Conceptions of effort among students, teachers and parents within an English secondary school

Andrew Stables; Kyoko Murakami; Shona McIntosh; Susan Martin

doi:10.1080/02671522.2013.878376

Conceptions of effort among students, teachers and parents within an English secondary school

Andrew Stables, Kyoko Murakami, Shona McIntosh, Susan Martin

12 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstract

‘Effort’ and ‘ability’ (understood as potential, intelligence or achievement) are concepts widely used in the everyday language of schooling in Britain but each term lacks clear definition of its use in the school context. Meanwhile, the assessment of effort, alongside that of achievement, remains widespread. This article reports on an exploratory case study of conceptions of effort among three major actors in an English secondary school. Qualitative and quantitative data from questionnaires and interviews with teachers, students and parents at an English comprehensive school were collected. Analysis reveals that understandings of ‘effort’ are not uniform. Rather, ‘effort’ is a shorthand term, which can be used variably, therefore can be construed as a tool of negotiation, or a form of investment in a set of aims distinctive to each group or individual case. There is a strong case for more sustained research into the operationalizing of such key concepts in schools and other professional and workplace settings.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Tidsskrift	Research Papers in Education
Vol/bind	29
Udgave nummer	5
Sider (fra-til)	626-648
Antal sider	23
ISSN	0267-1522
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2013.878376
Status	Udgivet - 20 okt. 2014

Adgang til dokumentet

10.1080/02671522.2013.878376

Citationsformater

@article{bf09a3f2252c4a94abe699840d3631bd,

title = "Conceptions of effort among students, teachers and parents within an English secondary school",

abstract = "{\textquoteleft}Effort{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}ability{\textquoteright} (understood as potential, intelligence or achievement) are concepts widely used in the everyday language of schooling in Britain but each term lacks clear definition of its use in the school context. Meanwhile, the assessment of effort, alongside that of achievement, remains widespread. This article reports on an exploratory case study of conceptions of effort among three major actors in an English secondary school. Qualitative and quantitative data from questionnaires and interviews with teachers, students and parents at an English comprehensive school were collected. Analysis reveals that understandings of {\textquoteleft}effort{\textquoteright} are not uniform. Rather, {\textquoteleft}effort{\textquoteright} is a shorthand term, which can be used variably, therefore can be construed as a tool of negotiation, or a form of investment in a set of aims distinctive to each group or individual case. There is a strong case for more sustained research into the operationalizing of such key concepts in schools and other professional and workplace settings.",

author = "Andrew Stables and Kyoko Murakami and Shona McIntosh and Susan Martin",

year = "2014",

month = oct,

day = "20",

doi = "10.1080/02671522.2013.878376",

language = "English",

volume = "29",

pages = "626--648",

journal = "Research Papers in Education",

issn = "0267-1522",

publisher = "Routledge",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Conceptions of effort among students, teachers and parents within an English secondary school

AU - Stables, Andrew

AU - Murakami, Kyoko

AU - McIntosh, Shona

AU - Martin, Susan

PY - 2014/10/20

Y1 - 2014/10/20

N2 - ‘Effort’ and ‘ability’ (understood as potential, intelligence or achievement) are concepts widely used in the everyday language of schooling in Britain but each term lacks clear definition of its use in the school context. Meanwhile, the assessment of effort, alongside that of achievement, remains widespread. This article reports on an exploratory case study of conceptions of effort among three major actors in an English secondary school. Qualitative and quantitative data from questionnaires and interviews with teachers, students and parents at an English comprehensive school were collected. Analysis reveals that understandings of ‘effort’ are not uniform. Rather, ‘effort’ is a shorthand term, which can be used variably, therefore can be construed as a tool of negotiation, or a form of investment in a set of aims distinctive to each group or individual case. There is a strong case for more sustained research into the operationalizing of such key concepts in schools and other professional and workplace settings.

AB - ‘Effort’ and ‘ability’ (understood as potential, intelligence or achievement) are concepts widely used in the everyday language of schooling in Britain but each term lacks clear definition of its use in the school context. Meanwhile, the assessment of effort, alongside that of achievement, remains widespread. This article reports on an exploratory case study of conceptions of effort among three major actors in an English secondary school. Qualitative and quantitative data from questionnaires and interviews with teachers, students and parents at an English comprehensive school were collected. Analysis reveals that understandings of ‘effort’ are not uniform. Rather, ‘effort’ is a shorthand term, which can be used variably, therefore can be construed as a tool of negotiation, or a form of investment in a set of aims distinctive to each group or individual case. There is a strong case for more sustained research into the operationalizing of such key concepts in schools and other professional and workplace settings.

U2 - 10.1080/02671522.2013.878376

DO - 10.1080/02671522.2013.878376

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0267-1522

VL - 29

SP - 626

EP - 648

JO - Research Papers in Education

JF - Research Papers in Education

IS - 5

ER -

Conceptions of effort among students, teachers and parents within an English secondary school

Abstract

Adgang til dokumentet

Fingeraftryk

Citationsformater