The hunt for the exception

Observed and perceived differences within a group assist practitioners to form impressions “very quickly” (“something might stand out - physically or mentally”), about the learning ability of individuals within the group.

Notwithstanding the ordering of features given in Section 8.2.1 above, practitioners were generally inclined to the view that “whatever is most obvious about that person is the first thing that registers”. Examples

included: “someone with a physical disability”, and “if I were to face a group who were dressed in a similar fashion to people I know, that I mix with, and I noticed some punk hairdos and pierced bits and pieces, I would be

astounded and that would affect my thoughts. I just know that I would be thrown off track a little bit at that point”. The appearance and other features would be noticed “if outrageous - if very different. If someone is drunk, you would notice that probably before anything. It wouldn‟t matter what colour their skin, you would notice that [aspect of difference]. If you go into a group and someone touches you up then you notice that”. This provides an

example of Corno‟s (1981) position that teachers sift out important information. Practitioners observe extremes: “if they come with some incredible headdress on”, arrive with beards or wearing glasses, have shiny heads, or are “totally different, you would look at that first”. If someone is “shabbily dressed” in an environment where this is unexpected, this will catch practitioners‟ attention.

It is the feature of being conspicuous, which attracts attention. Learners do not surprise practitioners “unless someone has done something to flag attention to themselves”, and “I wouldn‟t include colour of skin unless

someone is so noticeably weird ... I would probably notice an albino”. “If you have 35 people white people and one black person you would notice

something is different”. Always, where a contrast exists, then that which is different is observed immediately. For example, movement not associated with class activities or normal class behaviour protocols, signals difference: “if everyone else was sitting still and someone was doing that [moving] I would notice it”. Practitioners are not startled by their learners if they “can‟t see anything glaring, something that‟s obviously out of order”, and some practitioners believe they “can‟t make a judgement at the time unless extreme attributes stand out”.

A practitioner might look “around for people who might be unusual in one way or another, either in the sense of them needing a bit of extra attention for their benefit or the potential of them being disruptive and needing some special attention for my benefit”. They are alert: “if I can pick up anything that would indicate I‟ve got to do some extra work here, or I‟ve got to be more conscious about it” and “if someone has arms crossed, I focus on them more and will think of examples that relate to them for involvement”. The concern that additional effort may be required by practitioners, whether for the advantage of learners or practitioners, ensured they were focused in the moment of first encounter. Their watchfulness provided the data for rapid analysis and preparedness for future action.

For practitioners with larger groups, forming impressions of the attitudes of individuals within the group may be challenging, because, “if my group has 110 people, I can only make an assessment of those people who are standing out in that 110 group. By standing out, they have an attitude that is obvious such as the “I am better than everyone else, attitude”, and the “I

know it all attitude”. They are the easy ones to detect compared to those who are timid and apprehensive. Even in a large group, “I can fairly safely

recognise the “really wanting to be there [learner]”.

The size of the class group affects the practicality of the impression

formation process. While “it‟s easy to make assumptions, it‟s hard in a really large group because I can‟t look at all [the learners] in those first seconds”. Practitioners reported looking at some but not all learners, and that “ideally we would [look at all of them] but don‟t have time”. They “take a sample and draw conclusions from the whole of these. The reality is you [can‟t look at them all in the first moment]”. “Picture the situation where a practitioner is in the classroom as learners enter. There might be 10 or 20 people arriving almost at once; they are entering in single file and finding their place in the room ready to start learning. Probably more than half these people - 60 or 70% - would go totally unnoticed, and then there would be a couple of the extremes that would warrant some sort of immediate reaction. If you have 20 people, you can‟t make that judgement as quickly on every person. It‟s twenty times a couple of minutes perhaps to make that judgement and often you‟ve got a mixture of learners. Often there‟s a compromise about your starting point about your approach. That‟s just the reality”.

In this study, practitioners engaged with classes of sizes varying from a few to over a hundred learners. To resolve the practical problem of being incapable of seeing everyone and of forming an overall impression of the group, in that first moment, practitioners appraise their groups by focussing on the features that distinguish the few from the rest of the group. The impressions of the remainder of the group are formed by default. For example, if learners “come with absolutely nothing, not even a pad or pen”,

this may give the impression of being uncommitted to the learning, and then the remainder of the group who are not looking or acting similarly are deemed by default to be committed to learning.

8.4 Summary of chapter

By thinking about the learners as packages that radiate information, practitioners look for, interpret, and consider all aspects of their group of learners including the relationships between individuals in the group, and the environment.

Chapter Eight found that practitioners proceed in the moment of first encounter, by executing a number of activities that this study models as three routines. These routines employ practitioners‟ Foundations of pre- existing knowledge, experience and personal paradigms to help them to interpret what they see and sense. In the moment when the group of

learners is together for the first time and the practitioner is present, the initial encounter involves looking at the group and using what is seen to propel him or her into a rapid impression formation and decision-making process. That is, the practitioner commences with what this study defines as a Discovery Routine, which then flows automatically through a Transformation Routine and a Decision-making Routine. Once the Discovery Routine commences, the activities of the three routines occur virtually simultaneously in a brief moment. Not all activities within each Routine are undertaken consciously by all practitioners. While some practitioners have a strong need to control the situation and purposely ensure their awareness of all activities during the

moment of first encounter, others work on auto-pilot, and surrender to their experience to propel them through the routines.

Regardless of their approach, all practitioners present in the moment of first encounter in a state of hopefulness that the group and its individuals will offer them an easy teaching experience. Missing from practitioners‟

contributions to this study was any deep care about the nature or extent of learning by the group of adult learners, in the moment of first encounter. In that first moment, the paramount interest is to gather and understand new information about the learners, and clearly self-interest is a significant initial focus. Practitioners hold feelings of nervous excitement, apprehension and degrees of fear. They are immediately alert for difficulties. Any observations of discrepancies or perceptions indicating the potential for their comfort zones to be removed, evolve instantly into impressions and judgements of the group or individual learners as potentially challenging. The third

Decision-making Routine helps to produce the decisions about the most appropriate first steps for subsequent moments, which will give practitioners a greater level of personal comfort throughout the forthcoming teaching and learning situations.

In that first moment, practitioners seek speedy and effective methods for preparing to set the scene so that the development of the class will be most comfortable for themselves. This study found that practitioners proceed in the moment of first encounter with similar approaches that exhibit predictable patterns. The reasons why they engage in these activities are discussed in Chapter Nine.

Chapter 9 – Findings against Research Question 3

9.1 Introduction

Chapter Nine focuses on findings associated with Research Question 3:How can practitioners‟ activities in the moment of first encounter be

conceptualised?

Chapter Nine builds on the literature, and it amalgamates new findings with those presented earlier in the thesis. In Chapter Seven those aspects of practitioners‟ pasts which related to the moment of first encounter, were defined as a Foundation. Chapter Eight connected that Foundation with three clusters of activities associated with making observations, forming impressions and making decisions, and labelled them the Discovery, Transformation and Decision-making Routines respectively. In order to conceptualise practitioners‟ activities, Chapter Nine connects these findings in such a way that a new framework for understanding practitioners‟ activities within the moment of first encounter emerges. Finally, the significance of these activities for practitioners is evaluated.

The voice of the study‟s participants is heard in the form of direct quotations inserted across this chapter.