Data Analysis from Group Findings Intervention 1

The group activity from the third session of the Story Tent day was recorded and transcribed. The table below contains the information that came out of the coding analysis of the transcript. Each of the 16 different ICC codes can be found across the top of the table and these can be found in Appendix H. The total number of incidents of that competence being demonstrated in the transcript is presented for each of the three

schools. Each competence has a total score in the bottom row of the table to indicate which competences were demonstrated most frequently. A total for each school has been registered in the final column of the table to indicate how the different schools encountered the activity. The aim of this analysis was to explore which of the ICC were being exercised in the process of sorting texts through the group dialogue. Comments which demonstrated a negative competence such as a misunderstanding or negative attitude were recorded as a negative score and the totals reflect the summary of the positive and negative comments together

Table 10 - 1AR Coding data from group 3 session transcripts

The group discussion which took place at St Village School indicated good levels of Communicative Awareness with equal numbers of comments demonstrating both verbal and text awareness. Pupils demonstrated evidence of cognitive skills and were able to Explain, Relate and Interpret their findings. There were very few comments from the pupils during the discussion that demonstrated attitudinal or relational competences. New Discoveries were discussed, although one comment indicated a misunderstanding of a religious concept.

A more detailed examination of the transcript revealed that pupils used phrases they had heard and actions they had seen during the drama to help their discussions. They also noticed key words that were associated with the different faith traditions such as ‘cease,’

Id Em TA CV CN CT DP DE SE SR SI + - School 1 (1AR1) 1 0 1 11 3 12 4 1 0 1 12 9 7 0 61 School 2 (1AR2) 1 0 0 14 3 29 1 0 1 12 19 1 0 81 School 3 (1AR3) 0 0 0 8 4 15 4 0 0 12 23 3 0 69 Total 2 0 1 33 10 56 0 2 36 51 11 0 211 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 8 AR AO AC DT CCA 1st AR (1AR)

Attitudes Relational Communicat'n Discovery Skills T

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‘lawless’ and ‘disbelievers.’ Three of the pupils discussed in detail the effect translation would have on the meaning and noticed that whilst these texts were originally written in different languages the translation process may have involved loss of meaning.

They also noticed factual differences in the stories: for example, that one of Noah’s sons

did not get on the ark in the Quran whilst all three sons did in the Bible and the Torah. The dove and rainbow were also missing from the Quran, where the story ends with evil being swallowed-up. This in-depth discussion enabled pupils to suggest interpretations of what they had learnt in the light of their experiences.

The group discussion that took place at Smalltown Community School indicated pupils were exercising Communicative Awareness in a different way to those at St Village. The transcript contained around the same number of comments with reference to verbal clues but almost double the number of comments involving references to clues

embedded in the text. This group repeatedly drew from information linked to the written word in helping them to differentiate between different faith traditions. The skills they used reflected an ability to Relate with fewer Interpretations than the first school. There was little evidence of attitudinal or relational competences being discussed, and few Discoveries were reported, although one pupil did experience an emancipatory moment. A more detailed examination of the transcript revealed that pupils were confident in using religious vocabulary to process their thinking. They were able to relate personal experiences of faith and the experience of the Story Tent to Explain their thinking. During the group session Helen began to recognise the difference between believers and non-believers, which appeared to be a new concept to her. The pupils noticed that there were many similarities between the Bible and the Torah. They recognised the importance of key words and phrases that helped them distinguish between the different texts and noticed that the Quran contained lots of speech in it in a way that the other texts did not.

The discussion within the group was very respectful and honest. One pupil said “…first of all I agree with those two, with their point of view.” Such comments demonstrated levels of Respect and Openness being worked out within the activity.

The group discussion that took place at Middlecity Academy indicated that pupils demonstrated Communicative Awareness through their refences to both verbal and text clues. They were particularly good at Relating their experiences to what they knew, and new Discoveries were mentioned as part of the discussion. No attitudinal or relational competences were discussed during the activity, but they did collaborate to complete the task.

A more detailed examination of the transcript revealed that the pupils initially needed

encouragement to engage in the activity. Pupils gave quick answers such as “it’s the Bible”, “it’s the Torah” or “it’s the Quran” without explaining their thinking. As the

session developed they became interested in the meaning of some key words such as

‘Lord,’‘God’ and ‘Covenant,’ and became particularly interested in how disbelievers and lawlessness could be compared.

…it’s like disbelievers you don’t believe in something and lawless is something like being bad (Shazad)

They also drew on their experiences of reading the words and watching the drama to help them place words and phrases within different faith traditions.

These findings suggest that this activity enabled pupils to exercise Communicative Awareness through the group discussion and that through the discussions they were able to exercise the cognitive skills associated with ICC. The text was a key piece of evidence used and the pupils were able to Relate these to each other to complete the task. Some of the comments in the transcripts indicate the discussion pushed pupils’ understanding and

helped them to develop deeper insights. It is interesting to note that Smalltown

Community School scored particularly highly in this activity, possibly suggesting that this is a style of learning with which they are familiar and comfortable.