the possibility of student presentations, brainstorming exercises, debates and essay planning exercises. I later found myself reflecting on further possibilities including discussions based on a selection of quotes. Reflecting in this manner suggested to me that perhaps group supervisions might have different strengths to one-to-one supervisions.

Given that I plan to undertake fieldwork during the Lent term, I am in the process of discussing my supervising options with the Education Faculty. I hope to supervise at some time whether this term or once I have returned from time away doing fieldwork.

© Charlotte D Rochez

Reflections on Research Blogging

2011-09-30T04:42:00.000-07:00

I am really enjoying keeping this blog. Initially, I had both personal and public rationales for writing it. Reflecting now after almost one year I feel these rationales are being met.

I enjoy reflexive writing. I have long kept a private journal and last year I kept a handwritten research journal as well. I have found that keeping a blog has many of the same benefits as handwritten private journaling but that there are some important distinctions. As with a private research journal, on a personal level, I feel that this blog is succeeding in affording me an opportunity to reflect on the developing research in terms of theoretical, substantive and wider developments. I am also able to reflect upon my researcher training and extra-curricular professional development. As with any form of journaling, I find that blogging is one of the best ways in which to interpret oneself, ones thought processes and the world one encounters. It encourages reflection and deeper understanding.

As compared with private journaling, publishing a blog has some additional benefits which I found challenging at first. Blogging encourages me to reflect in a formal and organised way. It also requires that I make additional efforts in respect for my privacy and that of others.

I hope that this blog may enable those engaging (or considering engaging) with my research to gain a greater insight into the research process, direction and product. They may comment if they wish and thereby make their voices heard. I further hope that this blog might make the research available to those interested who may be outside of the university and affiliated bodies. Blogging can also be useful for those within the academic community to learn of each other's work and research experiences. We are able to share substantive and theoretical developments and relate the challenges we encounter and the means by which we attempt to overcome them.

We tend to read of research after the event. Theses and papers necessarily reduce the research process to construct a manageable product typically of limited word count and conventional layout. Blogging enables us to relate the emergent process of research as it develops. It enables us to see the scale, complexity and untidy reality of the broader research process of which its products - theses and papers - are but parts.

During the summer I found that I began writing many entries but never finished and published them. I was thankful for the couple of responses I had from followers and those interested in my work. Their messages encouraged me to complete and publish these entries. One of my initial hopes was that the public nature of the blog would encourage me to continue to write when I might have slipped in my practice were I keeping a private research journal. I have found this certainly to be the case and I am very thankful for it!

GRADschool

2011-09-19T03:48:00.000-07:00

Cambridge offers a variety of personal and professional development opportunities for students and staff. As an undergraduate I had benefited from the Springboard program and so when I received an email informing PhD students of GRADschool I felt inclined to sign up. The residential course ran from 9^th – 11^th September 2011 and was held at WybostonLakes in Bedford.

As the coach left Cambridge Chemistry department early on the Friday morning I reflected upon what I hoped to gain from the course. I hoped to build my academic self-confidence, gain some time-management techniques and gain an opportunity to reflect on possible career directions.

Following the welcome and introduction where it was suggested that we approach the GRADschool weekend with an open-mind, we were split into tutor groups to embark on the first activity, ‘Wonder Widget’. I thought it was great that we had to get on with a task immediately. However I was disappointed by the task for, although I didn’t mention it, I had done ‘Wonder Widget’ about a decade before whilst at senior school. I felt that given that the exercise has been in ‘personal and professional development’ courses for such a long time it was likely that others may also have come across it before.

During the Friday afternoon we had interview practice. This session gave me great insights into interview approaches and techniques.. I found the GRADschool interview to be more challenging than any of my past, ‘real’ interviews. I found being in the position of interviewer both interesting and challenging.

On the Saturday morning following the introduction to the day, there followed a session on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator [MBTi]. I had previously done MBTi tests online but really enjoyed the format of the MBTi test at GRADschool. We were taken through a series of exercises, moving to one side according to which of the two options we felt we most identified with. These poles were then explored with a variety of exercises. This was definitely one of the highlights of GRADschool for me. Although my internet result was confirmed, I gained a greater sense of the implications of MBTi and the variations within preferences.

Most of Saturday was spent outdoors doing classic team development exercises – think blindfolds, marbles, hoola-hoops, whistles and communication restrictions. I had never done such exercises before. I was glad I volunteered to lead one of the activities as I remembered how much fun leadership can be. I found some of the tasks quite difficult and recognised that my communication skills and enthusiasm are stronger than my construction techniques.

In the 'Collaboration Challenge' we were asked to work together within our tutor group to devise a product which involved all our varied academic research interests. This was probably my least favourite part of GRADschool. Our group consisted of computer and natural scientists and me the lone humanities/social sciences student. They were doing a wide range of interesting research topics most of humanitarian and/or environmental value. It was interesting to learn of their work as I have had limited interaction with those from the science departments. Although I felt included, at times I found it difficult to keep up with the science talk. I wondered if the bias in my group away from the arts, humanities and social sciences was indicative of the course as a whole as I met a great number of ‘scientists’ and only two ‘non-scientists’.

During the Saturday evening we had a chance to give and receive feedback on a one-to-one level with members of our tutor group. I enjoyed this although perhaps we were all a little too polite.

One of my highlights of the course was a presentation on presentation skills. This was entertaining and thought provoking. The demonstrations, analogies, skits and practical exercises had everyone laughing. The talk challenged many of the typical issues with academic talks and lectures and showed the importance of and ways of engaging with the audience.

During the Sunday there was a session entitled ‘Adventures in Consulting’. I had thought that this would not be a great session for me as in my mind consultancy conjures visions of corporate marketing. I was surprised at just how much enjoyed this session. I found that the nature of consulting fits with the skills I gained in a short life coaching course I took a few years ago. I also found it complemented the analytical skills I had developed as a historian (and social scientist) particularly in regard to analysing written and spoken statements in order to consider the author’s perspectives and intentions. I came away reflecting upon different types of consultancy and how I might really enjoy this type of work.

On Sunday afternoon there was a session on ‘Action Planning’, which sought to encourage us to think through our larger life goals and how to work towards them. I found this to be a difficult session. I am not sure whether it was because we were reaching the end of the course or whether the session’s perspective on life and goals was at odds with my own. However I felt I had gained more from some of the similar sessions I had done at Springboard as an undergraduate and on my life coaching course. It did occur to me, however, that perhaps my difficulty with the session rather reflected that my personal life goals have shifted over the last few years and maybe are now not as focused as they once were.

The facilities at GRADschool were amazing. We each had a hotel room with a bathroom and flat screen TV. In truth, I thought it a little excessive. I would have been happy to share a dorm room or to have had more basic accommodation perhaps in undergraduate halls (given that the course was during their summer holidays). The food was excellent with great hot vegetarian options, a lovely salad bar, lots of breakfast options and a constant supply of teas, coffee, fruit and biscuits. I felt quite spoilt. Wyboston Lakes also had sports facilities however our timetable was too full to enjoy these. Indeed I felt the schedule was a little too full. I felt the very short period each day scheduled for ‘Me Time’ was insufficient and could have benefited from the course having been spread over four days with time to reflect on the activities and have rest from constant interaction.

Returning to Cambridge on the Sunday evening I was glad I had attended GRADschool, it reminded me how much I enjoy leading, problem solving and communication.

Year One PhD: Education Faculty talks and seminars

2011-09-08T01:59:00.000-07:00

During the first year of my PhD I attended a variety of talks within the Education Faculty at Cambridge.

I have found some talks to be relevant to my work on a theoretical level or in regard to broader research interests. For example Torill Strand from the University of Oslo spoke on 'Moving traditional notions of educational processes - the contribution of Charles S. Peirce'. This lecture and discussion afforded me interesting reflections regarding theoretical aspects of research and the influence of pragmatism in philosophies of education and learning.

Other talks I found relevant regarding professional and political issues in academia. For example, David Post of Pennsylvania State University chaired a seminar entitled "What are nice scholars like us doing in a place like this? Academic journals now in comparative education" The seminar considered the politics of publishing academic work with discussion of a variety of issues including pressures to publish, rankings, benchmarkings, competition, gate-keeping, certification and the soaring prices of certain journals. This was a great opportunity for me as a young researcher to hear the issues faced by more experienced faculty members and to gain a greater sense of the forces at play in the construction and publication of research papers.

The Faculty of Education Research Students' Association [FERSA] holds a series of lunchtime seminars. I have found these to be a great opportunity to learn of my peers' work, the challenges they face and how they work to overcome them. The seminars are friendly and generally supportive. I am hoping to hold a seminar on my work and the use of the internet in research during the Michaelmas Term 2011.

Although my research focuses on home-education, I am also interested in aspects of institutional provision. Of course there are a large number of such talks addressing a wide variety of topics including politics, social issues, pedagogy, curricula, resources and more, with some focusing within the UK and many looking at other countries from around the world. One seminar I found particularly interesting was 'Reviewing England's National Curriculum', which sought to outline and consider the implications of working government proposals regarding the organisation and subjects of the national curriculum for primary and secondary education.

As my graduate studies continue I am coming to increasingly enjoy talks and seminars. During my Ba and MPhil I preferred reading for learning, however I now quite welcome a break for an hour's presentation or discussion on a topic which relates to my broader interests or which is not available in written form.

© Charlotte D Rochez

Year One PhD: Supervisions

2011-08-20T13:17:00.000-07:00

During the first year of my PhD some supervision time was given over to administration and development. Particular attention was given to reviewing the MPhil and outlining my schedule for completing the PhD. We discussed my progress with the first year report and considered my professional development with regard to conferences, training and future career options.

One supervision particularly discussed the ethical implications of my methodologies and my fieldwork. This centred largely upon the nature or ‘voluntary informed consent’. At this time we also considered my fieldwork options.

During supervisions reviewing my written work I received positive feedback, particularly regarding the amount of reading done, my structure and signposting. However, I was reminded that sometimes my sentences are too long; my supervisor once suggesting that I suffered from ‘semi-colonitis’. With regards to the first year report my supervisor recommended that I move my literature review away from the passive to engage with the authors in a more direct and critical manner.

Whilst working on my literature review I had a supervision regarding my decision to use ‘grey literature’ such as unpublished theses and online sources. Our discussion focused upon the nature, validity and reliability of such sources, their potential to democratise historical research and their usefulness for engaging with topics such as mine which include some aspects with relatively little mainstream published research.

Whilst working on my methodology I had a couple of supervisions focusing upon theoretical aspects of oral history. This is where I am most glad to have my supervisor’s advice as this is one of his areas of expertise. I gained a lot from our reflections upon how the past is remembered and the ‘variable nature of memory’. We had enjoyable and challenging discussions on the nature of ‘online oral history’.

I really enjoy my supervisions. They inspire me to consider becoming a supervisor for undergraduates later in my PhD.

© Charlotte D Rochez

Talk and discussion group (HESFES 2011)

2011-08-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

Whilst at HESFES 2011, I gave an introductory talk and held a discussion group regarding the history of home-based education.

My talk briefly summarised:

The origins of my study
My decision to compare England and British Columbia
My methodology
Existing research

I enjoyed giving the talk and enjoyed the discussion even more. The audience discussed many issues, sharing their experiences and understandings together. Various issues were discussed including the question of a relationship between social class and home-education provision and changes in public perception and awareness of home-education.

© Charlotte D Rochez

Ian Dowty, 'Legal Issues in Home Education' (HESFES 2011)

2011-08-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

I had been recommended to arrive at the beginning of HESFES in order to hear Ian Dowty’s talk on 'Legal Issues in Home Education'. I spent almost all of Sunday in the acoustic marquee listening to Ian and a group of home-educating parents discussing a variety of political, moral, philosphical and legal issues surrounding home-education.

Ian, whose children were home-educated, is a solicitor who has helped many home-educating families. His talk sought to discuss the relationship between the law and home education. Relying on legal reports and official legislature, Ian discussed a variety of topics including:

the regulation of home-education in England
the legal responsibilities of parents, the state, local education authorities, the police, the courts and schools over children and how these related to each other in practice
the Badman report, reaction to it and why it failed to effect a change
how home-education provision is perceived by some working in education authorities and government and why
the relationship between home-education and safe-guarding
the distinction between child-protection and education welfare
the case of Khyra Ishaq
the possibility and implications of government funding for home-education
The Free School Movement
Breadth of curriculum in schools and in home-education
Future prospects and university entrance following home-education

Ian's session afforded me insight into some of the issues faced by some home-educating families and gave me some insight into some of the home-educating community's perceptions regarding the law, the media, local education authorities and their rights.

© Charlotte D Rochez

HESFES - Home-education Festival

2011-08-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

The 14th HESFES home-education festival was held from 21^st -28^th July 2011.

I had suggested the festival to Jeannette Nelson, a fellow PhD researcher of home-education, whom I’d met at the LiTTLe conference. I met her at Cambridge station where she had to change trains and we headed to Rougham to go to HESFES.

HESFES is open to all families who are home-educating or interested in home-educating. Whilst there seemed to be a variety of families, I am aware that the festival may not reflect the nature of the whole home-educating community in England but may rather be biased towards those to whom a festival and camping would appeal and to those who were able to spend a few days or a week in Norfolk.

Reading the timetable, I was amazed by the seemingly endless number of activities, workshops and entertainments offered during the week.

Walking in past the rows of marquees, we saw children running around in groups - many wearing black HESFES t-shirts from previous years. We walked past the Teen Tent and teen camping area. During the festival older children tended to explore together in small groups, running off to find their parents who were socialising outside a cafe, attending a talk, running or helping with a workshop or tending to younger siblings. Those with younger children tended to be with their children in the play areas or at workshops. Parents and young people told me that HESFES was an opportunity to get together and spend time with home-educated friends. I learnt that some families and friends only saw each other once a year at HESFES, while others remained in contact online via msn, facebook, parental forums, online gaming websites, and others saw each other outside of the festival whether through local support groups or individual (teenage) or family visits. Some local support groups camped together within the festival.

This notion of coming together was supported by the information regarding the HESFES labyrinth. Each festival has its own labyrinth the pattern of which is used as that year’s logo. The festival program explained “when [the labyrinth] is walked people move towards each other and then away and then back together again [this was chosen as a symbol of the festival whereby] people come from all over the UK and further afield to HESFES each year, spending time together throughout the week then going their separate ways, many of them only seeing each other once a year at the event”.

There was a large camping area. Having set up our tents and made our beds (roll mats and sleeping bags), we went to the welcome tea-party where we sat and chatted for a while with a couple who had come over from France especially for the event. During the evening we went to The Groovy Movies Picture House, the world’s first solar powered cinema and watched “Pillock Conquers the World”.

Having not been to the festival before, I packed plenty of provisions. In retrospect I think I’d have preferred to just pack some snacks and fruit, have my meals from the Green Machine Veggie Cafe and Blu Laguna Cafe. The facilities were good. There was plenty of space for camping, water points available within the camping area, a recycling and rubbish point. The showers were good. The loos were the blue porta-loo variety and were kept in a good state with loo paper and hand-sanitiser usually available.

During my few days at HESFES I spent some time gaining a sense of the festival and insights into some parts of the home-education community. I attended talks, including Ian Dowty’s talk on ‘Legal Issues in Home Education’, gave a talk on ‘The History of Home-Based Education’, and spoke with members of the community. Whilst I conducted a few formal interviews, I also had many informal unrecorded conversations. Here I gained a sense of the history of HESFES. Families shared how they had first come to know of HESFES, how their camping set-ups had changed (usually grown), the contacts and friendships they had made and the skills, activities and celebrations they had enjoyed. Many remarked how they believed HESFES to be a great socialisation and networking opportunity. Parents also discussed their experiences and reasons for home-educating. Those with longer-term involvement shared their perceptions of how the legal and social contexts of home education had changed in England. I was thankful for these opportunities. It was also able to meet some mothers in person with whom I had contact via the internet. I was thankful to find some of the home-educators I met at the festival told their wider home-education contacts outside the festival about my research.

Although most of my time was spent in talks, discussions, informal conversations, formal interviews or wider observation, I attended yoga every morning and a belly dancing workshop. During the evenings there was a variety of entertainment and I saw storytelling shows and live music. Most memorable was the Children's Cabaret which included a variety of performances including singing, dancing, hoola-hooping, joke-telling, skits, stories, gymnastics. The cabaret was popular and the main marquee was filled with a lively, supportive and interactive audience, with children as individuals or as groups sharing their acts and their talents with enthusiasm.

I enjoyed my few days at HESFES and felt it gave me an interesting insight into one aspect of the home-education tradition in England.

© Charlotte D Rochez

Upgrade Viva

2011-07-26T11:07:00.001-07:00

In Spring 2011 I completed a 20,000 word 'First Year Report'. This formed the basis of an oral examination in July 2011 to determine that my status could be upgraded to become one of Cambridge Education Faculty’s registered PhD students with the privilege of being able to 'enter the field' and collect data through meeting with research participants, conducting interviews and focus groups and engaging with primary source material.

The nature of this process may be perceived to prefer that the researcher first defines a research area, then reviews the relevant existing substantive literature to formulate more specific research question(s) and then outlines and defends the methodology they will adopt to address the question(s). At first I questioned whether this process favoured those with more objective and positivistic research approaches. Thankfully, in practice, I was able to overcome this since my early studies as an undergraduate and MPhil student, coupled with some informal preliminary conversations, afforded me additional insights into the traditions of home-based education.

I had been concerned that the registration process was at odds with the substantive focus of my study. I was aware that the nature of research into home-based education was such that, in addition to sources existing in libraries, much relevant literature could be found 'in the field' itself and that this blurred the traditional distinction between secondary and primary sources. Furthermore, my inclination towards the philosophy behind some oral history approaches, led me to question the high-valuation of existing published literature over others forms of information. Furthermore, I was aware that some aspects which were central to my study were not well-covered in what some considered traditional ‘academic’ literature. I overcame these issues in two ways: firstly, I used understandings gained from earlier preliminary studies to inform my choice of interest foci; secondly, I employed ‘grey literature’ including unpublished theses, online articles and blog posts alongside more traditional secondary source literature such as books and journal articles. This employment of ‘grey literature’ invited further reflection regarding the nature of ‘academic literature’ and ‘research’ today. This is a topical issue which is addressed well by Writing History in the Digital Age an online academic discussion and edited volume which seeks to consider if, and how, the digital revolution has influenced the way we write about the past.

I am glad for the process of the Upgrade Viva. It ensured that I had committed to paper 20,000 words, albeit words that would likely be subject to significant changes come the writing of the full final thesis. It also provided me with a sense of my current progress, an assessment of the standard of my work and writing, and an appraisal of the viability of the study including consideration of potential issues.

I was somewhat nervous before the oral examination and afterwards as I waited with my supervisor whilst the examiners were writing their official report. However I enjoyed the oral examination itself and, despite their rigorous questions, the examiners put me at ease. I came away with my confidence boosted given that the report was well-received as ‘scholarly’ and ‘impressive’. No revisions or corrections were asked for and the report's engagement with extensive literature was commended. The work was recognised as ambitious and as such, I was advised to maintain a clear focus. It was suggested that I might seek to engage with more foundational issues, for example those concerning participant philosophies of education. It was further recommended that I might consider ways to enable participants to reflect upon and identify the assumptions and pre-understandings which might underlie and inform both their reasons for providing home-based education and the nature of their provision. The examiners turned their attention towards issues of historical context, specifically the relationship between contemporary testimony and past and present contexts. Whilst I emphasised how I also sought to engage with some documentary materials, I was pleased with their suggestion that engagement with perceptions of present and pasts contexts might be gained through the very oral history and online oral history methods I proposed to employ.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the oral examination. I feel that the registration process has afforded me a good position from which to enter the field.

© Charlotte D Rochez

LiTTLe Conference

2011-07-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

The LiTTLe conference was held in London on Saturday 11th June 2011. The conference was intended for parents engaged in (or interested in) an autonomous (or unschooling) approach to education. The conference had been recommended to me by Katie Pybus a home-educating mother and blogger and member of my facebook group. It had also been recommended to me by Jeanette Nelson a fellow PhD student researching home education in England who had found me via my profile on academia.edu.

I was thankful for the recommendation as the day turned out to be useful both in terms of its formal content and the networking opportunities it afforded. It was interesting to listen to authors whose work I had been engaging with since embarking on this research in 2007. Whilst the conference was interesting and valuable in terms of my research interests, it must be remembered that the insight was into one part of the home-based education tradition and not indicative of the whole: whilst many home-based educating families have an autonomous (or unschooling) approach many others do not. This is an issue I keep in mind when considering sampling for my research.

The conference was organised by Julie, James and Adam Daniel. Julie reported how she had thought it would be good for someone to organise an event where home-based educating families could hear from inspirational and knowledgeable speakers. In mentioning this idea Julie had realised that she could be this 'someone' and had set about setting up the day with help from her young son in finding venues.

Imran Shah, a home-educating father and social worker, spoke on ‘Attachment: the value of attachment in your child's early years and in home educating families’. Whilst Imran's talk was not of direct relevance to my research, it gave some context to the philosophy and science behind some of the parenting and education methods preferred by some autonomous home-educators.

Sandra Dodd spoke on 'The Past, The Future and Now. What helps with naturallearning, what hinders? Can people go too far or not far enough? Is it possibleto mess this up?'. Although Sandra's experiences were from the United States, I found Sandra’s anecdotes of autonomous home-based education and her philosophies of life and learning to be useful at a broader contextual level.

David Waynforth an unschooling father of two and senior lecturer and researcher at the University of East Anglia spoke on 'Children'sability to make healthy, autonomous food choices: a scientific perspective'. I found David’s talk interesting on a personal level. It was one of many times I am glad to be a social sciences researcher, for it affords me, sometimes unexpected, access to information and theories of general life relevance. I found myself reflecting on how little I tended to crave chocolate when eating a delicious local balanced diet in India. I also identified my habit of using a cake (or two!) from the University Library tea room as a reward for a good session of work in the Reading Room.

A lunch of sandwiches was provided. This gave a chance for networking and informal conversations. During the day I was able to meet with many home-educating parents and to hear informally of their experiences, motivations, practices and concerns. I enjoyed talking with the speakers, particularly those whose work I had read and those with whom I had been in correspondence in earlier stages of the research.

Mike Fortune-Wood's talk on 'Children's rights: thegovernment, the agenda and autonomously home educating families' was of particular relevance to my research for it proposed a theory of how the political context of home-based education had changed over recent years and why. Having read Mike's work and having had some correspondence with him, I was aware of his perspective and theories. However, I found it useful to hear him share his understandings in this format and to hear his views on more recent developments.

Harriet Pattison and Alan Thomas gave a session entitled 'What does it mean to learn something without being taught? Autonomouseducation and literacy learning'. Alan’s work, Educating Children at Home, was one of the first I started with when I became interested in home-based education and thus I found his reflections on his early research experiences to be particularly interesting. Alan and Harriet shared some of their earlier findings. I was familiar with some these findings through having read their book, How Children Learn at Home. I was now interested to hear their findings specifically relating to reading. Not yet ready to report on many substantial findings at this stage, Harriet and Alan led a brainstorming session with the audience regarding how they believed children learnt to read autonomously. I found this very interesting on a methodological level for it questioned the dichotomy between data collection and research presentation.

Schuyler Waynforth's talk entitled 'Shifted Paradigms: the view from this side of the school fence' combined family anecdotes and diverse sources of information with a philosophical perspective in an engaging essay. Schuyler’s talk felt like a letter written for a friend and shared aloud. Albeit not formed around my specific research foci, Schuyler’s talk held some substantive interest to me for it offered insight into her families’ education practices, philosophies and experiences. Moreover, the form of the talk was interesting for me methodologically, given that I hope to use the written and oral testimonial accounts of home-based educators as the basis of my research. The account encouraged me to reflect upon the nature of memory and oral history, as often discussed with my supervisor. Sometimes oral history appears to take the form of a story often recounted and at others it has a more variable nature and constructed form. Schuyler’s letter often appeared to blend the two with a dialogue created between her philosophising and her personal stories. At times, the philosophy dominated with personal anecdotes used as examples beside references from the wider-world found in research or the news. At other times personal life-story narrative formed a basis for philosophical tangents. I suppose this natural way of writing is a mirror both of the ways we think, learn and experience life with our thoughts and experiences reciprocally informing one another. I imagine that Schuyler’s holistic approach to the talk may be a reflection of her educational philosophy and practices. Schuyler's talk afforded me insight into how some home-based educators view education, home-based education and institutionalised schooling. However, as ever, I am reminded that whilst some may share Schuyler's, and/or the earlier speakers' views, the home-based education tradition is characterised by a diversity and variety and that precludes suggesting that such views are universally shared.

There followed a pizza supper, with further opportunities for networking and discussion and a final question and answer session. This afforded insights into parents’ concerns which included meeting the distinct needs of siblings, dealing with social services and political and legal developments.

I am very glad I attended the day.

References

Badman, G. (2009, June) Report to the Secretary of State on the Review of Elective Home Education in England (Crown Copyright, London, The Stationery Office)

Dodd, S. (2006) ‘Moving a Puddle and other essays’ (Lulu)

Dodd, S. (2009) ‘Sandra Dodd’s Big Book of Unschooling’ (Lulu)

Fortune-Wood, M. (2005) The Face of Home-based Education 1: Who, Why and How (Nottingham, Education Heretics Press)

Fortune-Wood, M. (2006) The Face of Home-Based Education 2: Numbers, Support, Special Needs (Educational Heretics Press)

Fortune-Wood, M. ed. Home Education: The Journal of Home Education in the UK and Beyond (Cinnamon Press)

House of Commons: Children, Schools and Families Committee (2009) The Review of Elective Home Education, second report of session 2009-10 (The House of Commons, London: The Stationery Office Limited)

Thomas, A. (1998) Educating Children at Home (London, Paul Chapman)

Thomas, A. and Pattison, H. (2007) How Children Learn at Home (Continuum International Publishing Group)

Waynforth, D.C. (2007) ‘The influence of parent-infant co-sleeping, nursing, and childcare on cortisol and SlgA immunity in a samply of British Children, Developmental Psychobiology’, 49 (6), pp. 640-648

© Charlotte Rochez

British Columbia Home School Association Annual Convention 2011

2011-07-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

The 15th annual convention of the British Columbia Home School Association [BCHSA] was held on 3rd and 4th June at the Guildford Recreation Centre in Surrey, BC. I am very glad to have attended.

On the Friday morning, I was greeted and warmly welcomed by Grace Jorgensen. Downstairs a huge gymnasium was filled with stalls offering learning resources, information, support and Distributed Learning programs [DLs]. I was taken aback by its size and how much was on offer. This hall was open on both the Friday and Saturday. On the Friday a series of seminars was held upstairs.

The welcome seminar began with string music played by some homeschooled young women. Grace Jorgensen and Sarah Wiget welcomed us, outlined the program, and held a welcome gift raffle with many prizes.

Julie Anderson began the seminars with an introductory session focusing on the benefits of home-based education, particularly in relation to issues within institutional provision. I found Julie's talk to be an interesting insight into philosophies and attitudes shared by some home-learning families.

There followed a series of parallel sessions which addressed a wide range of topics including intelligence, psychological assessment, dyslexia, reading and writing, spelling, storytelling, music and graduation.

Jacki Knight's session focused on choosing curriculum. She reflected upon a number of topics including: growth in curricula options, the role of philosophy of education and family preferences in determining curriculum, the difference between registration and enrolment in DL in British Columbia and variation between different school boards’ interpretations of the demands regarding home learning. Jacki addressed parents’ questions and demonstrated how different approaches related to example curricula and resources. I found Jacki's session to be useful in giving some context to the history of home-learning in British Columbia, specifically in regard to availability of curricula and support.

Grace had kindly invited me to the Leaders Luncheon. Grace's mother had catered for the Leaders' Luncheon with a selection of filled croissants, salads, cakes and tea. The Leaders Luncheon was incredibly valuable and I was very thankful to have been invited. Those with a leading involvement in support groups from around the province had come together, with representatives from Vancouver, the BC interior and Vancouver Island. Current issues regarding support and networking were shared and leaders with more protracted engagement shared their perception of changes over the last three decades. This session gave me important insights into the history of home-learning in British Columbia since the 1970s, particularly regarding changes in support and networking amongst home-learning families.

Following the Leaders Luncheon I attended ‘Straight Talk’. Undertaken under the recognition that challenges are not always as openly talked about as successes, three home-learning mothers candidly shared their experiences of challenges. 'Straight Talk' also included a presentation outlining changes in home-learning in British Columbia. There followed an opportunity for questions and dialogue with the panel, where real issues, concerns and challenges were discussed in a sincere and friendly way.

I ended the day with Normand Schafer’s seminar on ‘Travel and the Life Changing Lessons it Produces’. He shared his experiences of travelling with his wife and their six home-learning children both nationally and internationally and his initiative of humanitarian trips to Guatemala for home-learning young people.

On Friday evening the Jorgensens hosted a Chinese banquet for the convention contributors. This was a great opportunity for me to learn informally of the nature of home-learning in British Columbia from those involved in a variety of ways.

I spent the Saturday speaking to a variety of people in the hall. Home-learning parents, typically mothers, were welcoming to me and my project and openly shared their experiences, understandings, challenges, motivations and practices. I also spoke to those offering and promoting their DLs, others who were promoting independent curricula and resources and those who were involved in the BCHLA. I used this opportunity to better my sense of context and background in order to be able to formulate the best questions and particular areas of focus before beginning data collection more formally when I hope to return in early 2012.

My sole regret was that I did not manage to spend more time talking to Grace Jorgensen who accommodated me so very warmly. I am looking forward to spending time with her in the Spring to hear of her personal experiences home-educating her four children over twenty-five years and to learn of her long-standing service to the home-learning community in British Columbia.

With many thanks to Grace Jorgensen and all who made me feel so very welcome and to Lorraine and Rachel for the lift out to Delta (on Hockey Night!).

The hypermobile researcher in the age of environmental concern

2011-06-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

Interested in the use of comparative education and with personal connections in both British Columbia and England I had devised a cross-cultural comparative study to investigate the histories of home-based education in these two areas. I expected to spend some time in both places. However it was not until my first year that I began to deeply consider the environmental implications of research travel.

It would be easy to travel to British Columbia. I could almost become a 'hypermobile' researcher, travelling frequently over large distances typically by aeroplane. My research grant would foot the bill for some travel. However my growing environmental conscience felt ill at ease at the prospect of travelling by plane particularly if the trips were to be frequent, of short duration or of questionable necessity.

An opportunity arose to attend British Columbia Home School Association annual convention. I recognised that this would provide me with unparalleled opportunities for networking and for understanding the world of home-based education in British Columbia today. The convention was but a couple of weeks away and university required that I return quickly. I would be flying a long way for a very short visit. I felt uncertain and discussed the issue in my own mind and with friends and family.

The majority of my friends were surprised that I was so concerned. The predominant view appeared to be that air travel was a societal norm and that it was unnecessary, useless or unprofitable to question it. One friend felt that unless I was going to make a big stand, the impacts of my individual decisions were so negligible that I would be denying myself for no good reason. She claimed she had "no time for martyrs" and that my ethical concern was wasted unless my action was to have a socio-political influence from below. Another friend felt rather that my ethical concern was wasted in the face of a lack of socio-political guidance and restriction from above. She argued that without prohibitions on air travel we need not concern ourselves. Furthermore, she felt that it was not our responsibility and any attempt to make it our responsibility through acting from below or without were likely doomed to fail in the face of relatively cheap and convenient air travel. A university colleague similarly believed it was not my responsibility. Rather he felt it was a matter for the scientists working on alternative fuels, and the relationship between the scientists and governments.

Some felt that I did not have to wrestle with such questions given that the trip had a purpose beyond pleasure and leisure. One exclaimed, "It's research not a holiday, just get on with it!" I reflected on a friend working in middle management in an international company which is seen to demand her flying tens of thousands of miles each year, frequenting Asia on a fortnightly basis. Her company foot the financial bill and are seen, by most, to foot the ethical bill too. My case was somewhat different; my funders were willing to pay for my travel but they did not demand it.

I could not accept these arguments that denied the individual the responsibility for her actions and their consequences. I reflected positively on the example of a new acquaintance who spoke of forgoing his company car to pay personally for his environmentally-preferable train seat in the spirit of intrapreneurship. However given that the convention was very far away and in a short space of time it seemed that flying was my only practicable option.

One friend suggested it was more acceptable to travel by air so long as the visit lasts for over a few months. This had been my original plan, to spend two extended periods living in British Columbia. This did not fit with the university requirements. I wondered whether the university could do more to take the environmental impact of additional travel into account, encouraging fewer longer uninterrupted trips abroad rather than frequent shorter trips for example.

I decided if I would fly I would pay for 'carbon offsetting'. However looking into how the money is spent I came away questioning whether it might more aptly be termed 'guilt offsetting'.

None of these stances resolved my issues. Was I being selfish? Does an environmental conscience preclude travel? Indeed, my brother and one friend have a 'no-fly' rule. For them, travel is not out of the question, but they try to do so in a more environmentally friendly way and closer to the ground. For them it's wrong to fly on an aeroplane.

In the midst of deliberations and asking for a sign as to whether I ought to go or not, I took a break from searching for the cheapest flights to check my facebook account. I found a message from an old friend in Vancouver who was having a hard time. I decided that this was the sign I needed; I would combine the convention with visiting her and some other friends I had over there. It seems that what Goerge Monibot terms 'Love Miles' swung the balance.

I booked the flights but the thoughts remained heavy in my mind. So heavy that I thought about cancelling. But it was too late to cancel - in terms of supply and demand, the damage had been done in booking the flight; whether the seat was empty or not, it would still have my carbon bum-print in it. And so I flew but I continued to think about the implications of flying.

© Charlotte Rochez

The Impact of Research upon the Researcher

2011-06-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

It is recognised that research impacts upon the researcher's life and life choices. I am certainly finding this to be the case. I believe engaging in this research is influencing my lifestyle and social life, the way I think about the world, human behaviour and history, my educational philosophy and potentially my behaviours and life-choices.

Consideration of the philosophical bases of research methods, both in terms of the taught MPhil course last year and my continued independent study, has invited deeper consideration of related theoretical and philosophical issues. Considering issues of ontology, epistemology and theoretical perspective in research has brought further questioning of the nature of the world and how we understand it. Similarly I have come to question certain ethical and political issues in different and deeper ways.

Substantive concern with human behaviours, history, sociology, and politics has encouraged me to question how I am choosing to be in the world and why. My interest in the determinants of educational provision has invited me to question my own educational experiences and that I will afford my future children. It has also led me to consider how behaviours and choices related to lifestyle are determined. I question whether they are the idiosyncratic behaviour of individuals or a product of largely unseen or ignored broader factors with social, historical and economic roots. I question the ways in which these choices will impact on our futures and whether this can be determined. I have become particularly interested in the structure vs. agency debate. I consider these issues of lifestyle both as they relate directly to me and in broader societal and global senses.

I have found this reflexivity to invite further thoughts on topics such as what it means to live a good life. It is almost certain that I would consider these things with or without undertaking the research, but I feel the research particularly encourages me to consider these issues and provides additional resources and perspectives to extend my thoughts on these matters.

Substantive concern with home-education/home-learning provision has extended my awareness of these forms of education, their variations, meanings, contexts and challenges. I have also gained insights into the factors influencing decisions and opinions regarding various forms and practices of educational provision. I believe that my research is influencing my understanding of my own educational experiences, behaviours and attitudes and those of others. I do not feel I can say I have greater knowledge, but rather that the research is encouraging me to consider these issues from new and different perspectives. My research experiences may influence the way I reflect on my own educational experiences and upon the choices I make regarding my children's education should I become a parent.

I feel that my research is necessarily impacting on my life, both in terms of belief and behaviour. I think it is too early to suppose the impact of the research suffice to say that I think the research, of which this blog is part, is inviting great reflexivity.

© Charlotte D Rochez

Blogs as data sources for research

2011-06-10T05:58:00.000-07:00

I had been looking for autobiographical and biographical accounts of home-education and home-learning. I had found some including Marie Mullarney's Anything School Can Do You Can Do Better, Jean Bendell's School's Out, Nancy Wallace's Better Than School and Michael Deakin's The Children On The Hill. However I was particularly interested in accounts from England and British Columbia. I began to ask around for such accounts and I received a few very helpful responses pointing me in the direction of home education and home learning blogs. Ironically, though blogging myself, using blogs as a data source is not something that had occurred to me until this point.

I have been reading some wonderful blogs over the past couple of months. On a personal level this is something I am really enjoying. It provides an interesting day-to-day or week-to-week insight into a family's life and into a person's developing thoughts and philosophies. There is an informality about much blogging, whereby the entries aren't excessively edited as when compiled and compressed for publication and this gives a richness and depth to the accounts. Through reading a person's experiences almost in real-time you gain a more immediate sense of their highs and lows and a closer insight into their changing experiences and understandings. I imagine that such accounts could be used as a resource to share support and ideas on a variety of levels from the practical to the philosophical, political and moral.

At the present time I am using such accounts in order to gain a sense of real-life context rather than seeking to engage with them as data sources in a more formal analytical way. I am inclined towards data construction with data being constructed with the research process in mind. In asking participants directly about their beliefs, experiences and understandings I know their purpose is to respond to my questions. However in writing a blog their purpose may not be to focus on the areas I am focusing on. Thus, the interpretations I induce may not fit with what they would answer had they been directly responding to my questions. This line of thought inclines me to reject the use of all accounts but for those constructed for the specific purpose of this research.

Using personal blogs for data analysis also raises ethical questions regarding informed voluntary consent. We could say that since the blogs are published publicly it is fair to use them. However I feel the issue may be more complex than this. In imagining myself in the position of a blogging parent I can empathise with wishing to openly publish an online blog in order to share my experiences and ideas with others, that we might share learning strategies, challenges, news etc. I might desire that other families engaged in or considering home-provided education be able to freely access my account. However I might not consent to it being used as a form of data in a research study irrespective of the study's nature or purpose. Indeed if I were to consider that it could be used as such I might be prevented from publishing it in the first place. I feel this would be a shame. As such while I will continue to read blogs for personal interest and to gain an informal sense of context, I have decided that, unless I can resolve this ethical dilemma, I am unlikely to use blogs in a formal way in data analysis but will probably stick to responses which are expressly given under the ethic of informed voluntary consent and constructed with the purpose of responding to my questions.

I feel that blogs are a great forum for sharing experiences and understandings. I imagine also, and feel reading some accounts, that they provide a useful resource for reflection on (and potentially resolution of) difficulties, challenges and feelings. I love blogging and can see why many choose to blog about their learning lives.

© Charlotte D Rochez

An Institution-based Study of Non-Institutional Education

2011-05-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, before I embarked on my postgraduate study, I met a couple in BC whose children had been home-learners for a time. On talking of my proposed research, the woman asked why I was going to continue at the Faculty of Education at Cambridge. She wondered why I wasn't going to home-educate myself of the history of home-education and home-learning. It seemed odd to her that I would be studying non-institutional education from within an institution.

Her comments sparked my thoughts. I wondered why I had decided to continue at Cambridge and whether I could have researched from home. Through attending an institution I could gain a recognised certification for my research and funding. While I could work largely autonomously I would still be under the supervision of someone qualified with a superior understanding and experience. University affiliation enabled me to become initiated into an academic community. This community offers support, information and networking opportunities. Through researching through the university I could access training and resources. I could attend conferences and gain opportunities for presenting and publishing academic papers. Interestingly, I did feel I would be unable to justify studying independently in terms of societal and parental expectations. I could undertake the research as a hobby but I would feel that I ought to get a job and embark upon a career.

I wondered whether my reasons for researching from within a university could give insights into the reasons people choose institutional provision over home provision. I looked over my reasons: the certification; the financial aid; the supervision and instruction of qualified and experienced teachers; the support, information, networking, training and resources; the social acceptability. I considered that these factors could challenge home-learning/home-education provision and dissuade parents from it. In part, the extant literature and my pilot study appeared to support this supposition.

Secondly, I wondered how my research focus and my affiliation with an institution influenced how others perceive me and my work. That the woman found my affiliation with an institution to be at odds with my substantive focus led me to wonder whether others might also. I wondered what impact these assumptions would have on participant willingness to engage in the research. Would potential participants be deterred by my institutional affiliation? I also questioned what impact these assumptions would have on how my work is perceived. Would readers perceiving me as an advocate of home-education/home-learning question the credibility of my work? Would readers believe that my research was biased in some way owing to my university affiliation and ESRC funding?

These questions are easier to pose than they are to answer or resolve. For the most part these issues do not concern me but I think it is good to reflect upon them as the research continues.

© Charlotte D Rochez

Questions of Terminology and Definition

2011-05-18T02:02:00.000-07:00

Introduction
Approaching the end of the first year of my PhD I hit upon an issue of terminology. During my Ba and MPhil studies I had witnessed that terminology and definition was important and potentially contentious. During my MPhil study and the beginning of my PhD study I had been using the term 'home-education' and its variants. This had seemed to be the most acceptable to those participating in the MPhil study. I have come to revise this. Given the substantive focus of my study I now feel that while the term 'home-education' continues to be seen as the most appropriate and acceptable in the English context, the term 'home-learning' and its variants may be more appropriate and acceptable for the British Columbian context.

Definitions
Existing literature has suggested that some distinguish between “parents or guardians educating their child at home by choice” as distinct from ‘home-instruction’ or ‘home-tutoring’ occurring “because the child is unable to attend school” (Luffman 1997, 30-31). Others claim that in home-education the parent is the facilitator (Lines 1992; Lines 2001). However, I seek to engage broader, less defined limits. While limiting this study to education occurring at an age when the child would otherwise be in school aged 5-16 (Lines 1992), this study accepts a broader working definition of home-education as “the education of children in and around the home by their parents” guardians, tutors or those appointed by the parents (Petrie 1992; Petrie 1995, 285; Safran 2008). I will highlight these issues of terminology in the introduction of my research. I will not be defining terms before the study but hope that through the research process those engaged in educating/learning/teaching at home will reflect on the terms they choose to use and why.

'Home-Education'

During the MPhil study participants had taken issue with the term 'home-school'; some disliked the association with ‘school’ and some, particularly from the UK, felt it sounded too ‘Americanised’. Many took issue with the term ‘unschoolers’: again some disliked the association with 'school'; others felt the term had negative connotation with the prefix ‘un’; others who did not employ informal child-led practices felt it was inappropriate for their practices. I had considered using the term ‘home-based education’ but some participants claimed that the majority of their education took place outside of the home. At this time I decided to use the term 'home-education' as this seemed to be the most acceptable. I will continue to use this term for English home-educators.

'Home-Learning'
In online conversation with BC home-learners, I came to understand that in BC the term 'home-education' and its variants tends to refer to those registered under section.12 rather than those enrolled in Distributed-Learning schools. I did not wish to restrict my study to either registered or enrolled home-learners but rather hoped to adopt an inclusive approach, with all those who consider themselves to be gaining their education through home being accepted to engage in the research process should they wish to participate. As such, for British Columbia, the term 'home-learning' was seen to be more appropriate and acceptable and thus has been adopted. Where possible I am working to revise my work accordingly.

Conclusion

These are important issues and I hope to cover them in my research. I see issues relating to terminology and definition as important aspects of the history I am seeking to investigate. I am coming to see how contentions over terminology and definition can impede communication, understanding and research but that conversely discussions regarding terminology and definition can further insights and understanding. This highlights to me the importance of open democratic dialogues.

References:
Luffman, J. (1997) ‘A profile of home schooling in Canada’, Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada Education Quarterly Review 4(4), 30-47
Lines, P.M. (1992) ‘Home instruction: The size and growth of the movement’ in Van Galen, J. and Pitman, M. A. Home Schooling: Political, Historical and Pedagogical Perspectives (Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation)
Lines, P.M. (2001) ‘Homeschooling’, ERIC Digest 151, http://eric.uoregon.edu/publications/digests/digest151.html - cited 28/11/10 at 13.44
Petrie, A.J. (1992) Home Education and the Local Education Authority: From conflict to cooperation – PhD Thesis, University of Liverpool
Petrie, A.J. (1995) ‘Home Educators and the Law within Europe’, International Review of Education, 41 (3/4), 285-296
Safran, L. (2008) Exploring Identity Change and Communities of Practice among Long Term Home Educating Parents – Ph.D. Thesis The Open University

© Charlotte D Rochez

An historical comparison of British Columbia, Canada and England, UK

2011-05-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

This research comprises a comparative historical study on home-education and home-learning. It seeks to compare England and British Columbia from the twentieth century to the present. Here I outline why I decided to conduct a comparative study and why I have chosen to focus upon England and British Columbia.

I hope that temporal and regional comparison may enlarge the study's frameworks and enable me to test credibility and validity of the study's propositions in order to confirm or refine its theories. I hope that it will allow me to develop theories with more general application which may explain macro-social trends within and relating to home-education and home-learning provision and practice. I believe that comparison encourages us to recognise cultural context in which education is embedded, to look beyond superficial international and temporal similarities to see peculiarities and thus to differentiate the universal from the specific. I hope thereby to develop a better understanding of wider historical movements and cultural trends. I hope that through comparison we may gain a better understanding of home-education and home-learning, both today and historically, and in both geographical regions under study. I believe that historical and regional comparison may afford us new perspectives on our own time and culture.

When I first began this research into the history of home-education and home-learning, I had been focusing upon the UK. I later decided that a comparison with another area of similar or related socio-historical background could be beneficial. I decided upon North America. While secondary literature had suggested many similarities in the between the UK and North America regarding their history of home-education and home-learning, it also suggested interesting distinctions. For example in North America there appeared to be a relationship between some forms of home-education and home-learning provision and practice and Christian Fundamentalism; this was not apparent in the UK. There also appeared to be some differences between North American and the UK regarding the history of the relationship between home-educators/home-learners and education authorities. Thus in my applications for PhD enrolment at Cambridge I proposed to undertake a study comparing the UK and North America.

However, during the course of the MPhil I saw that there appeared to be great variations both within the UK and within North America. In part, this was informed by feedback I received from one of the facebook group members. On reading my undergraduate thesis she criticised that I failed to clearly differentiate between the UK and its constitute regions. Specifically, she highlighted to me that Scotland had its own distinct history and experience of home-education and home-learning provision and practice. As I began to learn more of the history of home-education in North America I quickly saw that there were significant regional variations both within North America and within Canada and the USA. I saw that there was a need to limit the focus of my study in order to avoid over-generalisations and superficial understandings.

I decided within the UK to focus upon England. The research had originated with a focus on England and I was keen that this line of focus should remain. Furthermore over recent years, since I began my research I have witnessed interesting changes in England relating to the relationship between home-education and the government witnessed the Badman review and associated reports. This was something I was keen to look at further.

On choosing an area in North America, I decided firstly on Canada. Existing literature suggested that Canada, like the UK, had been under-researched as compared with the USA. I thought of using Canada as a nation; however I decided to narrow my focus to one province. I felt this was appropriate given Canada's geographical size and the fact that in Canada education is considered a provincial matter.

I decided to focus on British Columbia. Insights gained through the MPhil study had suggested some similarities between England and British Columbia but also some distinctions. Secondary literature suggested an historical link between some forms of home-education provision and Christianity which was not particularly apparent in England. Moreover, I had learnt of an interesting distinction between British Columbia and England regarding the relationship between the government and home-educators/home-learners, particularly in recent decades. English participants reported an increase in government and media interest in home-education in recent years which was controversial and perceived largely negatively. British Columbian participants in the MPhil study reported that some home-learners in British Columbia received government financial and teaching aid. Recent conversations have suggested to me that the situation in British Columbia is more complex that it first appears. Those in receipt of government funding are considered by some to be 'Distributed Learners' rather than 'home-educators'; the rise in 'Distributed Learners' is seen by them to have brought a rapid decline in the home-education population. I am keen to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between education authorities and home-learners. I hope that comparison between British Columbia and England may facilitate this.

Pragmatic reasons have also motivated my choice of geographic areas. I am from the south of England and am reading for my PhD at the University of Cambridge. I lived in British Columbia for several months following senior school and have many friends and acquaintances there. I hope that my familiarity with these areas will facilitate networking and my appreciation for the cultural contexts of my findings. On a personal level I am fond of both England and British Columbia and would like to further my understanding of their social histories.

I recognise that the home-education population of England is far larger than that of British Columbia. While the home-education populations of the UK and Canada are comparable, Canada is far larger than UK and has a far lower population density. I recognise that this may cause issues when it comes to data analysis, I may thus choose to limit my focus further to the case of the south-east of England.

While responses will be accepted from across England and across British Columbia, I will be spending the majority of my time in the South East of England and will be spending several months in the winter 2011-2012 in south-western British Columbia.

© Charlotte D Rochez

'Learning to Play the Game' Conference

2011-04-29T05:24:00.000-07:00

‘Learning to Play the Game: Youth, Recreation and Voluntary Action: a conference for postgraduate and early career researchers’ was held on 19^th March at Queen Mary, University of London. The conference was held and financed by the History of Education Society and Economic History Society and held in conjunction with the Voluntary Action History Society and British Society of Sports History. The conference sought to explore “the extra-curricular dimension of education” focusing on “sporting, cultural and other voluntary activities” through offering “a forum for postgraduates and early career researchers working in the field to present their research on the intersection of youth, recreation and voluntary action”.

While the focus of the conference did not directly relate to my research focus, I thought it sounded very interesting and recognised that there would be certain substantive overlaps since many of the papers focused upon education occurring outside school from the twentieth century to the present. I found this to be this case and that furthermore, some of the theoretical and methodological discussions had relevance for my research. The conference also afforded pleasant networking opportunities over coffee, lunch and tea where I was able to learn from more experienced researchers, and to share with my peers our research interests, progress and issues.

Here I consider how some of the substantive, theoretical and methodological reflections voiced in the conference papers and discussions relate to my own research. I also reflect on a few of the talks which held a particular academic or personal interest for me though outside of my focus on the history of home-education and home-learning.

Substantive Reflections

I found myself relating several of the substantive issues raised to my own research. For example in her paper on ‘Deaf Sports and Identity: A critical Analysis of the Role Played by Sport Organizations for Deaf People in the Construction of a Deaf Identity in Belgium, 1880-1945’, Elke Spans shared her finding that a shared cohesive Deaf identity was constructed only in the face of a shared enemy and that otherwise there were differences and compartmentalisation within the ‘Deaf community’ particularly based on religious and political outlooks. I found this interesting given existing research on home-education and home-learning which similarly suggests collaboration and cohesion in identity and in action in the face of difficulties and hostilities from without the home-education/home-learning ‘movement’ otherwise often being marked by compartmentalisation with groupings relating to various bases including religion and politics.

One paper which I feel gave several substantive insights relevant to my own work was David Ellis’s, on ‘The Politics of Play: Community Action, Children and Radical Pedagogy, c.1960-1990’. Ellis spoke of changes in the voluntarism of this period, with a move from middle class philanthropy to a ‘new activist voluntary sector’. His consideration of this movement and of the changing influence of grassroots groups upon policy making and community recreational educational provision had several parallels to my work on home-education and home-learning. In particular I found myself reflecting upon changing notions as to who was seen to be responsible for a child’s well-being and educational provisions for the young. Considering the issue of financing community adventure playgrounds, Ellis questioned the extent to which education providers can be autonomous when in receipt of aid. I feel this is a question that could prove relevant for my study when considering the financial and teaching aid some Canadian home-learners have received in recent decades.

Taken cohesively, the conference papers also suggested a potential line of research in the history of home-education and home-learning which I had previously not recognised. In the roundtable discussion at the end of the conference, Dr Mark Freeman reflected that many of the papers had highlighted a difference between the intentions of recreation and voluntary action providers and the uses to which their provisions were put and the real-life experiences of the provision by those they sought to provide for. I feel these distinctions could be used in research relating to home-education and home-learning, regarding potential differences between home-learners’/home-educators’ intentions, home-learning/home-education provisions and practices, and home-learning/home-education experiences. While this is not a line that I will likely follow at this stage of my research I feel it could make for an interesting study in the future.

Theoretical Reflections

In the roundtable discussion led by a panel consisting of Dr Mary Clare Martin, Dr Mark Freeman and Dr Jean Spence and chaired by Dr Georgina Brewis, the conference papers and discussions were considered cohesively. This session suggested some general theoretical points. In particular we were reminded of the importance of relating research findings and concepts to their broader social-historical contexts and relating historical insights to present-day situations.

Methodological Reflections

During the conference several methodological issues were raised which were of relevance to my own work. In the roundtable discussion Dr Freeman spoke of the difficulty accessing the voices of those who were involved but did not have leadership roles in recreation and voluntary action organisations. I related to this considering my own concerns regarding potential biases in my work of home-learning and home-education consequent on it being harder to locate social isolates, those keeping low profiles with those with stronger and wider social networks and those who are involved in social, support or political ways being more likely to learn of and participate in my research.

In another case I saw that my study had methodological issues which were not typically shared by those focusing on recreation and voluntary action organisations. In her keynote address, ‘Play in the Service of Survival: Girl Guiding in Britain, France and Poland, 1907-1950’, Dr Mary Clare Martin speaking of changes in the size of the Girl Guiding movement and the numbers of guides recognised there were wide variations between sources regarding the numbers of guides and mentioned that there were times when the guides virtually went 'underground'. I related this to the difficulties I have learnt of in ascertaining the numbers of home-educators and home-learners through history and there being a largely ‘hidden population’. However, while those learning at home are individuals the Guides is an institution and thus while sources disagree as to numbers, primary source materials do exist which sought to record numbers of guides and can be used to construct accounts of changes in the Girl Guiding movement’s size. This is near impossible for the history of home-education and home-learning as many countries do not require home-educators/home-learners to register and home-educators/home-learners may not join organisations and home-education/home-learning social networks.

Broader interests

While some of the papers were not directly relevant to my own research, I found a couple to be of particular academic or personal interest. Jeanette Normanton Erry, in her paper on ‘Extra-curricular activities in secondary schools for the blind in the inter-war period’ highlighted the gendered-nature of their provision of extra-curricular activities. I found this particularly interesting since as an undergraduate I had taken a paper focusing on the history of educational provisions for children with disabilities.

The afternoon keynote address by Dr Mark Freeman on ‘‘Unfolding character’: the early history of Outward Bound’ I found to be of great personal interest since I had attended an Ullswater Outward Bound residential course in autumn 1998. Each year Bedales School sent its new 13 year-old cohort on this course of expeditions and team-building adventures in the hope of facilitating year-group ‘bonding’. While Dr Freeman spoke of a change in the rhetoric from a concern for 'character-training' towards one of ‘personal growth’ and ‘self discovery’, he recognised that “many of the practices in the Outward Bound schools remained unchanged”. I largely agreed with this statement. I seem to recall an emphasis on personal growth and discovery both on the Outward Bound course and at Bedales, which, particularly on the Outward Bound course, was also coupled with a strong focus on ‘bonding’ and ‘team-building’. Listening to Dr Freeman’s paper and learning of Outward Bound’s historical aims and practices I saw some continuity with my own experiences, which included hiking, camping and a compulsory dawn run ended with a jump in a bitterly cold lake. It was interesting to learn of the origins of the Outward Bound organisation and how the clientele and length of the courses changed. Dr Freeman’s paper gave me insight into how and why the course I experienced was a shortened and somewhat weaker version of the original Outward Bound experience.

Podcasting

In both the morning and the afternoon there were parallel sessions where delegates elected to go to one of two parallel courses each consisting of three papers. While the papers within the parallel sessions were grouped well, as is often the case I found a clash. I was personally disappointed to forego Eilidh Macrae’s paper ‘Exercise and Education: Understandings of the young female body in Scotland, 1930-1960’. This paper held some personal interest to me. Before the conference I had been staying with my Scottish grandmother who was educated in Scotland during this time. I shared the abstract and extracts of the source material with my grandmother. She had been interested and had gone on to share with me her personal experiences of gym instruction. I was relieved to learn that the sessions were being recorded and would be available as a podcast for delegates and the wider public. I was glad to hear this, thinking how I might be able to listen to this paper and potentially others which I missed. I am hoping to share the podcast with my grandmother in the summer. Considering this, I reflected on how the internet may facilitate the democratisation of historical research and potentially enable history to be given back to the people as Paul Thompson has suggested. However this democratisation may be seen to be limited since many older people, my grandmother included, are not computer literate.

Thanks

The conference was very well organised with a good selection of papers of a high standard. I really enjoyed the day. I would like to thank Sarah Winfield, Dion Georgiou, Nicola Sheldon and Kenichi Udagawa for all their work.

Online Conference: How Historians Research, Write, and Publish in the Digital Age

2011-04-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

Early in the first year of my PhD I joined an online month-long conference entitled 'Writing History: How Historians Research, Write, and Publish in the Digital Age'. The conference sought to encourage the discussion of the often private and hidden craft of writing history. It particularly focused on the ways in which developments in technology and telecommunications were changing the ways historians researched, wrote and published. The website enabled users to read and submit essays and to leave comments and questions in response to essays, open questions and other comments. The conference was open to all with academics, students and indeed anyone interested, from around the world all engaging together through reading each other’s essays and comments and sharing experiences, understandings, questions, criticisms and suggestions.

I really enjoyed this and found it very exciting. Many of the articles and comments were accessible and relatively informal. It was fun to be able to check into a conference during my tea break at uni and to share thoughts with others from around the world on such an interesting topic.

I came to see how the digital age has impacted on the way I read, write, research and reflect and came to question some of their broader implications for researcher life-style, health, and socialisation, and their potential impacts upon academic communities and institutions. Here is an outline of my reflections sparked by the conference:

Reading: When faced with a new topic, I typically spend a couple of hours reading articles online. What would I do without the internet? I suppose I would spend a day in the library grappling with some key texts. By either method, I would come to some understanding of the topic, but I have sometimes wondered if the two understandings are the same? My ‘online’ understanding is likely to include a greater appreciation of debates surrounding the topic, but I sometimes think that my ‘library’ understanding might be more authentic and unique. Sometimes I fail to reach an understanding online having become lost in critiques of critiques of critiques, reading in hermeneutic circles, learning of infinite revisions on infinitesimal nuances. Yet I have faced comparable issues reading in the library, becoming lost within a seminal tome, drowning under its length, its language, its rich conceptual framework. I am left to wonder whether reading in the digital age invites us to quickly gain a broad understanding at the cost of a deeper personal understanding. I cannot say that such a change in reading habit is a product of the digital age: I could locate the journal articles in their physical form in the library and the key texts online. However, my feeling is that having been an undergraduate in a digital age, my academic development has predisposed me towards broader ‘online’ understandings over deeper ‘library’ understandings.

Writing: Although I tend to read from a screen, I still handwrite my notes. There is something in the process of actively forming the words with my pen that seems to be beneficial. I am able to touch the topic and the concepts; I physically place them on my page. I then highlight my notes and type the highlighted portions into a word document which I then edit down and write around. It’s an involved process. I cannot write an essay without my computer. As I write, I re-write – it’s literally two words forward, one word back. I then re-write, re-write, re-write. At some point in this re-writing process, I will find myself, felt-tip pen in-hand squatting on the floor above an A3 pad, crouching inside my argument. Then I know that things have either gone very wrong, or that I am about to find my conclusion. At this stage I need to scribble large heuristic diagrams and I haven’t the tech-know-how to do this with a computer and, in any case, I need to touch the models for myself. For me, in terms of writing in a digital age, it’s not a matter of screen over paper, but rather screen to paper to screen to paper to screen.

Reflective Writing: Previously I have kept a hand-written journal of personal reflections on the research process. I look at my research and my life in a more holistic way. I blur the boundaries between my academic and social lives, between the personal, emotional aspects of researching and the theoretical and substantive problems of research. Although I was not as consistent as I might have been, I enjoyed keeping a journal. I carried my book with me and was able to jot a few sentences on the bus or as I waited for a friend. As I wrote of my feelings, I felt the words take form on the page. However, I now choose to use this online blog.

Increasingly, I am coming to see good research as a social process of ongoing democratic dialogue, and as such I am seeking to encourage a participatory approach in my research. I feel that publishing my reflections online enables participants to be informed of and to comment on the research process. I also hope that it will encourage me to be ethical and accountable in all research aspects even the ones that take place behind my study door. Despite this I am finding that publishing my reflections online imposes certain limitations. For example, I have to take greater measures in my writing to ensure anonymity for all those I write about. Similarly, I am also sensitive regarding what I write about my own experiences. That is, although I strive to be open, I like my privacy. It can be therapeutic to write to reflect upon how personal life impacts upon research, though if this writing takes the form of an online blog I fear it is likely to create more problems than it solves. My personal resolution at the present time is to keep both a personal hand-written journal and an online blog.

Researcher Training: As a young researcher, I witnessed the developments of researcher training within the evolution of the digital age. During my MPhil, the majority of the lecture presentations were posted online in our virtual learning environment, Camtools. I preferred reading the lectures in this way. It enabled me to work with the materials in a more active way. I was able to work at my own pace, following up on an interesting point or source immediately and then returning to the thread of the lecture in my own time. I was able to give greater time to the topics I found to be relevant to my foci and interests. I favoured this since I am a predominantly visual and kinaesthetic learner.

Researching: I make particular use of the internet in my research. As an undergraduate, my supervisor suggested that ‘oral history’ might suit my substantive focus. I was sceptical at first. I was more inclined towards working with archival sources. I felt that transcription sounded like an administrative hassle. After a few long supervisions and a couple of days reading Paul Thompson, I came around to the concept of ‘oral history’, but my misgivings remained. I then hit on the idea of using the internet to conduct interviews and to network my research. I found many groups on Facebook and set up my own group. In this way I networked my research, established forum discussions, collected the testimonies of participants and conducted online interviews. Having also conducted some face-to-face interviews, I concede that there is a richness and a rapport of conversing directly which is not to be found in engaging online. However this may be offset by the great advantages afforded by conducting ‘oral history’ online. The internet reduces the need to travel, so I have been able to engage with participants from further afield and even abroad. There is no need to worry about analysing body language nor to spend time transcribing interviews. It is easier for participants to be assured of their anonymity – indeed they can take greater responsibility for it, both in terms of their screen names and the information they chose to divulge. For me, the greatest advantage is that participants from across the world are able to engage with each other according to their own interests and experiences. As such I feel that the internet offers the possibility of social research becoming a more openly democratic dialogic process.

Researcher lifestyle: The coming of the digital age may have changed the way we read, write and research, but how have these changes impacted upon our lives more generally? The internet has afforded me great flexibility in terms of where, when and how I work. I can work from home, from a cafe, from a friend’s house, at times to suit my family, friends and other commitments. I can switch on at almost any time. However it seems that switching off can be problematic. In a short ethnographic study with families living off the land in an eco-community there was no power-supply, internet connection and a community-consensus restricting the use of electrical items I experienced first-hand how much academic communities of the digital age rely on regular email correspondence and online updates particularly regarding scheduling. I also saw how much I relied on my computer for reading and writing.

For the most part I am unaware of my reliance on my computer and its further implications. However, one day as I sat in my study, I took a break from reading online to have a cup of tea and check my facebook messages. Suddenly lonely, I wondered whether, if necessity required that I work in the library or faculty, might I have bumped into a colleague in the stacks and spent this break discussing research over cake in the tea room? Of course I was able to pack-up and head to the faculty texting a fellow student on the way. However, I think it is important to consider how the adoption of the working habits of a digital age can impact upon us individually, collectively and institutionally.

Researcher Socialisation: Technological developments have impacted researcher socialisation. Online networking blurs the boundaries between academic and social worlds. In online social networking communities I am in contact with friends, family, lectures, post-graduate peers and research participants. To varying degrees we can gain insights into each other’s lives as we post our news and photos online. However, while my socialisation with academic colleagues has increased in virtual environments, in physical reality I believe that the increased flexibility regarding working habits means that I am able to spend more time with family and friends (including those met through academia).

Research Communities and Institutions: The changing of our modes of reading, writing and researching has implications for our academic institutions and communities. Academic literature is becoming ever more freely accessible online and the internet affords greater opportunities for public academic debate, self-publication and independent research and study. I feel this challenges definitions of academic communities and the roles of our academic institutions. Are freely available online publications coming to undermine traditional institutions? This winter has witnessed many libraries in England being threatened with closure. It is possible to relate this potential decline to the changing reading habits wrought by the digital age. This leads me to wonder in what ways our changing reading, writing and research habits will impact upon our academic institutions. I do not believe, as yet, that these changes will bring the physical decline of academic institutions but rather serve to further encourage the virtual development of academic communities. As such, I feel that this online conference may have been a good example of the socio-academic implications of engaging in scholarly activity in a digital age.

Year One PhD: working towards upgrade VIVA

2011-04-17T02:52:00.000-07:00

By early August 2010 I had begun working on my PhD. I decided that I rather than starting from the MPhil thesis I wanted to return to the original substantive and theoretical sources directly. The PhD study was to have both a broader and deeper focus and thus I felt it would be beneficial to start afresh with the sources. This was not to discard the work done but rather to revise my extant understanding and to add to it. I sought to ensure that I had as comprehensive an understanding as possible.

During my BA and MPhil studies I had focused on published literatures relating to the substantive topic. I revisited these and combined them with additional published sources. I also spent an extended period working with 'grey literatures', that is, sources which were unpublished or which had been published online. These included unpublished theses, conference papers and online articles.

In terms of methodology, I revisited the texts I had used previously and added to them. I particularly looked at other studies which had used the internet for data collection and sources regarding oral history and the internet.

I then worked towards writing the upgrade viva. I am holistic thinker and I like to have sense of the full picture before working on the details. In taking a step back and picturing how the entire project might look I found I was better able to work on the first few chapters.

© Charlotte Rochez

JoTTER - working as an associate editor

2011-04-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

During the first year of my PhD I continued to work as an associate editor for JoTTER, an online journal comprised of PGCE [Post-Graduate Certificate of Education] students' work. I had begun this during my MPhil year. I have really enjoyed doing this. I like reading others' work and learning of their work, their findings on educational issues, their approaches, the challenges they encounter and how they overcome them.

When I began working for JoTTER I had initially been tasked with reading a study and giving quite general feedback. Later I was tasked with more refined editing. I found proof-reading another's work, considering their grammar, referencing and formatting to be a positive learning experience in many regards. For the most part the writing was of a high standard. However, I did come to appreciate how typos, errors and a lack of consistency in formatting can frustrate the reader and give them a negative impression of the writer's dedication and ability. This led me to resolve to ask a colleague to proof-read my official work and any important papers.

I tried to be both positive and critical in my feedback on the works I edited. In doing so I reflected on the nature of positive criticism generally and in relation to that I have received. I recognised that sometimes it was hard to be critical and to overcome a desire to protect the writer's feelings when they hard clearly worked hard. I considered that this could account for the couple of times as an undergraduate where I felt that positive feedback was not fully reflected in the grade I received. Where I was critical in editing, I feared that the writer could interpret my comments as pedantic. This gave me a valuable insight regarding my own attitude to feedback. I recognised that harsh or seemingly pedantic feedback is simply a good opportunity for improvement. It reminded me to be thankful that someone has taken the time and efforts to read my work in such detail and offer me direction to better my work.

I continue to support JoTTER perceiving it as a positive and worthwhile online initiative. It provides an opportunity for teachers about to enter the profession to have a small classroom based study published. It allows students, parents and teachers who may have participated in a training teacher's study to see the ends to which their data was put and the findings of a piece of research concerning them. It also allows free, instant, public access to academic papers by young researchers.

MPhil Summer Term: Lectures and Thesis submission

2011-03-10T05:37:00.000-08:00

During the summer term we had interesting and informative lectures which gave practical advice on constructing the thesis, presenting and publishing research in various forms. We were all working very hard on our theses and this was an exciting time.

My data collection came to an end. Many were willing to participate in my research, posting testimonial answers to my open ended questions and communicating via discussion boards which were somewhat akin to online focus groups. Some networked my research to friends and this brought in more participants.

I then began my data analysis/write up. I transcribed my oral interviews and typed up the notes and quotes I had taken from documentary sources. I copy-&-pasted the interviews, testimonies and other postings from emails and facebook. I ensured anonymity by giving each participant a coded reference. I then worked inductively through the data to find themes. I worked in a process of 'editing down' the data so as to ensure that all relevant insights and experiences remained but in a more concise format with themes and key words used to form the basis of an analytical narrative, which provided the central component of my thesis. This narrative was then considered in light of the extant literature and then conclusions were drawn.

My supervisor was incredibly helpful and supportive, reading through my drafts and offering constructive feedback on many matters from layout to conclusions to writing style. I submitted the thesis in mid-July and was glad to be moving forward to the next stage and embarking on PhD study.

© Charlotte D Rochez

MPhil Lent Term: Data coding software, statistics and philosophising

2011-02-16T02:24:00.000-08:00

During the Lent term I continued to have lectures on a Tuesday and a Thursday. These moved from focusing on philosophical aspects of educational research, namely issues of ontology, epistemology and theoretical perspective and how they relate to each other and to research. They came now to focus on more practical issues of various qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection including observations, surveys, interviews and document analysis.

During the term we also gained practical insight into qualitative data coding software. I enjoyed working with NVivo and felt it could be useful for my research. However, I am still somewhat reserved about this given that it seems to be at odds with an inductive approach and has thus received criticism from Grounded Theory theorists. I fear that using a computer for coding may leave me somewhat removed from the data and encourage me to apply codes rather than deriving themes, theories and understanding from the sources themselves.

We also had a practical course in statistical analysis software, specifically SPSS. I have an A-level in maths and so had some understanding of statistics on a theoretical level. The SPSS course allowed me to further my understanding, given that it combined both the theoretical and practical. We manipulated real research data regarding academic achievement and pupil social background in order to see whether we could gain statistically reliable answers to research questions. Although I am a qualitative researcher I am glad to know that should I consider a statistical approach to research in the future I have a theoretical and practical grounding in statistical analysis and SPSS software.

The philosophising which gives its name to the MPhil gained pace during this term. The lectures and suggested readings relating to the ontological and epistemological aspects of research invited challenging questions. I enjoyed grappling with them and was unable to put them down. As is the nature with philosophy, I found that thinking, rather than resolving questions, only brought deeper questions to light. I had extensive discussions with my supervisor and my peers. We spoke of the social, political and practical dimensions of research and its ethics, the nature of reality past and present and how we engage with it, we spoke of how and why we engage in research, social reality, life itself. These lectures, readings, discussions and thoughts invited deeper reflections pervading and extending far beyond my academic life, both extending and necessarily constrained by my horizons as I reflected on the nature of 'reality', 'life', 'choice', 'perspective'.

We had a presentation session mid-way through the term. In groups of around 10 we took it turns to give a short power-point presentation on the methodology of our current studies. I really enjoyed this session. Having to create a presentation forced me to form a concise version of my philosophical and methodological musings and in doing so I simplified some of lines of thought and clarified my arguments. It was heartening to learn that, despite the variety of our substantive foci, we encountered similar challenges and it was productive to discuss and share means to overcome them.

My supervisions continued to be as interesting and as helpful as during the first term. At the end of term I submitted a 6,500 word essay concerning the methodologies through which to study the history of home-education.

© Charlotte Rochez

Editing for JoTTER

2011-02-15T08:16:00.000-08:00

During the first term, our MPhil cohort had been asked if any of us would be interested in serving as editorial associates for a new initiative called JoTTER, an online journal comprised of PGCE [Post Graduate Certificate of Education] students' work. I volunteered and during the holidays I spent a couple of happy days in front of the fire reading through a very interesting study. Reading the paper was enjoyable in its own right. It also enabled me to reflect upon my own work, to see where it was strong and where it could be improved. I am particularly interested in the ways in which we can make research more democratic, and specifically the potential role of the internet. I believe that online initiatives such as JoTTER serve to make research more democratic in three ways: firstly they provide a forum for relatively inexperienced researchers, and those of lesser academic standing, to have their work published; secondly they provide a forum for those who have participated in the research to see the ends to which their data was put and the findings of research concerning them; thirdly they allow free, instant, public access to academic papers.

MPhil Michaelmas Term: Lectures and supervisions

2010-12-14T15:32:00.000-08:00

On learning that I had secured funding, and keen to do well on the course, I had requested and received the lecture lists and reading lists during the summer. I spent many evenings and weekends in August and September happily working through these sources.

The social side of the first term was fun. I attended matriculation dinner and a graduate union freshers’ club night. I went to the pub with my course-mates. There was something of an undergraduate reunion at a party for our friends' baby’s first birthday. A friend and I went out to dinner with our (now retired) supervisor from undergraduate days and his wife.

I had lectures on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our group on the MPhil in Education Research Methods, though not overly large, was diverse and comprised sociologists, historians, educationists, teachers, psychologists, philosophers and political scientists. We came from a variety of backgrounds, representing a variety of countries, races, religions and socio-economic backgrounds. While we had all met the minimum requirements of a strong bachelors degree, some also had MAs, MScs or PGCEs. Some had experience in education working in teaching, politics, literature etc. We also had a variety of views and philosophies of education. This variety was both a strength and a challenge. It was wonderful to meet so many different people and we had lively and informative debates and conversations. However it was a challenge for the faculty, course providers and lectures to provide curricula and lectures which were accessible and erudite, broad and deep. The lecture course covered issues of ontology, epistemology and theoretical perspective and methods of data collection and analysis.

For me the strength of the MPhil was the one-to-one supervisions. I had thrived as an undergraduate under the supervision system and continued to enjoy this during the MPhil. During supervisions I worked with my supervisor to devise questions and areas of focus and would then go away with these in mind and spend a week or two reading books, articles and papers to formulate an insight and/or argument (often in written form) before attending another supervision to discuss this further. While my supervisor had not supervised me in the first stage of this research (my undergraduate dissertation), he had supervised me for other papers I had written on the history of education. We had had interesting and challenging supervisions which typically extended beyond the bounds of the question at hand into broader theoretical issues in history and philosophy. This improved further during the MPhil, with particularly interesting discussions on the relationship of the past and the present, hermeneutic theories and comparing the nature of speech and text.

There was a particularly useful presentation session during this term. We divided into groups of around a dozen and each had a turn to give a short power-point presentation on the extant substantive literatures relating to our individual study. Creating the presentation encouraged me to construct a simplified overview of the literature and a more clear definition of themes. Giving the presentation afforded me an opportunity to improve my presentation skills and confidence. Through comparing the presentations I found I was able to gain a better sense of what makes for a good presentation in terms of content, structure, visual aids and delivery. It was interesting to learn of others' studies. It was heatening to hear of peers encountering similar challenges in locating and analysing extant secondary sources and helpful to compare the means by which we'd sought to overcome these challenges. We also shared constructive feedback on one another's presentations. Overall I found this a very positive experience.

During this term I worked to produce a 6,500 word essay reviewing the literatures pertaining to the history of home-education. I received a good grade for this and positive feedback.

© Charlotte D Rochez

Gap Year: Working, travelling, teaching abroad, applying for postgraduate study and securing funding

2010-11-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

During my final year, my supervisor had suggested that I might consider continuing on for post-graduate study. He felt that my undergraduate work could form the basis of a PhD.

Throughout my degree I had chanelled my energies into my academic studies and to extra-curricular academic and education related events. For example, in 2005, I had been an honourary student attendee a conference headed by NUT [National Union of Teachers] 'International Development' conference on global education and education in developing countries. In 2007-2008, I had established and maintained an online learning environment, 'The Global Dimension' for the discusion of global issues by Education Faculty members and friends. I graduated with many interests and wonderful experiences but without a clear professional direction.

Between my final exams and graduating, I had a meeting with my personal tutor regarding her reference and my CV. We had been encouraged to get a reference from our personal tutors. My CV was busy and untidy: a couple of winter seasons teaching skiing, time working in children's nurseries, a term learning Spanish in Seville, a couple of summers nannying in Canada, time volunteering in a school for children with special educaitonal needs. I had many diverse interests and wanted to be able to meet these interests and to learn more of the world. I decided to spend a year working, travelling, teaching abroad and applying to return for postgraduate study.

Through an agency I gained two-weeks temp work in a small local accountancy firm as a receptionist. This turned into a position as an administrator in which I worked until leaving for travelling. It was quite novel to have money coming in. I jumped at every opportunity to take something to the post-office or a local client, danced to my ipod as I tackled the filing, invented a new scanning system and proof-read and edited letters and documents. The accountancy firm had offered me a contract as a trainee. I was grateful for the opportunity. Yet, it didn't feel right, at least at this stage. I was already missing my studies of history, sociology, philosophy, education, children and politics.

I travelled to Cambridge. I had an appointment with a careers advisor. He told me that it was a question of 40s: what could I stand to do for 40 hours a week, for 40 weeks a year, for 40 years? I wouldn't stand to spend this amount of time doing one thing because 'I could stand it'; I wanted to do many things, things I loved, that had a positive purposes, that were challenging, worthwhile, interesting, fun.

I then went to see my old Director of Studies. He was kind, lent me a book on research funding encouraged me with my application to the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and to apply for awards from the university and to go through the book and make applications for everything else I was entitled to.

Returning to the office, I spent my lunches working on my applications for post-graduate study. I looked into studying in North America but found their programs to be longer and more expensive. I worked on my application for the MPhil at Cambridge and for funding from the ESRC. I had completed as much as could be completed before leaving for India. We left and within the first week I was working on my applications in a rather chilly Manali. I completed as much as I could and then allowed myself to become fully enchanted with India; career-questions and English November drizzle were made happily alien as I made a swift descent into and through India, tripping through Pushkar, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Udaipur...

When we reached Goa in December, I took this as my opportunity to work on my proposal for the MPhil. I was disciplined. I rose at sunrise and ran on the beach as the fishermen brought in their catch and the sun hung heavy-red, slow to ascend over the palm trees. I would swim a little, return to our beach hut and shower, have porridge and fruit salad and then be in the internet cafe as it opened at 8.30am. I loved these idillic days: my friends going to bed as I was rising, the men hauling the huge fishing-nets, sillhoutted against the firey sky, the vintage computer with the dodgy internet connection, the smiling owner with his limp and his kind wife, my afternoon breaks on monkey island with a friend teaching me how to fish, an evening swim and the most delicious simple veg curry and chappatti. Heaven!

I sent a draft to my supervisor and once again became happily pre-occupied with travel adventures: meditating and walking in Gokarna, spending Christmas with Israelis in Hampi, eating pad thai in the street in Bangkok, celebrating New Year's Eve in Chang Mai, climbing to the temples in Pai. In Pai I managed to complete the proposal and, with the help of my mother and brothers sorting the paper work at home, the forms were sent in and the application for the MPhil made. I now needed to work on my application for funding from the ESRC.

As planned, I finished the proposal for the ESRC funding in a quiet week staying with a friend of a friend in Sydney. I then forgot about it. We decided to return to India rather than go to South America as in our original itinerary. We had returned to Varanasi. Checking my email between city-wide power-cuts, I learnt that I had been unsuccessful: Cambridge had not chosen me to be one of their ESRC funded students. I had only just missed the cut and as such I would be put forward, with all like short-listed students from other universities, into the open application for ESRC funding. The chances of success here were very very slim. This news didn't upset me particularly. England was another time, another place. I was in the present. I was well and healthy. I was alive. I was joyful. During the days I was teaching in Saraswati Education Center, a small school for underprivileged children. During the evenings I was on the ghats with the travellers, drumming and playing guitars.

It was only when I returned to England that not having the funding came to be an issue. I determined that unless I had funding I likely wouldn't take my place. I did not like the uncertainty. I returned to my office job with the accountancy firm: documents printed and documents shredded; envelopes opened and envelopes franked; my time measured in pounds sterling. I learnt that I had been awarded the Allen Meek and Read award for the MPhil year which was to pay my fees. There was no guarantee that I would be able to continue on for the PhD after the MPhil and it was unlikely that I would get funding for this though I could re-apply to ESRC. I really wanted to do the PhD. I phoned the Cambridge colleges, wrote letters to dozens of other funding bodies. I tried to figure the puzzle out. The deadline passed for the results of the ESRC open competition. I heard nothing. I assumed I'd not been successful. The beginning of term was a couple of months away but I didn't know whether I would be able to take up my place.

Then, one blazing August lunchtime in the office as I tried to create a breeze by swinging on my swivel chair I went to check my personal emails. I learnt that I had been successful in the ESRC open competition. I was to receive 4 years funding for both fees and maintenance from the ESRC! My stomach flipped and a couple of unexpected tears sprang to my eyes.

© Charlotte Rochez

Presentation at History of Education Society Conference (September 2008)

2010-11-07T05:27:00.000-08:00

The undergraduate dissertation was very successful and my supervisor suggested that I might present it at the History of Education Society Conference (September 2008) and have a paper published in the History of Education Researcher. He also suggested that I might continue the work at post-graduate level.

Presenting at the conference was a good experience, and very good for my CV. It was good to meet many people and hear of all the things they were working on. I was very glad that a friend who I had studied with since our very first lecture in prelims was there presenting her undergraduate work too. Presenting the paper was the best part by far. I was nervous before hand and had written down what I planned to say. However as soon as I started to talk I found that I knew what I wanted to say and it was easier just to talk informally. I think I was given 10 minutes or so to present in the 'work-in-progress' seminar. The time flew by and I was unable to cover all I had hoped to. After my presentation there were a handful of questions. Most I was able to answer and some gave way to lines of enquiry at later stages in the research.

The informal conversations between presentations were good. I made a few useful contacts and so many of the more experienced attendees were supportive, friendly and helpful. I did really enjoy learning about other peoples work informally over the dinners and drinks and learning of the joys and challenges of post-graduate study and research. As I write this various faces come back to my mind, people speaking of their academic interests sharing how they are finding their research, their academic issues, their issues balancing academic and social life. While I much prefer to read books and papers and engage in one-to-one conversations rather than listen to lectures (due to some minor hearing issues), I certainly enjoyed the experience of my first conference.

Beyond the Lecture Hall, History of Education Society Conference (September 2008)

© Charlotte D Rochez

Undergraduate Dissertation: The origins of this study

2010-11-04T03:09:00.000-07:00

I suppose this research began roughly three years ago at the beginning of my final year as an undergraduate. Studying History with Education Studies, I was particularly interested in the social history of Early Modern (1450-1700) Europe, and particularly England and the reformations. Geekily excited about the final year's Research and Investigation dissertation, I had proposed, during the summer, that I would like to research the tutoring of the middle classes in Tudor England. Dissuaded from this, owing to the assignment's requirement that the work be relevant to educational practices today, I did not know what to do instead. My supervisor was supportive and encouraged me to reflect on the other areas I was interested in. I thought of my undergraduate work relating to education and realised I had most enjoyed my work on educational philosophies and the progressive movement in the early twentieth century. I also thought of the books I had most enjoyed, the work of John Holt having been my favourite particularly in my first year. I came to think of researching the philosophy relating to why we send children to school at all. I had been frustrated throughout my undergraduate degree by what I felt to be an over-emphasis upon formal, particularly state, schooling.

Questions began to fill my mind: 'Why do we feel we ought to send children to school?'; 'How long has it been this way?'; 'Who believes we ought to send children to school - why?'; 'What of children who do not attend school? Why do they not attend? What education do they receive?'. Many of the questions I had appeared to be philosophical. Yet, following a helpful discussion with my philsophy supervisor, I realised that these might also be addressed through researching the social history of alternatives to formal school provision, usually termed home-education (or variants - home-schooling, home-based education, unschooling, live-learning). And so, my dissertation found a focus: 'change and continuity in the reasons behind home-education: an historical investigation based on a pluralistic methodology'.

In terms of methodology, I had quite an objective theoretical perspective. On beginning my degree I believed that, after considering and putting aside her personal bias, the historian's method was to construct a narrative or reason a thesis relating to the past based upon her sources; she was simply to consider the nature, origin, purpose, reliability, validity and bias of her sources as she worked in order that she construct as true an account as possible. As an undergraduate I wrote a couple of assignments which battled with the challenges to this view. While these essays significantly challenged my thinking, I never resolved my own mind on the issues but rather became caught within rhetorical games: I was careful not to be seen to be 'sitting-on-the-fence' but rather expended my energies on moving the fence, challenging the existence of the fence and questioning its importance. And so, whilst aware of these theoretical challenges, they remained in the etherical, whilst in terms of practice, in the physical, I continued down my objective path.

My supervisor suggested using 'oral history' in my work. I was sceptical. I thought the prospect of transcription sounded laborious and complicated. Also, I don't learn very well through listening; I had hearing-troubles as a child and still sometimes find it hard to hear. Beyond this, I thought it all to be a bit wooly, a bit fluffy. I was doing a social history. So, I needed books and documents and letters, the more the better. However after a few long supervisions with my very patient supervisor, I came round to the idea of using 'oral history' as part of a pluralistic approach combining all the sources I was able to come across. Influenced by the work of Paul Thompson I came to see how 'oral history' can give history back to individuals and communities in a democratic sense. This change in the way I planned to approach the research in practice, fed an ongoing change in my theoretical perspective towards history.

I was still not sure about oral history in its traditional form. Overall it seemed to me, increasingly to be worthwhile and yet still somewhat inefficient. I came to think of the idea of using the Internet to conduct interviews, in order that I would not have to travel, transcribe, deal with issues of body-language. I can use a website, or a program but I cannot write one. Thus, setting up my own webpages was going to be beyond me, at least at this stage. As it became time to begin data collection, looking on Facebook I saw many groups relating to home-education and decided that Facebook would be a fine way to reach home-educators, network my research and even collect data. Thus, I set up a Facebook group for the research. Participants discussed aspects relating to home-education and their experiences. I posted a series of questions on there. There have also been discussions relating to methods. In retrospect, I am glad I use facebook. It is the largest social networking site and so I feel this makes my data collection most accessible. The only draw back is for people who do not use the site. However, through social networking and attending home-based education events I have been able to reach them.

And so, with a few traditional oral-history interviews, many online responses and a collection of books and documents, I worked on my undergraduate dissertation, and formed a thesis regarding change and continuity in reasons behind home education. I found that from the turn of the century to the 1970s there was little home education provision and that the little that did occur tended to be that necessitated by illness of geographic location, and that the 1970s witnessed the beginnings of a trend of progressive home-educators and that while this continued to the present, they were joined from the 1980s and 1990s with families who were dissatisfied with formal school provision. During the 2000s I found an increasing number of home-educating children with special needs, particularly autistic spectrum disorders. From the 1970s onwards I also saw the increase in support networks and resources for home-educators and a change in public attitudes and acceptance of home-education. I related all these factors together in the form of a model.

My undergraduate dissertation went very well. It enabled me to uncover my central interest in education: the relationships between education provisions, philosophies of education, societal norms, politics and resources. My supervisor suggested that the work could form the first step in a PhD. I took his advice and made my applications. After a year working and travelling I returned to Cambridge in October 2009 to begin postgraduate study in the history of home-based education.

Blogging as reflexive journalling

2010-11-01T03:08:00.000-07:00

In recent years, there seems to be so much emphasis placed upon reflexivity in research. This was particularly apparent in the the MPhil lectures on research methods I attended. Many recommend the keeping of a journal to document the research process. Last year I did this privately [and irregularly and infrequently]. Though the entries were few, sporadic, and long, the process was beneficial and I decided that I would like to make more of an effort.

Interested in perceptions of research as ongoing dialogue and open source publishing and the role of the Internet in research, I have decided to keep an online blog rather than write my reflections in private. [I also hope that the prospect of being read will act as an incentive to write more regularly.]