In September, I successfully defended my research during my probation review. This means that my supervisor and an internal panel from the School of Education at the University of Leicester were convinced that my research will fill a gap in the extant literature, is well planned and will be achievable over the next two years. Since I have confirmation that I am on the right track, I now intend to share some of my research, thinking and initial findings here.
The first lesson I learnt on my PhD journey is this... where I am now is nowhere near where I started.
"Bolker (1998) writes about the viva moment as that point in time when you become aware of the gap between the thesis you thought you were going to write, at the start… and the thesis you have actually produced” (Rowena, 2009, p.17).
My initial research proposal was titled "The representation and distortion of the world: the European Union and the multicultural dimension of school geography in England as taught and conceived by students". After living and working in a British School in the Middle East, I was touched by how contextual cultural reference points are significantly different between cultures and how prior knowledge we might expect a child to have in one place can be absent in a different context. Some of the examples that spring to mind are teaching Arab students about concepts such as rivers, rural tourism hotspots and industrial heritage. Using this kind of understanding, I thought it would be interesting to explore the conceptions of children of economic migrants who have moved to the UK from Eastern Europe. However as I began to get to work planning my PhD research, something more interesting began to stir in education.
With news headlines such as ‘GCSE and A-levels are easier, Ofqual says’ (The Guardian, 1 May 2012; Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulations), ‘Why are A-levels in Britain getting easier?’ (The Economist, 12 August 2015), and ‘Is the educational bar really being lowered?’ (TES 13 Nov 2009) becoming a regular feature in the press every August, Michael Gove – the then Secretary of State for Education set about school reforms with the aim of improving standards and encouraging the development of knowledge-rich A level qualifications that students would need to successfully progress to university (DfE, 2015). Michael Gove was influenced by Young’s (2008) idea of powerful knowledge, advice from ALCAB, a panel of academics from leading universities and the desire to make A levels more rigorous. New subject content was designed with a much greater focus on conceptual understanding. As part of the reforms, the concept of place became the new substantive human geography theme for all new A level geography exam specifications in England for first teaching in September 2016.
These educational reforms presented me with an opportunity to explore students' conceptions of place (their understanding of the phenomena). This research will therefore have implications for teachers and will help inform current debates about students' knowledge and understanding.
References:
Bolker, J. 1998. Writing your dissertation in fifteen minutes a day: a guide to starting, revising, and finishing your doctoral thesis. New York, New York, USA: Henry Holt.
Department for Education (DfE) (2015) Reformed GCSE and A Level subject content consultation Government response.https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/397672/Reformed_GCSE_and_A_level_subject_content_Government_Response.pdf
Rowena (2009) How to Survive Your Viva : Defending a Thesis in an Oral Examination. Maidenhead: OUP
Young, M. (2008) Bringing Knowledge Back In. London: Routledge.
The first lesson I learnt on my PhD journey is this... where I am now is nowhere near where I started.
"Bolker (1998) writes about the viva moment as that point in time when you become aware of the gap between the thesis you thought you were going to write, at the start… and the thesis you have actually produced” (Rowena, 2009, p.17).
My initial research proposal was titled "The representation and distortion of the world: the European Union and the multicultural dimension of school geography in England as taught and conceived by students". After living and working in a British School in the Middle East, I was touched by how contextual cultural reference points are significantly different between cultures and how prior knowledge we might expect a child to have in one place can be absent in a different context. Some of the examples that spring to mind are teaching Arab students about concepts such as rivers, rural tourism hotspots and industrial heritage. Using this kind of understanding, I thought it would be interesting to explore the conceptions of children of economic migrants who have moved to the UK from Eastern Europe. However as I began to get to work planning my PhD research, something more interesting began to stir in education.
With news headlines such as ‘GCSE and A-levels are easier, Ofqual says’ (The Guardian, 1 May 2012; Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulations), ‘Why are A-levels in Britain getting easier?’ (The Economist, 12 August 2015), and ‘Is the educational bar really being lowered?’ (TES 13 Nov 2009) becoming a regular feature in the press every August, Michael Gove – the then Secretary of State for Education set about school reforms with the aim of improving standards and encouraging the development of knowledge-rich A level qualifications that students would need to successfully progress to university (DfE, 2015). Michael Gove was influenced by Young’s (2008) idea of powerful knowledge, advice from ALCAB, a panel of academics from leading universities and the desire to make A levels more rigorous. New subject content was designed with a much greater focus on conceptual understanding. As part of the reforms, the concept of place became the new substantive human geography theme for all new A level geography exam specifications in England for first teaching in September 2016.
These educational reforms presented me with an opportunity to explore students' conceptions of place (their understanding of the phenomena). This research will therefore have implications for teachers and will help inform current debates about students' knowledge and understanding.
References:
Bolker, J. 1998. Writing your dissertation in fifteen minutes a day: a guide to starting, revising, and finishing your doctoral thesis. New York, New York, USA: Henry Holt.
Department for Education (DfE) (2015) Reformed GCSE and A Level subject content consultation Government response.https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/397672/Reformed_GCSE_and_A_level_subject_content_Government_Response.pdf
Rowena (2009) How to Survive Your Viva : Defending a Thesis in an Oral Examination. Maidenhead: OUP
Young, M. (2008) Bringing Knowledge Back In. London: Routledge.