This thesis makes contributions to knowledge in three key areas: 6.2.1 Teacher knowledge and practice
My first contribution to knowledge is pedagogical: perceiving and approaching classes in primary education as a ‘group’ is a powerful way to develop pupils’ social skills and social understanding. This relies on an experiential learning approach, where pupils and the teachers have to interact in authentic contexts to form respectful relationships, and to practice dealing with actual conflicts and problems (Cameron & Moss, 2011; Smith, 2001). It is a more
productive approach than the current reliance on teaching abstract knowledge about social skills, which does not become integrated and embodied (e.g. SLO, 2014). In this study, children learned how to relate to others and how to solve problems (two of the core objectives, SLO, 2006) through experiential learning activities. ‘Viewing things from another perspective’ is a figurative expression. Actually taking different positions and experiencing different
perspectives, helped the pupils in School B to solve not only the conflict between Bas and Ron, but also their conflicts during recess. Also, experiencing how ‘assumptions’ guide our actions, helped pupils and teachers to understand the need for taking time for discussion.
This distinction between ‘teaching social skills’ and ‘facilitating learning social skills’ is important because it extends theoretical understanding from social pedagogy (Cameron & Moss, 2011; Smith, 2009) about the importance of not solely using the head, but also involving the heart and the hand when educating our children. The current educational practice is focussed on the academic needs of individual learners (Pameijer & Beukering, 2008), and national and international league tables have turned academic achievements into a
competition (Biesta, 2009; Förrer, 2004). This study highlights children’s capacities in acquiring social skills and democratic principles through social interaction and dialogue (Mercer & Littleton, 2007; Vygotsky, 1978), once the class is approached as a group.
The second contribution to knowledge is that teachers need support in developing the required knowledge and understanding about groups. This study enabled teachers to explore their existing knowledge, which resulted in our being able to define the deeper knowledge about groups that teachers need to have, which resulted in the schedule: Knowledge, skills, habits and attitudes (see Appendix P). This could be helpful in teacher training since literature (Luitjes & de Zeeuw-Jans, 2017; Miedema, 2002), as well as the data, show that currently, knowledge about groups is not regarded as an important subject in teacher training. Teachers have to pay a high prize for this neglect (Malekoff, 2014), and the ‘cures’ for the perceived problems in the classroom, the social skills programmes and behaviour specialists, do not bring the desired results (Inspectie van het Onderwijs, 2019; Orobio de Castro et al., 2018). This study highlighted that, having just theoretical knowledge about group development was insufficient. Being taught to ‘teach’, the participating teachers needed to practice skills like facilitating group discussion or active listening, as this study highlights.
A third, related contribution to knowledge is the development of the ‘diagnostic model for groups in education’, establishing where the groups were in their developmental stage (Appendix C). Learning that the behaviours they were struggling with in class were ‘to be expected’ (Doel & Kelly, 2014), rather than being a result of ‘not being able to be in charge’ or ‘pulling the strings firmly’ (van Overveld, 2016), was a great relief for the participating
teachers. Therefore, the developed ‘diagnostic model’ could also be helpful in teacher training to alert student teachers about the needs their classes / groups have in different stages of
group development.
A fourth contribution to teacher knowledge is the way the class viewed and reacted to ‘pupils with special needs’ once they were approached as a group. With the current focus on “What does this child need?” (Pameijer & Beukering, 2008), teacher and class learn how to adept to the special needs of individual pupils (School A and B). However, as stated by Cameron & Moss (2011:155) “The most excluding factor for children is not being able to relate to other children”. This study highlights the importance of facilitating dialogue, for reflection and feedback, and for mutual aid (Mercer & Littleton, 2007; Northen & Kurland, 2001). The data show how pupils like André or Patrick wanted to belong to the group and how honest feedback and dialogue was more helpful for developing social competencies than protection or a special treatment.
6.2.2 Assessment of social skills and current policy
This thesis also found a gap between the way that policy-makers ‘measure’ pupils’ abilities in social skills (Inspectie van het Onderwijs, 2014b:39) and pupils’ embodied understanding and competence of social behaviour. The measurements, especially giving priority to pupil self- reports, were found to be inadequate, largely because of their unreliability and the complexity of interpretation in language (4.2.4). In their desire to be able to ‘measure and compare’ (Biesta, 2009), the government prefers standardized measuring tools. However, measuring behaviour is rather impossible, since behaviour is always contextual (van Overveld, 2016). Also, because the needs of pupils in a small village school differ from the needs of pupils in a large, pluriform school (Malekoff, 2014; Northen & Kurland, 2001), simple standardized questionnaires will not provide the information needed to address the behaviour problems currently experienced. This study exposed pupils to confronting their statements and assumptions in activities and in reflecting on these same statements and assumptions by viewing the video recordings made during the activities.
The next contribution to knowledge is the observation and evaluation plan that was developed during this study (Appendix D), which allowed pupils to discuss and negotiate their social proceeds together, to give each other feedback, and to assess what needed working on. This kind of qualitative data, gathered from teachers and pupils throughout the year, as opposed to twice a year on a given date, offers a more nuanced judgment of pupils’ social proceedings. 6.2.3 Research Methods
The final contribution to knowledge is methodological, in terms of how I collected and
analysed my video-data. Using video in qualitative research is not new, nor is micro-analysis in video interaction (Brons, 2008; Flewitt, 2013). As argued by Brons (2008) or Cameron & Moss (2011), using video allowed us to open up discussion for professional development of the teachers. However, combining the two and using video-interaction with the whole group, not just with individuals, was innovative, enabling us to explore complex interactions from multiple perspectives: pupils’, teachers’ and my own. Since this study found issues with the way in which social skills are currently taught and mainly result in internalized behaviours, the videos offered the possibility for reflection and gave pupils autonomy in changing their behaviours (Pink, 2016; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Once the pupils got used to viewing themselves on video, they were very critical about their own behaviours. The videos not only offered the possibility to see the effects of their words or actions on others (facial expressions or body language), they
also offered the possibility of viewing their own behaviour from an ‘observer’ perspective, resulting in personal reflection. For us, teachers and researcher, it resulted in a more
contextual understanding of the critical incidents. Confronting pupils with their own behaviour turned out to be more effective than telling them what behaviour was expected, or practising desired behaviour.
Nevertheless, using video the way I did in this study, turned out to be a real challenge for accounting for my decisions. However, as a licenced video interaction counsellor, and knowing the ‘power’ of reflecting with the help of video images, the choice of using video in this study seemed obvious.