Data analysis - Methodology and methods - Imagining school autonomy in high-performing educatio

Chapter 3. Methodology and methods

3.5. Data analysis

Hatch (2002) explains that “data analysis is a systematic search for meaning” (p. 148). The ultimate goal of qualitative data analysis is “to make sense out of the data” (Merriam, 2009, p. 203) by “breaking data into meaningful parts”

(Savin-Baden & Major, 2013, p. 434) in a way that “allow[s] researchers to see patterns, identify themes, discover relationships, develop explanations, make interpretation, mount critiques, or generate theories” (Hatch, 2002, p. 148). This

I was introduced to this principal outside of Singapore. He accepted my interview request after I informed him that I did not receive the official permission.

More details about the nature and proportion of these aforementioned types of schools are provided in the chapters examining respective East Asian societies.

section is to demonstrate the analysis methods used in this study, which are determined according to the nature of the data and the purposes of the research questions.

Qualitative document analysis

The adoption of qualitative document analysis is to address the first research question. Atkinson and Coffey (2011) define ‘documents’ as ‘social facts’. From a similar perspective, Silverman (2014) points out that constructionists who study documents focus on “the process through which texts depict ‘reality’” (p. 285). Throughout this study, concrete texts with regard to ‘school autonomy’ and

particularly ‘school autonomy in East Asia’ were extracted from official documents and politicians’ statements. Then, five categories, serving as ‘inductive codes’, emerged from these texts, in terms of the ways that reforms of increasing school autonomy were legitimated. Table 3.6 presents the examples and frequency of the texts in the key policy paper – the 2010 Schools White Paper (DfE, 2010); and Table 3.7 shows the examples in politicians’ statements.

Table 3.6. Examples and frequency of the texts promoting school autonomy in the 2010 Schools White Paper

Category Example (s) Frequency

Citing East Asian societies

- “Finland and South Korea – the highest performing countries in PISA – have clearly defined and challenging universal standards, along with individual school autonomy.” (p. 4)

1 Making general statements (including generally citing ‘international evidence’)

- “Across the world, the case for the benefits of school autonomy has been established beyond doubt.” (p. 11)

- “Analysis of the international evidence also demonstrates that, alongside school autonomy, accountability for student performance is critical to driving educational improvement.” (p. 12)

Citing societies other than East Asia (including citing national evidence)

- “In many of the highest performing jurisdictions, school autonomy is central. In high-performing US States, Charter Schools…”

- “In Sweden, pupils who attend state-funded independent Free Schools outperform those in

other state schools.” (pp. 51)

- “In this country, the record of independent state schools provides a striking testimony to the power of autonomy.” (p. 51)

Citing evidence from specific research sources

- “The OECD has shown that countries which give the most autonomy to head teachers and teachers are the ones that do best.” (pp. 3-4)

- “Analysis of PISA data shows that the features of the strongest education systems combine

autonomy (e.g. over staffing powers at school level) with accountability (e.g. systematic and external pupil-level assessments).” (p. 51)

3 Providing details of school autonomy enjoyed in high-performing systems14

- “Across the world, the case for the benefits of school autonomy has been established beyond doubt. In a school system with good quality teachers, flexibility in the curriculum and clearly established accountability measures, it makes sense to devolve as much day-to-day

decision-making as possible to the front line.” (p. 11)

- “Analysis of PISA data shows that the features of the strongest education systems combine

autonomy (e.g. over staffing powers at school level) with accountability (e.g. systematic and external pupil-level assessments).” (p. 51)

Table 3.7. Examples of the texts promoting school autonomy in politicians’ statements

Category Examples Citing East

Asian societies

- “In Singapore… Schools where principals are exercising a progressively greater degree of operational autonomy are soaring ahead.” (Gove, 2011a)

- “The third reform imperative is greater autonomy for head teachers. There is a strong correlation in these league tables between freedom for heads – in systems like Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong – and improved results.” (Gove, 2013)

- “The fifth pillar of reform is freedom for heads to recruit and reward the best. Shanghai, the world’s best-performing education system, has a rigorous system of

performance-related pay.” (Gove, 2013)

Making general - “Across the world, then, autonomy is proving a key driver of

Texts fell under this category provide comparatively more information about school autonomy in specific societies; however, as I shall demonstrate and argue in the following analysis chapters, the information is still vague and limited.

statements (including generally citing ‘international evidence’) success.” (Gove, 2011b)

- “… if we look at many of the high-performing and

fast-improving education systems certain common features recur…there is a high level of autonomy from bureaucracy for headteachers.” (Gove, 2013)

Citing societies other than East Asia

- “And in America - where the Charter Schools system implemented by New York and Chicago is perhaps the quintessential model of school autonomy - the results are extraordinary.” (Gove, 2011a)

Citing evidence from other sources

- “As the OECD points out, two of the most successful countries in PISA – Hong Kong and Singapore – are among those with the highest levels of school competition.” (Gove, 2010, December 17)

- “To quote from the OECD: “In countries where schools have greater autonomy over what is taught and how students are assessed, students tend to perform better.” (Gibb, 2012) Providing details of school autonomy enjoyed in high-performing systems

- “In Singapore… Schools where principals are exercising a progressively greater degree of operational autonomy are soaring ahead.” (Gove, 2011a)

- “Shanghai, the world’s best-performing education system, has a rigorous system of performance-related pay.” (Gove, 2013)

By categorising the texts, large amounts of data were condensed into “a smaller number of analytic units”, which helped me to develop “a cognitive map” to understand “local incidents and interactions” (Miles et al., 2014, p. 86). Within each category, I further investigated: (1) the descriptions of school autonomy in ‘reference societies’ provided by the UK Government and its key sources of evidence; and (2) the nature, degree and management areas of school autonomy promoted in England with reference to East Asia.

Qualitative content analysis

Qualitative content analysis is adopted to answer the second research question, which is defined by Hsieh and Shannona (2005) as “a research method for the subjective interpretation of the content of text data through the systematic

classification process of coding and identifying themes or patterns” (p. 1278). To be specific, it attempts to preserve the advantages of its quantitative origin – content

analysis – to make “replicable and valid inferences” (Krippendorf, 1980, p. 21). This is achieved by establishing a coding frame containing a set of categories (Patton, 2002; Schreier, 2012). Further, as Zhang and Wildemuth (2009) argue, unlike the quantitative version merely counting words of random sampling, it allows researchers to understand social reality through exploring the “meanings underlying physical messages… purposively selected… which can inform the research question” (p. 308). These characteristics of qualitative content analysis enable the present study to categorise and analyse the nature and degree of school autonomy in specific contexts according to the developed conceptual framework. Mayring (2000) identifies two approaches of qualitative content analysis in terms of how a coding frame develops, namely, ‘inductive category development’ and ‘deductive category application’. The inductive approach requires the initial formulation of category definitions (criterion of selection), based on theoretical background and research questions, which determine “the aspects of the textual material taken into account”. Following these definitions, researchers immerse themselves in the data to tentatively draw inductive categories and constantly revise them until no additional new concepts can be found. The deductive approach differs from the inductive one as it “works with prior formulated, theoretical derived aspects of analysis, bringing them in connection with the text”. It requires “explicit definitions, examples, and coding rules for each deductive category” in order to identify “under what circumstance a text passage can be coded with a category”. These category definitions constitute the coding agenda employed to work through the data.

The analysis of school autonomy in East Asia was divided into two stages of coding; the two approaches of qualitative content analysis were both used at the second stage. More specifically, the first stage of coding was assembling chunks of the data under the same topic, categorising it into corresponding management areas identified and conducting ‘descriptive coding’ (Miles et al., 2014). Examples of this stage of coding are shown in Table 3.8.

Table 3.8. Examples of the first stage of coding Area of

school management

Original texts Coding

Textbooks - “The textbooks / learning materials shown on this Recommended Textbook List have been vetted by the appropriate Reviewing Panels of the Bureau's Textbook Committee and are recommended for use in schools.” (Extracted from the website of Hong Kong Education Bureau [EDB])

- “We are required to choose textbooks from the recommended book list”; “Each subject department exercises their own

professional judgment in choosing what textbook they would like to have.” (Principal Q from Hong Kong, extracted from the interview transcript)

Schools choose textbooks from the recommended list Appointment and dismissal of teachers

- “There are some requirements of academic qualification set by the Education Bureau. Every school in Hong Kong follows that…degree holders plus professional teachers’ training”; “It’s up to me to employ those teachers…” (Principal Q from Hong Kong, extracted from the interview transcript)

- “Any person who wishes to teach in a school must be registered under the Education Ordinance as either a registered teacher or a permitted teacher. Registered teachers are persons who possess the approved teacher qualifications laid down in the Education Ordinance, whereas permitted teachers are in possession of academic qualifications only” (Extracted from the EDB website)

Education Bureau determines the number of teachers Schools make decisions on the appointment of teachers following the requirements set by the Education Bureau

At the second stage, the deductive approach was applied primarily; the categories and coding rules were derived from the benchmarking scheme of the conceptual framework developed for this study. Table 3.9 and 3.10 respectively show the categories and coding rules in the areas of ‘textbooks’ and ‘appointment and dismissal of teachers’.

Table 3.9. Examples of the deductive categories and coding rules for analysing school autonomy with regard to the ‘textbooks’