repam-kapak-deneme.ai i the research in educational policy and management repam, vol. 1 no. 1 december 2019 repamjournal.org the research in educational policy and management (repam) is a peerreviewed, international and open access academic journal. repam publishes research papers, theoretical works, literature reviews, research reports and book reviews on educational policy, management, governance and leadership in education, educational systems and school organization, entrepreneurship in education and the other topics related to educational policy and management. repam provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. all the opinions written in articles are under responsibilities of the authors. the published contents in the articles can not be used without being cited. our publication ethics and publication malpractice statement is mainly based on the code of conduct and best-practice guidelines for journal editors (committee on publication ethics, 2011). ii editorial team james martinez, valdosta state university, usa kenneth vogler, university of south carolina, usa kuh v. paterno, partido state university, san jose, philippines stephen lafer, university of nevadareno, usa stewart waters, university of tennessee, usa teguh budiharso, mulawarman university, indonesia contents editorial: 2019 (1) 1 iii school, ethnicity and nation-building in post-colonial myanmar francesco bigagli 1 influences of gender and locale on teachers’ job satisfaction: an intersectional study in nepal milan shrestha 17 educational, social and economic status of women in textile industry in india: the case of the informal textile retail stores in chennai city sivasubramanian k 33 attitudes of secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education ravi shankar gairola 44 the relationship of personality traits with english speaking anxiety: a study on turkish university students haldun vural 55 research in educational policy and management repamjournal.org open access journal 2019 1(1): iii-iv editorial editorial: 2019 (1)1 dear research in educational policy and management (repam) readers and contributors, we are excited to be with you through the first issue of repam. we would like to extend our appreciations to all who contributes by submitting or reviewing manuscripts or have been readers of repam. repam is an international, open access, peer-reviewed journal devoted to educational policy, management and leadership in education. repam publishes two issues per year and provides immediate open access to its content. the overarching goal of the journal is to disseminate original research findings that make significant contributions to educational policy and management. the journal welcomes research papers, original theoretical works, literature reviews and book reviews. repam is free for both readers and authors. there is no submission fee or article processing cost (apc). the topics related to this journal include but are not limited to:  educational management and governance,  policy-making process in education,  implementation and impact of educational policies,  educational and instructional leadership,  educational systems and school organization,  research theory, design, methods and evaluation in educational policy and management,  economy and financial management in education,  school effectiveness and school improvement,  strategic planning in education,  student leadership,  international and cross-cultural issues in educational policy and management,  entrepreneurship in education,  gender, race and social issues in educational policy and management,  political ideologies and educational systems, iv  professional organizations for teachers and educational staff,  research on motivation and performance in educational organizations,  educational policies and social change,  role of alternative school systems in education reform,  current challenges in culturally responsive education,  entrepreneurial and creative solutions in p–20 learning organizations,  critical approaches to issues in educational policy and management. once again, i would like to thank everyone and express my special appreciation to the people who contributed to make this issue ready for you. i especially would like to thank all authors and reviewers for their contribution to the repam journal. i hope you will both enjoy and be challenged by the articles in this issue of the repam journal. i also look forward to seeing your contribution to the development of the repam journal in the future. sincerely, editorial team the research in educational policy and management (repam) editor@repamjournal.org research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 june 2020 volume: 2 issue: 1 pp. i-iii doi: 10.46303/repam.02.01.ed editorial: are they listening? policymakers and their role in public education abbie r. strunc guest editor astrunc@tamut.edu texas a&m university-texarkana college of arts, sciences and education texarkana, tx, usa in the united states the policy making process claims to be a cyclical process which drives politicians, dictates policies drafted, and legislation ultimately passed. the process begins with the people bringing issues, ideas, and concerns to the attention of the news media, advocacy groups, grassroots organizations, or interest groups (edwards & wattenberg 2018). ideally these groups connect the concerns of the people to elected officials and/ or courts who respond by creating policies which address these concerns. this is an over-simplified ideal. the reality of policymaking is messy, partisan, and the results frequently fail to address the concerns of the public, or create more unintended consequences than solve problems. public education is an area of concern most familiar with unintended consequences. in the 1980s american president ronald reagan drafted educational policy which diverted funds from local control to state governments, increased state-level staffing positions, and decreased federal funds for public education by half (clabaugh 2004). the regan administration also ushered in the business model of education with the 1983 report, a nation at risk: the imperative for educational reform. the document, produced by the u.s. department of education, created concern that the united states education system lagged behind their international counterparts. in response to the public education “crisis” policymakers promoted vouchers and tax credits (strauss 2018). in addition, the emphasis of education shifted quickly to “the business model of education [which proves] learning in much the same way that businesses report proof of success through profits. in this model, student learning is treated as a commodity measured by results [o]n examinations” (strunc & king 2017, p 93). publicly, this https://repamjournal.org/ mailto:astrunc@tamut.edu ii new model of education intended to improve public schools through the subsequent reforms (strauss 2018). despite the promised gains, and the continued passage of educational policies in successive administrations, the disparity of educational experience and outcomes persist in american education (howard 2020). this special issue of research in educational policy and management examines the impact and unintended consequences of federal, state, and local educational policies. in the first article of the issue, van overschelde and piatt examine the teaching out-of-field allowance in the every student succeeds act. this policy intended to increase local control over effective teaching, however the authors discover that rather than closing the achievement gap, as was the intention, the high rates of out-of-field teaching are likely contributing to educational disparity. palmer and witanapatirana consider local school district policies to search for deficit thinking in “district of innovation” plans posted on district websites. the intent of these plans is to provide flexibility and choice for school districts, but what biases are present in district solutions? are those biases overt? although the focus of the issue centers on unintended consequences, wilcox offers a critical ethnography and critical discourse analysis to argue that not all consequences of policies are unintentional, but a smaller piece of a system structured to conform to systematic injustices imbedded within policies, based upon preconceived stereotypes. dickison considers the impact of policies funding public universities and how tuition deregulation might have negatively impacted public institutions. did the de-regulation of tuition by the state legislature indicate a noticeable change in tuition? what are the implications for the opportunity to obtain public higher education? finally, the issue concludes as timberlake examines the discriminatory construct of “ableism” found in three educational policies. at first consideration, ableism may not appear to discriminate, but the unintended consequences isolate students with disabilities. the policies created to be inclusive, instead marginalize the very students the policies were drafted to protect. examining educational policy continues to be important work for educational stakeholders. policy makers continue to draft policies which produce challenges for students, educators, and educational leaders. it is imperative that these policies be studied and monitored so that schools benefit, student learning is enhanced, and thus a concentrated effort to close the achievement gap can begin. iii references clabaugh, g. (2004). the educational legacy of ronald reagan. educational horizons, 82(4), 256-259. retrieved june 1, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/42926508 edwards, g.c. and wattenberg, m.p. (2018). government in america: people, politics, and policy. pearson: new york, ny. howard, t.c. (2020). why race and culture matter in schools: closing the achievement gap in america’s classrooms, 2nd edition. teachers college press: new york, ny. strauss, v. (2018, april 26). 'a nation at risk' demanded education reform 35 years ago. here's how it's been bungled ever since. the washington post. retrieved from thewashingtonpost.com strunc, a. and king, k.m. (2017). politics and the citizenship curriculum: a critical discourse analysis of the texas government standards. critical approaches to discourse analysis across disciplines, 9 (1): 91 – 112. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42926508 microsoft word editiorial research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 volume: 5 issue: 1 2023 p. i-iii introduction to special issue: re-imagining teaching and learning in the context of current crises chrystal s. johnsona* & jennifer sdunzika * corresponding author e-mail: johnsocs@purdue.edu a. college of education, purdue university, west lafayette, in, united states. how to cite johnson, c. s., & sdunzik, j. (2023). introduction to special issue: re-imagining teaching and learning in the context of current crises. research in educational policy and management, 5(1), i-iii. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2023.1 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract in this editorial, we describe the reasons for the special issue, namely the need to understand and re-imagine the “new normal” of teaching, learning, and teacher professional development in light of the societal inequities and economic injustices laid bared by the covid-19 pandemic. we summarize the extent to which the articles in this issue help us take a new look at classroom practices of teachers within higher education and k-12 spaces, and re-envision of educational policies and theoretical frameworks within and beyond learning spaces to enhance inclusivity. keywords online learning; blended learning; language acquisition theories; political efficacy framework. 10.46303/repam.2023.1 ii introduction to special issue: re-imagining teaching and learning in the context of current crises teaching and teacher professional development have been greatly impacted by the crises associated with covid-19—public health and economic instability. these twin crises uncovered existing societal inequities and economic injustices. as it pertains to education, times of crises lay bare and reinforce seemingly insurmountable boundaries and discrepancies, inequities and access to information and learning spaces. a convergence of stressors such as remote learning and engagement, a decline in student outcomes, a highly charged political environment, racial and cultural inequities, and covid-19 fatigue, have generated mental and physical exhaustion for students, parents, teachers, and policymakers alike. these stressors sparked contemplations on what the “new normal” of teaching, learning, and professional development may look like post-pandemic. stakeholders cannot retreat during times of crises. rather, all stakeholders should adapt and transform their philosophical stances, policy positions, and pedagogies. this special issue puts forwards re-imaginations and reflections on teaching, teacher professional development, and educational policies during times of crises. specifically, this issue articulates ways and approaches that re-imagine educational spaces and learning, the influence of gender, race, and social issues, the inclusion of civic values in teaching, teacher professional development, and educational policies. the most evident impact of covid-19 was the transition from face-to-face learning to online or blended learning. the lead article, “revisiting ‘great media debate’: technology-mediated learning and ground realities across the indian institutes of technology,” by pushpanadham, mandal, and sareen revisits the “great media debate” (gmd) to examine availability and accessibility in times of crises. though gmd was framed around access during times of prosperity and growing interest in the internet, using this debate to understand how and why so many students still lacked equitable access to online and blended learning opportunities nearly 25 years later makes this study so important. josua and hamakali’s article brings forth the “new normal” regarding technologyassisted pedagogies in namibia and attempts to build a blended-learning strategy for enhancing the academic writing skills of university students. the authors’ findings indicated that students preferred the blended learning mode, which makes them less likely to be resistant to curricular changes. both articles unveil digital inequities across south asia and sub-saharan africa and advocate for the opportunity to use this moment of crisis to re-imagine curricular and educational policies to facilitate the use of technology in and beyond the twenty-first century classroom. shifting to the k-12 level, dwomoh et al. examine how in-service teachers’ perceived language acquisition theories and improved their classroom practice during a pandemic. centering on freeman and freeman’s (2014) discussion of the five fla theories (imitation, reinforcement, behaviorist, social interaction, active construction, connectionist), the authors argue that in-service teachers’ perceptions of language acquisition theories impact how they iii teach and engage emergent bilinguals in their classrooms. timely and warranted, this study has much to offer the field, particularly as it pertains to in-service teacher development and emergent bilingual education. in our theoretical piece, we re-imagine two separate, yet compatible theoretical frameworks, black resilience neoliberalism (brn) and the sociopolitical development model (spd), to grasp the racialized identity and the political efficacy of adolescent black youth in an era of crises. this conceptual framework can serve as a way to visualize how adolescent black youth negotiate their racialized identity and sense of societal responsibility, civic agency, and contribution to their community in trying times. contemporary events and crises in the united states demand a thoughtful re-imagining of those learning spaces dedicated to civic development, particularly among historically subordinated populations such as adolescent black youth. the pandemic has exacerbated existing societal inequities and sparked conversation regarding youth political engagement and efficacy. the covid-19 pandemic has aggravated pandemic-induced stressors such as the current experiences of black youth with racial injustice and the potential of economic insecurity, homelessness, and a health disaster affecting a family member, further challenging their political engagement and political efficacy. tackling adolescent youth political efficacy is therefore indispensable to the success of american democracy. together, the articles presented in this special issue touch on key areas impacted by crises associated with the global pandemic. it is our hope that each article provides a way to reenvision or re-consider how we can globally re-imagine educational spaces and learning in teaching, teacher professional development, and educational policies. references freeman. e. & freeman, y. s. (2014). essential linguistics: what teachers need to know to teach esl, reading, spelling, and grammar (2nd). heinemann. research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 december 2020 volume: 2 issue: 2 pp. 129-132 where teachers thrive: a book review william waychunas* * university of michigan, educational studies, ann arbor, united states e-mail: billway@umich.edu article info received: august 30, 2020 revised: december 3, 2020 accepted: december 10, 2020 how to cite waychunas, w. (2020). where teachers thrive: a book review. research in educational policy and management, 2(2), 129-132. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2020.7 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract this article reviews the book where teachers thrive: organizing schools for success written by dr. susan moore johnson and published in 2019. by describing the content of each chapter as well as the overall contributions of this recent book to knowledge about the interaction between school contexts, policy environments, and teacher experience, this review provides readers with a taste of this groundbreaking work while also offering analysis and minor critiques. keywords school organization; school leadership; hiring; collaboration; book review. 10.46303/repam.2020.7 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2020.7 130 book under review where teachers thrive: organizing schools for success, by susan moore johnson, cambridge, ma: harvard education press, 2019, 320 pp., $34.00 (paperback), isbn: 978-1-68253-358-1 2020 prose award winner, education theory category 2019 outstanding academic title, choice review, analysis, and critique susan moore johnson’s refreshingly written new book (2019) is a rare text that is truly useful to a range of audiences in education, bridging often disconnected fields of education reform, policy, school leadership, and instruction to examine school-level factors that make or break teachers and schools. do not be alarmed; this is not yet another lifeless autopsy documenting failed reforms with sterile and detached descriptions of school organization and policy implementation. instead of portraying teachers as captives of their context, the author breathes life into the book by looking at schools and teachers more holistically, grounding her work in the teachers' voices and experiences. in doing so, this book makes a forceful argument that teachers are both shapers of and shaped by their school contexts and that the success of the teacher, school, and student are interdependent. the book compiles data from three studies examining urban schools, serving mostly students of color in working-class communities. though the overall lack of suburban or rural schools and exclusion of high schools in one study raises generalizability questions, the work is nonetheless impressive. reminiscent of samuel casey carter’s book (2000) exploring schools that were “beating the odds” to identify effective practices, johnson shares exquisitely detailed examples of converging practices that created these environments where teachers thrive, albeit with more of a focus on school organization than carter’s emphasis on principals. chapter one examines recruitment and hiring, emphasizing how successful schools use information-rich (liu & johnson, 2006) processes, such as demonstration lessons, to ensure a match between teachers and schools in terms of mission and expectations. human capital efforts serve as the foundation upon which such successful schools are built, likely why the author chose to lead with this chapter. the second chapter tackles instructional autonomy in an era of accountability. johnson emphasizes how curricular materials can both enable and constrain teachers, requiring a delicate balance in providing teachers with both discretion and direction. in particular, alignment of the school’s mission with resources and support systems, such as collaboration and coaching, unlocked instructional capacity when schools were “developing and implementing a curriculum with teachers, rather than for or despite them” (p. 76). the author takes up teacher collaboration in the third chapter, showing how successful schools break down traditional professional norms of isolation and privacy with teacher teams. relatedly, chapter six discusses teacher leadership, highlighting the crucial role that principals 131 play in empowering teacher voice as administrators and teachers work together towards creating and achieving the school’s mission. meeting student needs is the focus of the fourth chapter, detailing how schools collectively approached student discipline and other development areas. chapter five, aptly titled using evaluation to improve instruction, touches on exemplary practices for formative teacher supervision approaches that drive teachers' growth. increasing the frequency of observations, improving the quality of feedback, and connecting other supports with identified needs made observations more aligned with school goals, more about development, and less about compliance and dismissal while feeling more “fair” to teachers. the nuts and bolts of school logistics are the focus of the final two chapters. chapter eight explores how schools organize schedules, course assignments, and meetings to ensure that, as the chapter title suggests, schools are making the most of teachers’ time. the final area discussed is teacher pay, comparing traditional pay scales with merit-based and multiple-path approaches. though administrators did not receive their own chapter, principal leadership in promoting the school vision, their reputations as instructional experts, and their approach to relationships in working with and empowering teachers rang present in every single chapter. instead of thinking of these factors as independent programs at schools, johnson paints a picture showing how they “are entwined and interdependent,” supporting claims that “...for instruction to be effective it ha[s] to be grounded in a deliberately structured, supported, and sustaining school organization that focused on learning" (p. 235). though "not a book with a simple punch line or a slam-dunk solution," the book leaves readers with a broad vision that, while “demanding and complex,” is “not unknowable or undoable” (p. 246). some areas of this book leave readers with questions to ponder, especially in how teacher "thriving" is defined. is thriving based solely on teacher satisfaction or other outcomes too? it seemed as though professional growth, student learning, and job satisfaction were part of johnson's conception, but it would help future work to clarify ideas about what makes a "good" school or a "thriving" teacher. readers are also left waiting for bold statements about necessary changes in schools that seem to be logical conclusions. the problems with traditional professional norms of teaching and how they harm teachers, schools, and students seemed to be on the tip of the author's tongue but are never directly tackled, leaving readers with a desire for a more clear declaration or new conceptualization of teacher professionalism. similarly, the book was too soft on systemic obstacles preventing schools from enacting the suggested policies. a stronger stance condemning how schools and teachers often get in their own ways when it comes to simple changes, such as in hiring processes or school schedules, seemed appropriate but was strangely absent. the book's final section, titled "it can't be done on the cheap," which called for increased school funding, was a bizarre way to close out the book. while there is no doubt that money 132 matters in education, it seems odd to conclude a book about school organization and teacher empowerment with arguments for broad increases in spending when a clear takeaway from the book was that resources mean little in the hands of demoralized teachers or unorganized schools. these critiques, however, are minuscule, even bordering on petty. like few other works before, this book gracefully bridges areas within education to add to our understanding of school organization and teacher experience. references carter, s. c. (2000). no excuses: lessons from 21 high-performing, high-poverty schools. heritage foundation: washington, dc. johnson, s. m. (2019). where teachers thrive: organizing schools for success. harvard education press. liu, e., & johnson, s. m. (2006). new teachers’ experiences of hiring: late, rushed, and information-poor. educational administration quarterly, 42(3), 324–360. research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 december 2020 volume: 2 issue: 2 pp. 133-137 book review. educational leadership and management: developing insights and skills i̇brahim hakkı öztürk* * independent researcher, ankara, turkey. e-mail: ibra.ozturk@gmail.com article info received: december 12, 2019 revised: october 2, 2020 accepted: october 29, 2020 how to cite öztürk, i̇. h. (2020). book review. educational leadership and management: developing insights and skills. research in educational policy and management, 2(2), 133-137. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2020.8 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract this paper reviews the book educational leadership and management: developing insights and skills, written by marianne coleman and derek glover (published in 2010 by open university press-mcgraw hill, 197 p.). the book addresses the values and skills needed by educational leaders and managers in a changing and dynamic world of education. keywords book review; educational leadership; educational management; educational leaders. 10.46303/repam.2020.8 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2020.8 134 book review coleman, m. and glover, d. (2010). educational leadership and management: developing insights and skills. new york: open university press-mcgraw hill. significant economic, societal, political and technological changes in the last few decades require us to rethink education management and school leadership. on the eve of the 21st century, brian caldwell and jim spinks (as cited in davies, 2002, p. 197) stated that there were three main challenges in the management of education systems: “building systems of selfmanaging schools”, “focus on learning outcomes” and “creating schools for the learning society”. since then, there is no doubt that change is faster and challenges become more important. a recent international comparative study showed that although there are some differences between countries, the change in conceptions and practice of school leadership is a global trend and the role of education leaders has become increasingly more complex (woods et al. 2018). educational leadership and management: developing insights and skills, written by marianne coleman and derek glover (published in 2010 by open university press-mcgraw hill, 197 p.), addresses the values and skills needed by educational leaders and managers in a changing and dynamic world of education. the book takes its origin from a ma module taught at the institute of education, university of london. therefore, it was written in a didactic style for students and practitioners in field of educational leadership and management. the importance given to the articulation of theory and practice is one of the most prominent features of the book: the first aim of the authors is to bring together theory and practice in the context of leading and managing adults who work in education. each chapter focuses on an aspect of leading and managing and goes beyond lists of ‘how to’, to examine some of the deeper theoretical issues that relate to, for example, motivation, decision-making, communication and difference (coleman and glover, 2010, p. 2). in line with the importance given to articulation of theory and practice, the authors placed a special emphasis on reflexive thinking. “in every chapter, readers are invited to reflect on their own practice in light of the discussions” (p. 2). additionally, the chapters include a scenario drawn from real life and the readers are invited to explore theories and concepts of educational management through the scenarios. another highlight of the book is its focus on social justice, equity and cultural diversity. the book aims to “promotes an ethical stance based on values of social justice and equity” (p. 2). the authors underline that this book “differs from other books in the area of educational leadership and management as it is firmly placed in the context of diversity and equity” (p. 1). 135 indeed, a recent review of the relevant literature showed that social justice and equity were under-examined in the field of the educational leadership (wenner & campbell, 2017). the book consists of eleven chapters. apart from the two main authors, marianne coleman and derek glover, two authors contributed to the book: anne gold and megan crawford who wrote chapter 2 and chapter 10, respectively. chapter 1, leading and managing for diversity and social justice, focuses on concepts of diversity and social justice in the context of educational management. in this chapter, the authors explore topics such as racism, discrimination, gender equity, ethnic and religious diversity and stereotyping in educational contexts and they suggest that “looking at society through a lens that is not that of the dominant culture can be both exciting and instructive” (p. 8). anne gold is author of the chapter 2, leading with values. this chapter focuses on “the importance of reflection on values for educational leaders” and “shows how easily values clashes can lead to difficult dilemmas in an educational organization” (p. 39). the author highlights the importance of sharing communal values such as democracy, responsibility, social justice and fairness. in chapter 3, the authors, marianne coleman and derek glover, deals with the communication within the educational organizations: effective communication is essential for effective leadership and management. […] although communication is a complex process it is one that we take for granted and may assume that we do well. it is a fundamental part of our leadership behavior (p. 46). communicating with people in groups is a vital role for leaders in education and elsewhere, but leadership also involves dealing with individuals on a one to one basis. perhaps the most important dealings of this kind occur in the context of appraisal or performance review. the main communication skills involved in these activities are listening and giving and receiving feedback (p. 49). in chapter 4, the authors address “decision-making and the management of conflict” stressing the importance of collegial approach of decision-making, negotiation skills, assertiveness and living with difference. “motivation and delegation” are explored in chapter 5. the authors state that “whatever the nature of the team and the interrelationships between colleagues, successful education depends upon motivation at all levels – as leaders, as followers and as learners” (p. 76) and that “one of the most significant ways in which colleagues can be given self-ideal is through delegation of responsibility” (p. 83). chapter 6 focusses on performance management. the authors advocate a collegial and collaborative approach of performance management that may be developmental and enhance motivation of the teachers and the other persons involved in the educational organizations. otherwise, a more bureaucratic approach of performance management will be limited to accountability and may be seen as judgemental. 136 the authors deal with team management in chapter 7 and 8. through a scenario illustrating teams at work in a school in malawi, chapter 7 focuses more on cultural aspects of the group working. the authors suggest that “schools and colleges can be much more effective if people understand team dynamics, know how they can contribute their full potential to their team and understand the leadership culture within which teams operate” (p. 99). in chapter 8, the authors address the ways of effective and productive meetings with school team. they highlight once again the importance of collaborative and collegial approach: “organizations which value participation tend to have more open and informal meetings than those within a more hierarchical or authoritarian culture” (p. 113). “managing time and stress” is discussed in chapter 9. for a better time management, the authors recommend three points: ”analyse how you use your time”, “identify time-wasters” and “plan: long, medium and short term” (p. 129). the problems about time management can be one of the sources of stress in educational organizations. the well-being of staff is linked to their work–life balance and also to how educational organization is managed. “not all stress is negative and leading and managing people is to some extent a matter of ensuring the right level of challenge and support” (p. 143). chapter 10, developing understanding of emotion and leadership, was written by megan crawford. the author discusses the role of emotion in the educational organizations from a social perspective. the last chapter is devoted to personal and institutional development: it [professional development] can be at two levels – the personal, whereby one or more staff develop specific skills and understanding (e.g. in the integration of new technology into teaching and learning), and the institutional, offering development objectives for the institution as a whole. (p. 158) the authors stress that the personal and institutional development require a learning culture and “a learning culture can only really exist where there is mutual understanding and collaboration” (p. 172). in conclusion, the book, educational leadership and management: developing insights and skills, is a very helpful and practical resource for students and practitioners to develop leadership skills in education. based on a rich and analytical literature review, it integrates theory with practice through case studies organized as “scenarios”. in addition, the book places a strong emphasis on values and concepts such as social justice, equity, cultural diversity, mutual understanding, collegiality, democracy, responsibility, fairness, assertiveness and living with difference. 137 references coleman, m. & glover, d. (2010). educational leadership and management: developing insights and skills. berkshire: open university press-mcgraw hill. davies, b. (2002), rethinking schools and school leadership for the twenty‐first century: changes and challenges, international journal of educational management, 16(4), 196-206. wenner, j. a., & campbell, t. (2017). the theoretical and empirical basis of teacher leadership: a review of the literature. review of educational research, 87(1), 134–171. woods, p. a., roberts, a. & culshaw, s. (2018). current challenges to educational leadership & administration: an international survey. report on the pilot survey, ucea review, 59(2), 1-5. retrieved december 10, 2019 from https://uhra.herts.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/2299/20758/2018summerreview_websmal l.pdf?sequence=1 https://uhra.herts.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/2299/20758/2018summerreview_websmall.pdf?sequence=1 https://uhra.herts.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/2299/20758/2018summerreview_websmall.pdf?sequence=1 research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 december 2021 volume: 3 issue: 2 pp. 73-77 book review: democracy, schooling and political education i̇brahim hakkı öztürk* * independent researcher, ankara, turkey. e-mail: ibra.ozturk@gmail.com article info received: august 18, 2021 revised: november 5, 2021 accepted: december 20, 2021 how to cite öztürk, i̇. h. (2021). book review: democracy, schooling and political education. research in educational policy and management, 3(2), 73-77. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2021.7 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract this paper reviews the book democracy, schooling and political education, written by colin wringe (published in 2012 by routledge, first ed. in 1984, 126 p.). although, the book was written in the last quarter of the 20th century towards the end of the cold war period, it is highly up-to-date in terms of the topic it covers. wringe’s work addresses the teachers and other professionals in education, and also all who are interested in relationship between education and democracy, without a strong background in the field. keywords book review; democracy; political education; schooling; equality; diversity. 10.46303/repam.2021.7 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2021.7 74 book review colin wringe (2012, first ed. 1984). democracy, schooling and political education. routledge. 126 p. rethinking the relationship between education and democracy has become an urgent issue in these “dangerous times” when democracy is in a state of profound crisis (riddle & apple, 2019). the freedom hause’s report, freedom in the world 2021: democracy under siege (repucci and slipowitz, 2021), begins with these alarming observations about the state of democracy in the world: as a lethal pandemic, economic and physical insecurity, and violent conflict ravaged the world in 2020, democracy’s defenders sustained heavy new losses in their struggle against authoritarian foes, shifting the international balance in favor of tyranny. incumbent leaders increasingly used force to crush opponents and settle scores, sometimes in the name of public health, while beleaguered activists—lacking effective international support—faced heavy jail sentences, torture, or murder in many settings. (p. 1) according to the report, since 2006, the countries that experienced deterioration in their political rights and civil liberties are more numerous than that experienced improvements, and 2020 was the “15th consecutive year of decline in global freedom” (repucci and slipowitz, 2021, p. 1-2). democracy, schooling and political education (2012, first ed. 1984), written by colin wringe, has been published by routledge as a part of “a collection of short, readable works which, besides being philosophically sound, will appeal to future and existing teachers without a previous knowledge of philosophy or philosophy of education” (p. ix). the book is suitable not only for teachers and other professionals in education, but also for all who are interested in relationship between education and democracy, without a strong background in the field. even though the book was written in the last quarter of the 20th century, towards the end of the cold war period, it is highly up-to-date in terms of the topic it covers. wringe’s work is a very useful handbook for those who will make their first reading on the relationship between democracy and education. the book is divided into eight chapters. the first chapter, eucation and society, serves as a general introduction to the topic: education is not simply the mindless passing on of a body of facts. usually it is regarded as some kind of preparation for the future lives of pupils as members of their particular society. consequently, both the beliefs and values and the information which educators 75 are expected to transmit and give emphasis to will depend on what it is thought important for future citizens of that society to know. (p. 2) unlike the surgeon and the plumber, the teacher cannot simply 'get on with his job' and leave social and political considerations to others. such considerations determine in part what his job is. […] a teacher cannot restrict himself to the task of 'getting on with the task of teaching' without reference to the wider social and political context, for this context will have an important effect on what he has to teach and how he is able to teach it. if our society claims to be a democracy of some kind the education of its future citizens must necessarily be concerned with enabling them to live and function in such a society and come to some understanding of it. (p. 3-5) in the second chapter, the meanings of democracy, the author introduces his readers to the concept of democracy. he underlines and analyses different views of democracy such as “liberal democracy”, “corporate democracy”, “representative democracy” and “participatory democracy”, and distinguishes different ways in which the term democratic can be used. the author concluded that although there are different views of democracy, they “have at least one thing in common: that in some sense of the term the good of the people is supposed to be the prime purpose for which the state and other institutions exist” (p. 18). in the third chapter, justifying democracy, wringe focus on arguments in favor of liberal democracy: efficiency and equality of rights. “democracy is not only morally preferable to dictatorship but also the more expedient way for a state to organise itself” (p. 20). active involvement of the citizens in the political process, criticism and the possibility of alternative policies, more transparency of decision-making and implementation processes, and open and regular competition between ideas and political groups are factors that make democratic governments more effective. in democracy, “people have a right to be governed, or govern themselves” (p. 19). equality of rights requires that nobody “should accept any arrangement for co-ordinating our collective affairs, that is, any system of government, that accords him less right to consideration or a less than equal degree of influence than others over what is to be done” (p. 23). by the fourth chapter, indoctrination, schooling and reproduction, the author begins to deal with the relationship between democracy and education. according to wringe, education is necessarily political, because it “is the process by which society renews itself and passes on its acquired knowledge and the values it regards as important” (p. 34). wringe advocates a prodemocratic education and criticizes the view that sees democratic education as an political indoctrination in a negative sense. he outlines the difference between “democratic educator” and “anti-democratic indoctrinator”. he states that; 76 [..] liberal democracy is by no means an ideology like its various rivals. liberal democracy is by no means an ideology like its various rivals. on the contrary, whereas the hierarchies in both its religious and its secular alternatives must expend considerable energies in managing information and exerting various kinds of pressure in order to secure orthodoxy, democracy is unique in that it is supposed to thrive on free access to information and open discussion. (p. 35) in the fifth chapter, equality, freedom and diversity, wringe argues that “anyone committed to democracy must remain suspicious of any proposal which will result in a significant section of the population receiving a special and recognisably superior form of education” (p. 52). however, although he points out some negative social effects, he does not categorically reject private education. in the sixth chapter, the democratic government of education, the author advocates expanding the roles and freedoms of teachers in planning of education for a more democratic school administration. he emphasizes also the need for a greater cooperation between teachers and administrators for the achievement of a plurality of educational goals. in the seventh chapter, education and democracy, wringe discusses what the content of education should be in a democratic system. he argues that education should not be in a way that imposes a certain perspective or educational content: to be committed to democracy is not to be committed to holding that particular policies or even a particular conception of the good should be pursued in the state as a whole. rather it lays down, in a general way, limits to which the manner in which things are decided must conform. in much the same way, democracy makes few specific demands regarding the content of education, other than those of a general and procedural kind, such as that knowledge should be presented a something relevant to us all, and as something which, in principle, all can check and generate for themselves. (p. 87) in the eighth and final chapter, political education in a democracy, the author states that the concept of “political education” have a bad reputation as a result of their use in totalitarian regimes. at the same time, this is a contested issue. “what is and what is not political is itself a political issue. consequently, there is no possibility of agreement as to what may legitimately be included in a political education syllabus” (p. 94). addressing controversial political issues in school is a very sensitive matter. it risks being indoctrinatory. however, according to wringe, “it is no solution simply to avoid such discussion in school altogether. to leave someone in a state of ignorance or error may be every bit as much a biased act as telling him something” (p. 94). in school, political issues must be taught openly and explicitly with the idea of objectivity. wringe outlines that the content of political education is subject to on-going discussion and controversy and he don’t propose a particular style of political education. 77 the book includes a rather rich bibliography at the end, and the author provides also “suggestions for further reading” for each chapter. wringe’s book is suitable not only for teachers and other professionals in education, but also for all who are interested in relationship between education and democracy, without a strong background in the field. even though the book was written in the last quarter of the 20th century, towards the end of the cold war period, it is highly up-to-date in terms of the topic it covers. references repucci, s. & slipowitz, a. (2021). freedom in the world 2021: democracy under siege. freedom house. https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/202102/fiw2021_world_02252021_final-web-upload.pdf riddle, s & apple, m. w. (2019). education and democracy in dangerous times. in riddle, s & apple, m. w. (eds.) re-imagining education for democracy . routledge, (1-10). https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/fiw2021_world_02252021_final-web-upload.pdf https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/fiw2021_world_02252021_final-web-upload.pdf research in educational policy and management repamjournal.org open access journal 2019, 1(1): 44-54 research paper attitudes of secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education ravi shankar gairola* * s.n. college of education, jagadhri, india. e-mail: gairola.ravi80@gmail.com article info received: 10.12.2019 revised: 11.12.2019 accepted: 12.12.2019 how to cite gairola, r. s. (2019). attitudes of secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education. research in educational policy and management, 1(1), 44-54. abstract the present study aimed to analyze the attitudes of secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education. the sample of the present study comprised 100 secondary teacher trainees from bachelor of education (b. ed.) colleges of district yamunanagar in india. in order to accomplish the objectives of the present study, the descriptive survey method was considered appropriate for gathering data. the questionnaire was developed by the author for assessment of attitudes of secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education. t-test was used to analyze the attitudes of teacher trainees on basis of gender, social background, and academic discipline. the results revealed that the secondary teacher trainees have generally positive attitudes towards entrepreneurial education. keywords entrepreneurial education; attitudes; secondary teacher trainees. introduction entrepreneurship education has been one of the most prominent success stories in higher education over the last few decades. while the idea to develop entrepreneurs was largely some entrepreneurial component especially in their business curricula in the 1980. in the 1990s, exerted greater effort to promote and nurture entrepreneurship attempts at various levels has taken place to directly or indirectly promote entrepreneurship. today there is no doubt that millions of people are deeply involved in entrepreneurial activities ranging from starting up new businesses, buying failed businesses, revitalizing and resurrecting family and old businesses as well as innovating new ventures. for instant, it has been spotted that the generation of this 21st century has no doubt become the most largely entrepreneurial generation ever recorded in the 45 attitudes of secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education history of mankind right from the time of industrial revolution. entrepreneurship is also a mechanism by which many people enter the economic and social mobility. entrepreneurs do not wait for someone else to make the decision, or solve the problem, or even ask for the problem to be solved; they recognize problems as opportunities and takes it upon themselves to solve them (segumpan et al., 2012). moreover, entrepreneurship is a dynamic process of vision, change and creation. it requires an application of energy and passion towards the creation and implementation of new ideas and creative solution. in this light entrepreneurship is more than the mere creation of business. a form of supports is the development of entrepreneurial talent in educational institutions. india’s higher education system generates a large number of graduates every year. in recent year, india’s population has grown very fast. because of the history of india and its multicultural composition, it seems impossible to have a family planning policy like that of china in the near future. if the university with high entrepreneurial potentials gets proper training, they will have the best prospects for becoming “real” entrepreneurs. entrepreneurship is a matter that involves everyone the government, society and the educational institution. if entrepreneurship education in india’s higher education system cannot completely address major obstacles in the pursuit of national economic development and employment, at least it can offer a start. concept of entrepreneurship entrepreneurship is a global phenomenon. the future, to an even greater degree than the past, will be driven by innovation and entrepreneurship. it is time to more adequately develop entrepreneurial skills, attitudes and behaviors in our school systems as well as outside formal school systems, to reach across all ages as part of a lifelong learning process. these challenges of fragmentation are not new to economic development professionals. social entrepreneurship is attracting growing amounts of talent, money, and attention. the entrepreneur in an advanced economy is an individual who introduce something new in the economya method of production not yet tested by experience in the branch of manufacturing, a product with which consumers are not yet familiar, a new source of raw material or of new markets and the like (schumpeter, 2008). an entrepreneur is the one who always searches for change, responds to it and exploits it as an opportunity. innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit changes as an opportunity for a different business or different service (drucker, 2006). social entrepreneurship is attracting growing amounts of talent, money, and attention. but along with its increasing popularity has come less certainty about what exactly a social entrepreneur is and does. as a result, all sorts of activities are now being called social entrepreneurship. some say that a more inclusive term is all for the good, but the authors argue that it’s time for a more rigorous definition (martin and osberg, 2007). 46 gairola, r. s. concept of attitude the most general and simplest view is that attitudes are likes and dislikes individuals. attitude as the degree of positive or negative affect associated with some psychological object. attitudes are general evaluation people make about themselves, other persons, objects, and issues. in other words, attitudes involve lasting likes and dislikes, preference and aversions, towards specific aspects of the external word. attitudes are enduring mental representation of various features of the social or physical world. they are acquired through experience and exert a directive influence on subsequent behavior (kumar, 2005). attitude of teacher trainees towards entrepreneurship the teacher is the most important element of an education system. teachers’ attitudes towards their profession are usually related with their enjoying their profession, dedicating themselves to their profession, being aware that their profession is socially necessary and important, and believing that they need to improve their profession, and so, themselves, continuously. entrepreneurship learning is an experiential process which highly requires students to practice real roles and tasks of an entrepreneur and deal with the challenges associated with managing a new venture. teachers play critical roles in creating such a pragmatic and social interactive environment which improves students’ entrepreneurial selfefficacy through mastery experiences, vicarious learning, verbal persuasion and social support. entrepreneurship is the dynamic process of creating incremental wealth. the wealth is created by individuals who assume the major risks in terms of equity, time and/or career commitment or provide value for some product or service. the product or service may or may not be new or unique, but value must somehow be infused by the entrepreneur by receiving and locating the necessary skills and resources (hisrich et al., 2005). justification of the study entrepreneurial attitude is considered as important factor affecting the intention to step in to the process of entrepreneurship. teaching and learning about entrepreneurship involve developing knowledge, skills, attitudes and personal qualities appropriate to the age and development of the pupils at the level of secondary education. entrepreneurship teaching will aim to foster in the pupils those personal qualities such as creativity, spirit of initiative and independence that contribute to the development of an entrepreneurial attitude, which will prove useful in their life and in every working activity. in this phase, autonomous and active forms of learning should be developed. moreover, this teaching provides early knowledge of and contact with the world of business and some understanding of the role of entrepreneur in the community. entrepreneurial attitudes can be encouraged in young people throughout their educational path. this type of teaching can be particularly effective if introduced in a structured why in the education system, starting from an early age. keeping in mind the conceptual framework and a little research conducted in this area. therefore, the investigator thought it worthwhile to 47 attitudes of secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education undertaken his study to assess the attitude of teachers towards entrepreneurial education. so, that some light may be thrown on the relationship of gender, social background and discipline teacher trainees. does gender and discipline jointly produce the differences in the attitude of teachers towards entrepreneurial education? does gender affect the attitude of teachers towards entrepreneurial education? does discipline generate differences in attitude of teachers towards entrepreneurial education? in order to arrive at the solution of the above research questions, the investigator selected and designed the present study. objectives 1. to study the nature of attitude towards entrepreneurial education of teacher trainees. 2. to compare and assess the attitude teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education with respect to; a) gender b) social background c) academic discipline. hypotheses 1. there will be no significant difference in the attitude of male and female teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education. 2. there will be no significant difference in the attitude of urban and rural teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education. 3. there will be no significant difference in the attitude of science, arts and commerce teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education. delimitations of the study the study was delimited to yamunanagar district of haryana state in india. 100 teacher trainees studying in the different colleges of education participated in the study. the variables were entrepreneurial education, gender, social background and academic discipline. methodology participants the present research was conducted in district yamunanagar of haryana state. all teacher trainees’s studying in bachelor of education (b.ed.) colleges, situated in yamunanagar district constituted the population for present study. the sample has been selected into different phases; in the first phase district yamunanagar of haryana state has been selected. in the second phase, all the colleges of education district yamunanagar were listed. out of these, three colleges of education were selected purposively. finally, sample of 100 teacher trainees of bachelor of education (b.ed.) department, from three colleges were selected through random sampling method. the details of sample break up have been given in the table 1. 48 gairola, r. s. table 1: distribution of study participants by gender and colleges of education. name of colleges of education males (n) females (n) total (n) ganesh college of education 10 19 29 jankiji college of education 03 07 10 geetanjali college of education 27 34 61 total (n) 40 60 100 study design and data collection tool in the present study, the researcher was used the descriptive survey method. to collect the data related to attitude of teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education, the researcher developed and used the attitude of teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education scale. scale development for preparing the attitude of teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education scale the researcher consulted different sources in the relevant literature. the preliminary form of scale has 40 items spread over five dimensions for measuring teacher trainees’ entrepreneurial attitude. the dimensions were initiative, problem solving, commitment to work, persistence, persuasion. each item has 5 alternative responses: strongly agree (sa), agree (a), neutral (n), disagree (da) and strongly disagree (sd). the preliminary draft was passing through different phases of try out and revision in order to ensure its consistency and purports to measure its content validity. finally, 15 items were deleted. so, the final draft of the scale consists of 25 items distribution over 5 dimensions on a five point likert type scale. the investigator made a pilot survey for validate the developed tools. for that the preliminary draft of questionnaire was prepared keeping in mind the nature and objectives of the present study consist of 40 items in all. the investigator then conducted preliminary try out with a group of 20 secondary teacher trainees. after getting the responses necessary modification has been done few items were removed because of level of difficulty and language. this was taken as reliability of the questionnaire. the validity of the questionnaire was examined with the help of content validity. content validity is based on judgment of several subject experts and test specialists by careful analyses of instructional objectives and actual subject matter studied. a copy of questionnaire was distributed to language, subject matter and technical experts in the concerned field in order to remove the discrepancies in any areas for validation. the experts in the field of computer education and language were requested by investigator for having a look at the questionnaire and also to give their valuable suggestions and opinion regarding the improvement and 49 attitudes of secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education modification of the questionnaire. depending upon the suggestions, some items were put together, some were added and some were excluded. finally, twenty-five (25) items were retained in the final form of scale spread over five dimension in a five point likert scale. content of the scale there are 25 items in the attitude of teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education scale. they are related to five major aspects of entrepreneurial attitude namely; initiative, persistence, commitment to work, problem solving and persuasion. the items are such that they are centered on entrepreneurial attitude of teacher trainees. it is a 5 points rating scale measuring the use of the teachers’ entrepreneurial attitude responding to each item ranging from ‘1’ for ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘5’ for ‘strongly agree’ for positive response and ‘1’ for ‘strongly agree’ to ‘5’ for ‘strongly disagree’ for negative response. the sum of the ratings against all the 25 items constitutes the score on teacher entrepreneurial attitude scale of the teacher trainees. the maximum possible score is 125 and the minimum is 25. the dimensions and the distribution of items were given in table 2. table 2: dimensions and distribution of items in the attitude of teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education scale no. dimensions number of items distribution of items by dimensions 1 initiative 5 1,3,11,12,16 2 problem solving 5 2,8,17,20,25 3 commitment to work 5 4,5,7,13,14 4 persistence 5 6,9,10,18,19 5 persuasion 5 15,21,22,23,24 total 25 statistical analysis the descriptive statistics were computed such as measure of central tendencies, measure of dispersion, skewness and kurtosis, also t-test was used. analysis and interpretation of the data description of the data the mean, median, mode and standard deviation were worked out to study the nature of the total sample in relation to entrepreneurial attitude of secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education. further variance, skewness and kurtosis were computed to see the 50 gairola, r. s. trend of departure of the sample from normal distribution and nature of data. the detail analysis and interpretation has been given in the table 3. table 3: descriptive statistics of attitude of secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education n 100 mean 102.25 median 101 mode 93 standard deviation 11.01 variance 121.23 skewness 0.106 kurtosis -0.86 table 3 reveals that mean, median, mode and standard deviation variance, skewness and kurtosis of secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education. the mean is 102.25, median is 101.00, mode is 93.00, standard deviation is 11.01, and variance is 121.23. the trend of results shows that there is a slightly variance from the average score. the value of skewness is 0.106. it shows that the data have been positively skewed. the value of kurtosis (0.86) is less than the normal distribution i.e. 0.286. thus, it is a platykurtic nature. analysis and interpretation based on ttest in order to find out the significance difference between mean score of secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education with respect to gender (malefemale), social background (rural, urban), academic discipline (science, arts & commerce). ttest was computed. the details of analysis and interpretation have been given in the following headings. data analysis by gender in order to find out the significance difference in the mean score of male and female secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education. ttest was computed. the details analysis and interpretation has been given in the table 4. table 4: significance difference in the mean score of male and female secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education groups n mean sd sed tratio level of sig. male 40 97.27 9.37 2.04 4.06* p>0.05 female 60 105.56 10.83 51 attitudes of secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education *significance at o.o5 level of significance with table value=1.98 in the above table 4 reveals that mean scores and the standard deviation scores of male and female secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education are 97.27, 105.56 and 9.37, 10.83 respectively. the calculated t-ratio (4.06) of male and female secondary teacher trainees’ attitude towards entrepreneurial education is significant at 0.05 level of significance. it shows that there is a significant difference in the mean scores of male and female secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education. further in the comparison of mean score it clears that female secondary teacher trainees exhibited better attitude towards entrepreneurial education as compare to male secondary teacher trainees. therefore, the null hypothesis no.1 which is stated earlier that there will be no significance difference in the attitude of male and female secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education is not retained. data analysis by locale (rural and urban secondary teachers) in order to find out the significance difference in the mean scores of rural and urban secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education ttest was computed. the details analysis and interpretation have been given in the table 5. table 5: significance difference in the mean score of rural and urban secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education groups n mean sd sed tratio level of sig. rural 48 100.68 11.39 2.20 1.37** p<0.01 urban 52 103.69 10.54 **not significance at o.o1 level of significance with table value=2.63 table 5 indicates that mean scores and the standard deviation scores of rural and urban secondary teacher trainees’ attitude towards entrepreneurial education are100.68, 103.69 and 11.39, 10.54 respectively. the calculated tratio (1.37) of rural and urban secondary teacher trainees’ attitude towards entrepreneurial education is not significant at 0.01 level of significance. it shows that there is no significant difference in the mean scores of rural and urban secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education. therefore, the null hypothesis no.2 which is stated earlier that there will be no significant difference in the attitude of rural and urban secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education is retained. 52 gairola, r. s. data analysis by locale by academic stream (arts, commerce and science teachers) in order to find out the significance difference in the mean scores of academic stream of secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education. ttest was computed. the details analysis and interpretation have been given in the table 1.4 table 1.4: significance difference in the mean scores of arts, commerce and science secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education academic stream n mean sd sed groups tratio level of sig. arts 55 100.98 11.27 2.52 i vs ii 1.24** p<0.01 commerce 26 104.11 10.25 3.01 i vs iii 0.79** p<0.01 science 19 103.36 11.31 3.28 ii vs iii 0.22** p<0.01 **not significance at o.o1 level of significance with table value=2.64 from the table 1.4 reveals that mean scores and the standard deviation scores of arts and commerce of secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education are100.98, 104.11 and 11.27, 10.25 respectively. the calculate tratio (1.24) of arts and commerce secondary teacher trainees’ attitude towards entrepreneurial education is not significant at 0.01 level of significance. it shows that there is a no significant difference between mean scores of arts and commerce secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education. further 1.4 shows that mean scores and the standard deviation scores of arts and science of secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education are100.98, 103.36 and 11.27, 11.31 respectively. the calculated tratio (0.79) of arts and science secondary teacher trainees’ attitude towards entrepreneurial education is not significant at 0.01 level of significance. it means that there is a no significant difference between mean scores of arts and science secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education. it looks from table 1.4 reveals that mean scores and the standard deviation scores of commerce and science of secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education are 104.11, 103.36 and 10.25, 11.31 respectively. the calculate tratio (0.22) of arts and commerce secondary teacher trainees’ attitude towards entrepreneurial education is not significant at 0.01 level of significance. it shows that there is a no significance difference between mean score of secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education. therefore, the null hypothesis no.3 which is stated earlier that there will be no significance difference in the attitude among arts, commerce and science secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education is retained. 53 attitudes of secondary teacher trainees towards entrepreneurial education conclusion on the basis of the analysis, interpretation and result as given in the previous chapter the following main findings have been drawn: 1. it shows that there is a significant difference in the mean scores of male and female secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education. further in the comparison of mean score it clears that female secondary teacher trainees exhibited better attitude towards entrepreneurial education as compare to male secondary teacher trainees. 2. it shows that there is no significant difference in the mean scores of rural and urban secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education. 3. it shows that there is a no significant difference among mean scores of arts, commerce and science secondary teacher trainees attitude towards entrepreneurial education. educational implications in the light of main findings of the study conversing the entrepreneurial attitude of teacher trainees, we can list down some educational implications of this research work: 1. the teacher trainees have to be educated on natural resources therefore; educational agencies are required to organize such type of programs which may cover the above mentioned areas selected to entrepreneurial. there is an urgent need to provide education and training about entrepreneurial to the teacher trainees. 2. the teacher trainees should also bear the responsibility to create positive attitudes among the students toward entrepreneurial education. teachers hold the main responsibility to spread awareness among the students from primary level to higher level onwards. 3. moreover, mass media such as radio, t.v. newspaper periodical, feature films and documentaries etc. can be used effectively in the expansion of entrepreneurship education among masses. 4. thus only entrepreneurial education can develop an attitude towards entrepreneurial in student as well as in community as large, so that quality of our entrepreneurship will maintained. references drucker p. f. (2006). innovation and entrepreneurship. new york: harpercollins. hisrich, r. d., peters, m.p. and shepherd, d. a. (2005) entrepreneurship. (6th ed.), new york: mcgraw-hill irwin. kumar, a. (2005). psychology of human behavior. retrieved 22-04-2019 from https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/22288365/ext-502-psychology-ofhuman-behaviour-csk-himachal-pradeshhttps://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/22288365/ext-502-psychology-of-human-behaviour-csk-himachal-pradeshhttps://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/22288365/ext-502-psychology-of-human-behaviour-csk-himachal-pradesh 54 gairola, r. s. martin, r. l. and osberg, s. (2007). social entrepreneurship: the case for definition. retrieved 22-06-2019 from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/social_entrepreneurship_the_case_for_definition schumpeter, j. a. (1949). change and the entrepreneur: postulates and patterns for entrepreneurial history. harvard university press. segumpan, r. g., soraya, j. and zahari, a. b. (2012). attitude towards entrepreneurship among omani college students trained in business. international journal of business and behavioral sciences, 2(4), 61-72. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/social_entrepreneurship_the_case_for_definition research in educational policy and management repamjournal.org open access journal 2019, 1(1): 33-43 research paper educational, social and economic status of women in textile industry in india: the case of the informal textile retail stores in chennai city sivasubramanian k* * kristu jayanti college, department of economics, bengaluru, karnataka, india. e-mail: sivasubramaniana16@gmail.com article info received: 01.12.2019 revised: 04.12.2019 accepted: 05.12.2019 how to cite sivasubramanian k. (2019). educational, social and economic status of women in textile industry in india: the case of the informal textile retail stores in chennai city. research in educational policy and management, 1(1), 33-43. abstract retailing is one of the important industry in india recorded for almost 10 percent of nation’s gdp. the lesser wage earning workers are vulnerable to aggravation and other discrimination at work place. in the informal textile retail shops, women have to pass through numerous problems as they have to manage with both sides of life, say work and family. predominantly, such women are semi-literates, educated unemployed and financially deprived. it is revealed from the data that there are 58 percent of the women workers are between ages of 30 to 40 and there is no women worker above 45 years. it is clearly shows that the shop owners are not interested to recruit or retain the women workers above 45 years. the educational status of workers constitutes an average of secondary level schooling and they could able to read, write in the local language and understand english slightly. almost 60 percent of the women workers are belonging to marginalized section of the society. in the present study, social and economic status of sample respondents are analyzed and found that they are poorly paid in terms of wages, and work under deprived and vulnerable working condition. it is revealed from the primary data that women workers are affected by many occupational health issues only after engaging in this work. moreover, the women workers are sexually exploited and physically harassed. keywords women workers; textile industry; education; social status; exploitation; worker wages, india. 34 introduction in the development picture of indian economy, the retail industry plays a key function by contributing gross domestic product and employment opportunities to the poorer sections of the country. it also attracts numerous educated unemployed to this field, due to non-availability jobs in formal sector and drop-outs on the part of the unemployment situation. the textile garment shops both in organized and unorganized sectors provide a large number of employment opportunities to the poor and migrant women workers especially educated unemployed and uneducated. the adopted employees are accommodated in various sections in the store both in front and back-end works according to their qualification and experience in the relevant field. most of the workers in the garment retail stores are young and even under the age of fourteen years in the unorganized stores. the front-end women workers are engaged as sales helpers, sales associates, billing associates, package helpers, housekeepers, sweepers and receptionists. the back-end women workers are deputed as warehouse associates to carry out the work such as inventory procedures, pasting of price stickers, garbage cleaning and helpers. the retail sector is generally classified as two segments, one is formal and the other is informal. firstly, the formal retailing is referring to trade undertaken by the licensed retail shops, those registered for goods and service tax, income tax, employee provident fund and esi etc. secondly, informal retail refers to old-style formats of retailing, example, the local small shops with less than 10 workers (small provision shop), convenience stores, hand cart and pavement vendors, according to national commission for enterprises in unorganized sector (2007). the aim of this study is to identify the social, economic and educational status of the women working in the informal textile retail stores in chennai city in india. the study aims also to bring out different ways of exploitation against women worker in unorganized retail stores. literature review the unorganized sector forms a very large segment of the urban economy in india. the substantial increase in labor force, heavy population pressure on land, the declining laboroutput ratio in the modern sector and the ability of the informal sector to accommodate almost all categories of people have encouraged in the growth of the urban unorganized sector in urban areas like chennai. the review of various literature of the present study brings out, the exploitation of women in terms of low wages, sexual harassments and vulnerable working condition in the unorganized retail stores. keshava (2003) analyzed that the retail industry has also opened up vast employment opportunities for youths in india especially educated labor force in both organized and unorganized. according to a recent study, the retail sector in india is poised to employ 5, 00,000 skilled people by the end of the decade. menon (2008) attempted to reveal importance and uniqueness of retail stores. he explained about various structure of the retail store such as mind35 boggling range of products display including toys, books, movies, food, clothes, and electronic gadgets, among other things, offered by a vast variety of brands. so ultimately it attracts all groups of consumers. thenmozhi and dhanapal (2011) identified the retail service quality factors and explored the impact of retail service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty in unorganized retail outlet. kumar (2008) has identified the various avenues for opportunities with respect to retail industry. it has opened employment opportunities for women, who are considered to be more suitable for certain jobs in the retail industry. as customer being the king of all retailers, women are quite expectedly becoming the choice in most front-end profiles, which require constant interaction with customers. goyal et al. (2008) explored in their study that the women employees are also the favored choice in confident product groups like eatable and grocery, maquillages, kids, and apparels. the young women with impressive communication ability are considered better employees as they manage to stay longer in the service industry as compared to men. nair (2010) examined in her study that women education especially from the deprived sections of the society is very crucial in the development. though there are many policies framed, still there is big gap and high road ahead for women education. it is also important that educational enrolment of girl children in rural areas where there is lack of amenities for access to schools. her concern on lack of government schools, higher educational institutions and technical institutions leads to poor education conditions of the women. women workers in the unorganized textile retail shops women have to undergo numerous difficulties as they have to manage with both work and family. predominantly, such women are semi-literates, educated unemployed and the financially deprived. dave (2012) made an attempt to understand the socio-economic condition of women laborers, nature of their work, their working conditions, pattern of wages, discrimination faced by them at work place. romica (2012) study was conducted among working women engaged in organized and unorganized industries in urban bangalore. she has made an attempt to comprehend the position of employed women inside their household by observing at their contribution in crucial conclusion making spaces. the main parts that have been recognized are circulation of domestic responsibilities and cash related decisions. the woman sphere comprises domestic errands like kids care, cookery and housework that fit to woman of the household though the male field comprises cash related subjects wherever menfolk are the main workers and conclusion makers at family. d’souza (2013) focused the status and contribution of formal sector, highlighted more of challenges and problems faced by the youth in selecting job as self-employment. it is found that larger number of workers getting their livelihood from this sector and entrepreneur plays a vital role in bringing up unorganized sector at the better position in the country. beevi (2014) conducted a research study on informal sector women workers in the textile industry. conventionally women workers are familiarized to carry out work in an informal 36 working atmosphere and greatest of the period they are poorly paid. existence of the prolific revenue generation arena for an extensive period of time, they are deprived of their privileges to receive more and right to involve in expertly labor force of the company or store. the condition is not diverse in the fabric sector as well. however, the segment is systematized but it hires unorganized people especially, women workers typically in sales job and marketing. it is added pertinent in the informal industry as they did not retain abundant talent to work in a plant or industry either the companies are eager to capitalize in labor power exercise. cost of production is also a significant factor. as maximum of the informal workers are poorly paid, that is extra up to the turnover of the company. it reveals that the womenfolk’s unorganized employees are seemingly joyful with their occupation nevertheless they are poorly paid. it is because of the amenities that the company is offering other than the regular wages. andres et al (2017) have emphasized in their study that skillful effort in education and health segments are not closely so gender separated, possibly in part since this type of exertion imitates healthier with gender typecasts of females’ nurturing roles. but abundant of this type of work necessitates education beyond the secondary level, therefore the frailer sex separation in these occupations results in a better demand for sophisticated feminine worker and the experiential increase in the workforce contribution amongst educated women. many of the current effort on indian women’s workforce participation have aimed on the significant question of deteriorating charges over a period of time. chatterjee et al. (2018) examined the well-known j-shaped association among education and women’s work force participation in india. this association, particularly the vigorous deterioration from illiteracy level to secondary level completion, is conflicting to what could be foretold by many of human capital model. the secondary school level graduates have additional skills and the human capital sources than the primary level educated and those with the completed primary level schooling had some education and proficiency associated to those deprived of any educational level. these skills are make them extra creative workers with advanced salaries and therefore further probable to be in work force. but this will be the contradictory is the circumstance for indian working women especially in informal works. the outcomes demonstrate provision for the additional revenue effect; the superior the revenue females’ households must separate from their own salaries, the inferior the probabilities of the woman existence in the work force. but other domestic revenues barely clarify all of the lesser workforce contribution of women with restrained education level. the caste and background factors are also elucidating certain of these variances. by taking into explanation other household revenue, class, and other features, association among education and women’s workforce contribution develops just u-shaped but not consistently optimistic. 37 research methodology and data collection the present study is based on the primary data and focused mainly on various issues concerned with women workers in informal textile retail in chennai. simple random sample technique was used by the researcher to collect sample at selected shops in the market areas. as per the metropolitan corporation of chennai, the district has fifteen corporation zones. among these zonal areas t.nagar, tambaram, new washermenpet, parrys corner and perambur are established good market places for textile shops. there are more than 100 unorganized textile retails shops running at t.nagar. a semi-structured questionnaire was framed to collect information from the sample respondents. 150 samples are randomly selected for study purpose. this field survey was conducted in the june 2016 to december 2017 to collect the relevant data regarding the socio-economic behavior of the women workers in the unorganized retail shops. the data was collected among the various section of the women workers from the shops which include women sales associates, sales helpers, house-keeping and the women warehouse helpers. the demographic characteristics, social profile and the economic status of the sample respondents of both shop workers and warehouse workers were collected. research gap most of the prior studies are connected to influence of informal retail sector, contribution of the unorganized retail sector, studies on textile industry and assessment between formal and informal retail in india. but still there was no study carried out on the workers of unorganized retail sector. based on the various literatures reviewed, a research gap was formulated by the present study and attempts to identify the educational, working, living and health status of workers in informal textile retail stores. characteristics of the study sample as elucidated in the second section, 150 sample respondents were randomly selected and interviewed information on demographic details, educational status, working conditions, living conditions, and health conditions of the respondents were collected their socio-economic status. it is revealed from the data that 58 percent of the women workers belong to the age bracket of 30 to 40 and there is no women worker above 45 years. it clearly shows that the shop owners are not interested to recruit or retain the women workers above 45 years. the average levels of education of women workers are up to secondary level and they could read, write the local language and could understand english slightly. almost 60 percent of the women workers belong to marginalized section of the society i.e. scheduled castes. educational status of the women was relatively poor in the study area. it is found from the study that 62.5 percent of them are illiterates and the remaining is studied ranging from primary level to diploma level. because of their poor illiteracy and poor educational status, they are forced to take the informal jobs in the textile shops for meager wages. so ultimately, the women education is one of the major exterminator of their employment and income. 38 they are living near the rear sides of ‘buckingham canal’ and other slum area. their dwelling units are located in river side slums and it condition was very poor and vulnerable. over 70 percent of the women are affected by ‘varicose vein’, serious back pain and knee pain in lieu with whole day standing occupation. still they could not change their occupation due to their unskilled nature. since women workers are to stand all along the working hours in the retail textile shops, make them sick into knee pain, back pain and other health issues. they have to work as per their working hours for their wages. table 1: major difference between organized and unorganized textile retail stores labor benefits/issues organized unorganized textile retail textile retail *social security measures provided yes no fixed salary yes no paid weekly offs yes no paid government holidays yes no paid cl & ml yes no long hours of work no yes sexual harassment no yes heavy work load no yes long hours of standing yes yes sales target pressure yes yes delayed wages no yes festival bonus yes yes availability of loans/advances yes no yearly increments yes no occupational training yes no trade unions no no proper sanitation at workplace yes no scope for promotion yes no the unorganized retail workers are exploited by professional exploitation as compared to the organized retail workers. this was being revealed from the field survey as follows. (table.1). the unorganized retail shop workers are not having any social security benefits such as 39 insurance, provident fund, government paid maternity holidays and so on. they didn’t pay any fixed salaries. the salary depends on the sales they have done and there is no paid weekly offs/paid leaves. it is also found that the duration of work is twelve hours per day from morning 9.30 am to 9.30 pm. along with all these non-compliance of government measures, a full day of standing work and sexual harassment by their supervisors and managers also occurs. they still have the problems such as poor sanitation facilities at working premises, no promotions, no trade union support, no proper occupational training, heavy sales target pressures, no yearly increments and festival bonus. results and discussion this section of the present study constructed to analyze and exhibit the results and discussion. the data gathered was analyzed by appropriate statistical tools. the socio-economic variables like age, education, experience, wage (for income of the sample respondent), and days of work in a month, expenditure and borrowings (for sample respondent). as stated in the methodology part, 150 participants were selected and computed for the analysis. it is found that mean age of the women textile retail worker is 35, minimum is 16 and maximum is 45. the education level of the respondents registered a minimum of basic literates and maximum of degree holders, likewise the other variables also presented in the following table. it is also found that their age, experience, and knowledge of work is not related to wages they earn. the wage rate is fixed by the shop owners which differ from time to time and indeterminate. the wages of women wages are mainly determined by the days they worked. it shows that they are working as wage earners in the shops, not even earning at the minimum wages act and they have not been protected by social security measures. it is found from the present study that women workers in the retail textile shops are getting a meager amount of rupees 5087 as average wages. the salary fixed by for them was ranging from rupees 3500 to 7000 according to their age and experience. the women workers are low paid as compare with men workers in the textile stores. moreover, the women workers are forced to work for more than 12 hours in a day. it is also found from the present study that women workers are harassed by various means by the shop owners and male supervisors. on an average the women workers are working almost 26 days in a month without any occupational benefits. these textile shops are not providing any social security measures for them. it is also found that the workers are not allowed to sit when they are free in shop. due to this they are facing many occupational health issues. exploitation has found in various phases from the present study is pointed as follows low wage rate/ salary fixation as low as minimum wages act, non-availability of social security measures, long hours of work (almost 12 to 13 hours), a full day of standing work, no paid holidays, sexual harassment by the co-workers and supervisors and exploitation by using for domestic work additionally. there is no training opportunities are given to meet the modern technological need in retail industry. women workers must be promoted for such education. this will help the women to 40 develop skill on selling and to understand her status in the society which in turn will help her to be a provider and support of her family. the per capita income (pci) was almost fully absorbed by their per capita expenditure (pce). every women worker is having an average of 11966 rupees as borrowings (pcb). table 2: descriptive statistical results on socio-economic conditions of sample respondents in unorganized textile retail stores variables n minimum maximum mean std. deviation skewness age 50 16 45 35.01 7.315 -0.537 education 50 1 5 2.71 1.25 -0.151 wages 50 3500 7000 5087 1550.739 0.129 days of work 50 20 25 22.7 2.5 -0.162 experience 50 2 6 4.42 1.137 -1.3 expenditure 50 4500 7000 5050 321.229 4.987 borrowings 50 5000 25000 11966.67 4702.444 1.54 education status of the women was studied intensively to make the inference on how it influences the employment and income generation of women in the study area. the correlation coefficient was used to find the relation between the determining factors of wages which is considered as income of the women workers. the wage of the worker is considered as dependent variable. table 3: correlation co-efficient for the dependent variable paired variables correlation sig. age & wages -0.007 0.929 education & wages 0.032 0.698 wages & days worked -0.116 0.156 wages & experience 0.062 0.451 wages & expenditure -0.094 0.255 wages & borrowings -0.196 0.016 expenditure & borrowings -0.066 0.426 41 the step-wise regression has entered to determine the sub-set model predictors. in table4, the model predictors are shown along with their t-test values and their significance. while all the terms entered along with the analysis have significant t-values and probabilities, they are capable of predicting the relationships between incomes of the respondents. in the present analysis the family income and the family expenditure has not taken account since it is purely an analysis on the women workers. as the correlation coefficient was depicted in the above table, the per capita income (pci) was calculated with regression model to catch out the association between dependent variable and other independent variables. it is proven that age has no association with respect to wages paid to the worker. the age is calculated t-value as -.233, with high degree of p-value (0.816). the education is somewhat positive with significant at 0.948, hence the educated workers are engaged in accounting works. so obviously they may earn additional income as compared to the sales associates. on contrast, the days worked during a particular month were computed as 1.654 and experience at 1.260 at 1 percent significance. table 4: estimates on dependent variable: wages regression coefficients un-standardized coefficients standardized coefficients t sig. b std. error beta (constant) 6366.080 1245.960 5.109 .000 age -3.187 13.699 -.020 -.233 .816 education 5.480 83.219 .006 .066 .948 days_worked -69.996 42.315 -.152 -1.654 .100 experience 113.058 89.708 .112 1.260 .210 it is found from the study that there are many instances which correlates with literature review presented in this research paper. the similarities were found is the low level of wages, poor educational status and lack of social security measures. it is evident from the present study that average income of the sample was registered as 5087 rupees per month (table.2). if it computed for per day wages, it comes as 169.56 rupees and this per day wage is very low to fulfill the basic requirements. another important variable is the educational status, which determinate the employment status and income of the women. the owners of the retail stores will recruit employees on the basis of the requirement in the shop. if the requirement falls in to supervisor, cashier and billing executive, then they require educated people. the billing executive and 42 casher are preferably need women workers. so, they are fixing extra salary for this kind of works say maximum of rupees 7000 (table.2). if the women workers are illiterate and educated up to primary level, they will accommodate for back end work and sales job respectively. as per our literature review discussion, this is strongly proving that education is one of the main determinate of the women economic condition. another dimension of the association between education and income was recorded as u-shaped. it is also proved that educated people not getting any formal jobs. they have been attracted by informal jobs with a meager income. but another view was disproved that higher the education and lower the income. because the present study found among the women workers, those who studied high are posted for decent jobs and earning more as compare to the illiterates. the other parameters are number of days worked, number of hours per day work and the experience is also determining the positively with respect to their income level. conclusion in the present study, the social, economic and educational status of the sample respondents are analyzed and found that they are poorly paid in terms of wages with poor and vulnerable working conditions. the education is one of the important factor which influences on income, social status and employment of the women. it also enables the working women in informal textile shops to empower them to get decent jobs and promotion. the wages are much lesser than the least wage rates and they are assigned to heavy work load on whole day of standing job. moreover, the women are also engaged for loading and unloading of garment bags. while analyzing the facilities given in the working places is also very poor, they are not even provided a hygienic lavatory. it is also found from the present study that women workers are not getting any social security benefits. it is revealed from the primary data that women workers affected by many occupational health problems after engaged in this work, especially back pain, knee pain, and varicose vein. moreover, the women workers are affected by sexual and physical harassments by their men co-workers and supervisors. suggestions 1. the government has to frame policy for compulsory education for girl children up to graduation level. 2. the both state and the union government has to take steps to protect the informal textile workers for their improvement on wages and working conditions. 3. the policy makers have to carry put a separate research on these mass population to provide basic social security benefits 4. moreover, the government has to take necessary steps to provide sitting facility while they doing the job or whenever they are free. 43 references andres, l.a., dasgupta, b., joseph, g., abraham, v., & correia, m. (2017). precarious drop: reassessing patterns of female labor force participation in india. washington, d.c.: world bank (world bank policy research working paper 8024). beevi, f. a. (2014). problems and prospects of the unorganized sector in kerala: reference to sales women in textiles. journal of research in commerce and management, 3(9), 35-39. chatterjee, e., desai, s. and vanneman, r. (2018) indian paradox: rising education, declining women’s employment. demographic research. 38, 855-878. dave, v. (2012). women workers in unorganized sector. women’s link. 18(3). d’souza, a. p., (2013). unorganized sectors: role of an entrepreneur and challenges in selfemployment, international journal of scientific and research publications, 3(6), 1-5. goyal, p., banga, g., kumar, b., & singh, r. (2008). rural retail outlets in punjab: a study of farmers’ preferences and satisfaction. effective management. 25(1). keshava (2003). indian retail sure needs a trigger. images retail. 2(7). kumar, c. p. (2008). india witnesses massive growth in retail sector. deccan herald, http:/www.retailstoreindia.com. menon. (2008). refining experience. the economic times. june 102008, p. 8. nair, n. (2010). women’s education in india: a situational analysis. imj, 1(4), 100-114. national commission for enterprises in unorganized sector. (2007). report on conditions of work and promotion of livelihoods in the unorganized sector. ministry of labor & employment, government of india, new delhi romica, v. (2012). status of women in family: a study among women workers of organized and unorganized sectors in urban bangalore. unpublished thesis. christ university, 2012. thenmozhi, s. p., & dhanapal, d. (2011). unorganized retailing in india – a study on retail service quality. european journal of social sciences. 23(1), 71-78. research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 volume: 4 issue: 1 2022 pp. 65-79 impact of school calendar on academic performance: a comparative study of the year-round and traditional calendars esperanza deleona, daniella g. varela*a & don jonesa * corresponding author e-mail: daniella.varela@tamuk.edu a. department of educational leadership and counseling, texas a&m university kingsville, kingsville, tx, united states article info received: july 23, 2022 revised: september 26, 2022 accepted: november 3, 2022 how to cite deleon, e., varela, d. g., & jones, d. (2022). impact of school calendar on academic performance: a comparative study of the year-round and traditional calendars. research in educational policy and management, 4(1), 65-79. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2022.11 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract educational provisions enacted at the national level impact states by requiring a priority on improving the academic performance of students. leaders in educational settings strive to implement changes that will aid in closing achievement gaps and increase academic achievement. the goal of this quantitative study was to determine if differences exist on fifth grade students’ performance on reading and mathematics assessments between schools on full-year calendars and schools on traditional 9-month calendars for years 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019. although statistically significant differences were not found, results inform decision-making pertinent to time allocated for student learning. results can be considered by district and campus administrators to support and encourage initiatives which focus on designated instructional time to target students’ academic needs. keywords student achievement; academic performance; school calendar; year-round calendar. 10.46303/repam.2022.11 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2022.11 66 introduction students experience learning loss during extended school breaks, or intersessions (farbman, 2015). the greatest loss has been observed in mathematics achievement test scores (stark education partnership, 2018). one effort to mitigate the severity of such learning loss is the implementation of the year-round academic calendar. compared to the traditional academic calendar, which usually includes an extended 10-12 weeks summer break, the year-round calendar allows for the spread of intersessions while maintaining a total of 180 instructional days (farbman, 2015). school calendars impact the amount of continuous time students spend on learning, which also influences the achievement level that is attained as required through state mandates. studies on year-round education calendars’ impact on student achievement compared to traditional educational calendars’ impact are limited. the education commission of the states (ecs) suggested in its 2016 study that research on the academic achievement effect of yearround education has been randomly conducted, with neutral or mixed results (stark education partnership, 2018). students on extended breaks from school experience an interruption in their learning. in contrast, students with short breaks experience continuous learning. the success of the public education system in texas is heavily measured by performance on the state of texas assessment of academic readiness (staar) (salinas-vasquez et al., 2020). this quantitative quasi-experimental study sought to determine if differences exist between the academic performance on the fifth-grade reading and mathematics state of texas assessments of academic readiness (staar) assessment at traditional calendar schools, and the academic performance of fifth grade reading and mathematics staar performance at year-round calendar schools. the findings of this study benefit schools in making decisions that ensure a focus on students’ educational success rate. additionally, this study contributes to the gap in literature seeking to understanding the year-round educational calendar impact on academic achievement compared to traditional educational calendars. research questions two research questions were addressed in this study: • rq 1: is there a statistically significant difference between the academic performance on the fifth grade reading staar for schools on year-round educational calendars and traditional educational calendars for the years 2017-2019? • rq 2: is there a statistically significant difference between the academic performance on the fifth grade mathematics staar for schools on year-round educational calendars and traditional educational calendars for the years 20172019? theoretical framework this study was aligned to carroll’s model of school learning (1963) and the spacing effect. the spacing effect reveals that learning is more effective when information is repeated in spaced out sessions (dempster, 1988). in fact, learners are able to best recall and retain information in 67 the future when information has been repeated and spaced out as they learn (dempster, 1988). the spacing effect relates to year-round calendar schools as learning time and intersessions are spaced out throughout the year. minimal disturbance to students’ learning occurs and the retention of information learned is sustained through continuous learning within implemented proportioned gaps during the year (dempster, 1988). it is equally important to recognize the positive impact that students’ ability to retain information has on academic performance. according to carroll (1963), individuals will be successful in learning a given task to the extent that the individual spends on the amount of time needed to learn the task. the yearround educational calendars offer the needed time for additional learning time through different learning opportunities during scheduled school sessions and intersessions (fogarty, 1996). time spent on learning does not reflect elapsed time, rather it is the time in which the individual is focused on the learning task and is actively engaged in learning (carroll, 1963). furthermore, carroll (1963) suggests that the amount of time a learner spends actively engaged in learning; and how much time a learner needs to spend in order to learn a task is determined by several factors. consequently, these factors are regarded as influential when determining the time needed and time actually spent in learning a task to attain different levels of learning success. literature review according to o’sullivan (2013), a debate has been in existence for years about the makeup of the american school year. students’ ability to sustain academic knowledge, along with the time spent in an educational setting have been a concern. studies based on the effect school calendars have on student achievement vary in nature. one study focusing on a mandated policy change by a north carolina district where 22 schools were forced to change to year-round school (yrs) calendars was conducted by mcmullen et al. (2015). end-of-year reading and mathematics test scores were used to measure student achievement and a positive impact of year-round calendars for low performing students was found. additionally, achievement gaps between quantiles did not widen or narrow with the implementation of yrs in mathematics and reading (mcmullen, et al., 2015). ferguson (2000) investigated the performance of 84 fifth and sixth grade students and found that students on traditional-schedules improved significantly over the summer and later in the school year. however, the data also showed that yre students appear to be more consistent in their achievement than traditional-schedule students (ferguson, 2000). additionally, teacher observations included that yre students were less fatigued and frustrated, and had more stamina during the assessments, which can lead to improving long-term learning (ferguson, 2000). research however has found no definitive or statistically significant differences in reading or mathematics achievement between students attending year-round school and those attending school on a traditional calendar (mcmillen, 2001). shields and oberg (1999) conducted a comparative study of students’ academic performance in elementary traditional 68 calendar schools with those in a multi-track year-round school utilizing measures of both academic and nonacademic student outcomes. during the six-year study, data reflected that 21% of the scores from traditional schools fell below their predicted range of achievement. in contrast, 4% of the scores from multi-track year-round schools fell below the predicted range (shields & oberg, 1999). further, during the last two years of the study, the authors found that after a stable implementation of both calendars, data demonstrated that traditional schools had 14% of their scores continue to fall below the predicted range, while only 1% of scores for yearround schools did not meet the predicted range. findings for nonacademic student outcomes suggested both traditional and multi-track calendar schools are similar in social and affective domains (shields & oberg, 1999). a review of the literature revealed a significant gap of current research on the effect of school calendars on student achievement. no studies were found to connect staar performance to year-round and traditional calendar schools. this study will contribute by filling in the gap of current research by comparing the academic performance on staar reading and mathematics of year-round calendar schools and traditional calendar schools. method a quantitative quasi-experimental design was used to address the research questions posed. determining a cause-and-effect relationship between the independent and dependent variables was the purpose of the chosen design (mcmillan & schumacher, 2010). in addition, the researcher used controlled and experimental groups with partial random assignment to groups (creswell & creswell, 2018). population and sample the population from which the sample was drawn included 1029 school districts in texas. the sample size was generated through a stratified sampling selection of 7 schools on year-round calendars and 7 schools on traditional calendars with similar school demographics. similar demographics between schools included the number of students, percent of economically disadvantaged and percent of emergent language learners, mobility rate, and percent of special education population. based on the selection of variables, stratified sampling allows a population to be divided into groups where samples are then drawn (mcmillan & schumacher, 2010). the eligibility criteria for units sampled was from schools on year-round or traditional educational calendars. the targeted sample was limited to 5th grade students that participated in 5th grade reading and mathematics staar during 2017, 2018, and 2019 school years. staar data that was utilized in this study was specific to three consecutive school years. table 1 illustrates the sample groups of this study. 69 table 1. descriptive statistics on year-round calendar schools and traditional calendar schools sample groups region education service center (esc) year-round calendar schools traditional calendar schools total 2 5 1 6 16 0 1 1 18 0 1 1 20 1 3 4 total 6 6 12 instrument to compare the academic achievement of 5th grade students between year-round calendar schools and traditional calendar schools, the researcher extracted existing staar reading and mathematics data from the texas education agency (tea) website, accountability section. staar reading and staar mathematics scores were accessed from the texas academic performance reports (tapr). three academic years, 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019 were individually extracted for comparison. the researcher extracted tapr information for each sample in the study by academic year. data collection data was extracted from existing staar reading and mathematics data from the tea website, accountability section. staar reading and staar mathematics scores were accessed from the tapr. three academic years, 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019 were individually extracted for comparison. the raw data utilized included only scores for year-round and traditional calendar schools in the study, rather than individual student scores. data analysis in this study an independent-samples t-test statistical procedure was used. the independentsamples t-test statistical procedure was appropriate because of the small number of categorical independent variables that were compared. there was one independent variable (calendar type), with two categories, year-round educational calendars, and traditional educational calendars. the statistical procedure chosen was used to determine if a statistically significant difference existed between the means of the two categories on a continuous dependent variable (laerd statistics, 2015). an ordinal measure of the independent variables was implemented. the level of measurement for the independent variables was discrete nominal. categories of nominal variables are designated a number which stands for the name of the category (morgan, et al., 2020). the dependent variables in this study provided a cognitive measurement, the results on reading and math staar. this measurement accounted for a difference between the academic performances of the independent variables. the level of measurement was a continuous ordinal 70 level. variables that vary from low to high are generally distributed as continuous (morgan, et al., 2020). computation of variables was not needed, as the sample size from the population provides study limitations, and a sensitive power analysis was utilized. according to laerd statistics (2015), there are six assumptions associated with an independent-samples t-test. one assumption is that the two independent variable categories did not have significant outliers in relation to the variable. any scores that are small or large compared to the other scores, are considered outliers, and can have a negative effect on statistical test results, influencing the mean and standard deviation for the group (laered statistics (2015). in this study a boxplot was created in spss statistics to detect the existence of outliers. the outlier detected had an extreme small score compared to other scores in the group. as a result of testing the assumption of extreme outliers, 6 year-round calendar schools and 6 traditional calendar schools were used in the study to compare their academic achievement. results although 7 year-round schools and 7-traditional calendar schools were initially identified for study, and initial assessment of the data revealed an extreme outlier. with that outlier removed, the researchers were left with 6 year-round schools and 6 traditional calendar schools. research question 1 rq 1: is there a statistically significant difference between the academic performance on fifth grade reading staar for schools on year-round educational calendars and the academic performance on fifth grade reading staar for schools on traditional educational calendars for the years 2017-2019? table 2 illustrates the results of the statistical analysis for research question 1. results found no statistically significant difference between 5th graders’ staar 2017 reading performance for year-round calendar schools (m= 85.17, sd= 6.113) and 5th graders’ staar 2017 reading performance for traditional calendar schools m= 90.83, sd= 6.210). the statistical analysis also revealed no statistically significant difference between 5th graders’ staar 2018 reading performance for year-round calendar schools (m= 92.67, sd= 6.113) and 5th graders’ staar 2018 reading performance for traditional calendar schools (m=90.83, sd= 9.070). further, no statistically significant differences was found between 5th graders’ staar 2019 reading performance for year-round calendar schools (m=94.00, sd=5.404) and 5th graders’ staar 2019 reading performance for traditional calendar schools (m= 92.83, sd= 3.251). 71 table 2. means and standard deviations: student performance on 5th grade reading staar for schools on year-round and traditional calendars staar subject/groups n m sd staar 2017 reading year-round 6 85.17 6.113 staar 2017 reading traditional 6 90.83 6.210 staar 2018 reading year-round 6 92.67 9.070 staar 2018 reading traditional 6 93.17 3.710 staar 2019 reading year-round 6 94.00 5.404 staar 2018 reading traditional 6 92.83 3.251 an independent-samples t-test was conducted to test the null hypothesis that there was no statistically significant difference between the academic performance on fifth grade reading staar for schools on year-round educational calendars and the academic performance on fifth grade reading staar for schools on traditional educational calendars (n=6) for the years 20172019. data was normally distributed, as assessed by shapiro-wilk’s test (p > .05). the assumption of homogeneity of variances was assessed by levene’s test for equality of variances. table 3 illustrates the results. there was homogeneity of variances for reading staar 2017 (t=-1.593, p = .976) and reading staar 2019 (t=.453, p = .212), at p > .05. reading staar 2018 however violated the assumption of homogeneity of variances (t=-.125, p = .030), at p < .05. there was no statistically significant difference in mean engagement scores between schools on year-round calendars and traditional calendar schools on reading staar, 2017-2019, as p > .05. the null hypotheses was retained. 72 table 3. statistics for tests of equality means and equality of variances: 5th grade student performance on reading staar in year-round and traditional calendar schools f sig. t sig. (2tailed) df mean diff. staar 2017 reading equal variances assumed .001 .976 -1.593 .142 10 -5.667 equal variances not assumed -1.593 .142 9.998 -5.667 staar 2018 reading equal variances assumed 6.412 .030 -.125 .903 10 -.500 equal variances not assumed -.125 .904 6.628 -.500 staar 2019 reading equal variances assumed 1.776 .212 .453 .660 10 1.167 equal variances not assumed .453 .662 8.200 1.167 research question 2 rq 2: is there a statistically significant difference between the academic performance on fifth grade mathematics staar for schools on year-round educational calendars and the academic performance on fifth grade mathematics staar for schools on traditional educational calendars for the years 2017-2019. table 4 illustrates the results of the statistical analysis for research question 2. the analysis revealed no statistically significant difference between 5th graders’ staar 2017 mathematics performance for year-round calendar schools (m= 92.33, sd= 3.45) and 5th graders’ staar 2017 mathematics performance for traditional calendar schools (m=95.83, sd= 3.10). the statistical analysis also revealed that no statistically significant difference between 5th graders’ staar 2018 mathematics performance for year-round calendar schools (m= 94.83, sd= 5.91) and staar 2018 mathematics performance for traditional calendar schools (m=98.17, sd= 2.312). further, no statistically significant difference was found between 5th graders’ staar 2019 mathematics performance for year-round calendar schools (m= 97.33, sd=2.81) and 5th 73 graders’ staar 2019 mathematics performance for traditional calendar schools (m= 96.33, sd= 1.90). table 4. means and standard deviations: student performance on 5th grade mathematics staar for schools on year-round and traditional calendar schools staar subject/group n m sd staar 2017 mathematics yearround 6 92.33 3.45 staar 2017 mathematics traditional 6 95.83 3.10 staar 2018 mathematics yearround 6 94.83 5.91 staar 2018 mathematics traditional 6 98.17 2.312 staar 2019 mathematics yearround 6 97.33 2.81 staar 2019 mathematics traditional 6 96.33 1.90 an independent-samples t-test was conducted to test the null hypothesis that there was no statistically significant difference between the academic performance on fifth grade mathematics staar for schools on year-round educational calendars and the academic performance on fifth grade mathematics staar for schools on traditional educational calendars (n=6) for the years 2017-2019. the assumption of homogeneity of variances was assessed by levene’s test for equality of variances. the results are illustrated in table 5. 74 table 5. statistics for levene’s test for equality of variances: 5th grades student performance on mathematics staar in year-round and traditional calendar schools f sig. t df sig. (2tailed) mean diff. staar 2017 math equal variances assumed .003 .959 -1.861 10 .092 -3.500 equal variances not assumed -1.861 9.863 .093 -3.500 staar 2018 math equal variances assumed 2.367 .155 -1.286 10 .228 -3.33 equal variances not assumed -1.286 6.499 .242 -3.33 staar 2019 math equal variances assumed 1.914 .197 .728 10 .484 1.000 equal variances not assumed .728 8.690 .486 1.000 there was a homogeneity of variances for mathematics staar 2017 (t = -1.86, p = .959), mathematics staar 2018 (t=-1.286, p = .155), and reading staar 2019 (t = .728, p = .197). there was no statistically significant difference in mean engagement scores between schools on year-round calendars and traditional calendar schools on mathematics staar, 2017-2019, at p > .05. the null hypothesis was retained. aggregate review of results statistically significant differences among the groups were not found. a different prospective was taken when the actual means were considered. results indicated that in 2017, scores on staar reading were slightly higher for traditional calendar schools (m= 90.83, sd= 6.210) than for year-round schools (m= 85.17, sd= 6.113). in this analysis, results also indicated that in 2018, scores for staar reading were slightly higher for traditional calendar schools (m= 93.17, sd= 3.710) than for year-round schools (m= 92.67, sd= 9.070). additionally, results indicated that in 2019, scores on staar reading were higher for year-round calendar schools (m= 94.00, sd= 5.404) than for traditional calendar schools (m=92.83, sd= 3.251). results indicated that in 2017, scores on staar mathematics were slightly higher for traditional calendar schools (m= 95.83, sd= 3.10) than for year-round schools (m= 92.33, sd= 3.45). in this analysis, results also 75 indicated that in 2018, scores for staar mathematics were slightly higher for traditional calendar schools (m= 98.17, sd= 2.312) than for year-round schools (m= 94.83, sd= 5.91). additionally, results indicated that in 2019, scores on staar mathematics were higher for yearround calendar schools (97.33, sd= 2.81) than for traditional calendar schools (m=96.33, sd= 1.90). table 6 displays this information. table 6. group statistics: 5th grade student performance on reading and mathematics staar in year-round calendar schools (yrs) and traditional calendar schools (tcs) staar subject/groups n m sd std. error mean staar 2017 reading yrs 6 85.17 6.113 2.496 staar 2017 reading tcs 6 90.83 6.210 2.535 staar 2018 reading yrs 6 92.67 9.070 3.703 staar 2018 reading tcs 6 93.17 3.710 1.515 staar 2019 reading yrs 6 94.00 5.404 2.206 staar 2019 reading tcs 6 92.83 3.251 1.327 staar 2017 math yrs 6 92.33 3.445 1.406 staar 2017 math tcs 6 95.83 3.061 1.249 staar 2018 math yrs 6 94.83 5.913 2.414 staar 2018 math tcs 6 98.17 2.317 .946 staar 2019 math yrs 6 97.33 2.805 1.145 staar 2019 math tcs 6 96.33 1.862 .760 76 discussion data for this study indicated that there were no statistically significant differences on the reading and mathematics staar performance between schools on year-round and traditional calendar schools. the statistical analysis revealed no statistically significant difference between 5th graders’ staar 2017 -2019 reading performance for year-round calendar schools and 5th graders’ staar 2017-2019 reading performance for traditional calendar schools. further, the statistical analysis also revealed no statistically significant difference between 5th graders’ staar 2017-2019 mathematics performance for year-round calendar schools and 5th graders’ staar 2017-2019 mathematics performance for traditional calendar schools. previous academic achievement studies found that year-round calendar schools had higher achievement scores when compared to traditional calendar schools. while this study did not find major differences between the academic performance of year-round calendar schools and traditional calendar schools, it is evident that there is ground for additional research. major differences may not exist between year-round and traditional calendar schools. additional research would provide an insight into what instructional opportunities are implemented in year-round and traditional calendar schools, which are impacting or not impacting their students level of academic achievement. this study was aligned to carroll’s model of learning (1963) and the spacing effect. according to carroll (1963), individuals will be successful in learning a given task to the extent that the individual spends on the amount of time needed to learn the task. the year-round educational calendars offer the needed time for additional learning time (fogarty, 1996). previous academic achievement studies (ferguson, 2000; shields & oberg, 1999; mcmullen, et al., 2015), found that year-round calendar schools had higher achievement scores when compared to traditional calendar schools. the results of this study however contradict those findings and carroll’s assertion, where the results did not favor a year-round calendar over the traditional school calendar. in fact, the results of this study indicate that traditional calendar schools performed slightly higher than year-round calendar schools on the reading and mathematics 2017 staar. carroll (1963) also asserted that opportunity and quality of instruction are factors of time spent in learning based on external conditions that contribute to the success of learning. these factors could possibly explain the academic achievement on reading and mathematics staar results for year-round calendar schools and traditional year-round schools for 2017-2019 years included in this study. the quality of instructional strategies utilized by teachers, the established instructional programs, and the pace of the instruction provided could have possibly been aligned to the needs of students. thus, if time alone determined by instructional calendars does not impact results, additional research is warranted. 77 limitations and recommendations the sample size from the population provided limitations to the study. additionally, the conclusions are potentially limited to texas schools considering the state’s specific curriculum and accountability guidelines. this study was designed in response to the lack of literature concerning the impact of school calendar type on student achievement scores. the results of this study indicated no statistically significant difference between schools on year-round calendars and schools on traditional calendars. future research is recommended using data within a 3-5 year continuous time span. this would provide future researchers with a base-line knowledge of the schools, before proceeding to a deeper level of research. additionally, it is recommended that future studies consider collecting data on different student populations. these populations include emergent english learners, special education, and the gifted and talented within year-round calendar schools and traditional calendar schools. this would assist in determining if the academic achievement of different student populations, correlates with the overall academic performance of their school. future research should also consider the type of enrichment and tutorial programs that are available to students in both types of calendar schools. these findings would verify how time is allocated for students’ learning opportunities. in addition, future considerations for research is to investigate daily instructional schedules and yearly academic calendars. these recommendations would allow researchers to view different educational settings through different lenses and gather data on how achievement scores are or are not impacted by calendar type, thus, providing information to entities that influence educational settings. a final recommendation for future research would be a larger scale study where a key variable would be instructional days. in this study, in the state of texas, schools operate on a calendar of 180 instructional days whether via year-round instructional calendar or traditional calendar. the results of this analysis found no statistically significant difference between the two calendars in this state. the fact that both calendars have the same number of instructional days may have influenced the results. thus, the researcher recommends that future studies seek to determine if differences exist in students’ achievement scores between schools with varying number of instructional days. a larger scale study, that uses a common metric between states, could facilitate policy implications if differences are found based on the number of instructional days, rather than by calendar type. conclusion the priority of improving the academic performance of students has been stipulated through educational provisions, enacted at the national level and impacting states. education administrators and policy makers must continue to strive to implement changes that support closing achievement gaps and increase academic achievement (strunc, 2020). the design of school calendars in different studies have mixed findings about the impact relation to academic 78 achievement. although there was no significance difference on staar results for schools on both types of calendars, results from this study can be considered by district and campus administrators to support and encourage initiatives which focus on designated instructional time to target students’ academic needs. specific consideration should be focused on campus student demographics, educational programs, daily schedules, and yearly school calendars, all of which contribute to the intentional planning of how time is or can be utilized to impact student achievement. references carroll, j. b. 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(1996). year-round education: a collection of articles. iri/skylight training and publishing, inc. laerd statistics (2015). independent-samples t-test using spss statistics. statistical tutorials and software guides. https://statistics.laerd.com/ mcmillen, b. j. (2001). a statewide evaluation of academic achievement in year-round schools. journal of educational research, 95(2), 67–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220670109596574 o’sullivan, m. t. (2013). the ten-month school year: are we ignoring educational research in order to preserve summer vacation? finding a compromise between educational advancement and over-schooling. brigham young university education & law journal, 2013(2), 395–415. salinas-vasquez, l., varela, d. g., martinez, m.e. & jones, d. (2020). a comparative study of the 21st century afterschool center on education in elementary schools in south texas. research in educational policy and management, 2(2), 19-37. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2020.2 shields, c. m., & oberg, s. l. (1999). what can we learn from the data? toward a better understanding of the effects of multitrack year-round schooling. urban education, 34(2), 125. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085999342002 https://www.ecs.org/wp-content/uploads/learningtimeinamerica_2015_0.pdf https://www.ecs.org/wp-content/uploads/learningtimeinamerica_2015_0.pdf https://doi.org/10.1080/00220670109596574 https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2020.2 79 stark education partnership. (2018). using a balanced school year to improve student achievement. a white paper of the stark education partnership. stark education partnership. strunc, a. (2020). editorial: are they listening? policymakers and their role in public education. research in educational policy and management, 2(1), i-iii. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.02.01.ed u.s. department of education. (n.d.). every student succeeds act (essa). https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=rn https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.02.01.ed https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=rn research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 volume: 5 issue: 1 2023 pp. 53-63 conceptualizing adolescent black youth political efficacy in an era of crises chrystal s. johnsona* & jennifer sdunzika * corresponding author e-mail: johnsocs@purdue.edu a. college of education, purdue university, west lafayette, in, united states. article info received: november 3, 2022 accepted: december 29, 2022 published: january 28, 2023 how to cite johnson, c. s., & sdunzik, j. (2023). conceptualizing adolescent black youth political efficacy in an era of crises. research in educational policy and management, 5(1), 53-63. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2023.5 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract tackling adolescent youth political efficacy is indispensable to the success american democracy. racism coupled with health and economic disparities predispose black youth to adverse political engagement, political efficacy, and social emotional outcomes. the covid-19 pandemic has aggravated pandemicinduced stressors such as the current experiences of black youth with racial injustice and the potential of economic insecurity, homelessness, and a health disaster affecting a family member, further challenge their political engagement and political efficacy. in this theoretical piece, we therefore bring forth two separate, yet compatible theoretical frameworks, black resilience neoliberalism (brn) and the sociopolitical development model (spd), to grasp the racialized identity and the political efficacy of adolescent black youth in an era of crises. keywords covid-19; adolescent black youth; politic efficacy; racial injustice; economic disparities. 10.46303/repam.2023.5 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2023.5 54 introduction all students have been impacted by covid-19. yet, the pandemic has exacerbated existing societal inequities and sparked conversation regarding youth political engagement and efficacy. tackling adolescent youth political efficacy is indispensable to the success american democracy. racism coupled with health and economic disparities predispose black youth to adverse political engagement, political efficacy, and social emotional outcomes (johnson & hinton, 2018; spencer et al., 2003). the covid-19 pandemic has aggravated pandemic-induced stressors such as the current experiences of black youth with racial injustice and the potential of economic insecurity, homelessness, and a health disaster affecting a family member, further challenge their political engagement and political efficacy. mitigating factors such as a positive racialized identity coupled with a framework for understanding black youth sociopolitical development in the current era may bring into relief how black youth view their political self and their varied contextual experiences, thus providing a reimagining of pro-social development during times of crises (hope & spencer, 2017; spencer et al., 2003; wilf & wray-lake, 2021). a review of recent research on adolescent youth political and civic engagement suggests that much of the literature base focuses on multidimensional concepts like social media use and political interest (e.g., jenkins et al., 2018; kahne et al, 2015), civic involvement, electoral participation (e.g., eckstein, et al. 2012; quintelier & van deth 2014; vecchione & caprara 2009), and confidence with democratic institutions (levi & stoker 2000). an emergent literature is bringing forth comprehensive picture on adolescent black youth’s political efficacy, particularly in times of crises (e.g., wilf & wray-lake, 2021). given how the pandemic has restructured black neighborhoods, black distress, and the link amongst black people and their government, a theoretical exploration to bring into relief adolescent black youth racialized identity and political efficacy is attractive. we believe that by critiquing adolescent black youth racialized identity and political efficacy in an era of covid-19 and the murder of george floyd, how this specific group outlines those socio-economic and socio-political policies and institutions encumber their capacity to meaningfully engage their communities. in this theoretical piece, we therefore bring into view two distinct, yet harmonious theoretical frameworks, black resilience neoliberalism (brn) and the sociopolitical development model (spd), to grapple with the racialized identity and the political efficacy of adolescent black youth in an era of crises. this theoretical framework can serve as a way to visualize how adolescent black youth negotiate their racialized identity and sense of societal responsibility, civic agency, and contribution to their community in trying times. in this article, we suggest that the term black represents one of many noticeable racialized identities in the us (veenstra, 2009), whereas the term african american is an ethnic identity. both are historically and contextually specific and as mills (1998) suggests situational. the terms are not readily disentangled from one another. black racialized identity in the us is not necessarily racialized in other countries. as such, these circumstances construct black identification as a salient racialized identity given the diasporic nature of this population. as 55 adolescent black youth in the united states undergo distinctive social positioning, societal opportunities, and treatment due to their race (richardson et al. 2015), the study brings into relief differences in racialized identity and political efficacy. given the promulgation of black resilience neoliberal thought by high profile black political actors on both sides of the aisle prior to, during, and after the covid-19 pandemic, this study is timely and relevant. in the following section, we describe brn. from there, we situate racialized identity and political efficacy in the spd framework and discuss the value of utilizing both frameworks to understand adolescent black youth perspectives on racialized identity and political efficacy. black resilience neoliberalism black resilience neoliberalism serves as an economic frame for countering the moralities of exclusion by employing laissez faire economic principles to promote opportunity for black people. the moralities of exclusion describe a psychological process where majority group members view their own group as superior and position minority group members as unsuitable of moral rights and protections, linked to race and racism (johnson & hinton 2018). kevin clay (2018) coined the term black resilience neoliberalism as a means to trace connections between policy discourses related to black youth and the ways their political identity reflected social change, race/racism, and inequity. he argued that brn captures the conspicuous and inconspicuous elements of neoliberal dialogue and reasoning, masked as empowerment. brn then extends neoliberal logic beyond the prominent conviction that the state ought to minimally influence individual or commercial rights, and that any action beyond the state’s sole legitimate purpose is unacceptable. it recognizes structural racism as a constant and conceptualizes the black experience accordingly. a style of post-racial, white supremacist hegemony embraced by black leaders on the political left, like former president barack obama, and leaders on the right, like ben carson, brn is the persistent relic of chattel slavery and the method in which it has reduced black people as continually inhuman and black distress as permissible (clay 2018; see also spence 2015). it both normalizes a caste-like racial society and valorizes black endurance and success in light of (not despite) structural racism. however, by celebrating black achievements this way and condemning failure to endure and overcome structural racism reinforces the power of white supremacy. brn captures black folks accommodating to structural racism instead of challenging the white supremacist system and its consequences (clay 2018). sociopolitical development framework the spd model interrogates the character of youth engagement and those methods youth conceive of and involve themselves in politically and civically transforming society (hope 2015; watts & flanagan 2007). spd assumes that youth agency increases if they believe their efforts will lead to a positive outcome (hope & jagers 2014). rubin (2007) notes an interplay between identified bias and enhanced efficacy for future political activities. diemer and li (2011) indicate that professed capacity to influence social and political transformation is associated with historically subordinated adolescent voting patterns. moreover, watts and guessous (2006) 56 established that minoritized youth civic agency enabled the links between an ethical world belief and responsibility to engage in key civic behaviors in the future. attuned to oppression and injustice, spd emphasizes how cultural, economic, and political systems sway society and how societal definitions influence one’s public position (hope 2015; watts & guessous 2006). it seeks to bring into relief how such forces move youth from inaction to a life of sustained, informed, and strategic action. growth is often described as “knowledge, analytical skills, emotional faculties, and capacity for action in political and social systems” (watts, et al. 2003, p. 185). for this paper, we define spd as a mindfulness of and motivation to engage in specific civic actions or behaviors. we believe spd may support adolescent black youth in overcoming the sociopolitical barriers that threaten their civic engagement, thus promoting social change through empowerment. five stages of spd spd is divided into five stages with each focusing on critical awareness as essential for growth. stage one recognizes the existing social order as reflecting superficial variances in group member competencies. the second stage is adaptive. inequality is typically conceded. the system upholding this inequality is absolute. antisocial or accommodating approaches are exercised to support a positive self-worth and the acquisition of tangible or social benefits. stage three is where contentment surrenders to an awareness of and interest in inequality. stage four is a desire to absorb more about inequality and conclude that efforts to transform society are necessary, particularly as it relates to injustice, oppression, and liberation. stage five is when the knowledge and consciousness of oppression is striking. liberation activities (community engagement and social action) is recurrent and real. political efficacy brn and the moralities of exclusion play a role in the sociopolitical attitudes of political efficacy. the spd model can facilitate our understanding of political efficacy by considering the prominence of brn and the moralities of exclusion as contextual and historical factors that influence the ways adolescent black youth comprehend and concerned themselves in pro-social political behaviors to enact transformation. political engagement is supported by the sociopolitical outlooks of careful social analysis and political efficacy, both swayed by initial socialization experiences, including schooling and responses to the pandemic. research suggests that political efficacy may impact youth civic engagement (watts & flanagan 2007; watts & guessous 2006). particularly, individuals rate their self-confidence in conducting civic actions or behaviors (caprara, et al. 2009; vecchione & caprara 2009). adolescents increasingly confront civic issues as they are introduced to civic education in schools. the inspection of diverse civic perspectives is enhanced by experiences with racial discrimination (flanagan & levine 2010). dynamic external experiences and preconditions allow civic participation to develop saliently throughout adolescence (eckstein et al. 2012). facets of political efficacy include social responsibility, a value position that favors the wants and needs of others (gallay 2006; schmidt 2012; wray-lake & syvertsen 2011). 57 adolescent youth societal responsibility refers to understanding the value of political and community engagement to solve community problems and alleviate social injustices prior to adulthood. consequently, adolescent youth mirror a socially conscientious inclination for civic engagement. racialized identity the institutions and social systems crafted to maintain societal norms are rooted in racism (johnson & hinton 2016; johnson 2011; see also mills 1998). structural racism in the us therefore portends that race and racism inform the political efficacy of black youth. both brn and spd not only operationalize racialized identity, but explain how, in this case, blackness allows black people to understand and act on their capacity to bring about community change. citing baum (2006), veenstra (2009) notes that racialized identity categorizes “groups of people that have been socially and politically constructed as ‘racially’ distinct. [they] have notable cultural dimensions, but they are primarily a manifestation of unequal power between groups” (p.11; see also mills 1998). it is not tantamount with ethnic identity, which explicitly describes culturally distinct groups (veenstra 2009; eriksen 2002). comparable to ethnic identity, racialized identity is culturally and historically grounded, typified by contextual suppleness (ahmad & bradby 2007; veenstra 2009). though racialized identities entertain ethnic identity and are further fashioned by power associations (eriksen 2002; mills 1998), racialized identity and ethnic identity are not mutually exclusive. racialized identity frames how youth gauge and delineate life experiences, civic agency, and societal responsibility (beaumont 2010; rubin 2007; stevenson & arrington 2009; youniss et al. 1997). richardson et al. (2015) note that numerous studies advance the position that positive racialized identity is associated with academic achievement and pro-social behaviors (e.g., ashmore et al. 2004; chavous et al. 2003, 2008; sellers et al. 2006). indeed, racialized identity predicts black youth encounters and insights of racial discrimination and shields against negative social, psychological, and academic corollaries of racism (richardson et al. 2015). brn and racialized identity blackness and its relation to black people is central to understanding brn (clay 2018). rather than scrutinize how race and structural racism perpetuate state violence and other forms of black oppression, brn presents a contrived and oversimplified framing of the black experience. brn establishes structural racism as inherent and constant in society. to endure and strategically overcome structural racism serves as the one and only method for addressing oppression. black suffering as a result of structural racism is eschewed in favor of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps. spd and racialized identity research suggests that youth experiences with racism and historical knowledge of racial discrimination can trigger an interrogation of american ideals such as justice and liberty; similarly, it can awaken a spirit of engaged citizenship that addresses socio-economic and political inequalities (rubin 2007; white-johnson 2012). spd places racialized identity at the 58 forefront of youth engagement. to acknowledge the intricacy of oppression allows youth to transform discriminatory surroundings for themselves and for others who are likewise oppressed (ginwright & cammarota 2002; ginwright & james 2002). as youth experience a dearth of formal civic participation outlets (e.g., voting), their catalyst to harvest change is mirrored by engagement with community action groups (watts et al. 1999), a critically oriented social justice outlook (diemer & rapa 2016), and an affinity toward conventional civic behaviors like serving comparably marginalized community members (watts & flanagan 2007). areas of concern brn and spd provide a cogent method for understanding the racialized identity and political efficacy of adolescent black youth in an era of covid-19 and the murder of george floyd as each brings into relief motivations and perspectives for why this population engages in civic and political involvement and in what way ethics and morality will structure a person’s social status. given the relative newness of brn, few studies have investigated the racialized identity and political efficacy of adolescent black youth. research typically explored spd with urban and/or low-income youth of color (e.g., ginwright & james 2002). we hypothesize that systematic and structural racism, which have created a skewed distribution of resources, impact this population. different sociopolitical and socioeconomic experiences of youth of color may contribute to racial variances in spd (quintana & segura-herrera 2003; watts et al. 1999). a review of the literature suggests a jumbled portrait of black youth civic commitment and civic behaviors. in the literature, a civic achievement gap, where black youth across various socioeconomic statuses chronicle marginally low degrees of pro-social political and civic outlooks, core civic knowledge and skills, and conventional practices of political involvement (e.g., contacting elected officials) has been noted (levinson 2007). alternately, contemporary research indicate that black youth voting rates outpace their peers (philpot et al. 2009; file 2013). research likewise indicates that black youth may be civically engaged via unconventional pathways including youth-driven justice-oriented movements like black lives matter (blm) or contributing to politically inspired poetry and hip-hop (baskin-sommers, et.al, 2021 johnson, 2017; see also ginwright 2010; ginwright & james 2002). contemporary adolescent black youth have grown up in an era that disdains jim crow segregation. they still, however, must navigate it's by-products such as economic distress from low wage jobs, segregated and cts of low-skill, living wage jobs, a mismatched education enterprise, and an increasingly privatized incarceration scheme based on recidivism that negatively impacts a vast majority of black families-– all conditions having become worse yet more visible during the pandemic. brn, on the other hand, does not assume that black people will automatically respond in a critical fashion to dismantling structural racism. in fact, clay (2018) argues that against the backdrop of privatization and personal responsibility, the over-policing of black bodies, and the dominant rhetoric of a color-blind society, black youth and those who research this population are more inclined to operate under the guise of black empowerment. as clay (2018) notes, such a façade reinforces hegemony, which requires the consent of the ruled. utilizing both 59 frameworks to study the racialized identity and political efficacy of adolescent black youth therefore becomes necessary. conclusion literature focused on youth civic identity development and civic engagement uncovers the possibility for diminishing the civic knowledge divide among students of color; moreover, addressing civic empowerment seems essential to the prosperity of our nation’s democracy. while americans uphold a vision of democracy where all citizens appreciate and engage in civic and political life, black people across socio-economic levels have been systematically prevented from enacting this vision. this is especially true when examining the preparation for citizenship provided by public schools. nevertheless, there is hope for the future. in fact, there is a considerable number of studies that demonstrate the ability of disadvantaged youth to analyze the structures and circumstances that oppress them and act toward dismantling these barriers (ginwright & james 2002; duncan-andrade 2006; noguera & cannella 2006; rubin & hayes 2010; shiller 2013). and the civic engagement in the wake of the george floyd murder is proof of that as it demonstrated that youth of color were eager to protest and organize for change. a participatory democracy requires an engaged citizenry, stirred to successfully meet grand challenges. students with high civic engagement attitudes and behaviors learn more academic content (gallini & moely 2003). gent (2007) contended that civic and political engagement is particular method to guarantee no youth is truly left behind. moreover, youth who understand and value their racial identity express higher levels of school and community belonging. this paper discussed the interplay between racial identity and civic engagement attitudes and behaviors of adolescent black youth. when researchers understand and articulate the relationship between racialized identity and political efficacy, they will put forward alternative pathways toward positive black youth development that promote equal opportunities. as the details of civic educational practices will differ due to the variance in any given setting, reformation of such practices is necessary, nonetheless. equitable civic learning experiences are likely to increase students’ sense of personal and political efficacy and trust; 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(1997). what we know about engendering civic identity. american behavioral scientist, 40(5), 620-631. research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 volume: 4 issue: 1 2022 pp. 51-64 the exploring factors that teachers view as hindering quality in teaching and learning at a tvet college mogalatjane edward matabane*a, ramathetje belinda matabanea, tshele john moloib & khanaye tom sibayaa * corresponding author e-mail: edward.matabane@spu.ac.za a. school of education, sol plaaatje university, kimberley, south africa b. faculty of education, northwest university, potchesftoom, south africa article info received: august 3, 2022 revised: september 13, 2022 accepted: october 17, 2022 how to cite matabane, m. e., matabane, r. b., moloib, t. j., & sibaya, k. t. (2022). the exploring factors that teachers view as hindering quality in teaching and learning at a tvet college. research in educational policy and management, 4(1), 51-64. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2022.9 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract the overarching purpose of this study was to explore teacher views on some issues that hinder quality in teaching and learning at technical and vocational education and training (tvet) colleges. this is explored by considering challenges that face teachers in providing quality teaching and learning. a total of twenty-four lecturers participated in the study. the study adopted a mixed-methods approach and employed karl maton`s legitimation code theory (lct) as its analytical framework. data were collected by means of interviews, questionnaires, and document analysis. while a symbiotic relationship is expected to exist between expertise and decision-making structure in tvets, there is a dichotomous gap in the two domains, which in turn compromises the quality of teaching and learning. keywords teachers; technical and vocational education and training; teaching; learning; legitimation code theory; south africa. 10.46303/repam.2022.9 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2022.9 52 introduction and background the birth of democracy in south africa in 1994 saw public spending on education changing from being highly unequal and based on race to targeting rural and disadvantaged institutions (fiske & ladd, 2004). a resilient legacy of the apartheid education is the inferior quality of education within historically disadvantaged and marginalised institutions (fiske & ladd, 2004). technical and vocational education and training (tvet) colleges are identified as one of the key institutions that the south african state acknowledges as a catalyst for both social and economic development (daniels, 2018; holmes, 2009; kato, 2017; kingombe, 2012). moreover, tvet may serve as a tool for achieving the state`s sustainable development goals, aspirations, and global targets (king, 2017; mcgrath, 2012). despite the importance of tvet, the inferior levels of education at historically disadvantaged and marginalised institutions are reflected in tvet. with the massification of higher education post-1994, doors of learning in higher education have been opened and historically disadvantaged students have gained access to universities in the tvet sector. access to tvet education is a necessary but not sufficient condition for it to fulfil its potential as a catalyst of development. both society and individual development cannot be increased by putting more individuals through the education system without first improving quality in teaching and learning (sahlberg, 2010). it is only quality education that provides individuals and communities with a sense of belonging and improves the circumstances of community (allis, 2012). several studies have shown that the quality of teaching and learning in tvet is low, which increases poverty and negatively affects social development (allais, 2012; palmer, 2007, sahlberg, 2010). the south african state, through its department of higher education and training (dhet), has introduced programmes and policies set to improve the quality of tvet education and the professional development of teachers1 in the tvet sector (allais, 2012; powell, 2012). however, these policies hardly involve teachers’ voices. therefore, this study seeks to explore teachers’ views of quality in teaching and learning at a tvet college in south africa`s limpopo province. teachers as the drivers of teaching and learning are hardly/seldom? involved in discussing and designing quality in education (batanero & chernoff, 2018). improving the quality of teaching and learning set in national policies can be hampered if tvet teachers have a different interpretation of quality teaching and learning and how the quality of teaching and learning can be improved. understanding tvet sector in south africa the tvet college sector in south africa is an element of the country’s post-school system. tvet offers two programme types, national technical education (nated) programmes (n1 to n6) and national certificate (vocational) (nc[v]) programmes (dlamini, 2014). tvet colleges also offer learnerships and a range of programmes through sector and education and training authorities 1 the term ‘teacher’ has been specifically chosen; despite the use of the term ‘lecturer’ in south africa tvet policy and practice, it is used in most anglophone countries and, as a result, the tvet discourse. 53 (setas). nated programmes for service and business-related fields have school grade 12 (matric) as an entry requirement and comprise n4, n5 and n6 certificate programmes, each taking a? semester to complete (south africa, 2013). engineering programmes are divided into two parts. part 1, comprising n1, n2 and n3, each taking one trimester to complete, has an entry requirement of school grade 9. part 2, as in the case of service and business-related programmes, comprises n4 to n6; however, it takes a trimester to complete. the entry requirement to an n4 engineering programme is related to n3 or school grade 12. the nc(v) was introduced at the colleges in 2007 as a dhet initiative to tackle the priority skills demand of the south african economy (south africa, 2013). nc(v) programmes are offered at levels 2, 3 and 4 of the national qualification framework (nqf), with each level taking 12 months to complete. the nc(v) programmes were designed for young people who have only completed grade 9 (south africa, 2013). they include both school subjects and vocational subjects. however, as matshoba (2019) notes, most students enrol in an nc(v) programme and start at nc(v) level 2, even if they have completed grades above grade 9. this means students who have passed grade 12 share a class with those who have only passed grade 9. according to dlamini (2014), having nc(v) students with widely differing educational levels and knowledge in the same class compromises the quality of teaching and learning. as matshoba (2019) points out, students who have passed grade 12 cope better with the nc(v) programme compared to those who enter having passed lower grades. a common thread that unites both programme types, dlamini (2014) notes, is low quality teaching and learning. echoing the quality challenge, matshoba (2019) argues, the key challenge faced by the tvet sector is that it is trying to be “everything to everybody”, particularly those who lack alternatives. trying to be “everything to everybody” compromises quality while simultaneously making the programmes complex to administer. literature review quality in teaching and learning the concept of quality is not new to education. quality in education has its foundational roots in post-world war ii production processes and ideologies (geiger, 2017). quality measures, sallis (2014) argues, have been applied in education since the mid-1990s because of state demands on the improvement of quality learning. despite the existence of quality measures for decades, views of what constitutes quality, particularly in teaching and learning, vary significantly. quality teaching is that which leads to improved students’ achievements using outcomes that matter for their future success (darling-hammond, 2000; dube et al., 2022). this view is shared by several authors, including suskie (2018), and brown and knight (2012), all of whom argue that the yardstick by which teaching quality should be assessed is student progress. 54 quality in tvet teaching and learning the definitions of quality are contextual and operationalized through multi-dimensional, multilevel and dynamic approaches (prakash, 2018). according to idialu (2007), to ensure high quality teaching and learning in tvet, it is important that the students have opportunities to learn from teachers who continue to demonstrate rigorous professional standards. tvet cannot function properly unless there is a high quality in the standard of teaching, material available and proper evaluation of students in the programme (gamble, 2016). thus, quality teaching and learning in vocational education ensure that students acquire the knowledge, skills and competences that are appropriate for their area of responsibility. the quality assurance in tvet is an essential tool required to ensure an efficient vocational education programme for the achievement of manpower development and skills acquisitions in our societies (madimabe & omodan, 2021). tvet students are young adults and quality teaching in tvet calls for delivery modes attuned to adult learners (powell & mcgrath, 2013). the authors postulates that groundbreaking rules for adult learners that apply to tvet students lay the foundation for competencybased teaching. since tvet students have already accumulated a great deal of learning and have real-life experience, the quality teaching in tvet must build upon developing existing competencies. powell & mcgrath, further argue that abstract teaching at tvet colleges leads to rejection and lack of interest on the part of students because tvet students are self-directed; therefore, their learning needs to cater to their career and personal interests and to be leaning towards direct application. this view is also shared by gamble (2016) who contends that tvet students are harder/more difficult? to stimulate through external stimuli; therefore, tvet teachers need internal areas of curiosity and motives. the personal interests of tvet students need to be taken seriously and the teaching be refined according to their wishes, argues gamble (2016). objectives of the study the study aimed at exploring the views of tvet teachers on what hinders the provision of quality teaching and learning at a tvet college in limpopo province. the investigation took teacher views into consideration on what is hindering or contributing to the provision of quality teaching and learning. the objective of the study was to understand the challenges that teachers face in providing quality teaching and learning. research questions the question guiding the study is the following: what are the challenges that tvet teachers face in providing quality teaching? analytical tools this study enacts legitimation code theory (lct) as its primary theoretical and analytical framework. lct is created in critical realism (cr) which says powerful social structures are always present, they are real and effective. the lct is premised on the principle that control 55 and power manifest themselves through interactional and structural aspects of practice, and therefore have the potential to include and exclude. lct as an analytical tool aids our understanding of students' success and failure by focusing on the ‘what’ of learning, i.e., on knowledge itself and the actors engaged in the knowledge practice. it thus distinguishes between knowledge and knowers. lct comprises five dimensions: specialization (structuring relations between the social and symbolic dimensions of the field), semantics (structuring relations to context and to condensation of meaning), autonomy (structuring external relations to the field), density (structuring relations within the field) and temporality (structuring temporal aspects of the relations) (maton, 2014). in this study, the dimension of autonomy was used. the dimension of autonomy conceptualises the organising principles as autonomy codes (maton & howard, 2018). it builds mostly from the work of bernstein (2000) and bourdieu (1996) and explores the boundaries that practices establish around their constituents and how those constituents are related. the dimension of autonomy is fitting in this study as quality is understood as a combination of knowledge and expertise. this study explored teachers` views of quality teaching and learning in tvet and the fact that the provision of quality teaching and learning is highly dependent on expertise and position. autonomy begins from a premise that any set of practices comprises constituents that are related in a particular way. it conceptualizes insulation between their constituents (positional autonomy) and between how those constituents are related (relational autonomy). these concepts come together as autonomy codes in the following figure 1: figure 1: autonomy codes: four codes based on concepts of positional and relational autonomy (maton & howard, 2018, p. 11). therefore, the sovereign code (pa+, ra+) is stronger positional autonomy and stronger relation autonomy. in this study, the sovereign (ideal) is a decision maker who is also an expert. 56 this refers to a qualified and highly skilled teacher (expert) who is also in a leadership position (decision maker). the double code expert/ decision-maker combination is used in that order and thus an expert decision maker is coded (ed). the projected (pa+, ra-) is stronger positional autonomy and weaker relational autonomy. in this study, here we talk of a non-expert who is a decision maker. the double code (ed) is used. the exotic (pa-, ra-) is weaker positional autonomy and weaker relational autonomy. here we refer to a non-expert and non-decision maker. these are teachers who are not highly qualified or experienced and not in a position of power. they might be younger teachers joining the profession directly from universities after receiving their initial qualifications. teachers in this category might solely rely on available material. the double code (ed) is used. lastly, the introjected (pa-, ra+) is weaker positional autonomy and stronger relational autonomy. in the study, this is coded as an expert who is a non-decision maker (ed). table 1. coding the participants into quadrants code skills position condition ed expert decision good relation (strong/ ideal) ed expert non-decision maker poor relation (weak) ed non-expert non-decision maker good relation (weak) ed non-expert decision maker poor relation (weak) research approach the study employed a mixed-methods approach and a case study design (creswell, 2011). a case study design was used as it enables an event, programme or individual to be studied for a defined period (leedy & ormrod, 2005). in addition, hamilton and corbett-whittier (2012) add that case studies enable the researcher to use different forms of data collection from various sources. the case for this study was a tvet college in limpopo province, south africa. population and sample this study used purposive sampling, a method of strategically selecting where, when and from whom data will be collected, guided by the objectives of the study (etikan et al., 2016). purposive sampling allows researchers to select individuals who are likely to yield a better overview of the issues under investigation (leedy & ormrod, 2005). the population of this study was forty-five teachers employed at a tvet college in limpopo province and teaching on nated and nc(v) programmes. twenty-four teachers participated in the study. the sampling frame for 57 participants comprised both new college teachers (those who have been at the tvet for five years or less) and teachers who have been at the college for a longer period (at least five years at the tvet). table 2. personal data of participants variables frequency percentage gender male 9 37.5 female 13 54.2 not indicated 2 8.3 total 24 100.0 age 18-25 2 86 26-34 35-44 45-54 55 and above education national diploma bachelor’s degree honours degree master’s degree 4 7 8 5 8 7 5 4 16.7 29.2 33.3 20.8 33 29.2 20.8 17 instruments the data collection instruments used were questionnaires, interviews, and document analysis. these instruments gathered data from a small sample of teachers of tvet nated and nc(v) programmes at tvet colleges. data collection data were collected through administering questionnaires to the participants, analysing documents that guide teaching and learning and having follow-up interviews. questionnaires the use of questionnaires was convenient for reaching several teachers and gaining insight into a given phenomenon (moerdyk, 2009). data collected through questionnaires were also easy to be quantified, either by the researcher or using a software package (rowley, 2012). interviews interviews were useful for finding out about the participants’ experiences as well as their interpretations which the researcher would not otherwise obtain from questionnaires (rowley, 2012). semi-structured interviews also allowed for flexibility and for interviewees to lead the 58 conversation. follow-up questions and probes were used to aid in clarification and following up, depending on the route the interview took. the interview questions were meant to explore teachers’ views of quality in terms of teaching and learning influencing tvet teachers’ practice. the interviewer was also able to understand the challenges that teachers face in providing quality teaching and learning. a voice recorder was used to capture the interviews and transcriptions were made available to the interviewees for checking. document analysis document analysis enabled the researchers to identify and understand the structures that guided and supported the implementation of quality teaching and learning at the chosen tvet college. teaching and learning manuals, curriculum documents, assessment policy documents and documents on quality assurance policy at the institution as well as government recommendations were all examined. instrument reliability and validity the dependability/reliability of the questionnaires was determined by correlating the findings with the other source of data collection, namely interviews. to ensure the research validity, the researchers formulated questions carefully by phrasing them in simple and straightforward language that avoided ambiguity (see appendix a). there was a pilot run of interviews and questionnaires administered to stakeholders in the university before the participants were involved. when collecting data, ethical 4ctissues were taken into consideration. for instance, research participants were told from the start that although they had agreed to be part of the study, they could withdraw at any stage and were not obliged to answer all the questions. in addition, they were assured of their anonymity and the confidentiality of their information. only pseudonyms were used in reporting the finding of this study. furthermore, a consent form was issued stipulating what they were entitled to for the duration of the study and afterwards. the study received ethics clearance from the cape peninsula university of technology. the ethics clearance number is efec 8-10/2019. data analysis thematic coding and analysis were used (lenneberg & korsgaard, 2019) the study utilised descriptive coding (describing the data as it is), topic coding (data assembled according to themes that would emerge) and finally, theoretical coding (interpreting the data in relation to theoretical concepts from lct) (lenneberg & korsgaard, 2019). this three-pronged method of analysis enabled the researcher to structure and engage thoroughly with the data in addressing the overarching question of the challenges to tvet that teachers face in providing quality teaching and learning. 59 results and discussion for the 24 teachers that participated in this study, each participant was plotted in the fitting quadrants depending on the expertise and the position that the lecturer occupied at the college. table 3 summarises the results: table 3. coding of lecturers according to expertise position of power (n=24) lct code no of lectures percentage condition ed 3 12.6 good relation (strong) ed 6 25 poor relation (weak) ed 4 16.6 good relation (weak) ed 11 45.8 poor relation (weak) the results presented in table b show that good relations on the expertise and position of power in the college only correlate on 29.2% of the cases. note that the ideal situation is a good and strong relation, that is, experts being in decision-making positions so that good and fruitful decisions could be made to improve the quality of teaching and learning. however, table b shows that strong relations (ed) only amount to 12.6%, suggesting a very far from ideal situation. thus, the quality of the teaching of teaching and learning is compromised (gamble, 2016). the poor relation between expertise and position of power is very high in this case, amounting to 70.8%. there are more non-experts making decisions (45.8 %) while several experts do not occupy decision-making positions (25 %). very often there are decision makers who occupy positions of power, not based on their expertise, but owing to their having been at a college for a long time. there are other reasons as well, including political. although an expert teacher might know what quality teaching and learning means, the system might lead to the teacher’s not being productive as s/he is not in a position of power and therefore cannot implement what s/he/ regards as best practice. the institutional culture might frustrate this expert. as participant mokwene a master’s graduate, says: i feel like i am less valued, and my ideas don’t matter. so, for now i just comply to have less stress at work. unfortunately, those of us who are more academically focused don`t get recognition; only those come cooperate world are taken seriously. worse still, we 60 don’t get opportunities or support to learn from industries, you are just told industry experience is important. the frustration shared by mokwene is also experienced by tswiri when he says: every time i try to open to my mouth, i am told “you can’t teach people how to fry eggs if you can’t fry eggs yourself. you are not an artisan, so how do you want to manage artisans? this suggests that industry experience is more valued than academic experience. perhaps the comment made by matswii, an industry expert who is also in a position of power at the tvet, explains why the industry experts are more preferred in a position: having worked in industries for many years, i get worried when what happens in classroom is far behind what is happening in industries. the textbooks refer to outdated machines and technologies which in other counties you will find those equipment’s in museums. our teachers need to learn about latest technologies so that our graduates can be relevant. while matswii`s point seems to make sense, as someone who is in a position of power, his arguments would hold water if opportunities were created for college teachers to upskill themselves through industry-college partnerships. in this way they could learn about the latest developments in industry and thus improve the quality of teaching and learning to make the graduates more relevant. being biased in favour of industry expertise at the expense of academic qualifications seems to be one of the frustrating factors at tvet, leading to the sector having less academically qualified teachers in positions of power. this is also shared by ngwanamose when she says: as educator who is trained for teaching, i am pushed to see my students as clients and forget about the college teaching vision but focus on industry needs. our managers who come from industries, make the external factors guide our teaching more than the school policies. conclusion there is lack of consensus about what counts as minimum educational qualification for entrylevel teachers at tvet colleges. teachers of general subjects at tvet colleges seem to require the same or even lower requirements as teachers in the schools. while tvet is acknowledged as a core profession in the knowledge society, entry-level qualification for tvet teachers is lower in relation to that of school teachers. there is a tendency to base educational qualification at a very low level to attract and accommodate industry experts to tvet teaching. these industry experts lack pedagogical skills and thus the quality of teaching and learning is compromised. the industry experts are given positions of power at tvet colleges and make decisions about teaching and learning while they are not experts in pedagogy. the highly qualified teaching 61 experts become frustrated by instruction from non-experts for they know what best teaching pedagogies will improve teaching and learning. unlike what is classically regarded as academic education, quality in tvet rests on good cooperation among the different profiles of teachers, industry experience and qualification improvement. legitimizing one at the expense of another hinders quality teaching and learning at tvet. the closer the relationship between industry practices and tvet institutions, the greater the relevance of tvet curricula and the better the chances of quality teaching in learning, thereby increasing the chances of graduates becoming employable. for quality teaching and learning in tvet, it is critical that experts serve in position of power as good leadership is a pivotal condition of educational success. it creates a positive organisational culture that encourages continuous learning and rewards excellence. recommendation the study recommends that high levels of education should be required for the employment of tvet teachers. highly qualified teachers are needed for long-term sustainable quality teaching and learning in vocational education. recruitment policies need to be strengthened to attract quality vocational teachers and develop policies that cultivate and underpin professionalism at tvet colleges. teachers’ academic knowledge and practical skills need to be enacted autonomously. it is critical that tvet teachers work together with industry continuously and learn the latest technologies and equipment to improve their teaching and learning and to ensure that graduates meet the requirements of industry. teachers’ knowledge and practical skills need to be enacted autonomously. the study also recommends that the decision makers at tvet colleges consider more experts who are at the forefront of their field, both in terms of academic qualification and industry-based experience. thus, by having experts in positions of power and decision making, tvet could be strengthened in terms of its output. references allais, s. 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(2018). assessing student learning: a common sense guide. john wiley & sons. https://doi.org/10.46303/ressat.2021.27 64 research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 volume: 5 issue: 1 2023 pp. 18-32 engendering technology-assisted pedagogy for effective instructional strategy in the university of namibia language centre hafeni pamwenase shikalepo hamakali a & lukas matati josua*b * corresponding author e-mail: ljosua@unam.na a. school of human development, university of namibia, oshakati, namibia. b. school of education, university of namibia, oshakati, namibia. article info received: july 20, 2022 accepted: november 4, 2022 published: january 28, 2023 how to cite hamakali, h. p. s., & josua, l. m. (2023). engendering technology-assisted pedagogy for effective instructional strategy in the university of namibia language centre. research in educational policy and management, 5(1), 18-32. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2023.3 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract the advent of covid-19 disrupted existing socio-economic activities and has unveiled digital inequities and injustices. the pandemic led to a forced migration of education activities towards the new normal using technology-assisted pedagogies around the globe, africa and namibia is no exception. this paper attempts to report on how the blended-learning strategy for the academic writing for postgraduate students course was developed in the university of namibia. the study used the flipped approach as a framework which guides self-reflection, active cognitive processing, interaction and peer-teaching. the paper used a combination of empirical as well as theoreticalbased research. firstly, a google form questionnaire was used to obtain quantitative data that profiled students. a conveniently sampled respondents participated in the study. secondly, a reflective practice is applied to highlight the use of a technology-assisted learning strategy that enables effective pedagogic access to academic writing for postgraduate students at the university of namibia’s business school. the student-profiling results showed that more students preferred the blended learning mode, which makes them less likely to resist the proposed strategy. it also emerged that all the students have technology devices, which makes it possible to engage in the learning processes that involve the usage of technology. post-covid-19, stakeholders in the higher education context should re-imagine the traditional stances in order to transform the way teaching, learning and assessment shall be enabled after the crisis. this calls for educators to reinvigorate, re-imagine, re-think, re-construct and de-construct the way they conduct pedagogic activities. keywords technology-assisted learning; digital literacy; blended learning; flipped learning; africa; namibia. 10.46303/repam.2023.3 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2023.3 19 introduction in this paper, we reflected on technology-assisted pedagogy in the high education setting. since the advent of the covid-19 pandemic, technology-assisted teaching, learning and assessment have become an essential component of high education. as a way of improving learning and capitalizing on the availability of modern technology, the university of namibia’s (unam) structures have been revised to enable the implementation of online teaching, learning and assessment. specifically, unam preferred the blended learning mode, which uses both face-toface and online teaching, learning and assessment. however, recently, the global outbreak of the coronavirus has sped up the implementation of online learning because namibia declared the outbreak a state of emergency on 17 march 2020, and it also required putting measures in place such as social distancing. as a result, face-to-face instruction was suspended and the teaching, learning and assessment depended mainly on online facilitation, via the modular object orientated dynamic learning environment (moodle) platform. although some courses were offered on moodle, the academic writing for postgraduate students course was only migrated to online mode as a result of the pandemic. the purpose of this paper is to report on how the blended-learning strategy for the academic writing for postgraduate students course at unam was developed. the paper attempt to attain the following objectives: • to adapt a flipped approach to teaching, learning and assessment of academic writing for postgraduate studies. • to profile students to establish if they have a mechanism to do technology-assisted teaching, learning and assessment. • to devise a technology-integrated strategy for teaching academic writing for postgraduate studies. methods the paper employed a combination of empirical as well as theoretical-based research. firstly, a google form questionnaire was used to obtain quantitative data that profiled students. from a population of 72 student enrolled for academic writing for postgraduate students in unam’s business school, a sample of 40 respondents were conveniently selected to participate in the study. the sample is made up of 24 male and 16 female respondents. the respondents were selected because they were easily accessible and indicated a willingness to participate in the study. the responses from the participants were useful in the generation of the student profile in the course, which inform the feasibility of the proposed strategy. it should be noted that the study adheres to the ethical requirements stipulated by the unam research ethics policy, regulations and guidelines (2019) that “researchers shall ensure informed consent based on the principle of self-determination, honesty, objectivity, and respect for intellectual property” (p. 11). this is interpreted in this study that participants may only be selected based on their consent to be part of the study. secondly, a reflective practice is applied to highlight the use of technology-assisted learning strategy that enables effective pedagogical access to academic 20 writing for postgraduate students at the university of namibia’s business school. reflective practice uses three analytical milieus of criticality, reflexivity, and praxis (magesa & josua, 2022; stierer, 2008). using the reflective practice helps guide morphing teaching, learning and assessment in a digital era. according to stierer (2008), criticality provides a critical orientation of the ideas, theories and concepts that enhancers academic writing. criticality deals with deeply engaging the content rather than just summarising the ideas. it is about going beyond reproduction and simply copying or plagiarizing ideas from a text. the authors draw from a different range of theories through criticality and not just finding fault. we contextually analysed the texts and provide logical academic arguments instead of describing things. this enabled bringing new insight aimed at transforming the status quo. reflectivity enables agents to record and analyze how professional development is taking place. as it can vividly be seen, the use of the first person singular and plural as well as active voice is seen throughout the paper to bring out the authors’ argumentative voice. the use of the first persona placed the authors at the centre of the instructional activities, which enables self-understanding as well as self-awareness. this enhances and facilitates professional learning (stierer, 2008). as academic practitioners, we suggest that these theories should be tactfully negotiated to both students and academics who want to try this method out. praxis is about linking concepts, theories and ideas to the practice (magesa & josua, 2022). after the conceptualization of the teaching and learning theory, the theory was tested among the students. this demonstrates moving away from common sense practice towards being a transformed academic practitioner; therefore, the morphing from the edge towards the centre of effective teaching, learning and assessment practice. literature review assuming that the threat of the covid-19 pandemic is eliminated and everything is back to the old normal, unam may choose to continue with the blended approach as initially advanced. according to cleveland-ines and walton (2018), “blended learning is the use of traditional classroom teaching methods together with the use of online learning for the same students studying the same content in the same course” (p. 3). blended learning is in line with the namibian information communication and technology (ict) policy. accordingly, some of the policy’s goals are directed toward improving the efficiency of educational administration and management in the classroom (ministry of higher education, training and employment creation, 2001). the policy is also aimed at broadening access to quality educational services for students. there are different approaches that could be applied in the implementation of blended learning in various university courses. in this paper, we attempt to develop a blended learning strategy for the academic writing for postgraduate students course, through reflexivity, criticality and praxis (stierer, 2008). our strategy is aligned with the blended block model of blended learning. that is, a sequence of learning activities is structured to integrate both face-to-face and online learning 21 (cleveland-ines & walton, 2018). this model is integrated with the flipped approach, where the students are provided with more opportunities to engage the learning content outside the classroom, and then in the classroom they focus on learning and assessment tasks. jonathan bergmann and aaron sams introduced flipped learning in the year of 2007 when their students missed too many classes for basketball games, training, and tournaments. teachers had to repeat the important lessons for them as they missed crucial content. they figured out a better solution by recording the lectures using screencasting software during spring 2007. they recorded instructions and used class time for meaningful activities such as questioning and answering session (rahman & hashim, 2020, p. 395). according to sakulprasertsri (2017), this is an alternative approach that integrates technology beyond the limits of the classroom. that is, the instructional process is reversed and the learning contents are accessed at home (outside the classroom), while learning activities such as projects, exercises and classroom discussions are completed in the classroom (during the lesson time). the flipped approach is well illustrated by al-samarraie et al. (2020) in figure 1, in comparison to the lecturer-based approach. figure 1. the lecturer-based approach vs flipped approach (al-samarraie et al., 2020) research has shown that the flipped approach has a positive influence on the development of students’ critical understanding of the learning materials, and it also enables application of knowledge between contexts (al-samarraie et al., 2020). the flipped approach has four pillars (see figure 2 below), namely: a flexible environment; learning culture; intentional content; and professional educators (bergmann & sams, 2012; villegas, 2022). 22 figure 2. the pillars of flipped learning (rahman & hashim, 2020) the pillar of flexible environment allows for various learning modes and instructional methods to support the students (flipped learning network [fln], 2014). this pillar resonates krashen’s (2009, 2014) affective filter hypothesis that, students tend to learn better with lowered affective filter. that is when they feel relaxed and less threatened while engaging the content outside the classroom as well as processing the learning experiences in the classroom. the pillar of learning culture enables active knowledge construction during student participation and evaluation of their own learning and that of others (fln, 2014). this pillar is linked to the learner-centred approach. the learner-centred approach and the communicative approach to learning seems to have made it rather impractical for the traditional approach to be sufficient of facilitating learning of the diverse skills, knowledge, learning processes, and combined strategies (ortega, 2009). the pillar of intentional content requires instructional and learning experiences to be aligned to the learning outcomes of the course. that is, lecturer should create relevant contents and learning task for the students (fln, 2014). the pillar of professional educators demands reflectivity among the lecturers, through connecting with each other for the improvement of their instruction. according to the fln (2014), “while professional educators take on less visibly prominent roles in a flipped classroom, they remain the essential ingredient that enables flipped learning to occur” (p. 1). this pillar can be linked to vygotsky’s (1962) sociocultural theory which states that meaning is not an individual construction but a social negotiation that depends on supportive interaction and shared use of knowledge. although this study focused on the academic writing course, it should be noted that research suggests that the flipped approach is applicable in the classroom regardless of the field of study, and it tends to yield positive result in the 21st century of education (rahman & hashim, 2020). correspondingly, the technology-assisted strategy of teaching and learning has also been commended for the 21st century pedagogies, considering that technology is viewed as a learning tool, and it proved to have become integral part of average students’ daily usage (gopo, 2022). the technology-assisted strategy proposed in this study, based on the learning-centred approach (de aquino et al., 2016), promotes a shift from teaching to facilitating students’ learning, and it enables students to engage and take responsibility of their own learning by being active participants in the learning process. the strategy resonates the sociocultural theory 23 (vygotsky, 1962), which postulates that learning can be facilitated through learner-learner negotiation. in this theory, it is believed that meaning is not an individual construction but a social negotiation that depends on supportive interaction and shared use of knowledge. the strategy also aligns to the bloom’s taxonomy, but in a flipped manner; that is, the high-level learning activities are completed in the classroom unlike in the traditional approaches when these activities are completed outside the classroom (villegas, 2022). figure 3 illustrates the differences between the traditional and flipped learning models in relation to the bloom’s taxonomy. figure 3. bloom’s taxonomy in the traditional classroom and the flipped classroom (villegas, 2022) it is, therefore, understood and expected in this study that developing a technologyassisted strategy that follows the flipped approach has benefits for the student in the academic writing for postgraduate students course and other related academic literacy courses. results the purpose of the blended learning strategy is to reduce dependency on classroom teaching, learning and assessment. first, moodle platform was used to deliver some contents online. lessons were recorded using panopto, and posted on moodle. a whatsapp group was used to remind and update students on the progress of the course; some learning materials were shared on the e-platforms. discussions of the learning task and content on this platform were encouraged. the lessons were accompanied by clear instructions stating what students should focus on in the lessons. there were also learning tasks to be completed based on the lesson contents and uploaded learning materials such as articles, handouts, books, powerpoint slides, 24 and youtube video links. forum discussions were created for students to socially interact and discuss about their learning tasks as well as the learning contents. overall, the strategy promoted the reduction of the number of face-to-face lessons from 4 to 2 lessons per week. the other lessons were conducted online. additionally, on days that a lecturer may not be available, zoom or big blue button applications that enable a group of people to conduct meetings online, in this case lessons, were used. the meetings/lessons could also be recorded so that students can watch/re-watch later, especially those who might have missed the lesson. considering context, it is important from the outset that the technology profile of a sample of the students at the university of namibia’s business school should be presented. technology profile of the students this technology profile specifically comprised characteristics of students who were enrolled in the academic writing for postgraduate course, in the postgraduate diploma in business management at the university of namibia. the cohort comprised students within the age range of 20-60 years (see figure 4). figure 4. student age profile the study revealed that 60% respondents were male while 40% were female. majority of the students were above 30 years; meaning they could be working and studying as well as parenting. these students make use of various technological devices. majority of them used smartphones, followed by laptops, and the least used is the desktop (see figure 5). 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+ student age profile 25 figure 5. possession of devices the students’ usage of technology also emerged from the analysis in both similar and different manners. it appeared that students tend to contact each other more via text messaging and seldom phone calls. most of them make use of social media platforms, but they hardly blog. they also hardly stream music and play games. the analysis also showed that the students tend to download content more than upload it on online platforms. most students indicated preference of blended learning over traditional face-to-face and pure online learning (see figure 6). they, however, felt that prior training on using moodle was needed. figure 6. students’ preferred learning mode 0 5 10 15 20 25 smartphone laptop desktop devices possession 26 discussion the technology profile is important in the formulation of this technology integration strategy. according to desai et al. (2016), students’ personal, social, psychological technological characteristics can enable lecturers to help students achieve their maximum potential. it can be deduced from the student profiling results above that the students showed a preference for a blended learning mode, which makes it less likely for them to be resistant to the strategy. it also emerged that all the students had technology devices. this makes it possible to engage in the learning processes which involve the usage of technology. they also indicated the usage of technology to carry out various functions such as online banking, text messaging, downloading and uploading content online, and using social media. this could be an indication that the students’ level of digital literacy may be appropriate for them to engage in the learning activities using technology. the technology integration strategy in the academic writing for postgraduate students course the academic writing for postgraduate students course had been offered via traditional faceto-face mode until the outbreak of covid-19 which required social distancing and capitalising on online facilitation. our technology-assisted strategy is based on assumptions that face-toface learning will be possible; hence, a plan to integrate technology in the course using the blended-learning mode by adapting the flipped approach to teaching, learning and assessment. the plan is to create platforms for students to engage the learning contents outside the classroom, and when they come to the classroom, they only engage in learning activities, discussions, and reflections. some of the learning platforms that could work with this approach are discussion forums. that is, a prompt could be posted on a social networking site such as facebook or twitter, and student would participate in the discussion on the platform. the lecturer could be part of the discussion as a facilitator, by providing guidance, further links to resources, and more prompts to help the students think critically about the learning content. students also complete learning tasks (such as discussion forums and online quizzes) which were then to be discussed in class, and feedback was provided. figure 7 blow illustrates some of the learning activities in the technology strategy that is influenced by the flipped approach. using the flipped learning approach to integrate technology in a lecture has benefits for the students. students can have unlimited access to resources; resources that are provided to them, and those that they will discover by themselves. they also have an opportunity to engage the learning content together with other students, both in and outside the classroom. this is good for the students because, based on the sociocultural theory and the concept of scaffolding, students interact using simplified language to assist each other to attain the intended learning outcomes (culatta, 2016). according to van lier (2000), learner-learner interaction can be effective in that simpler explanations are preferred to students than complex ones. students can also benefit when the blended learning is applied using the community of inquiry framework which creates opportunities for self-reflection, active cognitive processing, 27 interaction and peer-teaching (cleveland-ines & walton, 2018). the flipped approach also enables the students to engage the learning content in the comfort of their homes and offices. their access to the lecturer is also rather unlimited by time and space. figure 7. technology-assisted instructional strategy although the students’ benefit should be prioritised, the flipped learning strategy also benefits academics. firstly, it reduces pressure on the limited time available to deliver the content. now, there is additional platforms for the students to engage the learning content. it also maximises opportunities for formative or diagnostic assessment since students can complete assessment tasks online and engage in discussions. it further lessens the pressure of the lecturer being the only source of knowledge, since students are now connected to various professional educators via different learning platforms. in the learner-centred approach, the lecturer is not the only expert of the learning content, but the learning process is also in the hands of the students, and they are expected to contribute to the construction of knowledge. this tallies with the constructivist view that students possess the ability to construct knowledge, of course under the guidance of lecturers (canagarajah, 1999; schunk, 2009; vygotsky, 1962). outside the lecture access learning material online: watch recorded lessons, watch online presentations, read prescribed chapters or units, read journal article, read cases/case studies during the lecture use the learning material to develop learning experiences: run database searches, brainstorm (forum discussions), synthesise texts, present ideas based on research, analyse articles, critique papers, review and summarise articles, interpret data and graphic information, peer evaluation, self evaluation technology 28 the university of namibia’s department of language development, where the authors were based at the time of this reflection, may benefit from this strategy in a number of ways. the content shared on online platforms can also be used by colleagues in the academic community, especially when they have to explain contents that may present them with difficulty. the socio-culturalists would support this practice because they believe that knowledge is not an individual construction but a social negotiation that depends on supportive interaction and shared use of language (schunk, 2009; vygotsky, 1962). the supervisors at the department can also monitor the learning process from the comfort of their offices, since a reasonable portion of the learning content and process is visible and accessible via the online platforms. this is to say, there is greater transparency on what is taught and learned. our strategy enables preservation of learning contents. lessons can also be recorded and availed to the students via online platforms such as whatsapp, facebook or moodle for laterviewing. these contents can be reused (with slight updates) in subsequent semesters, without starting from scratch with creating new contents. in this learning strategy, there is also timely provision of feedback to the students. according to ferris (2010), feedback can improve the accuracy of students’ writing. through forums, students can respond to a certain prompt, and a lecturer can engage them and provide feedback that will be accessible throughout the semester. we must, however, note that there might be some possible challenges that are inherent with this strategy. first, some students may not have reliable connectivity. digital illiteracy may also play an unfavourable role in the implementation of the strategy. “digital literacy often refers to the necessary skills and knowledge of teachers to learning in the digital knowledge society” (li & yu, 2022, p.4). both teachers and students should have enough digital skills to be able to effectively interact with the content in an instructional environment. furthermore, kasımoğlu et al., (2022) elaborate that in the digital environment, the teacher-student communication is important in order to facilitate effective digital literacy and pedagogic access. in some universities or departments, the institutional policy can affect the flexibility of the strategy especially when it tends to be too prescriptive on how their students should be taught. it seems the structure-culture-agency conflict is an enormous constraint for transformation in higher education settings. the sudden migration to the use of digital technology in the wake of covid-19 pandemic unveiled digital gaps in african countries. in the sub-sahara africa, the use of the internet to facilitate online education caught educators and students by surprise. a study in cameroon revealed that poor internet connectivity was one of the pitfalls experienced during the codiv19 era (moluayonge, 2020). lack of internet connectivity in ghana derail smooth teaching and learning processes in a higher education setting (demuyakor, 2021). students in namibia were also faced with a number of challenges to accessing online learning platforms due to the lack of enabling devices such as laptops and smartphones; unstable electricity and the high cost of bundles impeded learners from engaging in online learning and teaching activities and lack of reliable internet connectivity during covid-19 era (magesa & josua, 2022). 29 the challenges stated above may be minimised in one way or the other. for instance, the relevant offices or divisions at the university of namibia should ensure that students have received their internet dongles. the dongles are portable gadgets that the university provided to students, which enable students to connect to the internet using their smartphones or laptops. training may be provided to both students and academics prior to the commencement of the course. using online applications requires some knowledge of the technical language used. in his paper focused on using social networking site, hamakali (2017) observed that: in some situations, it might require certain amount of time for both teachers and learners to learn how to use web 2.0 technology. for example, even if one is familiar with computers, there might still be a need to learn how to set-up accounts and use facebook, or any available social networking website (p. 213). in the case of using moodle, similar challenges may be faced by students, for instance, navigating the platform. there is a need for proper consultation between the school administration and the academic staff, in order to reduce the conflict that may arise between what the administrators prescribe, and what the lecturer finds appropriate for the course and students. conclusion and recommendations to conclude, there is no doubt that technological devises have morphed the way teaching, learning and assessment could be transformed to make relevant and responsive in a digital environment. the forced changes in the higher education context due to covid-19 pandemic should get all stakeholders to re-imagine the traditional stances in order to transform the way teaching, learning and assessment shall be enabled after the crises. this was a wake-up call to agents in higher education context to devise new ways of doing things to emulate lessons learned. post-covid-19 era should chart the right path on the use of technology to enhance effective teaching, learning and assessment, which should promote lifelong learning while effectively addressing inclusivity and massification in higher learning institutions. the internet accessibility and connectivity challenges in sub-sahara africa should be placed in the agenda. in our paper, we recommend that the university of namibia should ensure that students have received functional internet dongles and data bundles. lecturers should shift the learning to interactive digital learning platforms to make the learning process interesting and fitting. in order to contribute to the realisation of sustainable development goal 4 of the united nations, it is recommended that sub-sahara africa should improve digital connectivity and accessibility to higher education institution students. at this juncture, it is important to note that technology and the usage of social media is already an integral part of many students’ daily routine. therefore, shifting the learning to these platforms means that lecturers could make the learning process interesting and fitting. the right path on the use of technology after the covid-19 era is needed to effectively address the inclusivity and massification in higher learning institutions despite the internet challenges sub-sahara africa is facing. 30 references al-samarraie, h., shamsuddin, a. & alzahrani, a. i. 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(2022). beyond the four pillars of f-l-i-p: exploring theoretical underpinnings of flipped learning in the context of english for academic purposes. https://languagescholar.leeds.ac.uk/beyond-the-four-pillars-of-f-l-i-p-exploringtheoretical-underpinnings-of-flipped-learning-in-the-context-of-english-for-academicpurposes/ vygotsky, l. s. (1962). thought and language. mit press. https://languagescholar.leeds.ac.uk/beyond-the-four-pillars-of-f-l-i-p-exploring-theoretical-underpinnings-of-flipped-learning-in-the-context-of-english-for-academic-purposes/ https://languagescholar.leeds.ac.uk/beyond-the-four-pillars-of-f-l-i-p-exploring-theoretical-underpinnings-of-flipped-learning-in-the-context-of-english-for-academic-purposes/ https://languagescholar.leeds.ac.uk/beyond-the-four-pillars-of-f-l-i-p-exploring-theoretical-underpinnings-of-flipped-learning-in-the-context-of-english-for-academic-purposes/ research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 june 2021 volume: 3 issue: 1 pp. 42-59 content analysis of entrepreneurship education in primary and secondary school textbooks tshewang dorji* *dechencholing higher secondary school, thimphu thromde, bhutan ministry of education e-mail: tshewangtshewang@gmail.com article info received : january 1, 2021 revised : april 12, 2021 accepted: may 25, 2021 how to cite dorji, t. (2021). content analysis of entrepreneurship education in primary and secondary school textbooks. research in educational policy and management, 3(1), 42-59. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2021.3 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract textbooks are the main source of teaching-learning materials used in primary and secondary schools. this study was carried out in bhutan to examine if the existing textbooks in primary and secondary schools contain sufficient knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship education. this descriptive study collected 96 textbooks used by students and teachers in classes preprimary (pp) to xii. the reviewers identified descriptions about entrepreneurship if any in the content and the pedagogical aspects. the content included the meaning of entrepreneurship, characteristics, student activity and images on entrepreneurship. the study revealed that entrepreneurship education is not thoroughly integrated into primary and secondary school textbooks. three (3.1%) out of 96 textbooks contained descriptions about entrepreneurship. the study, therefore, recommends existing textbook contents and images on entrepreneurship education to be improved and experiential learning opportunities be included. ministry of education and the royal education council needs to review and revise classes pp-xii existing school textbooks at various levels. integrate entrepreneurship education-related topics in the existing textbooks of primary and secondary schools based on the current labour market needs. however, media information literacy, environmental science, and agriculture for food security textbooks were not analyzed since many schools did not offer these elective subjects due to no or poor ability rating for higher education admission in bhutan. keywords entrepreneurship; entrepreneur; employment; textbook; school. 10.46303/repam.2021.3 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2021.3 43 introduction over the last two decades, employment opportunities in bhutan changed dramatically. the high rate of youth unemployment was one of the most pressing issues among many others. youth unemployment was estimated at 11.9 percent (nsb, 2019). the average unemployment rate has been between 3-4 percent annually. the female unemployment rate was higher than the male unemployment rate. unemployment was more in the age of 15-24 years. according to the ministry of labour and human resources [molhr] (2019), most unemployed youths were found after the completion of middle secondary school and higher secondary school with 24.0 percent and 28.5 percent respectively. according to the national statistics bureau [nsb] (2019), the unemployment rate of youth was four times more than the unemployment rate of the adult in 2019. youth high rate of unemployment was one of the growing concerns of the government. the growing unemployment rate can engender social issues and has economic implications. youth unemployment means the lost talent and opportunity, loss of earning, compromising needs, and goals of youth. in many cases, youth were diverted to anti-social behaviour likely to get involved in illegal means or black market to earn living. the poor socio-economic condition and unemployment have a positive correlation to youths committing crimes and conflict with laws and orders (gyeltshen, namgay & minten, 2015). as a result, such a problem may lead to another problem dragging the state into an unending vicious circle of a problem and unending mess (dash, bakshi & vyas, 2016). bhutan's development philosophy of gross national happiness (gnh) judiciously balances material advancement and the spiritual well-being of its citizens as a result of economic growth. in 2010, the educating for gross national happiness policy was introduced into schools. educating for gross national happiness policy shifted an academically-oriented curriculum to happiness as the key goal of education (gyamtsho, sherab & maxwell, 2017). education is included as one of the nine domains of gnh (gnhc, 2013). such aspirations of the government cannot be achieved if the youth unemployment rate in bhutan is not addressed within timebound. the high rate of unemployment is a result of a high number of drop-outs from classes ten and twelve who do not qualify for higher education. students look down upon blue colour jobs and therefore many classes ten and twelve graduates remain unemployed (idiscoveri education & rec, 2009). it was projected that during the 12th five year plan (2018-2023), 62,743 youth would enter the labour market. among the unemployed, many youths have the potential of remaining self-employed (rec, 2019). since the prospect of expanding employment in civil service and corporate organizations were limited, youth were forced to join private organizations or remain self-employed. the royal civil service commission of bhutan targets to maintain a small, compact, and efficient civil service (rcsc, 2018). there was limited demand for labour in the public and private sectors 44 while there was an excess supply of labour in the market (nsb, 2020). the growth of the private sector was too slow in bhutan to employ the growing number of youth. besides, the increasing enrolment rate in secondary schools has brought changes in the employment rate. the enrolment rate of school in 2019, 2018, and 2017 were 166786, 167108, and 168092 (moe, 2019). according to nsb (2020), nearly 62,743 students will enter the labour market by the end of the twelfth five year plan. without an adequate generation of employment opportunities, the unemployment rate among educated youth was expected to increase significantly. the sustainable development goal 8 calls for the “promotion of sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all” (gnhc, 2019). 20 percent of the population constitute youth (15-24 years). entrepreneurship was a driving engine for economic growth, economic competitiveness, and job creation (dash, bakshi & vyas, 2016). in bhutan, the requirement and opportunity for entrepreneurs were high. according to chauhan and aggarwal (2017) entrepreneurship act as an economic developer and career option and finally boost economic empowerment and selfconfidence. thus, entrepreneurship education-related topics were necessary and should be included in pp, primary and secondary school textbooks. the schools need to teach entrepreneurship skills and disseminate the information so that students can remain selfemployed after graduating from secondary schools. entrepreneurship subjects are becoming important in the 21st century all around the world. the government gives the highest priority to ease the unemployment rate (nsb, 2020). by the end of the eleventh five year (2013), the government created overseas employment program with the aim of sending 30,000 youths to work abroad (rabgyal, 2021). currently, the government of bhutan is breaking away from traditional stereotypic roles in promoting entrepreneurship among youth. according to gurung and tenzin (2018, p. 47) “entrepreneurship education has to start from the elementary to the university level, to train creative, innovative and productive citizens…”. textbooks have economic and ideological implications to boost youth entrepreneurship and address unemployment issues. objective of the study the study aimed to examine the existing primary and secondary school textbooks contain entrepreneurship knowledge and skills to promote and support entrepreneurship or selfemployment in bhutan. significance of the study the study was significant to draw policy and curriculum attention. the study would be useful to policy-makers, curriculum developers, teachers, students and other relevant stakeholders. the study would also be useful for other researchers to carry out comprehensive studies on this similar interest and issues. 45 research question do the existing textbooks for primary and secondary schools contain entrepreneurship content to promote entrepreneurship among the bhutanese youth? literature review the available literature shows a variety of definitions for entrepreneurship by different scholars. however, the definitions are found fundamentally similar. the word entrepreneur was taken from the french word ‘enterprendre’ meaning to undertake. entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur (desai, 1999), a dynamic process of vision, change, and creation (gairola, 2019; nsb, 2020), and a process of designing a new business offering product, process, or services (rec, 2018). according to global entrepreneurship research association (2013) entrepreneurship is any attempt at new venture creation or new business, such as selfemployment, or a new business organization, or the expansion of business by an individual or a group. entrepreneurship is an act of starting a new venture associated with responsibilities and risks (chauhan & aggarwal, 2017). the entrepreneur is the person who has the will and ability to transform mere invention and idea into novelty and innovation (chauhan & aggarwal, 2017). entrepreneurs create new jobs, drive business, and play important role in the economy (gairola, 2019). entrepreneurs apply innovation, arrange resources and finance, and transform innovation into economic goods. entrepreneurs are risk-taking, creative, innovation, and goal-oriented. today, any student who has an entrepreneurial mindset and attitude can pursue a business or remain self-employed. the entrepreneurial mindset is characterised by seeing and creating opportunities, turning ideas into action, leading the way, using resources smartly, managing risks, and collaborating to create shared values (gurung & tenzin, 2018). although the future is uncertain, however, future employment opportunities will be driven by innovation and entrepreneurship. it is important to develop adequate entrepreneurial skills, attitudes, mindset and behaviours in the students. unfortunately, many students learn entrepreneurship skills on their own after they graduate from school and university (gairola, 2019) although a large number of student schools have the potential of developing entrepreneurship skills. willingness to take calculated risks of time, career, equity, creative skills to organize resources, team forming, skills in building a business plan, recognize opportunity instead of contraction, chaos, and confusion are some of the essential attributes in entrepreneurship education (kuratko & hodgetts, 2004). developing entrepreneurial skills will be one way of reducing unemployment. in the study by uka (2015) entrepreneurship skills holistically address the issue of unemployment. besides, it prepares students for self-employment and financial independence. schools have a bigger role to play in developing an entrepreneurship thriving society. schools can change the mindset and attitude of students to start entrepreneurship ventures (manuere, danha, & majoni, 2013). involving children in entrepreneurship involves engaging them in accounting, 46 finance, marketing, human resource management, and the population productively. successful entrepreneurship is possible if students possess the main characteristics of entrepreneurs such as, a desire to start their enterprises and the readiness to undertake any scheme (zimmerer, 2008). the mindset and attitude of youth towards entrepreneurship varies from country to country. in developed countries such as canada, most youth would start their enterprises someday (green & pryde, 1990). however, in bhutan, the students' view of entrepreneurship is a serious concern. university graduates are not interested to start their own business rather many have the ambition to get a salaried job in the government or corporation after completion of their education. employment in a private organization and starting a business is the last option (rizvi, 2017). similarly, for university students in bhutan, entrepreneurship is not the first option. according to nsb (2020) a majority of youth preferred civil service the most for employment choice than other enterprises in bhutan. entrepreneurship in bhutan is viewed as the last resort instead of taking it as an opportunity or aspiration (utha, et al., 2016; gurung & tenzin, 2018). unfortunately, many aspiring youths were unable to find a job in civil service and corporate organizations (nsb, 2020). in many african countries, entrepreneurship education is lacking in the education systems. due to a lack of a broad knowledge base, the youth were unaware of data making, pricing strategies, market forces, and predict market trends (dash, bakshi & vyas, 2016). the entrepreneurial culture is new in bhutan and requires adjustment in the mindset and attitude. utha et al. (2016) revealed that there was minimal focus on entrepreneurship education in the schools, higher education curriculum, and pedagogical practices. the study recommended the inclusion of entrepreneurship education in the secondary school curriculum. introducing entrepreneurship into the national education system would prepare students for an entrepreneurship career by imparting skills, knowledge, and aptitude for entrepreneurship. kruegar and brazeal (1994) suggest preparation as the key element for creating potential entrepreneurs to take up opportunities. thus, analysing the entrepreneurship education content in the existing textbooks used in pp, primary and secondary schools is crucial to address youth unemployment and to promote and support entrepreneurship or self-employment in bhutan. methods this study used a descriptive approach to analyse the content (nonaka et al., 2012). the content analysis includes examining entrepreneurship education concept, facts, ideas, figure, learning activities and images used in the bhutanese pp, primary and secondary school textbooks (zhang & barbara, 2016; solikhak, 2020). textbook collection in bhutan, school education comprises primary school (class pp-vi), lower secondary school (class vii-viii), middle secondary school (class ix-x), and higher secondary school (class xi-xii). 47 in primary school, dzongkha (national language), english, mathematics, social studies, environmental studies, health and physical education and arts education, science were taught. in the lower secondary school, students study dzongkha, english, mathematics, integrated science, history, geography, information communication, and technology. in middle secondary school, students study dzongkha, english, mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, history and civics, geography, information communication and technology, and economics. at the higher secondary school, students can opt for arts, commerce, or science streams based on their academic performance in middle secondary school. the arts stream includes dzongkha, english, mathematics, economics, geography, history, and civics. the commerce stream includes dzongkha, english, mathematics, accountancy, economics, and commerce. the science stream includes dzongkha, english, mathematics, physics, biology, and chemistry. the study collected a total of 96 textbooks used in primary, lower secondary, middle secondary, and higher secondary school. in bhutan, all textbooks were developed by the rec. textbooks in bhutanese schools are the only reliable resource for teaching-learning materials. assessment is also driven by the textbook content because mastery of the content of the textbooks is what is assessed. teachers have limited knowledge of exploring other sources and connecting to the main topics taught in the school. the overall orientation of the education system holds teachers to naturally refer to textbooks as the source of information, content to be taught, content to be assessed and enhance mastery of content materials by students. textbook examination the study reviewed the textbooks and identified descriptions about entrepreneurship by seeking the term ‘‘entrepreneur “or “entrepreneurship’’. non-english descriptions were translated into english. the second reviewer checked the findings of the first reviewer to overcome the narrow or biased interpretation of data (nonaka et al., 2012). in case of a discrepancy, both reviewers sat together and re-examined the topic for common solutions. content analysis the study categorized the descriptions of textbooks following the content of the descriptions and student activity. the content of the topic in textbooks included the meaning of entrepreneurs, the role of entrepreneurs, characteristics of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship and economic development, ways to promote entrepreneurship, examples of entrepreneurship and images of entrepreneurship. image analysis “a picture is worth a thousand words”, therefore, image analysis was carried out to support content analysis. image analysis included what kind of entrepreneurship approach was reflected in the textbooks. 48 findings and discussion textbooks examination out of 96 textbooks, three (3.1%) textbooks contained descriptions about entrepreneurship or entrepreneurs. the entrepreneurship-related topics were found in economics and commerce. none of the other textbooks used in primary and lower secondary schools contains entrepreneurship-related topics. the textbooks were not of the latest editions with current information and graphics. the primary and lower secondary school textbooks focused on developing basic entrepreneurship skills such as communication and numeracy. the middle secondary school economics textbooks included few entrepreneurship concepts, learning activity and images. the textbook analysis revealed the absence of a continuation of topic entrepreneurship concepts from class nine to twelve in economics textbooks. the entrepreneurship content does not have sequences and it would have been difficult for teachers and students to create students' interest. the higher secondary accountancy textbooks discussed only corporate and organization business. reasoning, creating, and application of entrepreneurship knowledge was not emphasized in the textbooks. content analysis schools in bhutan do not teach entrepreneurship as a separate subject in schools. entrepreneurship education was also not thoroughly integrated into primary and secondary school textbooks. textbooks that contain topics on entrepreneurship are only those of class ix and x economics. in case if students do not opt to study economics in classes nine and ten, students would have never learnt about entrepreneurship in the school. according to the bhutan council for school examinations and assessment (2021) 12, 614 students sat for the bhutan certificate of secondary education examination, of which only 2,677 sat for economics in 2019. thus, most students do not have entrepreneurship education and economic literacy. textbooks used in pp to class eight predominantly cover topics through which students can learn basic numeracy and literacy skills. the entrepreneurship content available in the class nine economics textbooks is not seen to be built upon in the content of the class ten textbook. thus, a continuation of learning is missing for students. of the three textbooks that contained entrepreneurship descriptions, it dealt with the meaning of entrepreneurs, their role, enrolment trend in bhutan as shown in figure 1, 2 and 3: 49 entrepreneur a person who organizes the production of goods and services by combining several factors of production is called an entrepreneur. figure 1. definition of entrepreneur source: economics class ix (rec, 2019, p.15) entrepreneur the word entrepreneur is derived from the french word ‘entreprendre’, which means ‘to undertake’. the word was originally used to describe people who 'take on the risk' in business or who 'undertake' a task such as starting a new venture. entrepreneurs are those who organise and combine all the factors of production to produce goods and services in an economy. they take important decisions regarding production and bear the risks involved in production. successful entrepreneurs are rewarded with profit. entrepreneurs have certain common characteristics such as passion, self-confidence, creativity and the ability to confront challenges. they are ready to take risks and are willing to learn new things. entrepreneurs are also self-reliant as they are self-supportive and independent. they are self-starters who do not wait for others to tell them what to do. while they may actively compete with others, they also constantly try to improve their own performance and competence. in addition, the success of an entrepreneur is supplemented by skills such as planning, communication, marketing, interpersonal, basic management, leadership, team building and ict skills. figure 2: entrepreneur source: economics class ix (rec, 2019, p.16-17) there are few essential attributes of entrepreneurs in the textbook as shown in figure 2. the class ix and x economics textbooks did not specify either the entrepreneurship roles in the 21st century or highlight entrepreneurship mindset and entrepreneurship culture. there is limited opportunity for experiential, discovery, inquiry-based learning, and a lack of living examples, applications and learning. the entrepreneurship education content, learning activity, images and experiential learning in textbooks will have a large impact on entrepreneurship knowledge and skills development in the long run. 50 figure 3: business ethics source: economics class x (rec, 2020, p. 25) the ethical business practice has been outlined in the class ten economics textbook as shown in figure 3 to mystify the myth and traditional belief of entrepreneurship being a practice of just making profits and cheating customers. employment trends in bhutan the employment scenario in bhutan has undergone major changes, particularly over the last two decades. this is an outcome of the country's transition from a subsistent agrarian economy to a modern economy with a faster growth rate in the secondary and tertiary sectors against the primary sector. in the past, the vast majority of the population was concentrated in the primary sector. however, with the development, the percentage of the population working in the agricultural sector has declined from about 90% in 1980 to about 44% in 2010 indicating economic progress. the percentage of those employed in secondary and tertiary sectors has increased, representing a shift to the secondary and the service sectors away from the primary sector. the secondary sector in 2005 accounted for 17% of the total number of employed labour forces tripling from less than 5% in 1999. similarly, the share of the total employment accounted for by the service sector increased to 39% in 2005 from 16% in 1999. this is not only explained as an outcome of the modernization of the economy from its subsistence agriculture base but can also be attributed to the rural-urban migration trends and accompanying population shifts. 51 with this growth, the phenomenon of unemployment which was unknown before became a major problem. the unemployment rates have increased from 3.2 % in 2006 to 4% in 2009. in classifying the employment data further, there are concerns related to female unemployment which became much higher than that of male. the national labour force survey 2006 reflects that female unemployment rates are higher with 3.8% than that of male with 2.6% respectively. among the unemployed, many youths have the potential to be self-employed. the number of people starting small businesses is increasing every year. the government has also been developing strategies to promote and support self-employment and entrepreneurship. some measures to promote self-employment include encouraging banks to expand credits, conducting special training on entrepreneurship, skill development, providing proper guidance and mentoring to the individual. figure 4: employment trends in bhutan source: introductory economics, a course book for class x (rec, 2019, p.14) figure 4 shows that textbooks were not updated and do not have provoking recent case studies and current information. according to gurung and tenzin (2018) promoting entrepreneurship is advantageous in promoting creativity and innovation, increase national income, produce new products and services, and new business, bring about balanced regional development, generate employment, help dispersal of economic power, and enhancing welfare amenities and improved standard of living. characteristics of entrepreneurship, such as mindset: turning ideas into actions, seeing and creating opportunities, using resources smartly, leading the way, managing risk, and collaborating to create shared value could have been integrated into the content of the textbook. the textbooks do not cover elements of entrepreneurial culture such as value creation through innovation and change, people and empowerment focused, attention to the basics, freedom to grow and fail, hands-on management, emphasis on the future, and sense of urgency, and commitment and personal responsibility (gurung & tenzin, 2018) to encourage entrepreneurial mindset. it is important to mention the startup initiatives and incubator projects in bhutan. student activity could include problem-based, project-based, place-based and inquirybased approaches so that there is a deeper understanding of entrepreneurial possibilities and generate interest in students. students could be taught business proposal writing and schoolbased or school club activity-based micro-business projects could be encouraged and supported by the schools. entrepreneurship seminars and fairs could be organized at the school or when there are national and local trade fairs are held, schools should facilitate for students to attend. 52 53 figure 5: images of entrepreneurship source: economics class x (rec, 2020, p. 26-27) there was one activity about entrepreneurship in class ten and nine economics textbooks as shown in figure 5 and 6. the activity was not well thought to give room and opportunities for discovery and inquiry. international and local practices of entrepreneurship development have the potential to educate students to be global entrepreneurs. therefore, case studies and scenarios from around the world would provide global perspectives and enrich learning. projectbased learning involving the study of local entrepreneurs, their success and failure, motive, values, vision, and strategy could provide hands-on experiences of understanding entrepreneurship development in bhutan. it was also important for primary and secondary school to inculcate entrepreneurial culture and competencies through entrepreneurship education from an early stage (gurung & tenzin, 2018). 54 learning activity 3.2 1. plan and prepare a field study in your respective teams to carry out an interview with an entrepreneur in your locality. use the questionnaire provided below to interview an entrepreneur. entrepreneur’s profile and questions name of the entrepreneur: ..................................................... nature of the venture: ............................................................ location: ................................................................................ year of establishment: ........................................................... a. what made you start this venture? b. what were some of the challenges you faced when starting your venture? c. how did you overcome those challenges? d. what are some of the current challenges and how do you overcome them? e. what are your strengths or weaknesses as an entrepreneur? f. do you have any plans to expand your business? g. what advice would you give to youths who want to become entrepreneurs? 2. based on the information obtained from the interview, mention some of the characteristics that enable the person to be a successful entrepreneur. 3. if you aspire to be a successful entrepreneur, what are the traits do you need to possess and which are the ones that you need to acquire? 4. discuss the role of an entrepreneur in the economic development of a country like bhutan. 5. do you believe that entrepreneurs are ‘born’ and not ‘made’? justify your answer. figure 6: entrepreneur source: economics class ix (rec, 2019, p.17-18) 55 figure 7: images of entrepreneurship source: economics class ix (rec, 2019) figure 8: images of entrepreneurship source: economics class x (rec, 2020) the images portrayed in figures 7 and 8 from the economics textbooks of class ix and x show a poor illustration of entrepreneurship through images. the images display gender stereotypes and do little to reinforce the positive sense of entrepreneurship. although unesco (2004), explains gender stereotypes as undermining the quality of education, textbooks which are chief materials of education in schools still show evidence of unconvinced demerits and implied principles in the textbooks (yuden, chuki & dorji, 2021). the images on entrepreneurship can be inspiring to reflect and set examples to become entrepreneurs, create employment opportunities and boost the country’s economy. the images need to convey the message that an entrepreneurship career was meant for both man and 56 women. policymakers and curriculum developers should be sensitive to stereotyping contents in textbooks (yuden, chuki & dorji, 2021). the primary and secondary school textbooks need to incorporate robust entrepreneurship education in the bhutanese context. the existing school textbooks do not deliver the right skills for the job markets. there would be limited job opportunities in the market by 2030 with the current pace of development. the unemployment rate in the market kept increasing year after year. if policymakers and curriculum developers do not start reforming textbooks now, it would be too late later to ease unemployment issues in near future. the 21st century demands students to be the entrepreneurial generation with skills such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication and competencies (gairola, 2019). the textbooks will have to go beyond the domestic standards to be able to avail job opportunities beyond the country. the future of work is uncertain in many cases however the demand for entrepreneurship would remain more than ever before. entrepreneurial education in schools will lead to the development of entrepreneurial competencies of knowledge, skills and attitudes that affect the willingness and ability to perform the entrepreneurial job of new value creation (lackeus, 2015). there were 94,165 students in primary school, 25, 299 students in lower secondary schools, 26,813 students in middle secondary school and, 24,529 students in higher secondary school (moe, 2020). there is a need for improvement of existing primary and secondary school textbooks content about entrepreneurship education. educating students early from the pp level, on the importance of entrepreneurship, the concept of entrepreneurship will be natural and can be reinforced message throughout the schooling course. education on entrepreneurship has to continue at an early age. this will change the mindset and attitude of the students. education is a powerful weapon to change the mindset and attitude of entrepreneurship (necs, 2019). the findings and discussion corroborate with utha et al. (2016) who found minimal focus on entrepreneurship education in the schools, higher education curriculum, and pedagogical practices. conclusion and recommendation based on the findings and discussion, the existing pp, primary and secondary textbooks contain minimal knowledge and skills on entrepreneurship. the textbooks address the meaning of the entrepreneur, the role of the entrepreneur, business ethics and it rarely addresses the entrepreneur mindset and culture among others. through this study, it was discovered that the current textbooks play a limited role in promoting entrepreneur education to teachers and students. improving pp, primary and secondary school textbook content and images with entrepreneurship is necessary. reasoning, creating, and application of entrepreneurship knowledge was not much emphasized in the textbooks. the entrepreneurship content available in the class ix economics textbooks is not seen to be built upon in the content of the class x 57 textbook. thus, a continuation of learning was missing for students. there are limited opportunities for experiential, discovery, inquiry, and student-centred learning. activities were few, not varied and not well thought out to generate teacher and student curiosity and interest. to achieve wholesome education and address the unemployment issue and to improve self-employment in bhutan, the moe and the rec should consider implementing the following:  the current pp, primary and secondary textbooks need to be revisited, reassessed and re-evaluated at various levels. integrate entrepreneurship education-related topics in the existing textbooks of pp, primary and secondary schools based on the current labour market needs. textbooks are a powerful tool to break stereotypes. primary and secondary schools should teach youth aspects and prospects of entrepreneurship.  organize mounting workshops, seminars and conferences on entrepreneurship education for teachers, parents, students, curriculum developers, and policymakers aimed at changing their mindset and attitude towards government or corporate jobs and remain self-employed. without revisiting the existing textbooks, all amounts of research will not significantly impact the larger goal of easing unemployment and self-employment. unless this is realized, bhutan will remain far from easing the unemployment rate and self-employment in the future. schools need to teach entrepreneurship education from elementary or pp to higher education for creative, innovative and productive future citizens of the country. entrepreneurship education has the potential to change mindset, attitude and foster entrepreneurship among student and the community. thus, entrepreneurial education needs to be seen as part of a larger societal employment opportunity. limitation of the study media information literacy, environmental science, and agriculture for food security textbooks were not analysed since these subjects are elective in many schools and these subjects scored no or low ability rating for higher education admission in bhutan. further study is necessary to assess the accuracy of content about entrepreneurship in pp, primary and secondary school existing textbooks. for better findings, future researchers are recommended to adopt a mixed-method approach comprising of a survey questionnaire for parents, students, teachers, and policymakers. interviews and focus group discussions with the same groups of participants are recommended. the sample for the study should be equally distributed among the four regions of the country for better representation. a similar study could also be done on higher education textbooks or modules in bhutan. references bhutan council for school examinations and assessment. 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(2008), essentials of entrepreneurship and small business management. new york, usa: person prentice hall. research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 december 2020 volume: 2 issue: 2 pp. 1-18. a quantitative investigation of language policy in international schools in east asia clayton w. lehman* 1 & brett welch2 * corresponding author e-mail: clwale@yahoo.com 1. independent researcher, usa. 2. lamar university college of education and human development, center for doctoral studies in educational leadership, beaumont, tx, usa. article info received: february 7, 2020 revised: july 26, 2020 accepted: august 7, 2020 how to cite lehman, c. w., & welch, b. (2020). a quantitative investigation of language policy in international schools in east asia. research in educational policy and management, 2(2), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2020.1 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract many international schools develop a formal written language policy to address language learning and use. additionally, schools often develop a language policy as part of an authorization and or accreditation process. although a school may have a formal written language policy, sometimes teachers are unaware the policy exists. the purpose of this study was to examine teacher knowledge of language policy in english-medium international schools in east asia. additionally, the researchers explored whether there were differences in teacher knowledge of language policy between schools that have an affiliation with cis, ib, and acs wasc and schools with no affiliation. further, the researchers examined how often teachers followed the language policy and if the policy defined the roles of teachers. this quantitative survey-based study had 544 participants, of whom 387 were teachers. the main finding revealed that a sizeable percentage of teachers reported that their school does not have a formal written language policy or were unsure if one exists. additional findings revealed similarities in language policy knowledge between cis and ib schools and schools with no affiliation. further, less than half of the teachers follow the language policy consistently, and many policies do not specify teacher roles. keywords language policy; school accreditation; international schools. 10.46303/repam.2020.1 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2020.1 2 introduction as of december 2019, isc research (2019) reported there were more than 11,000 international schools worldwide and earlier predicted that the number of international schools will rise to 16,000 by the year 2026 with an enrollment of 8.75 million students (independent education today, 2016). while international schools traditionally served children of expatriates, a change in the demographics of international schools has occurred, and more than 80% of the student enrollment of international schools worldwide consists of local students (lewandowski, 2012; icef monitor, 2013; isc research, 2019). because english has become a global language, local parents often seek to enroll their children in english-medium international schools as a means of preparing their children to study at a university in a native-speaking english country (sears, 2015). background with the rapid expansion in the international school market, some schools find themselves facing formidable competition for enrollment. as a result, establishing institutional legitimacy is a priority of many international schools (bunnell, fertig, & james, 2016; 2017), with some schools seeking accreditation as a means of remaining competitive and differentiating themselves in such a competitive market (machin, 2017). additionally, parents view school accreditation or affiliation with organizations such as the council of international schools (cis), international baccalaureate (ib), and the accrediting commission for schools, western association of schools and colleges (acs wasc) as ensuring that a school is of high quality (isc research, 2018). the decision for a school to seek authorization or accreditation can be a lengthy and arduous task. as part of the processes for obtaining authorization or accreditation status, schools gather evidence in the form of artifacts and evidence. artifacts and evidence often include policy documents, including a formal written language policy. for example, formally written language policy development and implementation is a requirement for schools employing one or more of the international baccalaureate programs (wiley & garcía, 2016). while a school may have a language policy on record, various stakeholders of the community may be unaware of the policy (lehman, 2017; lehman, 2020). therefore, the problem is that some schools are submitting language policies as evidence for accreditation and authorization but are failing to implement the policy. purpose and research questions the purpose of this study was to examine teacher knowledge of language policy in englishmedium international schools in east asia. additionally, the researchers sought to explore whether there were differences in teacher knowledge of language policy between schools that 3 have an affiliation with cis, ib, and acs wasc and schools with no affiliation. further, the researchers sought to examine how often teachers followed the language policy and if the policy defined the roles of teachers. the researchers developed four research questions to examine the current state of language policy in english-medium international schools in east asia. the first question explored teacher knowledge of the language policy in their school. the second question sought to understand whether there were differences in teacher knowledge of language policy between schools that have an affiliation with cis, ib, and acs wasc and schools that have no affiliation. the third question examined the level of teacher adherence to language policy in schools that have a formal written language policy. the fourth question explored how often a formal written language policy defined the roles of the classroom teacher and esl/eal/eld/tesol teachers. 1) what is the current state of teacher knowledge of language policy in english-medium international schools in east asia? 2) what are the differences in teacher knowledge of school language policy between english-medium international schools in east asia that have an affiliation with cis, ib, or acs wasc and schools that have no affiliation? (some schools have more than one affiliation) 3) if a school has a formal written language policy, how often are the teachers following the language policy? 4) if a school has a formal written language policy, are the roles of the classroom teachers and esl/eal/eld/tesol teachers defined in the policy? language policy with an increasing enrollment of students whose native languages are not english, a school may perceive a need for a transparent formal written language policy. a formal school language policy should state the what, how, and why of instruction (ricento & hornberger, 1996). baldauf (1993) asserted that “language policy represents the decision-making process, formally stated or implicit, used to decide which languages will be taught to (or learned by) whom for what purposes” (baldauf, 1993, p. 83). unfortunately, a single ready-made language policy for all schools to use does not exist (fee, liu, duggan, arias, & wiley, 2014). although a school may or may not have a formal written language policy, “unwritten policy exists in the tacit practices of its teachers and administrators, and it can be inferred from their interactions with students” (corson, 1999, p. 3). regardless of whether a formal written language policy exists in a school, teachers will choose to follow, create, or recreate policy in their classrooms, sometimes at the detriment of the students (menken, 2008; shohamy, 2006; throop, 2007). traditionally, administrators created a policy with the expectation that teachers and students would adhere to the requirements of the policy (gacheche, 2010) and without studying, monitoring, and evaluating the policy to ensure that the students and school benefit 4 from the policy (fee et al., 2014; rubin, 1971; strunc, 2020). often administrators will create a policy and consider the announcement of the policy as being the end of the policy planning process (darling-hammond, 1990), failing to understand the need for implementation (anderson, 2003; kennedy, 1982). as such, the policy becomes nothing more than a policy statement or a paper policy. although the policy may be implemented, the implementation of a policy does not guarantee understanding and compliance (darling-hammond, 1990; duggan, 2017; garcía & menken, 2010; shohamy, 2006). additionally, school language policies are sometimes ambiguous and may lack specific details that can lead to stakeholder understanding (lehman, 2017; mcclelland, 2001) or require teacher interpretation of the policy (duggan, 2017; timberlake, 2020; varghese & stritikus, 2005). lastly, because power imbalances exist within many schools (carder, 2013), language policies that specify roles can avoid confusion and alleviate power imbalances often experienced by esl/eal/eld/tesol specialist teachers. accreditation, authorization, and affiliation the council of international schools (cis) is a membership community that provides accreditation for member schools. according to the membership standards for the council of international schools, cis (2019a) states that “the school has documented effective written policies to safeguard and promote the welfare of all enrolled students” (sect. 5). also, cis awards accreditation status to a school that has “achieved high standards of professional performance in international education and has a commitment to continuous improvement” (cis, 2019b, sect. 2). according to the governance and management section of a cis accreditation visiting team report, section c.6 states that “the governing body shall have clearly formulated policies set out in a policy manual to give consistency and order to its operations, and it shall ensure that these policies are understood by the school community.” further, cis states that accreditation status is awarded when a school has “thought deeply about the services it offers to students, family, and community” and when a school shows that it “focuses on the quality of teaching, student learning, as well as student safeguarding and wellbeing” (cis, 2019b, sect. 2). cis boasts of having “a peer-based model that brings together international educators from across the world of cis-accredited schools” (cis, 2019b, sect 1). to serve as an accreditation team member and audit a school applying for cis accreditation, a person must have an “affiliation with a cis member or cis accredited school” (cis, 2019c, sect. 2). the international baccalaureate (ib) is an international educational foundation that offers four educational programmes. these programmes are the pyp, myp, dp, and cp. according to ib (2011; 2014), any school using the pyp, myp, or dp programmes is required to have a language policy. ib asserts that each school using one of the programmes “has developed and implements a language policy that is consistent with ib expectations” (ib, 2014, p. 8). this assertion is stated three more times in the same publication and in another ib publication that 5 provides guidelines for developing a school language policy (ib, 2011). although ib does not offer accreditation, schools must receive authorization from ib before offering one or more of the ib programmes. the western association of schools and colleges (wasc) is an association that offers accreditation to schools in the western part of the united states. through the accrediting commission for schools, western association of schools and colleges (acs wasc), acs wasc offers accreditation services to schools below the college and university levels worldwide, including international schools in asia. according to acs wasc (2018), there are two primary goals for accreditation, and these goals are “certification to the stakeholders and public that the school is a trustworthy institution of learning [and] the improvement of the school’s programs and operations to support student learning” (p. 1). as one of the conditions of eligibility for accreditation, acs wasc (2018) states the school has qualified instructional staff for all the subject and program/grade levels. the majority of teachers are fluent in english and potentially other languages. in addition the qualified staff members have had training and experience in the facilitation of english language acquisition in the areas of reading, writing, listening and speaking. (p. 6) in the self-study report for accreditation in thailand in accordance with the requirements of the office for national education standards and quality assessment (onesqa), acs wasc states “necessary evidence will be observed and may be collected; for instance, assessment data, assessment rubrics, report progress, achievement test results, interviews, homework and work assignments, language policy and assessment policy, etc.” (acs wasc, 2016, p. 59). methodology participants a random sampling was utilized as school websites were searched and mined for names and contact information for potential participants. participants of this study were targeted because they were teachers and administrators in english-medium international schools in east asian countries. the researchers sent a single email with an introduction and a web link to a survey hosted by survey monkey to 5473 potential participants in more than 500 schools. there was a total of 544 (n=544) participants, of whom 157 were administrators and 387 teachers. although there were participants from 15 countries and city-states, the researchers had initially targeted seventeen; however, the researchers did not receive any responses from potential participants in the two countries of myanmar and nepal. the researchers primarily used the websites for search associates, international school review, and east asia regional council of school (earcos) to define geographical limits and to develop a list of international schools to target. search associates is an international school recruitment organization; international school review is a website that provides a platform for stakeholders to post reviews of international schools, english-medium schools, and international programs; earcos is an 6 organization of international schools in east asia. additional resources for locating names of international schools included internet searches, linkedin profiles, and other entities that provide information and services for expatriates in foreign countries. table 1 provides geographical locations and data for both administrators and teachers. table 1. participant demographics country or city-state participants with a formal written language policy participants without a formal written language policy participants with no knowledge of a formal written language policy* total cambodia 3 2 2 7 china 115 26 28 169 east timor 2 0 0 2 hong kong 17 1 3 21 indonesia 20 4 2 26 japan 26 5 2 33 laos 1 0 0 1 malaysia 21 4 9 34 mongolia 6 2 3 11 philippines 15 0 5 20 singapore 16 1 3 20 south korea 37 3 7 47 taiwan 22 3 9 34 thailand 38 15 11 64 vietnam 29 13 13 55 total 368 79 97 544 * only teachers design the researchers used an observational quantitative research design that employed a crosssectional survey to gather data (creswell, 2012). with a cross-sectional survey design, the researchers do not manipulate a variable but instead seek to capture data at a single point in time. according to hornberger (2015), a survey is one way to study language policy, and because this study involved participants from fifteen countries and city-states in east asia, an electronic survey was used to gather data. instrument the current study reports unreported data acquired during a more extensive study for a doctoral dissertation. for the original study, the researchers used the teaching and learning international survey (talis) questionnaire developed by the organization for economic cooperation and development (oecd) as a guide for the survey. according to he and kubacka (2015), the talis questionnaire passed rigorous validation protocols in its development. 7 additionally, experts in the field were used to establish content validity (creswell, 2012; salkind, 2013). as part of the original study, the researchers used two different surveys, one for administrators and one for teachers. all questions were nominal or ordinal (see table 2. also, see appendix). the likert type question contained five points, not including two points, which served as disqualifiers. none of the questions in the survey were mandatory. lastly, the original study received irb approval through the university in which the primary researcher was pursuing a doctoral degree in educational leadership. table 2. survey questions and research questions question administrators teachers #1 nominal language policy (yes or no) language policy (yes, no, or i do not know) #2 nominal accreditation information accreditation information #3 likert na follow the policy #4 nominal teacher roles defined in the policy teacher roles defined in the policy data analysis the researchers used spss software (v. 25) to perform pearson chi-square tests (χ²) with an alpha level of .05. the pearson chi-square test is a nonparametric test used to measure the distribution of frequencies (salkind, 2013). additionally, the pearson chi-square test can evaluate nominal data (creswell, 2012). all data analyzed with pearson chi-square tests met the assumptions as specified by mchugh (2013). results in the first survey question, of the 157 administrator participants, 129 (82.2%) answered that there was a formal written language policy in their school, while 28 (17.8%) administrator participants revealed that there was not a formal written language policy in their school. also, in the first question of the survey and for the first research question, of the 387 teacher participants, 61.5% reported there was a formal written language policy in their school. fiftytwo of the teacher responses representing 13.4% revealed there was no formal written language policy. lastly, 25.1% of the teacher participants chose to answer they did not know if there was a formal written language policy in their school (see table 3). in the first question of the survey, administrators were only given the options of yes or no, while teachers were provided with an extra option of answering that they did not know. 8 table 3. teacher knowledge of language policy (n=387) knowledge of policy teacher participants percent yes 238 61.5% no 52 13.4% i do not know 97 25.1% total 387 100% the second research question sought to investigate differences in teacher knowledge of language policy between english-medium international schools in east asia that have an affiliation with ib, cis, or acs wasc and schools that have no affiliation. table 4 provides a breakdown of the teachers’ answers for the second survey question concerning school affiliation with cis, ib, acs wasc, or no affiliation combined with their knowledge of the language policy in their school. table 4. teacher knowledge of language policy by affiliation* affiliation yes no do not know total cis 87 = 61.7% 17 = 12.1% 37 = 26.2% 141 ib 122 = 65.6% 20 = 10.8% 44 = 23.7% 186 acs wasc 112 = 70.0% 19 = 11.9% 29 = 18.1% 160 no affiliation 31 = 46.3% 16 = 23.9% 20 = 29.9% 67 * some teachers were in schools that have more than one affiliation. the results of a pearson chi-square test revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in teacher knowledge of the language policy between schools that have no affiliation with cis (group 1: n = 246) and schools affiliated with cis (group 2: n = 141), x2 (2, n = 387) = 0.438, p = 0.803 (see figure 1). figure 1. teacher knowledge of language policy in cis schools vs. non-cis schools 0 50 100 150 200 250 no affiliation council of international schools yes no do not know 9 the results of a pearson chi-square test revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in teacher knowledge of the language policy between schools that have no affiliation with ib (group 1: n = 201) and schools affiliated with ib (group 2: n = 186), x2 (2, n = 387) = 3.179, p = 0.204 (see figure 2). figure 2. teacher knowledge of language policy in ib schools vs. non-ib schools the results of a pearson chi-square test revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in teacher knowledge of the language policy between schools that have no affiliation with acs wasc (group 1: n = 227) and schools affiliated with acs wasc (group 2: n = 160), x2 (2, n = 387) = 8.942, p = 0.011 (see figure 3). figure 3. teacher knowledge of language policy in wasc schools vs. non-wasc schools 0 50 100 150 200 250 no affiliation international baccalaureate yes no do not know 0 50 100 150 200 250 no affiliation western association of schools and colleges yes no do not know 10 a fourth pearson chi-square test measured the difference between schools that had no affiliation with cis, ib, or acs wasc and schools that were affiliated with cis, ib, or acs wasc. the results of a pearson chi-square test revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in teacher knowledge of the language policy between schools that have an affiliation with cis, ib, or acs wasc (group 1: n = 320) and schools without an affiliation with cis, ib, or acs wasc (group 2: n = 67), x2 (2, n = 387) = 10.374, p = 0.006 (see figure 4). figure 4. teacher knowledge of language policy in affiliated schools vs. non-affiliated schools the third question sought to investigate how often teachers follow the school language policy. of the 238 teacher participants who responded by answering their school had a formal written language policy, 232 provided an answer to what degree they followed the language policy. ninety-eight or 42.2% of the 232 respondents revealed they followed the policy consistently, and 36.6% responded that they followed the policy most of the time. thirty-nine teachers chose to answer that they followed the policy to some extent while five teachers revealed they followed the policy very little, and an equal number revealed they do not follow the policy at all (see table 5). table 5. teachers following language policy (n=232) degree of adherence number of teachers percentage do not follow the policy 5 2.2% very little 5 2.2% some extent 39 16.8% most of the time 85 36.6% consistently 98 42.2% total 232 100% 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 affiliated with cis, ib, or acs wasc no affiliation yes no do not know 11 the final research question sought to investigate how often the school language policy defines the roles of the classroom teachers and the esl/eal/eld/tesol teachers. of the 544 participants, including administrators and teachers, 365 participants revealed that their school had a formal written language policy. of those 365 participants, 363 chose to respond to the question asking if the roles of the classroom teachers and esl/eal/eld/tesol teachers were defined within the language policy. of the 363 who chose to respond, 196 answered that the roles were defined. answering that the roles were not defined were 116, and 51 responded that they did not know if the roles were specified (see table 6). table 6. roles defined in language policy (n=363) administrators & teachers yes no do not know total all respondents 196 116 51 363 percentage 54% 32% 14% 100% discussion the data revealed in table 3 shows 38.5% percent of teachers in international schools in east asia are either aware that their school does not have a formal written language policy or are unaware of whether such a policy exists in their school. while it has been reported that more than 80% of the student enrollment of international schools worldwide consists of local students (icef monitor, 2013; isc research, 2019; lewandowski, 2012), the percentage of non-native english-speaking enrollment in many international schools in east asia is often much higher, sometimes being 100%. as such, a formal written language policy can provide a school with a clear plan for the use of language(s) within the school community. as the international school market expands and schools compete against one another for enrollment, many schools strive to establish institutional legitimacy by acquiring accreditation(s) and or authorization(s) from various organizations and entities. as part of the processes for obtaining authorization or accreditation status, schools often develop a formal written language policy. according to bunnell et al. (2016), international schools place a high priority on establishing institutional legitimacy. moreover, machin (2017) discussed how international schools are always striving to differentiate themselves to stay competitive, and accreditation is one method schools may seek to distinguish themselves from others in the marketplace. while macdonald (2007) asserted that one could argue that ib was a dominant factor of differentiation in the international school market, it can now be seen as being an enabler. although schools may be striving to differentiate themselves, the question arises as to whether such actions by some schools are merely superficial. analysis of the data further revealed that many teachers are working in international schools affiliated with cis, ib, or acs wasc that do not have a formal written language policy or have not provided teachers with enough information, training, or support to know if a policy 12 does exist. when the numbers are combined, a sizeable percentage of participants is revealed (see table 7). table 7. teacher knowledge of language policy by affiliation* with no and do not know combined affiliation yes no and do not know combined total cis 87 = 61.7% 54 = 38.3% 141 ib 122 = 65.6% 64 = 34.4% 186 acs wasc 112 = 70.0% 48 = 30.0% 160 no affiliation 31 = 46.3% 36 = 53.7% 67 *some participants were in schools with more than one affiliation while ib specifically calls for authorized schools to have a written language policy, cis and acs wasc, to the researchers’ knowledge, do not. however, section c.6 of the cis accreditation visiting team report asserts there should be a policy manual containing policies that are understood by the school community. additionally, cis states that accreditation is awarded when a school has “thought deeply about the services it offers to students, family, and community” (cis, 2019b, sect. 2). in the self-study report for acs wasc accreditation in thailand, language policy is listed as an example of necessary evidence. considering 38.3% of the teacher participants in cis schools, 34.4% of the teacher participants in ib schools, and 30.0% of the teacher participants in acs wasc schools revealed there was either no policy or lacked knowledge of a policy points to the possibility that some language policies are nothing more than policy statements or paper policies. overall, the lack of language policy or knowledge of policy in non-affiliated schools was above fifty percent. however, the percentages of teachers in schools affiliated with cis, ib, and acs wasc answering there was no policy or did not know if a policy existed is disturbing. teachers revealing that there is not a policy or not knowing if a policy exists in cis, ib, or acs wasc affiliated schools suggests the possibility of poor policy implementation by school administrators or outright negligence. these situations are extremely concerning, especially when parents view authorization and accreditation as indicators of schools being good (isc research, 2018), thus warranting the payment of high tuition fees. moreover, the data further indicates there is the potential for oversight during the accreditation and authorization proceedings of cis, ib, and acs wasc. of additional concern is the number of teachers who are not consistently following the formal written language policy in the schools that have a policy. only 42.2% of teacher participants in schools with a formal written language policy responded that they consistently followed the policy, which means the remaining 57.8% are not consistently following the formal written language policy in their school to one degree or another (see table 5). understanding 13 why teachers are following the language policy or why not is an important task each school should engage in during the policy cycle (anderson, 2003). classroom teachers, especially those new to international schools, may succumb to feelings of being overwhelmed due to their lack of training in working with english language learners (walker, shafter, & iiams, 2004) or lack of organizational support (varghese & stritikus, 2005). some teachers in schools with a formal written language policy may not follow the policy consistently because they disagree with the language policy or make decisions based on their understandings (duggan, 2017; throop, 2007; varghese & stritikus, 2005). although schools that have a formal written language policy tend to provide a higher frequency of languagespecific professional development for school staff, this development may not be in a form needed to sustain language policy implementation (lehman, 2019). considering the high numbers of local students that are attending international schools (icef monitor, 2013; isc research, 2019; lewandowski, 2012), teachers should receive training concerning language policy and the implementation of the language policy. according to ricento and hornberger (1996), a formal written language policy should state the what, how, and why of instruction. additionally, a formal written language policy should specify when, how often, and what kind of language-specific professional development will occur to support the implementation of the language policy. according to table 6, 54% of participants in schools with a formal written language policy answered that the policy specified the roles of the classroom teachers and the esl/eal/eld/tesol teachers. on the contrary, 46% of the participants in schools with a formal written language policy either said no or did not know if the roles of the classroom teachers and the esl/eal/eld/tesol teachers were specified (see table 6). stating the how in a school language policy involves defining the roles of the classroom teachers and the esl/eal/eld/tesol specialist teachers working with english language learners, especially in schools that use a second language acquisition (sla) instructional model incorporating push-in support. specifying the roles may avoid confusion and power imbalances that can affect both teachers and students (carder, 2013; lehman, 2017). conclusion the main finding of the study revealed that 38.5% percent of teachers in international schools in east asia reported that their school either does not have a formal written language policy or were unsure if one exists. another finding of the study revealed that 38.3% of teachers in schools affiliated with cis, 34.4% affiliated with ib, and 30.0% affiliated with acs wasc reported that their school either does not have a formal written language policy or were unsure if one exists. also, the researchers found similarities in language policy knowledge between cis and ib schools and schools with no affiliation. additionally, the researchers found that only 42.2% of the teacher participants in schools with a formal written language policy followed the policy consistently. lastly, only 54% of the participants in schools with a formal written language policy 14 revealed that the language policy specified the roles of the classroom teachers and the esl/eal/eld/tesol teachers. assumptions and limitations the researchers assumed that participants answered the survey questions truthfully. the researchers further assumed that participants participated and responded to questions in the capacity of being a professional educator. this study was limited to participants for which contact information could be located on the internet. another limitation of this study is that participants answered questions based on their unique perspective and experience at their particular school. recommendations the findings of this study should call into question the practices of school leadership and entities offering authorization or accreditation to international schools. the researchers recommend that schools with formal written language policies ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the existence and contents of the policy. additionally, the researchers recommend that international schools with formal written language policies examine their processes for ensuring the policy is fully implemented and experiences regular evaluation. also, the researchers recommend schools without formal written language policies establish a steering committee to develop and implement a formal written language policy for their school community. the researchers encourage further research into the authorization and accreditation processes of not only cis, ib, and acs wasc, but also other entities that offer similar services to international schools. additionally, the researchers encourage further research to discover why teachers in international schools decide to follow or not to follow a formal written language policy. closing remarks this study occurred as a result of the observations made by the primary researcher while working in international schools in east asia. in closing, the primary researcher asserts that some administrators and schools are submitting language policies as artifacts or evidence without ever implementing the policies. the primary researcher further posits that members of authorization or accreditation teams are not looking deep enough for proof of policy implementation. lastly, the primary researcher calls into question the peer-review processes used by accrediting and authorizing entities since members of peer-review teams could consist of administrators who may not have adequately developed and or implemented school policies yet were submitted as artifacts or evidence during their school’s accreditation or authorization proceedings. 15 references acs wasc. 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(2020). editorial: are they listening? policy makers and their role in public education. http://monitor.icef.com/ https://ie-today.co.uk/ 17 research in educational policy and management, 2 (1), i-iii. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.02.01.ed throop, r. (2007). teachers as language policy planners: incorporating language policy planning into teacher education and classroom practice. working papers in educational linguistics, 22(2), 45-65. retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu timberlake, m. (2020). recognizing ableism in educational initiatives: reading between the lines. research in educational policy and management, 2 (1), 84-100. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.02.01.5 varghese, m. m., & stritikus, t. (2005). “nadie me dijó [nobody told me]” language policy negotiation and implications for teacher education. journal of teacher education, 56(1), 73-87. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487104272709 walker, a., shafer, j., & iiams, m. (2004). not in my classroom: teacher attitudes towards english language learners in the mainstream classroom. nabe journal of research and practice, 2(1), 130-160. retrieved from https://www2.nau.edu/nabej-p/ojs wiley, t. g., & garcía, o. (2016). language policy and planning in language education: legacies, consequences, and possibilities. the modern language journal, 100, 48–63. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12303 18 appendix survey questions the following were survey questions analyzed in the present study. administrators were not provided with the third option in question one. also, administrators were not asked question three. 1. does your school have a formal written language policy? 1) yes 2) no 3) i do not know 2. does your school maintain membership or accreditation status with any of the following organizations? (mark all that apply) 1) council of international schools 2) international baccalaureate 3) western association of schools and colleges 4) no 3. if your school has a formal written language policy, do you follow the policy? 1) there is no language policy 2) i do not know if there is a language policy 3) i do not follow the policy 4) very little 5) to some extent 6) most of the time 7) consistently 4. does the language policy specifically state the roles of the classroom teachers and the esl/eal/eld/tesol specialist teachers? 1) yes 2) no 3) no language policy 4) i do not know research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 december 2020 volume: 2 issue: 2 pp. 38-51 gender sensitivity in pedagogical practices in secondary education in bhutan yuden yuden1, sonam chuki 1 & tshewang dorji*2 * corresponding author e-mail: tshewangtshewang@gmail.com 1. royal education council, paro, bhutan 2. dechencholing higher secondary school, thimphu thromde, bhutan https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0651-5403 article info received: august 12, 2020 revised: october 9, 2020 accepted: november 18, 2020 how to cite yuden, y., chuki, s., & dorji, t. (2020). gender sensitivity in pedagogical practices in secondary education in bhutan. research in educational policy and management, 2(2), 38-51. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2020.3 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract the terrain of gender inequities in education has seen many changes in recent times. the purpose of the study was to find out the gender sensitivity in pedagogical practices in secondary education in bhutan. the study was qualitative and used nonprobability convenient sampling techniques. the study used classroom observations to gain the first-hand experience of a normal classroom and focus group discussions with teachers and students to get in-depth views. the classroom observation and focus group discussion data were analysed using the process of emerging themes. the study revealed that teachers were not gendered sensitive in pedagogical practices in the secondary education level. there were challenges in understanding gender in education both by teachers and students. there was neither gender awareness nor conscious effort made by teachers to address gender inequality in the classroom. a gender-responsive education that supports the realization of student full potential requires the teachers to practice gender-sensitive pedagogy. to address the issue, there is an immediate need for gender awareness and sensitization among teachers and school leaders. teacher education colleges should introduce modules such as gender and education or gender and development so that the classroom environment is gender-sensitive and gender friendly. keywords secondary education; gender sensitivity; pedagogical practices; teachers; students. 10.46303/repam.2020.3 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2020.3 39 gender sensitivity in pedagogical practices introduction in 2017, the gender inequality index value of bhutan was 0.476, ranking bhutan 117 out of 160 countries (undp, 2018). 6% adult women have reached at least a secondary level of education compared to men with 13.7 %. in the parliament and the local government, women representative at decision making is less than men (with 15.27% in parliament and 11.6% in local government). there are 11.2% women in the civil service at policymaking or executive level (gnhc, 2019). a report of gnh analysis in bhutan indicates that men were happier than women. the female unemployment rate was estimated at 6.1% as compared to 3.6% for males in the urban areas, specifically, in the age group of 15-24, urban females are found more unemployed than urban males (nsb, 2017). only 6.1% of female labour has paid regular jobs compared to 17.8% male labour force. 81% of female labour work is unstable, unprotected, and unregulated low paying jobs (nsb & adb, 2012). 59.3% of females were employed and engaged in the agriculture sector compared to males at 34.2% (nsb, 2017). therefore, it is very important to deliver high-quality teaching in schools and raise the bar of learning for the girls (idiscoveri education & rec, 2009). bhutan aims of becoming a knowledge-based society through providing quality education in schools, but quality education lags behind globally (moe, 2014). although the gender gap is closing, bhutan is still far from reaching gender equality in education, health, labour force, and decision making. where schools fail to deliver quality education, girls are dropping out early (unesco, 2014). education for girls must be seen as part of a much larger societal issue (unesco, 2004) in overcoming gender inequality. unesco (2000) fully recognize gender-sensitive education as one of the factors that enable the vision of education for all to translate into reality. the major challenges concerning education and training include promoting greater female enrolment in higher education while ensuring continuing efforts toward gender parity at the secondary level. however, graduates from higher education are unable to meet the admission criteria of top tier higher education institutions abroad, particularly for professional courses. this reflects the poor learning outcomes of the education system not being commensurate to the requirements of youth today (gnhc, 2019). for example, in 2006, out of the 138 slots available for undergraduate programs abroad, only 26 girls were selected based on the required qualifications. other elements of gender equality in education have received less attention, including equality of learning outcomes. girls' poor performance in maths and science is a constraint on participation and options at higher levels (adb, 2014). despite the initiatives for equal opportunity policies in many schools aimed to empower girls and many teachers being keen to redress gender inequality to enable students’ potential, equal opportunities for girls are found less in many schools even today (warrington & younger, 2020). objective of the study the objectives of the study were to understand the classroom dynamics of secondary schools to ascertain the reasons for gender gaps and recommend strategies to enhance gender-sensitive 40 pedagogical practices in secondary education. research question what are the common classroom pedagogical practices and understanding of gender in middle and higher secondary schools? literature review women across the globe are treated unequally and placed less value on their lives and denied rights, opportunities, and resources due to gender (reeves & baden, 2000). in bhutan, it is an age-old belief that 'a woman has to live nine lives to be born a man' (unesco, 2009) which in local terms is called kye rab gu. gender disparity is commonly found between boys and girls in terms of access, retention, and learning achievement. it is important to emphasize more on quality education for both boys and girls (chisamy et al., 2011). in bhutan, gender parity is achieved at the primary education level but gender disparity at secondary and higher education remains a challenge (dorji, 2017). in bhutan, there have been significant strides in the net enrolment and primary education completion and has substantial progress in access to secondary level education (unicef, 2012). the adjusted net enrolment rate (aner) was 96.8% (97.4% boys and 91.1% girls) in 2018. similarly, gross enrolment ratio (ger) in 2018 for class pp-x and vii-xii was 10.3% and 89.3% respectively. however, there is a need for emphasis on the creation of strong demand for girls' in secondary education and provide strong support for the secondary learning environment for all boys and girls (unicef, 2017). duckworth and seligman (2006) found that boys tend to obtain a higher score on the standardized test while girls tend to get higher grades. national and international results show boys have a higher test score in mathematics while girls have higher test scores in reading (marks, 2007). in the class xii bhutan higher secondary education certificate examinations, on average, girls are performing poorly compared to boys (dorji, 2017). girls are doing marginally better in english, economics, commerce, and accounts while boys are performing better than girls in subjects like mathematics, science, computer studies, history, and geography. overall, the low scores by both boys and girls show a lower level of learning outcomes (bcsea, 2014). the annual status of student learning (rec, 2010 & 2011) studies show that boys outperformed girls in mathematics in class iv, vi, and viii while girls outperformed boys in english. there were fewer numbers of girls studying science as compared to a greater number of girls pursuing arts and commerce. overall, at the higher secondary level, female enrolment was lower than that of boys with the total number of girls standing at 8,604 compared to 8,793 boys (moe, 2014). pisa-d report (bcsea, 2019) reveals that boys performed better than girls. girls outperformed boys in reading literacy and mathematical literacy. however, both boys and girls performed almost at par in scientific literacy. bhutanese students performed better in items of lower cognitive skills and significantly found bhutanese students were below the organisation for economic cooperation and development (oecd) average and of the best 41 gender sensitivity in pedagogical practices education systems in asia. according to hodges (2001), the male and female disparity is found in science courses, medicine, veterinary, english, and technology-based courses. gender-responsive classroom set-ups play a crucial role in the teaching-learning process. however, many schools face difficulty in classroom management due to the sheer size of students and limited classroom size (fawe, 2005). teachers and educationists must be sensitized on the needs and situations of learners of both boys and girls (unesco, 2004). studies show that a gender-friendly classroom environment can build harmonious relations between boys and girls at different stages of schooling. so far, only one study was carried out on gender sensitivity in pedagogical practices in bhutan. in the study by dorji (2020), the gender-responsive pedagogy awareness and practice: a case of higher secondary school under thimphu thromde in bhutan reveal that teachers teaching in higher secondary schools did not know about gender and gender-responsive pedagogy. teachers were not seen to practice gender-responsive pedagogy in the classrooms and their lesson plans did not highlight elements of gender. the teachers’ use of language and classroom management did not reflect gender awareness. the study recommended the ministry of education to provide orientation workshops and conduct seminars to in-service teachers on gender to create awareness. the study also recommended the colleges of education of the royal university of bhutan to integrate gender in the teacher education programs and for its faculty model gender-sensitive pedagogy. teachers' attitudes, actions, and words can discourage girls and hamper their progress in schools. there is a lack of gender sensitivity training in teacher training courses. teachers need the training to understand and recognize their attitudes, perceptions, and expectation regarding gender thereby teacher interaction with students do not harm boys' and girls' learning experiences and achievement (unesco, 2014). method research design the study was exploratory and qualitative comprising of classroom observations and focus group discussions (fgd). so far only one study has been done on the gender sensitivity pedagogical practices in bhutan. participants teachers and students in the secondary school under the ministry of education. sample design a non-probability convenience sampling was used to identify schools. two schools each under thimphu thromde, samdrup jongkhar, bumthang and paro dzongkhags making a total of eight 42 schools participated in the study. the selected schools were either semi-urban or urban by the nature of the location. data collection classroom observation the classroom observations were carried out to gain the first-hand experience with a normal classroom and identify common patterns in structure, instructional practice, displays, and how a teacher consciously practices gender-sensitive pedagogy. for example, a teacher may not realize that they usually ask boys questions about mathematics and how many times they call on boys and not girls. classes ix to xii were selected, as the learners are adolescents who experience genderbased identities. 10 male and six female teachers volunteered to be observed. two researchers observed classes ranging from 45 to 50 minutes in subjects such as economics, english, history, physics, geography, mathematics, chemistry, and biology. the researchers used observation forms that covered mapping student sitting, number of times the teacher called out boy and girl students, and teaching-learning materials used. focus group discussion 24 teachers and 44 students of four middle and higher secondary schools participated in eight separate fgd. table 1: number of teachers and students for the fgd sl. no. schools teachers students male female male female 1 higher secondary school 3 3 6 5 2 middle secondary school 3 3 6 5 3 central school i 3 3 4 7 4 central school ii 3 3 5 6 total 12 12 21 23 the fgd with students were guided by questions around participants' understanding of the term gender, how the sitting arrangement help or inhibit the participation of boys and girls, what kind of teaching approaches encourage equal participation of boys and girls, the provision of equal access to libraries, computers, sports, science laboratories in the schools. the fgd with teachers included questions on the teachers’ understanding of gender, how a gender-responsive school is different and similar to ordinary schools, the emphasis of gender in policies, and how important was it for teachers to be mindful of gender sensitivity. 43 gender sensitivity in pedagogical practices data analysis the observation recordings were analysed for emerging themes. the fgd were recorded and transcribed. the transcribed data were coded and analysed for emerging themes. findings and discussion classroom setting and context students were seated in groups of four and five except in a few classrooms where students were seated in traditional rows facing the blackboard. groups were formed with a mix of boys and girls although where there are more girls the groups composed of more girls and vice versa. groups were formed by the class teachers based on ability. in a few classes, most girls were seated towards the front and boys towards the back because girls were shorter than boys. the classrooms were well lit with natural light and electric bulbs, students were seated comfortably on wooden chairs with tables. a few classrooms were crowded with a large number of students, but generally, the classrooms had between 20-25 students. some classrooms had overhead projectors fitted from the class ceiling, whiteboard, and chalkboard while most classrooms had only chalkboard and whiteboard. tables, chairs, walls, and cupboards (in some classrooms), were generally neat with no graffiti and generally tidy. some classrooms were decorated with student works, inspirational quotes, and portraits of kings and spiritual personalities, wall magazines, dedicated posters for different subjects on the walls, announcements, class timetable and class cleaning rosters. in a few classrooms, there were pictures of male thinkers and leaders. in a semi-urban middle secondary school, there was a row of pictures depicting fictional superheroes with similes written on them pasted on the walls (examples, be strong as thor, fight like hulk, never give up like wolverine, be cool as deadpool, make decision like captain america, like thanos wait for the right time and make your dream come true). the associated messages reinforce the typical stereotyping of males being strong, decisive, determined, and courageous. another example of stereotyping was how groups in classrooms had group names. one such name of a group consisting of only girls was “girl gang no boy allowed” evident of girls making a statement. the scribbled phrase “i love you” implied a typical adolescent behaviour in terms of expressing emotions between teenage boys and girls. pedagogical practice in all the classroom observations, teachers mostly stood in the front usually in one place. teachers were seen to have eye contact with all the students. teachers only moved about the class to monitor tasks assigned to students after a lesson was delivered. it was observed that not much discussion, interaction, or feedback happened during the monitoring. although students were seated in groups, the teaching-learning methods used by the teachers were mostly traditional lecture, explanation, and question answer. 16.6% of teachers used 44 powerpoint presentations, 8.3% of teachers used a youtube video related to the topic, chart papers to assign group work for presentation. although well intended, it appeared artificial as such a classroom environment did not exist every day. normally lessons are well organized and presented within time, teachers are unable to put extra effort to encourage quiet students, especially girls because in almost all the classes girls appeared submissive, shy, quiet, while boys were seen to ask clarifying questions, raise hands frequently to answer questions. in an urban school although, the teacher provided equal opportunity to boys and girls to comment and answer, the boys were proactive, confident, and vocal in answering questions. a boy, for instance, volunteered to lead brain break during the process of the lesson on day two's observation. another boy requested for extra time during group work. the teacher could call boys by names to share their understanding of the topic. the girls were silent. however, a girl shared her view without the teacher having to call her. another girl raised her hand but the teacher could not see her and lost the opportunity to speak. during the individual work, the girls were active and fully engaged. the individual work was reading a topic related to the lesson. the girls were found reading attentively. the students shout out "bingo" upon completion of their task. the boys and girls interacted with each other. a boy, for example, leaned a book to a girl. the teacher encouraged both boys and girls but the boys were confident and proactive. the girls were shy, silent, and less confident. however, there were a few girls who were confident and shared their views on the lesson. in congested classrooms where students sat in traditional rows, the teacher could not move around the class freely. the teacher encouraged the students' shoulder partner to discuss during the discussion. however, based on the sex-segregated sitting arrangement, the student's discussion was limited within one sex. in a remote school, presentations were made by a group representative nominated by the members. usually, girls came forward to present. in a couple of schools, the teachers seem to have been influenced by the observations because in observation on day 2, which was after a day's gap, intended calling out to girls to present or answer questions or "now it's the girls turn, next will be boys turn" were seen. in other schools, the teachers encouraged both boys and girls, but boys were more confident and proactive. the girls were shy, silent, and less confident. but during the debrief meeting with the principal and the teacher, they shared that girls were disciplined, hardworking, studious, and were academically better than boys. classroom use of language teachers were seen to use informal and derogatory language. example, a teacher teaching english often used words, such as "guys", another teacher used a mix of english and dzongkha. sometimes hindi was seen to be used too, example, "are ho samba", a phrase coming from a hindi cinema where the actor uses it to order others carried a gendered message of "maleness". in a semi-urban school, a teacher was observed using derogative word "deu” (meaning idiot) and “zedu" (meaning useless) to refer to a boy who was not as active as other students in the 45 gender sensitivity in pedagogical practices class. the phrase in itself does not imply gendered meaning but carries a condescending connotation. it may affect the particular learner's self-esteem. teachers were observed to use words and phrases from other languages to reinforce participation or correct answer, or to create fun and excitement in the class. for example, a teacher used the french word (sawa-sawa and we-we) to gain a student's attention. it roughly translated to "class, class, yes, yes” as was taught to teachers during a nationwide workshop on new methods of teaching, to draw students’ attention. the teacher exhibited a lot of energy, enough eye contact with students, and good use of gestures and had a good command of the english language. mindful use of classroom language by teachers can support direct instruction or create a conducive learning environment. in most of the classes observed, girls seemed confident and participated actively. in one class, the teacher had a good rapport with students, and classroom interactions appeared casual when the teacher used derogatory words to address boys who were not very active in the class. the words may not imply gender meanings, but it might affect the learner's self-esteem. understanding gender and gender concepts the fgd revealed a limited understanding of gender among participants. the concepts that were known among the teachers generally included gender terms such as ‘gender equality, gender discrimination, gender equity, gender bias, gender is male, female, and lgbt'. 8.3% of female teacher participants believed that “gender is socially constructed because we believe men will not cry only women will cry, men are stronger and women are weak”. 16.7% of male teacher participants said, “gender means confrontational attitudes towards men”. all male and female teachers shared that, “a woman has to live nine lives to be born a man”. 22.2% of male teachers and 16.6% of female teacher participants were confused with the words 'gender' and 'sex' and consider gender and sex as synonyms. 8.3% of female teachers remarked, "gender means male and female". discussions around the concepts reveal mixed understanding, such as giving equal opportunities for boys and girls meant gender equality as well as equity and addressing gender discrimination. during fgd, all teacher agreed that “there is a lack of gender sensitivity training in teacher training courses to sensitize teachers and school leaders to gender concerns”. none of the teachers has studied gender in education. during the fgd, the teachers shared extensively about how social and parental expectations and peer pressure influence the behaviour and attitude of children. 66.6% of teachers said that "parents and society believe that girls do not need to study as much as boys because they can get married and they will be supported by their husbands. it is all right for girls to have basic education. girls can become teachers and nurses. boys should become doctors and engineers”. upon birth, society stamps how a boy and girl should behave, talk, dress up including colour choices and toys. one female teacher shared an example “girls can grow hair, wear a red, pink and floral dress. can play with toys like barbie dolls, can play the role of a mother or sister or daughter in playing family games. boys can play with guns, plough, bow and arrow, and 46 play football". society at large and family, in particular, incite beliefs in children which are passed down generations. it is hard for children not to develop a particular belief, behaviour, and look forward to shouldering a certain kind of responsibility in society as they enter adulthood. while there is a deep respect for culture and tradition, beliefs that create inequality and injustice that do not add value to the development and progress of humankind requires attention. gender-responsive versus ordinary schools 37.5% of teachers said that “they were hearing words 'gender-responsive' verses 'ordinary schools' for the first time in their teaching career”. 22.2% of teachers mentioned that “a genderresponsive school will be one where students are respected, students can reach out to each other and ensuring equality for boys and girls in co-curricular activities”. 8.3% of teachers said that “gender-responsive schools are where students are told that all skills and knowledge are relevant to both boys and skills and where there is respect for intellectual power and capability in both men and women. whereas an ordinary school will be those where there are gender biases, discrimination, backward in thinking”. 8.3% of female teachers shared examples of how teachers of ordinary schools remind boys and girls how to behave by saying “do not behave like a boy. don’t behave like a girl. be like a girl. try to be strong, boys are supposed to be strong.” emphasis of gender in policy respondents at the fgds reported not being aware of the explicit mention of gender in the school rules and policies. participants paused to answer this question. upon probing, seven teacher participants of the fgds said that an emphasis on “mass participation” was there but they were not sure if it was a policy to encourage equal participation of both boys and girls. two teacher participants (one male and one female teacher) mentioned that “we focused more on teaching and we are least bothered on the policy. so far, our policy was all taken care of by the school management. our job is to do well in the classroom". during fgd it was known that, while it was not a policy in the schools, the school conduct all co-curricular activities class-wise to encourage maximum participation. in all schools, it was found that leadership responsibilities such as school captainship and house captainship were equally represented by both boys and girls. during fcd all teacher participants shared “the school has a policy on disciplinary issues, disaster management, education policy but they have not heard about gender policy in school. they would like to know what gender policy is from the researchers so that we can incorporate it into our school policy”. teachers being mindful of gender sensitivity when asked how important it was for teachers to be mindful of gender sensitivity, all teacher participants shared about the current scenario of student participation programs and activities in the schools. girls are more forthcoming in cultural programs while boys are more forthcoming in games and sports. all teacher participants said, "in classroom participation, girls are usually shy, not confident and maybe are worried that they will be criticized and often boys participate 47 gender sensitivity in pedagogical practices in the class”. 41.6% of teachers said, “i assign muscular tasks to boys which i think are heavy and require physical strength to boys”. the pre-conceived notion among the students about boys and girls seem to be brought from home and family. as an example, one teacher said that “when i send my daughter to shop i go with her when i send my son, i only instruct him not to be naughty and break other's things and i don't go with him". it was also shared that in lower classes girls are more active but in higher classes, boys are more active and performed better. 50% of male teachers and 16.6% of female teachers shared that ‘it was important for teachers to understand the capabilities of both boys and girls and give them confidence, appreciate them, and make students know their potential and capability”. 22.2% of female teachers said that “children should be treated equally to make them feel confident, work collectively and feel positive”. 16.6% of teachers said, “i scold both boys and girls equally. i never differentiate between boys and girls in the school”. similarly, 8.3% of female teachers said “i never differentiate between boys and girls in the classroom”. 8.3% of male teachers reported that “mentoring students on the importance of acquiring skills for employment and livelihood. there was no stereotyping of trades for either girls or boys”. although participants brought out and shared observations and issues in differences in student participation and achievement, the importance of teachers being gender-sensitive to inform their actions did not come out clearly. understanding gender and gender concepts all student participants shared about having heard about gender equality between ladies and gents, gender meant being a male or a female, gender equality meant males and females being equal. a male student shared “in olden day boys and girls could not do the same thing but now with technology and mechanization what men can do women can do too, so this is gender equality”. a female student participant said that “they knew gender equality and equity but did not know if there was any difference between the two or if they meant the same”. 4.3% of female students shared examples of gender discrimination in society “girls not allowed to make water offering, it was considered bad luck for the archers and that one would lose the game if girls crossed over the bow and arrows when a girl menstruates she was not allowed to touch kitchen utensils or touch pickles lest the pickles do not turn out to proper taste”. 4.7% of male students shared that “dart game, locally known as khuru which used to be predominantly played by men in the past, but today women to play khuru for gender equality”. 4.3% of female students shared about participating in an international game as a part of gender participation when she was in class x, she saw women players at the games. still, she said that she feels uneasy to play like boys but feels proud when she can play well. the general understanding of gender among students seems to be influenced by observations made in society and personal experiences. all student said that they have not studied any chapter or topic related to gender or how gender and education are related. the fgd also revealed that there is an absence of explicit reference to gender equality and equity in the school policy which is given in the annual student diary. 48 however, teachers believe that schools promote “mass participation’ of students in cultural, sports, and other co-curricular activities" to support gender equality among the students. teaching approaches used by teachers fgds revealed that the popular teaching approaches used by teachers were traditional, such as the lecture method where teachers stand in the front of the class and explain and ask questions while students take down notes, answer questions, and make notes. 11.4% of students shared that “group work, group projects, discussions in groups helped them learn better. when teachers lectured and asked questions, girls shared that they feared being ridiculed by their classmates or scolded by their teachers and did not participate. when working in groups, they shared that inhibitions were not there and they were able to share their ideas freely”. 22.7% of students said that “they felt encouraged and happy when teachers invited students to seek clarification and when they respectfully spoke a simple language”. all students mentioned that “debates and inter house competitions where both girls and boys are given equal opportunities they participated willingly without anyone having to request or pressurize them”. 14.3% of boys and 8.7% of girls reported having monthly student meetings, but generally, boys participated more in the discussion and decision making, while girls were shy to talk. the female student participants said, "we request some of our male friends to talk on our behalf when there were some proposals or ideas that touched or appeared important for the girls”. this could be a symptom of girls’ contributions having been undermined, which when prolonged over a period effect the confidence of girls. access to library, laboratories, computers, and sports facilities the fgds revealed that generally there were no problems with toilets, water, class space, sports facilities, library, laboratory, and computers. some problems that the participants shared were on the access, for example, there were not enough computers for optimal use of students, students share computers and that reduces the time they get to use the computers. in two schools, girls were not able to play basketball due to some incidence of misbehaviour in a past game. 65.2% of girls said that “girls are not allowed to visit the school academic block during weekends”. all the girls shared about how girls missed out on learning during group projects. usually, it was the boys in the group who would be engaged in internet research for materials for group projects, which they are mostly able to do on weekends when they had no classes to attend. due to a few incidences that disrupted the school, the whole opportunity of learning for students is missed out. understanding the educational purpose and value of co-curricular activities for the wholesome development of human beings no school, teacher, school leader, and parent will fail to put in proper measures to support every child to take advantage of the facilities for the overall growth and development. there are examples of support from the school made consciously to support the less noticed ones. for example, in one school a girl has been appointed prayer captain, a position normally served by boy students. the newly 49 gender sensitivity in pedagogical practices appointed prayer captain shared about her experience, having felt very nervous knowing that prayer captainship was a boys' domain by practice in most schools. but support from the school leaders, teachers, and other students, both boys and girls, the new prayer captain enjoys leading the prayer sessions in the school. such stereotypes can be broken in educational institutions such as schools. through fgd, it was revealed that there is unequal access to libraries, laboratories, computers, and sports facilities in the schools. the result and findings of the study are consistent with the findings of a previous similar study done on gender-responsive pedagogy awareness and practice: a case of higher secondary school under thimphu thromde in bhutan by dorji (2020). the findings from the present as well as the past studies had not reached the attention of teachers, educational policymakers and teacher training colleges within bhutan because of a lack of professional forums and platforms for scholarly discourse. the smallness of the sample size could be a limiting factor in publicizing in the research because of the engagement of much fewer subjects, and that the research was based in classroom practice. conclusion none of the schools covered gender themes in the school policy. teachers and students had limited understanding and awareness about gender. the classroom setups and classroom instruction and interaction did not address gender fairly. there is unequal access to libraries, laboratories, computers, and sports facilities for both boys and girls. therefore, it calls for integrating gender into educational programs and school activities. the teachers need gender sensitization through awareness programs and in-service professional development to reshape the pedagogical practices of teachers. teacher education programs should be enriched with gender in education. limitation and implication of the study it was not within the ability of the researchers to have an equal number of male and female respondents. the qualitative nature of the study limits coverage of participants. future research in the same field is recommended with mixed-method approach including surveys with students, teachers, and policymakers; focus group discussions with parents, teachers and students; and interviews with policymakers and school leaders. it is also recommended to include the faculty and students of the colleges of education to find out the relationship between the practice of in-service teachers and the preparation of pre-service teachers. acknowledgement the researchers would like to thank the: i. royal education council and ministry of education for rendering administrative support; ii. dzongkhag and thromde education offices, principals, teachers, and students for their cooperation and necessary support. 50 funding information the research was undertaken as a unesco participation programme 9290114044: gender sensitivity in curricular and pedagogical practice in bhutanese middle and higher secondary school and tertiary institutions. 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(2020). the other side of the gender gap, gender and education, 12 (4), 493-508. research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 june 2020 volume: 2 issue: 1 pp. 23-39 exposing bias through a deficit thinking lens using content-analysis of macro level policies dusty l. palmer1 & kumudu witanapatirana 2 1. corresponding author texas tech university college of education, principal fellows coach, lubbock, tx, usa. e-mail: dusty.palmer@ttu.edu 2. texas tech university college of education, department of educational psychology and leadership, lubbock, tx, usa. article info received: march 30, 2020 revised: april 22, 2020 accepted: april 22, 2020 this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the cc by-nc-nd 4.0 international license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0) how to cite palmer, d. k. & witanapatirana, k. (2020). exposing bias through a deficit thinking lens using content-analysis of macro level policies. research in educational policy and management, 2(1), 23-39. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.01.02.2 abstract educational policies can affect students in a negative or positive way depending on the context and interpretation within the policy. unfortunately, deficit thinking policies exist that prevent all students from receiving equitable learning experiences. this study focuses on a content analysis approach to expose deficit thinking vocabulary or language that maybe embedded at the macro-level of educational policy. the article is intended to make policymakers aware of their own biases when creating policies. the study aims to provide ways to identify and address thinking by examining the vocabulary and language within macro-level policies. keywords deficit thinking, educational policy, biases 10.46303/repam.01.02.2 https://repamjournal.org/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.01.02.2 24 palmer, d. k. & witanapatirana, k. introduction studies in education reveal decision-making for all students is more effective when it involves all stakeholders, including students, parents, the school, the community, policymakers, and researchers, to provide optimal opportunity to meet the needs of all students. unfortunately, the concept that all students can learn is a research and rhetoric myth rather than a shared belief. this is largely due to teachers’ exposure to negative indoctrination to previous research (delpit, 1995) that links failure in students’ challenges to deficits in families and/or communities (valencia, 2010; kennedy & soutullo, 2018). furthermore, richard valencia (2010) argues, “deficit thinking is so protean in nature, taking different forms to conform to politically acceptable notions at the moment, and while the popularity of different revisions may change, it never ceases to influence school policy and practice” (p. 7). systems that do not change for the betterment of all students imply that policies at the macro-level consist of deficit thinking and bias that result in an implicit or explicit trickling down effect that allows for oppression to continue to exist. to address the needs of students in public education, researchers and school policymakers must analyze the content, context, and implications of the policies to identify deficit thinking language, actions, and practices that perpetuate systematic oppression and preclude education’s overall objective, the success of all students. the state of texas is providing a unique opportunity for school districts to provide flexibility by addressing areas of need through the district of innovation (doi) plans. this study specifically examines a random selection of doi plans. at the time of this study, there were 863 texas school districts that have approved doi plans. this study focuses on a content analysis approach to expose deficit thinking vocabulary or language that may be embedded at the macro-level of educational policies. it is important to know that the doi plans examined in this study were chosen due to the researcher’s knowledge of the existence of the documents, experience with the policies and practices provided within the documents, and the convenience of retrieving the documents. the purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to detect if there was any underlying deficit thinking vocabulary and/or language within macro-level policies in general. it is also important to note that deficit thinking is defined in a broad sense and does not indicate that any of the findings are specifically associated with any particular student group. the study aims to provide ways to identify and address deficit thinking by examining the vocabulary and language within macro-level policies. the following question guided this study: in what ways do macro-level policies for texas public schools reflect deficit thinking vocabulary and/or language? literature review the underlying premise of the statement by fredrick douglass that introduced this article is still relevant today: freedom from oppression and fairness despite differences are the cornerstone to safety, especially in a public school setting. one effective way to ensure that all classes or 25 segments of a population feel safe in providing input is by including all stakeholders in the decision-making process. including students, parents, the school personnel, community members, policymakers, and researchers in decision-making improves outcomes, as studies have shown. bringing people together, rather than excluding them in the process, provides opportunities for agreement and an understanding of shared responsibility and accountability. in an article discussing the need for the present accountability systems, valencia, valenzuela, sloan, and foley (2001), quoting arthur pearl, examine the impact of deficit thinking on policies implemented and agree “school failure [and success] can be fully understood only when analyzed in the broadest political, economic, and cultural contexts. macropolicies establish the boundaries of possibilities” (as cited in valencia et al., 2001, p. 319). deficit thinking patton davis and museus (2019) conducted an analysis of the conceptualizations and definitions of deficit thinking amongst scholarly research and centralized on four themes which include “a blame the victim orientation, a grounding in larger complex systems of oppression, a pervasive and often implicit nature, and effects that reinforce hegemonic systems” (p. 121). valencia (1997) explained the concept of deficit thinking, in that it is the theory that students fail due to the obstacles they face outside of the school environment. the obstacles include the individual, family, and community (burton & robles-pina, 2009; solórzano & yosso; 2001; valencia; 1997). valencia (1997) described the evolution of deficit thinking and attempts to dismantle the previous notions of why students are failing, by addressing other variations of deficit thinking, such as genetic based models as well as cultural and environmental based models. burton and robles-pina (2009) examined the historical achievement gap between hispanic and white students and concerns raised by teachers, parents, and society alike. furthermore, burton and robles-piña (2009) note that hispanic students are not faring well on standardized tests on the theoretical perspective of cultural thinking or cultural deficit thinking, blaming the student’s social, cultural, or economic status as the root cause of failure. patton davis and museus (2019) found that there are variety of terms that describe deficit thinking such as “deficit framing, deficit paradigm, and deficit perspective” (p. 121). at the conclusion of their analysis, patton davis and museus (2019) provide four implications for future research. the third implication from their study is that researchers need to critique deficit thinking in nature and context of how language is used in narratives that consequently could produce anti-deficit agendas and policies. a review of deficit thinking language is necessary to understand the underlying drivers of developing macro-policies. when creating standards and policies, leaders can only control implicit and explicit bias when evaluating through a deficit thinking lens; therefore, this literature review explores two underlying causes of deficit thinking, implicit and explicit bias. implicit and explicit bias 26 palmer, d. k. & witanapatirana, k. stakeholders and policymakers alike need to be cognizant of implicit bias and how to identify biases they may not be aware of when developing policies. staats (2016) stated that implicit bias is also known as unconscious awareness. greenwald and krieger (2006) defined implicit bias as “an aspect of the new science of unconscious mental processes that has substantial bearing on discrimination law” (p. 946). individuals may not know they have an implicit bias; however, some triggers can activate implicit bias. such triggers may include race, ethnicity, gender, or age, resulting in negative and positive emotions (i.e., attitudes toward an individual) and stereotyping, which ultimately influence one to have an implicit bias (greenwald & krieger, 2006). ford (2014) argued that underrepresentation of student groups is based on the belief in attitudes that are embedded in deficit paradigms. deficit thinking is grounded in the idea that “students, particularly of low-ses background and color, fail in school because they and their families have internal defects, or deficits, that thwart the learning process” (valencia & black, 2002, p. 83). lincona (2013) explored the impact of deficit thinking on students, revealing an example of implicit bias. lincona (2013) conducted an ethnographic-style case study focusing on the beliefs of teachers about immigrant students that reside close to the u.s.–mexico border, whether the student was a citizen of mexico or a citizen of the u.s. in this study, lincona (2013) found that teachers’ deficit lens resulted in the placement of immigrant students into the lower performing classes and the nongifted classes. previous research reveals recommendations on how individuals can identify symptoms of implicit biases that they may have. diversity initiatives in business, education, and organizations reflect a surge of interest; several on-line assessments are available and free of charge. one such instrument is the implicit association test (iat), which measures the strength of associations between concepts and evaluations/or stereotypes (projectimplicit, 2011). van den bergh, denessen, hornstra, voeten, & holland (2010) used the iat in their study measuring the prejudiced attitudes of 41 elementary school teachers and found that the ethnic achievement gap differed from classroom to classroom, based on the teacher’s expectations. greenwald and krieger (2006) implied that the iat can also be adapted to measure “group-valence and grouptrait associations that underlie attitudes and stereotypes” (p. 952). both implicit bias (i.e., unconsciously knowing) and explicit bias (i.e., consciously knowing) can prompt deficit thinking to drive policy. greenwald and krieger (2006) stated “a belief is explicit if it is consciously endorsed. an intention to act is conscious if the actor is aware of taking an action for a particular reason” (p. 946). greenwald and krieger (2006) reiterated that consciousness drives human behavior. in evaluating equitable school reform, valencia et al. (2001) stated that there is much literature to support the lack of equal educational opportunities and the implications of research, for “improvement of schooling for minority students have often been disregarded by policymakers and the courts” (p. 319). scheurich and skrla (2001) claimed “racial prejudice has changed and is rarely public and overt,” but they also stated, “research clearly indicates that children of color do not get an equitable chance to be successful in school” (p. 323). the idea that educators seek to be color blind, therefore treating all children 27 equally, was explored, and these researchers concluded, “the evidence strongly indicates that there is systemic bias in schools against children of color” (p. 323). both arguments, valencia et al. (2001) and scheurich and skrla (2001), lead to suggestions on how to overcome the implicit and explicit bias that exists. systematic examinations, including data disaggregation or data digs in the form of equity audits, to review biases can deconstruct oppressive systematic actions and expand the asset-driven policymakers’ understanding. equity audits evaluating educator biases leads to finding inequities. one key strategy for identifying inequities is conducting equity audits (skrla, scheurich, garcia, and nolly, 2004) and equity-driven data digs. staats (2016) suggested to dig for data, specifically discipline data based on referrals by ethnicity, and check to see if the referral warranted subjectivity or objectiveness. skrla et al. (2004) recommended that school educators start to increase equity by conducting equity audits. skrla et al. (2004) focused on three areas of the equity audit: teacher quality, educational programming, and student achievement. within their framework, teacher quality includes checking teacher certifications, teacher experiences, and teacher education levels. the educational programming includes looking at student groups that include special education students, gifted and talented students, bilingual education, and student discipline. the third category, student achievement, includes results from the state achievement tests, act results, graduation rates, and dropout rates. furman (2012) conducted a review of literature on how k– 12 aspiring school leaders are prepared in practices of social justice leadership, recommending that educational leadership programs reinforce the use of equity audits. skrla et al. (2004) also recommended that leadership preparation programs teach their students how to use equity audits for improved student and teacher outcomes. in the attempt to put equity into preparation and practice, a texas tech university principal fellows residency preparation program has implemented a school-to-university residency partnership. gabro, almager, de leon, palmer, and valle (2018) further state that university faculty taught principal interns to conduct and frame school improvement work through an equity audit lens. the identification and support of struggling teachers, advocating for underrepresented student populations, and leading professional learning community learning spaces were the foundational pieces of the principal residents (i.e., principal interns) authentic learning experiences. developing policies policymakers employ formulaic steps in policy making, and value decisions are assumed to be “relatively straightforward” and are “clearly formulated in advance,” meaning the problem that the policy seeks to resolve is accepted as an unquestioned, objective fact, and attention is instead focused on identifying solutions to the given problem (bacchi, 1999, p. 18). the effect of deficit thinking on students is a harsh reality. scheurich and skrla (2001) stated that educators are responsible and must address issues when developing policies: “we educators often 28 palmer, d. k. & witanapatirana, k. steadfastly resist any honest, open examination of ourselves, our ways of thinking, our assumptions or our methods” (p. 323). school and community stakeholders often form committees to develop strategic goals, action plans, procedures, and policies for the school. there is limited research on analyzing school district policies at the local school level; however, if the reality described above exists then attention needs to be brought by analyzing school policies that may include vocabulary or language that is associated with deficit thinking. there is also limited research how implicit and explicit bias influence school policies and practices within the school. mintrop, maclellan, and quintero (2001) used a content analysis approach to explore school improvement plans (sips) for school districts in maryland, kentucky, and california. their study focused on the effects accountability systems have on school improvement by identifying patterns within the sips. absent from the study was the lens of deficit thinking. in searching the databases of google scholar, jstor, and ebsco, other content analysis studies address educational policy at the national level. roumell and salajen (2014), for example, studied technology plans as well as higher education college course content analysis conducted by the educational policy improvement center (2014). clycq, ward nouwen, & vandenbroucke (2014) explored meritocracy and deficit thinking in designing policies in their article published in the british educational research journal and as cited by bourdieu (1990) as a “sorting mechanism for different subgroups” and that the policies and system favor “those whose home environment, worldviews and habitus correspond most with the system” (p. 797–798). the predominately middle class primarily devises the education system and therefore the policymakers often do not appreciate or accept the varying needs of those with different backgrounds and perceptions. deficit thinking reveals an effect on the design, the creation, and implementation of policies. consequently, implicit and explicit bias of policymakers can limit learning opportunities for students of color, students with a low socio-economic status, and immigrant students. presumably, implicit bias, or that of unconsciously knowing, could be the underlying reason in developing deficit thinking policies such as the district of innovation plan. this study aims to contribute to the content analysis field in texas education policy exposing bias through a deficit thinking filter to the vocabulary and language of policies. furthermore, this study aims to reach policymakers on how implicit and explicit bias can impact students of color, low ses students, and immigrant students. conceptual framework this study used a conceptual framework embedding valencia’s (2010) six characteristics of deficit thinking within a stakeholders decision-making model. the six characteristics are blaming 29 the victim, oppression, pseudoscience, temporal changes, educability, and heterodoxy (valencia, 2010). figure 1 below provides a conceptualization of the framework process. figure 1: conceptualization of a deficit thinking structure on school policies, procedures, and plans ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ individuals in a school community have differing opinions, beliefs, and perspectives when making decisions on issues; however, their stakeholders’ insights are pertinent in decisionmaking. often, stakeholders, including community members, teachers, school staff, school administrators, and parents, form to create and/or adjust policies, procedures, and plans for their school. however, making decisions as a collective group does not always occur in a harmoniously way because of the diversity of thought. there are several factors that occur in the decision-making process that can alter the final collective decision. factors may include a conscious (i.e., explicit bias) or unconscious approach (i.e., implicit bias) that could create a deficit thinking structure (staats, 2016; greenwald & krieger, 2006). deficit thinking structures can appear at the macro-level in school district policies that can affect a student at the microlevel. methodology the methodology used for this study was a qualitative content analysis design (krippendorff, 2018) approached through the framework of deficit thinking. macro-level policies are the focus 30 palmer, d. k. & witanapatirana, k. of the content analysis. the documents selected for this study are the doi plans created by stakeholders of texas public schools and other documents referenced within the doi. the documents underwent an analysis to determine if any language provided within the plans were associated with deficit thinking. in texas, there are approximately 1,023 school districts, which include independent school districts and consolidated school districts. during the 84th legislative session in texas, the legislature established doi plans for certain independent and consolidated school districts that met eligibility standards. public school districts that at least met standards on their school district’s accountability were eligible to apply. school districts that had improvement required ratings were not eligible. according to texas education code (tec), the local innovation plan must do the following (tec sec. 12a.003): (1) provide for a comprehensive educational program for the district, which program may include: a. innovation curriculum, instructional methods, and provisions regarding community participation, campus governance, and parental involvement; b. modifications to the school day or year; c. provisions regarding the district budget and sustainable program funding; d. accountability and assessment measures that exceed the requirements of state and federal law; and e. and any other innovations prescribed by the board of trustees; and (2) identify requirements imposed by this code that inhibit the goals of the plan and from which the district should be exempted on adoption of the plan. the documents of doi plans were chosen for examination as a result of their accessibility, as they were easily retrieved from the texas education agency (tea) website. the tea website provides all the names of the school districts with a direct hyperlink to the district innovation plan created by district stakeholders. the school district’s school board approves or rejects the doi plan created by their stakeholders. the local school board adopts the local doi plan and then submits it to tea. tea then reviews the district’s plan to ensure compliance with legal requirements established by the texas legislature. keep in mind that the creation of the innovation plan is a team effort rather than one individual. tea only houses the information and does not authorize or reject the plans. school districts that do not have local innovation plans can create, adopt, and submit. at the time of this study, there were 863 dois that were submitted to tea. sample an initial study was conducted using a random sample of the entire population. to create a sample from the population (n) of 863 school districts, the tea geographic classification of 31 schools were the categories that include major suburban, independent town, major urban, nonmetropolitan fast-growing, non-metro stable, other central city, other central suburban, and rural. other categories not used in this study were charter schools and a category defined as na. the researchers randomized the schools within the categories using the (=rand) function in an excel worksheet. an application of a 10% rule identified schools from each category to determine every (nth) school for selection (creswell, 2017). the researchers used this stratified random selection process to eliminate any bias or subjectivity. as a result of randomizing schools within each category then applying the 10% rule, 61 schools became the sample size. this initial sample set revealed findings that were shocking to us. therefore, we continued to analyze all 863 doi plans. out of the 863 plans, 850 plans were accessible for analysis. coding structure the next step in the data collection was to create codes based on the deficit thinking model. the codes used were based on valencia’s (2010) six characteristics of deficit thinking: blaming the victim, oppression, pseudoscience, temporal changes, educability, and heterodoxy. kennedy and soutullo (2018) used this coding system in a qualitative study examining the perceptions of 29 educators and nine students on how deficit thinking shaped the educational experiences lived by students who were placed in an alternative setting. since our study focused on content only and not interviews or surveys, member checking did not occur. data collection and analysis the randomly selected doi plans were gathered from the tea website and analyzed through the nvivo qualitative software platform. as mentioned previously, the categories that tea created for each school district were sorted through nvivo. at first, all 61 selected plans were examined to see if any words or phrases triggered any potential deficit thinking as perceived by the researcher’s understanding of the deficit thinking model. after previewing the plans, word queries were conducted to provide frequencies of potential deficit thinking words or phrases that appeared through the readings. examples of words searched: work habits, these students, those students, and ready to learn. other items considered during the analysis of the plans were the consideration of limitations for students. for example, some school districts were proposing opportunities for credit recovery or other types of online educational programs for students to complete on their own time outside of the school environment but did not specifically address the reality that not all students would be able to participate in the proposed opportunity. in other words, the researchers were assessing the viability of the online platforms ensuring all students are afforded the same access to the internet to complete online coursework from their home. after the initial analysis was conducted for the 61 selected school districts, we decided to proceed in analyzing all 863 school districts. due to technical errors and doi plans that did not exist on schools’ websites, the total number of doi plans that was analyzed was 850. 32 palmer, d. k. & witanapatirana, k. additionally, a snowball effect occurred while the researchers examined the doi plans. for example, sometimes the doi plans referred to specific sections of the tec or specific sections from the districts’ school board policy online. from this analysis, the specific sections identified as having deficit thinking language were examined allowing for identification of alignment. for example, did the doi vocabulary or language match the vocabulary or language of the tec or school board policy? results the study of the 850 schools yielded impactful results from only analyzing the content and not by examining the attitudes or beliefs from the stakeholders or lawmakers that created the plans, tecs, and the school board policies. however, by analyzing the content in relationship to valencia’s six characteristics of deficit thinking, there is an argument posed that deficit thinking does exist within some of the macro-level district policies. table 1 provides evidence of deficit thinking found through analyzing the data. the evidence revealed four deficit thinking discoveries. table 1: macro-level policy coding system code* definition* evidence found in doi person-centered attribution mentioning of cognitive and when students are disruptive and/or excessively absent, our teachers must spend time correcting the 33 blaming the victim motivational deficits in students. behavior, catching those students up, and cannot adequately prepare the students who are behaving and want to learn. these teachers are hampered in their ability to have the time they need to implement any kind of truly innovative strategies, because they are spending their time disciplining students and catching up students who are falling behind the 90% state requirement.** 6 of 850 oppression oppression deficit thinking played out through institutional policies and practices that disadvantage a student group students who engage in the kind of misbehavior described in the transfer agreement and students who do not attend school for 90% (state requirement) of all classes interfere with our school district’s ability to educate our student body in a way that is effective, tailored to students who are at school consistently and ready to learn, and able to focus time and attention on preparing for work towards achievement on state assessments.** 5 of 850 cultural and accumulated environmental deficits temporal changes attributing students’ challenges to deficits in families or communities examine different formats and instructional strategies, such as online coursework, blended coursework, dual enrollment, early college, performance tasks, community-based learning, independent study, mentorships, and credit recovery for optimum student engagement. 7 of 850 educability educability suggestions that students cannot learn or improve, or that if they do it will be because of an intervention has changed the student to be more “normal” in approving transfer requests, the availability of space and instructional staff, availability of programs and services, the student’s disciplinary history records, work habits, and attendance records are considered. 98 of 850 * codes and definitions are replicated by kennedy and soutullo (2018). ** evidence found from the same school district local innovation plan. discussion the first discovery addresses victim-blaming. there was only one piece of evidence identified through victim-blaming; however, the rationale statement was alarming. the focus of victim 34 palmer, d. k. & witanapatirana, k. blaming was to identify any words that may blame the student. the phrase identified was those students. as described in table 1, the narrative of the texts refers to the transfer innovative strategy, which is also relevant to the fourth discovery. the rationale for the transfer innovation strategy from one school district reads: when students are disruptive and/or excessively absent, our teachers must time correcting the behavior, catching those students up, and cannot adequately prepare the students who are behaving and want to learn. these teachers are hampered in their ability to have the time they need to implement any kind of truly innovative strategies, because they are spending their time disciplining students and catching up students who are falling behind the 90% state requirement. when blaming the victim occurs, it may lead to oppression where the student is limited to opportunities from the adoption of harmful strategies (anderson, 2013). the second part of the rationale from above addresses oppression, and it reads as follows: students who engage in the kind of misbehavior described in the transfer agreement and students who do not attend school for 90% (state requirement) of all classes interfere with our school district’s ability to educate our student body in a way that is effective, tailored to students who are at school consistently and ready to learn, and able to focus time and attention on preparing for work towards achievement on state assessments. the notion that students are not ready to learn prompts decision-makers to limit opportunities for the student by rejecting the transfer status at any time during the year, sending the student to another educational setting, or possibly influencing the student to drop out of school. the third discovery addressed temporal changes. the finding is vague and needs clarification from the stakeholders who wrote the strategy. however, the statement does pose an argument for deficit thinking if students lack resources outside the school environment. as mentioned above and in table 1, online coursework can be deficit thinking if the student does not have the internet available in the home environment. districts may identify students without resources in the home environment and make sure they have access to resources with not only district-funded technology, but district-funded access to the internet while working at home. on the other hand, districts may provide opportunities for students to use the school after-hours and use the district’s internet and technology; however, this is considered deficit thinking if the student must arrange to come up to the school. a student that is working after school to provide for his or her family, but still wants to complete coursework such as dual credit courses at home and cannot work on the coursework until late at night or early in the morning causes the student to become deprived of the opportunity the districts thinks it is affording. again, this discovery is vague and needs clarification before deficit thinking can be associated with the innovative strategy. the fourth discovery was associated with educability. even though there was only one piece of evidence found for educability, the same finding occurred in 98 out of the 850 school 35 districts. the innovation strategy is an exemption from tec sec 25.036 and the school board policy online fda (local), whereas the tec, sec 25.036 states, any child, other than a high school graduate, who is younger than 21 years of age and eligible for enrollment on september 1 of any school year may transfer annually from the child's school district of residence to another district in this state if both the receiving district and the applicant parent or guardian or person having lawful control of the child jointly approve and timely agree in writing to the transfer. furthermore, the fda (local) school board policy from seven school districts falls under the statute of tec, sec 25.036 but more specifically states: • a nonresident student wishing to transfer into the district shall file an application for transfer each school year with the superintendent or designee. transfers shall be granted for one regular school year at a time. • in approving transfers, the superintendent or designee shall consider availability of space and instructional staff and the student’s disciplinary history and attendance records. • a transfer student shall be notified in the written transfer agreement that he or she must follow all rules and regulations of the district. violation of the terms of the agreement may result in a transfer request not being approved the following year. in other words, the exemption allows for school districts to dismiss a transfer student anytime during the school year based on the criteria described in the fda (local) policy (i.e., the second bullet point). however, one interesting point is that the doi has provided more specific criteria as it states: (name of school district) isd maintains a transfer policy under fda (local) requiring nonresident students wishing to transfer to file a transfer application each school year. in approving transfer requests, the availability of space and instructional staff, availability of programs and services, the student’s disciplinary history records, work habits, and attendance records are considered. considering the vocabulary and language of the doi plans, the researchers questioned if the doi vocabulary or language in this section is even in compliance with the adopted fda (local) school board policy and the tec. furthermore, the finding of the fda (local) language using the word work habits registered 98 times out of the 850 school districts. valencia (2010) implied that subjective language such as the phrase work habits is subject to deficit thinking. also, keep in mind that stakeholders, who include teachers, staff, administrators, and community members, developed the plan and then the school board approved and adopted the doi whereas tea did not authorize or reject any local innovation plans. furthermore, there is another statistic that is associated with all seven schools that adopted the fda (local) policy that used the specific language of work habits. skrla et al. (2004) pointed out that equity audits are valuable to identify inequities that may exist, and she and her colleagues addressed three main areas to focus on: teacher quality, programmatic evaluation, 36 palmer, d. k. & witanapatirana, k. and student achievement. the researchers took further steps in conducting an equity audit as gabro et al. (2018) elaborated on and found that, in all seven school districts in the pilot study that adopted the fda (local) policy as described above on student and teacher demographics, the numbers within the school district’s texas academic performance report revealed an average of 88% teachers were reported as white. the average percent of hispanic students was 19%, and of african american students was 13%. teachers reported as hispanic were 4.6%, and african american teachers reported at an average of 4%. the demographic statistics reported from the equity audits led the researchers to two further questions. have there been any transfer removals that are justified by the doi that revoked any students, but more specifically minority students, from the consideration of work habits? what was the race and ethnicity of the doi committee members compared to the race and ethnicity of the school district? recommendations several recommendations arose from this study. the first recommendation is that all stakeholders developing policies, practices, or procedures at the macro-level should consider conducting an in-depth analysis of the language used within the document. words and phrases may have different interpretations and may also have varying contextual definitions. however, if the language is not clear and concise, then the readers (e.g., parents) may not even bother pursuing it. for example, a parent that reads the innovation strategy presented in this study that students may complete online coursework on their own time may not even bother to pursue this opportunity because their student does not have internet at home and is working two jobs to support the family, and therefore, cannot make it to open-school night to use the computer and/or internet. the second recommendation is that macro-level policies use objective language to limit the possibility of bias, either implicit or explicit, that allows for the trickle-down effect to the micro-level (i.e., the students affected by the macro-level policy). reading the language in the policies alone did reveal deficit thinking; however, this study suggests the need for follow-up interviews providing clarification and interpretation. another recommendation is for policymakers to adhere to legal statutes such as the texas education code that outweigh local policy such as district of innovation plans. further recommendations include a matrix or rubric similarly based on valencia’s (2010) six characteristics be used as stakeholders are developing and writing macro-level policies that affect students at the micro-level. conclusion the impact of deficit thinking policies is devastating when considering how many schools and students it can affect. in the 2017–2018 school year, texas consisted of 1,023 public school districts and approximately 5.3 million early education students to 12th-grade students. today school districts continue to create and submit doi plans to tea, and it is imperative that school district’s policymakers take into consideration any deficit vocabulary and/or language that exist. 37 more importantly, it is critical that policymakers reflect on their own biases, implicit or explicit, when creating policies. this study aims to notify policymakers that biases exist when creating policies. the study only included 98% of the total number of school districts that submitted to tea on having an approved doi plan. out of the 98% reporting school districts, there were significant findings. the next step would be to interview randomly selected stakeholders concerning attitudes and beliefs based on valencia’s (2010) six characteristics. however, if the findings in this study are accurate and the dois as presently structured do cause at least one student from the entire population of all students in all 863 reporting school districts to face deficit thinking, then the system is failing. all students can learn if provided equitable learning opportunities. if one student is not afforded the same learning opportunities as others then all students is not all students. references anderson, a. 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(2010). the implicit prejudiced attitudes of teachers: relations to teacher expectations and the ethnic achievement gap. american educational research journal, 47(2), 497–527. research in educational policy and management repamjournal.org open access journal 2019, 1(1): 17-32 research paper influences of gender and locale on teachers’ job satisfaction: an intersectional study in nepal milan shrestha* * kathmandu university school of education, lalitpur, nepal orcid id: https://orcid.org/0000-00017506-3004 e-mail: milanshrestha313244@gmail.com article info received: 11.12.2019 revised: 15.12.2019 accepted: 16.12.2019 how to cite shrestha, m. (2019). influences of gender and locale on teachers’ job satisfaction: an intersectional study in nepal. research in educational policy and management, 1(1), 17-32. abstract the personal attributes like gender and locale were associated with the job satisfaction (js) of teachers. this research examined the relationship between gender and js across locale in school settings. this study followed a post-positivist paradigm with a cross-sectional survey as the research design. the researcher used the survey questionnaire among 345 respondents by using cluster sampling and analyzed data with t-test. meanwhile, social capital theory was incorporated to discuss the findings. the female teachers from urban schools expressed higher satisfaction in a job than their male colleagues. in contrary, there is no difference in js between male and female counterparts regarding rural schools except pay, incentive and benefits. however, the job satisfied teachers contribute more job effectiveness, high performances, and achievements. keywords teachers; job satisfaction; gender; locale; social capital. introduction the job satisfaction (js) has received increased attention of teachers and school managements for delivering quality education in the classroom. due to its vitality in educational quality, js in school is crucial to divulge the confirmatory emotional stipulation among teachers. these affirmative emotional expressions are originated from evaluation from their own experiences in the work (nawarini, 2019). it is associated with the work related pleasurable attitude (arif & chohan, 2012; huang & gamble, 2015; itiola, odebiyi, & alibi, 2014; newland, 2012) and it 18 shrestha motivate the teachers in their work (anwer, jamil, farooqi, akram, & mehmood, 2015). this gratify is arisen from the excellent work, sound work place, smart payment, fair supervision and well recognition in the organization. so, the js is the combined form of pay, incentive, and benefits (pib), work environment, supervision, work itself and recognition (barusman & mihdar, 2014; khadka, 2010). moreover, js is also associated with the social capital of the teachers (lange, 2016; shin & lee, 2016). the social capital is the most prominent factor which plays contributory role for determining the gender discrimination in nepal (e.g. pokharel, 2013a). for instance, patrilocality, dowry system, trends of old age supporting from son, patrilineality, roles of son in religious rituals and desire to protect female safety and purity are all the variables within sociocultural factors which contribute to putting gender discrimination. likewise, these socio-cultural phenomena create such values, beliefs and practices (social capital) which were always against the women’s equality towards the male counterparts in every organization even schools (pokharel, 2013b). as a result, these entire social capital related values, roles, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors regarding gender influence on js (djordjevic, ivanovic-djukic, & lepojevic, 2017). the js is the pertaining issues in the school setting in terms of academic performances. the academic performances of students are associated with the js of teachers (e.g. ekpenyong & joseph, 2017). furthermore, ekpenyong and joseph (2017) claims that the satisfactory level of js promotes the working environment in school. conversely, without js, there is no more working environment in school. as a result, it obtains a low educational achievement in schools which is clearly seen in the context of nepal (e.g. ministry of education [moe], 2015; ministry of education, science and technology [moest], 2017). there was majority of students who only achieved c and d grade in the secondary education examination (see) in school (moest, 2017). there are numerous causes of these low performances in the school. one of them is exhibiting low js from the employees (banerjee, stearns, moller, & mickelson, 2017). the presence of these low js reduces the quality of the education provided in school. thus, it is a burning issue in the school leadership and becomes pertinent concern to study in it. in the context of js, the researcher found some literatures related to js across gender (e.g. demirtas, 2010; hodson, 1989; huang & gamble, 2015; okpara, squillace, & erondu, 2015; saner & eyupoglu, 2013; vladisavljevic & perugini, 2018; ogunleye, oke, olawa, & osagu, 2014; singh & kolekar, 2015) and locale (anwer et al., 2015; bala, 2015). however, there are very limited literatures in relation to the intersectional study regarding gender and locale in connection with js among school settings. thus, the intersectional dealings between js and gender with locale are still a question. so, this study aims to examine the influence of gender in js across locale among the teachers. 19 influences of gender and locale on teachers’ job satisfaction literature review job satisfaction across gender the js of school teachers are related to the gender (batol, 2018; jenaabadi, okati, & sarhadi, 2013). the gender is that a subjective as well as objective experience of individuals which helps to determining the individual is either male or female. in addition, the gender is the set of socio-culturally constructed features and relations which differentiate masculinity and femininity (pokharel, 2001). so, the gender role does not always remain same in all regions due to differences in socio-cultural contexts. these differences in socio-cultural contexts rise gender discrimination and it affects in teacher’s attitude, behavior and cognition towards their job. job satisfaction across locale the attitude towards job among teachers also influences through the locale (batol, 2018). the locale refers to the milieu of people where they inhabit (e.g. urban or rural). every inhabitant’s place carries the particular culture, lifestyle and livelihood which contribute to make differences among people via locale. in addition, there is also dissimilarity in distribution of facilities, infrastructures and technology in locale. these variations regarding locale make a contrast in teacher’s perceptions towards their work. job satisfaction via gender cum locale js is associated with both the personal attributes; gender (demirtas, 2010; huang & gamble, 2015; okpara, squillace, & erondu, 2015; vladisavljevic & perugini, 2018) and locale (batol, 2018) of school teachers. generally, the gender and locale individually influence js in a school setting. however, they (gender and locale) both also jointly contribute on js in academia. for instance, the differences in socio-cultural capital regarding the rural and urban locale teachers via gender plays vital role in determining js. hypothesis of the study in the ground of the above literature reviews, the researcher constructed the following research hypothesis to examine the discrete as well as a joint contribution of gender and locale on js as: h1: gender differs js among teachers. h2: locale differs js among teachers. h3: js is influenced via gender cum locale among teachers. methods the research design of this study was based on field survey and it was cross-sectional in nature at one point in time. the field survey was employed in the schools of dhading district and declared school teachers as the research subjects and every individual teacher as the unit of analysis in this study. then, the sample size was calculated at 95 percent confidence limit (0.05 level of significance) by using yamane (1967) formula, and it derived the number of sample size 20 shrestha (n = 345) from cluster while the number of the entire population (n) of the school teachers was 2487 (e.g. district education office [deo], 2016). then the researcher developed the likert scale and it incorporated 26 numbers of items. these all items consisted of five response options: never, rarely, some-times, often and always respectively. after this, the researcher contextualized and administered the construct in pilot testing. from pilot testing, researcher got the high cronbach’s alpha coefficient value (< 0.7) of entire scale and its dimensions. these values indicated the high internal consistency among entire js which means that this research is highly reliable (santos, 1999). thus, the researcher moved ahead data collection with the questionnaire. after collecting data, researcher employed inferential statistics for analyzing purposes. for instance, the inferential statistics like t-test was computed to examine the significant effects of gender in js across locale of school teachers. for employing ttest, the researcher ensured some statistical assumptions (e.g. normality test, interval scale, randomization of sampling, and equal variance test) of parametric test in this study. results personal attributes of school teachers the gender and locale were stated as their personal characteristics of respondents. the researcher categorized the gender into male and female whereas locale in urban and rural in table 1. table 1: locale and gender of the teachers category of differences gender of the teachers male female total n % n % n % locale urban 76 39.0 55 36.7 131 38.0 rural 119 61.0 95 63.3 214 62.0 total 195 100 150 100 345 100 table 1 shows that the majority of the teachers belonged to the rural areas (male [n = 119, % = 61.0] and female [n= 95, % = 63.3]) and this feature is similar to the population characteristics of nepal. according to the central bureau of statistics (cbs, 2014), the majority of people make their resident in rural parts of nepal which is, thus, reflected in the respondent’s characteristics in this study. the differences between these locales across gender show the trends of engagement of male and female teachers in the teaching profession. there is increasing number of female teachers in school due to the provision for reservation quota for female in the teaching profession (awasthi & adhikary, 2012). these increasing numbers of female teachers are probably due to their increasing opportunity in attending education as well 21 influences of gender and locale on teachers’ job satisfaction as access to the job opportunity. nonetheless, the percentage of male teachers is 56.52 (n = 195) and the percentage of female teachers is 43.48 (n = 150). this figure is similar to the department of education (doe, 2014) which maintains that the male teachers were in the majority (62.68 %) in dhading district. there are altogether 65 percent male teachers and remaining 35 percent were female teachers in nepal (moe, 2015). testing the assumptions for t-test the researcher ensured four statistical assumptions for computing the t-test in this study. firstly, the researcher established a normal distribution of data by operating normality test, particularly kurtosis and skewness. the researcher, derived the values of zkurt (-.54 to 0.35) and zskew (-.04 to -.98) in relation to js and its entire dimensions between -1 and +1 respectively. thus, the data are normally distributed (garson, 2012). secondly, the researcher randomly selected one cluster (rc) by adopting lottery process. as a result, this procedure of selecting sample ensured the random sampling process and satisfied the second assumption for operating t-test. thirdly, researcher performed levene’s equal variance test and derived results as in table 2. table 2: levene’s equal variance test result of ocb indicator construct levene’s equal variance test statistics df1 df2 sig. gender job satisfaction .42 1 343 .51 pay, incentive and benefit .42 1 343 .51 work itself .93 1 343 .33 work environment .00 1 343 .98 supervision .23 1 343 .62 recognition .07 1 343 .78 job satisfaction 7.13 1 343 .01 pay, incentive and benefit .25 1 343 .61 locale work itself .88 1 343 .34 work environment 1.87 1 343 .17 supervision 5.20 1 343 .02 recognition 2.25 1 343 .13 among the test statistics, if the p value is more than 0.05, it signifies that the constructed null hypothesis is accepted (subedi, 2017). however, the derived test statistics from levene’s test of equal variance reveals that all the variables pose the p value > 0.05 which means the school teachers have equal variance and it allows the researcher to perform ttest in majority of the variables. furthermore, the js and supervision were not satisfied in case of locale. in this 22 shrestha context, the researcher found ehiwario, osemeke, and nnaemeka (2013) who suggested that the moderate violation of equality of variances did not critically affect the parametric test. thus, it was robust to this criterion. it is considerable to this study. so, the researcher decided to perform independent t-test in this case. the researcher is aware about the occurrence of any different results while operating parametric test instead of non-parametric test in that constructs which violated the equal variances. the researcher compared all significant results of parametric test with the nonparametric test. in this context, if the parametric test provides significant result, but it differs from the result of non-parametric tests, particularly to a high extent (more than 0.1 p value), the researcher considered the results to be insignificant. job satisfaction and gender of teachers the researcher examines the influence of gender (male and female) in js by operating the independent ttest and it contributes to derive statistical results. this statistical procedure contributes to assert the js (pib, work itself, working environment, supervision and recognition) among school teachers through calculating the values of mean and standard deviation (table 3). table 3: js among teachers’ across their gender js across gender gender n mean sd t value ‘p’ value sig. (2 tailed) pib male 195 3.27 .81 1.02 .30 female 150 3.18 .85 work itself male 195 4.03 .62 -1.25 .21 female 150 4.11 .65 work environment male 195 3.89 .68 -.46 .64 female 150 3.93 .68 supervision male 195 3.97 1.02 -.06 .94 female 150 3.98 1.01 recognition male 195 3.06 .84 -1.26 .20 female 150 3.17 .80 job satisfaction male 195 3.64 .57 -.46 .64 female 150 3.67 .59 table 3 statistically explains js of school teachers by their gender. the results presented in the table above were obtained through the independent ttest. this section deals with the levene’s test for equality of variances and derived the t and p values. the derived p value was observed to be greater than the alpha (0.05) in relation to all dimensions of js. this statistical 23 influences of gender and locale on teachers’ job satisfaction impression shows that there is no significant difference in dimensions of js (pib, work itself, working environment, supervision and recognition) across gender of teachers. in addition, table 3 also shows that there is no significance difference in js (t = -.46, p = .64) across gender. this impression is similar to demirtas (2010) and the researcher conveys that the gender of the teachers did not make meaningful differences (t = 1.68, p = .09) in js. female (mean = 3.54, sd = .897) and male (mean = 3.39, sd = .909) scores in terms of gender depict that the level of js among female teachers is slightly higher than that of their male counterparts (demirtas, 2010). in addition to this, rao (2015) also expressed that there is no significant difference on teachers’ js in relation to their gender (t = 1.07*). these both statistical inferences show that gender plays important roles to determine significant changes in js among school teachers. both male and female teachers got equal challenges, opportunities, benefits and workloads in school. the school leadership was not biased to the teachers based on their gender. thus, gender of the teachers did not influence to determine js. in other words, it is claimed that the gender of school teacher did not make any change in entire js along with its dimensions. job satisfaction and locale of teachers by their locale, this study categorized the entire respondents into two groups: rural and urban to examine its significance differences in their js. the significant differences were determined by obtaining the mean score and standard deviation from collected data. in addition, the operated statistical test (independent ttest) provided the ‘t’ score and ‘p’ value and these values contribute to decide whether there is a significance difference in js (pib, work itself, working environment, supervision and recognition) across the locale of the sample teachers (table 4). table 4 provides a guide for presenting and explaining the statistical results based on the derived t and p values through operating levene’s test for equality of variances. this statistical test contributes to derive the mean, standard deviation, t score and p value in relation to each dimension of js across the locale of school teachers. among the derived values (t = 1.96, p = 0.05), supervision only consists of lower values than alpha (0.05). but in this case, the assumption of equality of variances was violated. so, the researcher also performed mannwhitney u test as a parametric test and found no significant result (p > 0.05). thus, the researcher makes a decision that the null hypothesis is accepted which means that the supervision is not significantly different due to the locale of the teachers. hence, the entire js as well as its all dimensions does not seem to be different with each other, particularly between the teachers from rural and urban area. in other words, the locale of teachers does not make influential changes in js. 24 shrestha table 4: js among teachers’ across their locale js across locale locale n mean sd t value ‘p’ value sig. (2tailed) pib urban 131 3.31 .80 1.39 .16 rural 214 3.18 .84 work itself urban 131 4.11 .58 1.17 .24 rural 214 4.03 .66 work environment urban 131 3.93 .64 .59 .55 rural 214 3.89 .70 supervision urban 131 4.11 .91 1.96 .05 rural 214 3.89 1.06 recognition urban 131 3.20 .76 1.71 .08 rural 214 3.05 .85 job satisfaction urban 131 3.73 .48 1.92 .06 rural 214 3.61 .63 gender and job satisfaction across locale of teachers by their locale, the entire respondents were categorized into two groups: rural and urban to examine its significance differences of gender in their js. the significant differences were determined by obtaining the mean score and standard deviation from collected data. in addition, the operated statistical test (independent ttest) provided the ‘t’ score and ‘p’ value and these values contribute to decide whether there is a significant difference in js (pib, work itself, working environment, supervision and recognition) across the locale with the gender of the sample teachers (table 5). the levene’s test for equality of variances derived the statistical results (t = 2.03, p = .04) which explain that there were significant differences in pib across gender among rural locale teachers. in addition, the obtained statistical values of male (mean = 3.29, sd = .82) and female (mean = 3.05, sd = .86) teachers respectively. these scores show that the male teachers belonging to the rural locality consist of higher js in terms of pib than those who were from urban locality. moreover, the entire js as well as its all dimensions (except pib) does not seem to be different with each other, particularly between the teachers from rural locale. in other words, the gender does not make influential changes in js among rural resident teachers. 25 influences of gender and locale on teachers’ job satisfaction table 5: influences of gender in js across locale among teachers indicators locale gender n mean std. deviation t sig (2tailed) pay, incentive and benefit urban male 76 3.25 .80 -1.04 .29 female 55 3.40 .81 rural male 119 3.29 .82 2.03 .04 female 95 3.05 .86 work itself urban male 76 4.00 .57 -2.64 .01 female 55 4.27 .56 rural male 119 4.04 .65 .19 .84 female 95 4.02 .68 work environment urban male 76 3.83 .65 -2.11 .03 female 55 4.07 .60 rural male 119 3.93 .70 .88 .37 female 95 3.84 .72 supervision urban male 76 4.00 .99 -1.78 .07 female 55 4.27 .77 rural male 119 3.96 1.04 1.00 .31 female 95 3.81 1.09 recognition urban male 76 3.12 .78 -1.36 .17 female 55 3.31 .73 rural male 119 3.02 .87 -.64 .52 female 95 3.09 .83 job satisfaction urban male 76 3.64 .48 -2.62 .01 female 55 3.86 .46 rural male 119 3.65 .63 .94 .34 female 95 3.56 .63 in side of urban resident teachers, the work itself (t = -2.64, p = .01) and working environment (t = -2.11, p = .03) seems significantly different across gender. in addition, statistical computation also derived the mean score and standard deviation of male and female groups of teachers in relation to their js. among them, in case of work itself, the female teachers (mean = 4.27, sd = .56) poses more satisfaction in the job than the male (mean = 4.00, sd = .57) teachers. it is also similar to the work environment, where the male teachers got low satisfaction (mean = 3.83, sd = .65) levels than female (mean = 4.07, sd = .60) teachers. furthermore, js seems significantly influenced by gender (t = -2.62, p = .01) regard to urban locale teachers. besides this, all the components of js are not seen significantly different in respective components of js across gender of urban school teachers. 26 shrestha discussion this study investigated the contribution of gender in js across the locale of the teachers. the gender and locale are influenced by the capitals of school teachers. however, in overall, the gender and locale both individually didn’t make significant differences in determining js among the study groups. this finding is similar to the research done by anwer et al. (2015) and bala (2015). contrary it, when the researcher employed the intersectional study in js by seeing the combined influence of the gender cum locale among school teachers, they contributed their js and its some components. more specifically, the findings revealed that the female teachers from urban residency consists little higher level of the js than their male counterparts and rural locale teachers in this study. similarly, the male teachers from rural areas expressed slightly high js than their female colleagues in terms of pay, incentive and their salaries. generally, in context of rural scenario, the female experienced subtler discrimination in family and society (food and agriculture organization [fao], 2018). they were traditionally limited in the household chores and deprive from access to the education and job opportunity. in this decade, the engagement of female in the teaching profession is in increasing trends, but still their involvement is less than the male in schools as a teacher (moest, 2017). these results are due to the strong societal believes which advocates the traditional gender role and socialization. eventually, this tradition puts the females in isolation lacking the opportunity in their career advancement. likewise, these female teachers hold more workload than the male teachers. for instance, the female teachers carry the dual responsibility of household work (huang & gamble, 2015) and school work. so, they have not got the profuse time to engage in their profession than their male colleagues. due to this, the rural inhabited female teachers did not show more willingness to exhibit extra work in school than the male teachers so they are deprived from extra benefits and incentives than male colleagues. subsequently, they expressed low js in relation to pib than male teachers as the pertinent milieu of nepal particularly in rural areas. this disparate result is the outcome of gender pay gap (kanel, 2017) in nepal, where the rural locale female faces more disparity (e.g. baral, 2017) in comparison to the urban inhabitant. for instance, the teaching profession in nepal is also not excluding from this situation (bista, 2006) due to the existing socio-cultural value system. thus, gender based disparity is deeply rooted in rural parts of nepal as the form of social capital like: opportunity system, male preferences, roles of male teachers in school events, female safety and purity etc. (e.g. pokharel, 2013a; pokharel, 2013b). these practices of gender disparity ultimately contribute the low female satisfaction with pay considering rural locale. on other hand, the urban female teacher merely expressed more satisfaction in their job compare to their male counterparts. whatsoever, this result is similar to many previous studies (e.g. demirtas, 2010; murage & kibera, 2014; rao, 2015). more specifically, the urban females were more satisfied than male teachers in nature of work, and working environment. huang 27 influences of gender and locale on teachers’ job satisfaction and gamble (2015) gave a reason that the male and female employees had their different individual expectations. more specifically, female compare their job with other female’s job not with male counterparts (huang & gamble, 2015). thus, the urban female teachers were more satisfied in their job. furthermore, the teaching profession is recognized as a highly intellectual job and it needs continuous rigorous study for facilitating the class. for this purpose, it requires an extra labor at home, particularly beyond the office time for preparing the teaching-learning activities in the classroom. however, the nepalese urban male teachers took more extra classes than their female counterparts in or out of the school as the name of coaching or tuition classes (rijal, dahal, katwal, nepal, & luitel, 2014). likewise, the male teachers also engage more in sociopolitical activities than their female contemporaries. considering it, the urban male teachers become busier than urban female teachers. so, they do not have sufficient time to prepare their lecture (e.g. rijal et al., 2014) than female teachers. as a result, the urban male teachers suffer from workload, job stress, busy schedules, and improper working conditions. due to these jobs related hazard influences the teacher to express low satisfaction (chaplin, 2006). in addition, the society also gives preferences to the foreign returnee than homeland employees (poudel, 2017) particularly in males. among these ex-overseas employees, the males were considerably more in number than females. these socio-cultural trends of foreign employment make an immense pressure on male youth for abroad migration. thus, these constant worries associated with abroad migration drives urban male teachers towards job dissatisfaction. conversely, the teaching job (work itself and environment) is more convenient to the urban females because they can enjoy a long vacation and perform their household chores (rijal et al., 2014) beyond the school time. likewise, their involvement in job makes them economically stronger than other females who solely depended on their spouse and families. subsequently, the economical independency made the female teachers get appreciation and recognition from their society. as well as, there are also differences in male and female teachers in terms of their culture, resources, social life and norms of behavior. these things refer to as the capital of teachers. in bourdieu’s theory, the capital is achieved through cultural values, social interaction as well as facilities to signify the positive social relationship (bakhtiari et al., 2014). thus, the differences in the capitals vary the field (school) and habitus (js) of the teachers. overall, the social capital, favorable job nature, and working condition contributes urban female to willing more satisfaction in job than male school teachers. however, in this decade, the globalization, modernization, democracy, migration and easy access to education as well as information have made a cultural transformation (gellner, pfaffczarnecka, & whelpton, 1997). many people are willing to accept the humanitarian values and respects to the gender equality and regionalism. these changes contribute to gradually wiping down the demarcation in gender and locale. consequently, it is blurring the stratification among teachers (e.g. gellner et al., 1997). thus the gender and locale, individually did not make any significant differences in overall js among school teachers in relation to their social capital. the 28 shrestha social capital is positively associated to the js (lange, 2016; shin & lee, 2016) and it creates the highest quality of life (requena, 2003) and working environment in the schools. it gives a sense that the presence of good social capital and high js among teachers are associated with the high performance, work effectiveness and achievement in schools. conclusion the gender and locale plays a remarkable role to promote js and cultivate effective leadership in school settings. beyond it, the social capital also influences the js due to creating distinctness in the gender and locale among each teacher. that is why; the intersection between gender and locale on basis of social capital reveal the significant differences in js at school settings. for instance, the urban residency female teachers expressed high js than their male colleagues, particularly in job nature and working environment. in contrary to it, due to the pay gap based on gender makes the low satisfaction in pib among rural female than male teachers. this contrasting outcome is due to the result of deeply rooted gender based disparity in nepalese society especially in rural areas. however, the changes in social capital contribute to demarcate the disparity regarding gender and locale. thus, there is no significant difference in js across gender and locale among teachers in school settings. overall, the teachers with js perform better job, work effectiveness and high achievements. implications and directions for future research this research envisions the influences of gender cum locale in js as the inter-sectional study among school setting. however, due to adopting quantitative approaches, this study didn’t explore why the socio-cultural factors associating gender and locale brings differences in js? for acquiring the answer of above the question, there is need of employing qualitative or mixed methods approaches. so, this research will be useful for other imminent scholars to find a research gap while reviewing js across the gender cum locale beyond the conventional approaches. more specifically, this study divulges that gender and locale, separately makes no differences in js. however, the intersection between locale and gender brings differences on js among urban school teachers. thus, this study provides following issues which need to in-depth study for upcoming researchers as; 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(1967). elementary sampling theory. englewood 65cliffs, nj: prentice-hall. https://ideas.repec.org/s/hit/hitcei.html research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 volume: 5 issue: 1 2023 pp. 1-17 revisiting 'great media debate': technology-mediated learning and ground realities across the indian institutes of technology karanam pushpanadham*a, sayantan mandalb & sheriya sareenb * corresponding author e-mail: pushpanadham@gmail.com a. faculty of education and psychology, maharaja sayajirao university of baroda, gujarat, india b. department of humanities and social sciences, indian institute of technology jammu (iit jammu), jammu, jammu & kashmir, india article info received: september 5, 2022 accepted: november 14, 2022 published: january 28, 2023 how to cite pushpanadham, k., mandal, s. & sareen, s. (2023). revisiting 'great media debate': technology-mediated learning and ground realities across the indian institutes of technology. research in educational policy and management, 5(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2023.2 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic, curriculum planners are giving more weightage to online learning. however, it would be incomplete to re-imagine curricula without considering the factors impacting learning. in this context, the ‘great media debate’ (gmd), initiated between richard clark and robert kozma in the 1990s, discusses the factors influencing learning. while clark focuses on instructional methods, kozma posits that both methods and media impact learning. our study re-visits the gmd in the present context of online learning and extends it, making it more heuristic by adding a specific contextual social factor, i.e., availability and accessibility of the internet (a2i) at the individual/ household level to the debate. we build our proposition based on the 11,489 learners’ responses collected as a part of the pan-iit study in india and focus on the case study of one specific institution, iit jammu. the analysis using chi-square tests, fisher’s exact tests, and descriptive statistics finds strong evidence for a2i to impact online learning, thereby broadening the gmd. a2i also influences the media by shaping the learners’ preferences for the media used in traditional classrooms. finally, it brings out the rural-urban divide due to unequal internet distribution, raising the possibility of a more exclusionary curriculum for the learners. we conclude that there is a need for the contextual social factor, i.e., a2i, among others, to be strongly acknowledged in the gmd, enabling it to take a more comprehensive form and consequently, holding the potential to enrich the curricular reimagination. keywords curriculum revision; great media debate; online learning; contextual social factors; internet accessibility; indian institute of technology 10.46303/repam.2023.2 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2023.2 2 introduction the traditional universities relying on classroom teaching modes were taken aback during the covid-19 pandemic when they suddenly had to shift to complete online methods, irrespective of their preparedness. the pandemic catalysed the curricular changes in higher education, particularly in india, as envisaged by its national education policy (nep) 2020 (government of india, 2020) and the university grants commission’s (ugcs) mandate of 2021. the changes in curriculum laid a thrust on the online learning, which enabled continuing the teaching-learning process during the covid-19 pandemic. however, it also witnessed the resurfacing of the deeprooted inequalities of the indian society in online spaces. during the same time, the academic circle saw voluminous literature comparing the efficiency of online and classroom learning. studies focusing on media comparisons are not novel and can be traced as long as four decades back, when the ‘great media effects’ (gmd) debate sparked, initiated between its protagonists richard clark from the university of south california and robert kozma affiliated to the university of michigan. though gmd was framed around access during times of prosperity and growing interest in the internet during the late 1990s, this paper tries to understand how and why so many students still lacked equitable access to online learning opportunities nearly four decades later makes this debate important and relevant. the debate includes two rounds: (i) the first one comprises of kozma’s (1991) response titled “learning with media” to clark’s article (1983) titled “reconsidering research on learning from media,” and (ii) the second round finds clark’s (1994) reply in “media will never influence learning” followed by kozma’s (1994) counterargument in the article “will media influence learning? reframing the debate.” clark (1983, 1994) was critical of media comparison studies, asserting that instructional methods influence learning. he states that “media are mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck delivers our groceries causes changes in our nutrition” (clark, 1983, p. 445). kozma (1991, 1994) disregarded clark’s stance (1983, 1994) of reducing media to mere vehicles. he posits that it is the media with instructional methods that cause learning. in the present paper, we extend kozma’s argument in the context of online learning. while we locate the media vs methods debate in the distance education literature, we find that it has not been exploited sufficiently in the literature about online education. in its light, we exfoliate the dynamics of methods vs media debate in contemporary times and find evidence for the need to diversify it. we argue that the social factors pertaining to the availability and accessibility of the internet (a2i) impact learning by directly influencing the choice of media. the problems related to a2i become more pronounced with the diffusion of the rural-urban divide in online spaces as it negatively affects higher education of the socially disadvantaged section, particularly in india. therefore, we revisit the gmd in the context of online learning to throw light on the issues of a2i during times of crisis. our central premise is that the social dimensions, particularly the factors related to the availability and accessibility of the internet (a2i) severely impact online learning by directly 3 influencing the learners’ preferences for the media. in this way, our study offers to extend the debate in the present scenario by emphasizing the social context and empirically verifying the claims. it finds its implications in educational curriculum, where we emphasize the need to revise it due to the prevalent contours in online learning. it specifically addresses the following two research questions. first, given the accelerated pace of technology integration in higher education, catalyzed by the covid-19 pandemic as a coping mechanism, how can the methods vs media debate between clark (1983, 1994) and kozma (1991, 1994) in the current online educational landscape be re-envisioned? which factor can be added to the existing gmd to expand it? how does the new set of factors impact the existing factors in the gmd? second, how does looking into the gmd aid in the curriculum reexamination? the sequence of the present paper is as follows. we first walk you through the counterpoints of clark (1983, 1994) and kozma (1991, 1994), followed by the extended deliberations by various scholars on the methods vs media debate. we then trace the locus of the debate in the online education literature, following which we redefine the term “media” in the current context. in the next section, we explicate the context of the present study, along with the sample demographics. subsequently, we employ certain statistics to justify that (i) the gmd can be widened by including the social factor, i.e., a2i in its fabric, (ii) a2i influences learners’ media preferences, and (iii) the skewed spread of a2i leads to social stratification, particularly the rural-urban divide. in the last section, we emphasise the need for serious curricular reforms in light of the prevalent social issues without disregarding the importance of online learning. literature review methods vs media debate the great media debate (gmd) involves two rounds of arguments between clark (1983, 1994) and kozma (1991, 1994). while clark (1983, 1994) proclaims that instructional methods, not media, influence learning, kozma (1991, 1994) takes the reciprocal stance and asserts that the culmination of instructional techniques and media impacts learning. the synopsis of the debate is presented below. it is to be noted that while the debate involves multi-layered arguments, we truncated it as per the focus of the paper. clark (1983, 1994) takes a behaviourist stance and declares that “[...] media do not influence learning under any conditions”; it only impacts the cost and speed of learning. learning is instead fostered by instructional methods (clark, 1983) alone. in the updated explanation of his position in 1994 (clark, 1994), he argues that the schism between method and medium is vital to avoid misinterpretation of research on instructional media. given that the ample literature favours enhanced learning from the new instructional media over the conventional one (white, 1984, 1993; cognition and technology group at vanderbilt, 1992; carroll, 1963; keller, 1987), it is not easy to challenge the rival hypotheses. however, clark & salomon (1986) disregard the studies yielding such results. clark (1983) 4 explains that the results in such studies are “mistakenly interpreted” due to the confounding of instructional methods with media. the sources of ‘confounding’ include uncontrolled factors consisting of: (a) change in instructor, methods of instruction, and subject matter content across different media whose learning effects are being compared; (b) lesson planning time which increases for newer media over the conventional one; (c) novelty effect leading to enhanced attention of learners when learning with newer media; and (d) biased editorial decisions favouring research with significant media comparison differences. further, clark (1994) disagrees with the position of methods being intrinsic to a given media. he defies the argument that textbooks can merely produce encyclopedic knowledge, televisions can be harnessed for documentary information and computers for complex tasks involving drill and practice. he rather argues that media uses can not limit the methods employed for teaching a task. for instance, it would not be extraordinary to use computers to present documentary information and television to showcase complex learning tasks. finally, clark (1983) advises a moratorium on media comparison research until it can aid in theory development. on the other hand, kozma (1991, 1994) prefers a constructivist stance and contends that using methods with media capabilities influences learning. he states that “medium and method have a more integral relationship; both are part of the design” (kozma, 1991, p. 205). in fact, in his updated narrative, kozma (1994) points out that “in a good design, media and methods are inexorably confounded.” kozma (1991) explains that while some learners may learn without the aid of a delivery device, others might harness its potential to facilitate their learning. for instance, some learners may depend on audio-visual information to develop an understanding of a topic, while others may find text sufficient. further, kozma (1994) asserts that only certain methods are possible with specific media attributes. unlike clark (1983), kozma (1991) calls for additional research on media to extend the present knowledge and understanding from “[...] media as conveyors of methods to media and methods as facilitators of knowledge-construction and meaning-making on the part of learners” (kozma, 1994). extended deliberations on the methods vs media debate the perennial media debate, as explained by its protagonists clark (1983, 1994) and kozma (1991, 1994) in the above section, appear to have dichotomous schools of thought: one, which supports clark’s (1983, 1994) position on media but methods influencing learning, and two, which flies in the face of kozma’s (1991, 1994) stance of learning being influenced by the juxtaposition of methods and media. thereafter, numerous researchers (morrison, 1994; shrock, 1994; jonassen et al., 1994; reiser, 1995; carter, 1996; hastings & tracey, 2005; yang et al., 2014, kilis and balbay, 2020; gulbahar and adanir, 2021) contributed to the debate. while morrison (1994) and carter (1996) align more with clark (1983, 1994), jonassen et al. (1994), reiser (1995), hastings and tracey (2005), yang et al. (2014), kilis and balbay (2020), and gulbahar and adanir (2021) seem more skewed towards kozma’s (1991, 1994) narrative. 5 further, shrock (1994) carefully refrains from taking any side but suggests diversifying the debate. below, we briefly explain the extended deliberations on the clark (1983, 1994) vs kozma (1991, 1994) debate. morrison's (1994) thoughts resonate more with clark's (1983, 1994) as he suggests that the instructional strategy, not the media, facilitates learning. he explains that kozma’s (1991, 1994) experiments indicate the effectiveness of instructional material in achieving the stipulated objectives but somehow do not answer the pertinent questions kozma (1991, 1994) raised. further, carter (1996) also finds support for clark’s (1983, 1994) position. kozma’s (1991, 1994) take is diversified by jonassen et al. (1994), who note that “learning is distributed between the media, the learner, and the context”, including the social context. he raises the concern that the debate focuses “too exclusively” on media attributes vs instructional methods. by emphasising the ramifications of instruction over the learners’ role, the debate tends to lose its relevance in contemporary times. further, reiser (1995) does not discard that methods cause learning (clark, 1983, 1994) but agrees with kozma (1991, 1994) that specific media attributes shape the methods. we interpret his stance as the interdependence of methods and media and, therefore, situate his narrative closer to that of kozma (1991, 1994). almost four decades after the initial debate was sparked, hastings and tracey (2005) unequivocally synchronized with kozma’s (1991, 1994) stance. they do it on the ground that the unique strengths of modern technology, including computers, the internet, and the world wide web, which were not existent back then, affect learning. further, the work by yang et al. (2014) also substantiates kozma’s (1991, 1994) narrative. they acknowledge that learners' characteristics significantly impact learning and present a tripartite structure by incorporating it with instructional methods and media attributes. much recently, kilis and balbay (2020) highlighted that media facilitates that the new teaching methods, based on the beliefs of the pre-service ict teachers attending a state university in turkey, thereby reiterating kozma’s (1991, 1994) opinion. further, gulbahar and adanir (2021) reconstructed the debate within the context of kozma’s (1991, 1994) narrative by emphasizing social media integration into education. additionally, we note that shrock (1994) saw problems in adopting either of the two schools of thought, calling them “exclusive.”’ he espouses that locating “a single set of stimuli” imperative to learning is not easy. we understand the central premise of this argument as the need to acknowledge factors beyond media or/ and methods that impact learning. therefore, we discern that scholars are distributed in their thoughts on the clark (1983, 1994) vs. kozma (1991, 1994) debate. also, some scholars, including shrock (1994), jonassen et al. (1994), and yang et al. (2014), suggest diversifying the debate. we agree with shrock (1994) that factors beyond methods and media can impact learning. yang et al. (2014) acknowledge the role of learners in the debate, which becomes crucial in the present scenario. however, extending on learners’ characteristics is beyond the scope of the study. we primarily extend jonassen et al.s’ (1994) take on including the context in the methods vs. media debate, focusing 6 particularly on the social context. however, we fail to agree with them that learning comes first, and then the context and environment, which are needed for learning. instead, we argue that both these occur in parallel for effective learning. locating online education in the methods vs. media debate it becomes pertinent to mention that the counterpoints of clark (1983, 1994) vs. kozma (1991, 1994) find a place in the distance education (de) literature, but are not sufficiently exploited specifically in the online education (oe) literature. however, since we are trying to exfoliate the position of methods vs. media debate vis-a-vis oe, a part of de, therefore the focus of the current paper is on oe. in the present section, we locate oe as a subset of de, and then justify this position. we note that the literature casts a wide net for an axiomatic inclusion of oe in the broad definition of de (moore & kearsley, 2004). we begin with a widely accepted definition of de given by moore and kearsley (2004). they define de as “teaching and planned learning in which teaching normally occurs in a different place from learning, requiring communication through technologies as well as a special institutional organization” (moore & kearsley, 2004, p. 2). oe is regarded as the subset of de (taylor, 2001) because students are physically separated from teachers in space or/ and time, where the teaching-learning is carried out over the internet. the expansion in the scope of de was made possible with the emergence of new technologies in education (moore, dickson-deane, & galyen, 2011). infact, a plethora of literature indicates de's dependence on technological developments (or the media) (blin & munro, 2008; kovanovic et al., 2014). the underlying premise in such literature is that technology holds the potential to revolutionize education. we argue that the position of oe is not very distinct from de in that both pedagogy and educational technology play a vital role. however, looking at this picture by excluding the context, particularly the social context, is a matter of grave concern and needs dire attention. we attempt to justify our argument empirically in the subsequent sections of the paper. but before that, it becomes pertinent to (re)define media in the context of oe. (re)defining media in the present context carter (2006) underlines that for distance educators, the media debate is skewed toward comparing newer vs. traditional media. we adopt a similar approach in online environments and dissect media based on its application in two ways. first, we consider the media that supports conducting classes in a face-to-face environment. we call it classroom media (cm). second, we regard the media that supports conducting classes in the online environment. we name it online media (om). in no way does the study intends to compare cm and om. however, the forthcoming sections of the paper build on this definition of media in the context of oe. 7 methods context of the study the paper draws its data from two large-scale studies conducted in the various indian institute of technologies (iits), the institutes of national importance in india. the first study is a pan-iit survey on online education for which the data were collected from learners and teachers through two well-designed questionnaires. the survey questionnaires on online pedagogy were constructed by the pan-iit group (2020). the data for this study was collected in may 2020, when the covid-19 pandemic hit the world globally, transitioning the higher education institutions (heis) to shift completely online. the second study on integrating teaching-learning and digital education (itlde) is a multi-institutional case study conducted by iit jammu, a third-generation iit constructed in the jammu region of the northernmost union territory (ut) of india, jammu & kashmir (j&k), india. we selected this specific iit located in j&k for the present paper as j&k faces an additional shackle of prolonged internet shutdowns due to political decisions related to national security, in addition to the infrastructural barriers, like any other developing region. the study on itlde is ongoing in the heis of jammu, kashmir, and ladakh. the present paper employs a part of its survey data obtained through the learners of iit jammu during its phase 1 data collection from mid-july 2021 to march 2022, when the classes were still completely online due to the pandemic. instruments the pan-iit study uses two survey questionnaires, one for the teachers and the other for the learners. the present study derives its data from the learners’ questionnaire only. it comprised 51 questions pertaining to the perceptions of the learners studying in iits in online modes. the questionnaire, comprising of both closed and open-ended questions, was devised carefully by the 39 experts in the central team of the pan-iit group, including directors and faculty members of various iits. the study on itlde uses the following instruments: (i) survey questionnaires for the teachers, (ii) survey questionnaires for the learners, (iii) focus group discussions with the learners, (iv) interviews with the teachers, (v) interviews with the administrators, and (vi) classroom observations. it is pertinent to mention that the present paper uses only some of the learners’ data obtained through the survey questionnaires (phase 1) during the itlde study. the questionnaire comprises close and open-ended questions and includes 63 questions to comprehensively understand the online teaching-learning scenario in the case study heis. its construction followed a three-fold approach of content generation, pilot study, and validation (face validity and content validity). sample in the first study, a total of 11,489 learners from various iits, including iit (bhu) varanasi, iit (ism) dhanbad, iit bhilai, iit bhubaneswar, iit bombay, iit delhi, iit gandhinagar, iit goa, iit guwahati, iit hyderabad, iit indore, iit jammu, iit jodhpur, iit kanpur, iit kharagpur, iit 8 madras, iit mandi, iit palakkad, iit patna, iit roorkee, iit ropar, and iit tirupati responded to the survey. the learners’ demographic characteristics are placed in table 1. table 1: learners’ demographic characteristics from pan-iit study variable category frequency percentage (%) gender male 9353 81.4 % female 2029 17.7 % other 107 0.9 % educational level b.tech./ b.sc./dual degree 7843 68.2 % postgraduate (m.tech./m.sc./m.a./mba) 2344 20.4 % phd 1065 9.2 % other 237 2 % in the second study, a total of 81 learners from iit jammu responded to the survey. their demographic profile is mentioned in table 2. table 2: learners’ demographic characteristics from the itlde study (iit jammu) variable category frequency percentage (%) gender male 67 82.7 % female 14 17.3 % educational level graduation (b.tech.) 65 80.2 % post graduation (m.tech./ m.sc.) 16 19.8 % monthly household income less than inr 20000 (roughly less than $250) 15 18.5 % inr 20000 inr 50000 (roughly $250 $600) 30 37 % more than inr 50000 (roughly more than $600) 36 44.4 % locality rural 25 30.9 % urban 56 69.1 % 9 it is to be noted that the data in table 1 and 2 do not show equal gender representation. it is because there is a general trend in iits that females' enrolment is usually much less than that of males. this explains the reason behind the high skewness in the responses from both these genders. finally, descriptive statistics, the chi-square χ2 test (onchiri, 2013), and fisher’s exact test (bower, 2003) were employed to analyse the data using spss version 26. results in this section, we first show that the availability and accessibility of the internet impact online learning. through this, we validate our claim for the need to expand the gmd by acknowledging a specific social factor, a2i, which perturbates the online learning fabric. thereafter, we exfoliate the impact of a2i on the media, pointing to a stark preference for cm. subsequently, we trace the social problems related to the rural-urban divide which diffuse into the online spaces, with a2i being a pivotal governing factor for the polarization. through this, we establish the need to re-design the curriculum. a2i influences online learning we found strong evidence for a2i impacting online learning. here, learning is operationalized through (i) learning effectiveness and (ii) learners’ motivation. we noted the following things in the pan-iit study. first, we saw that the chi-square test (χ2(1) = 123.92, p = 0.00) revealed a significant difference between internet download speeds and motivation. from the descriptive statistics, we further found that most learners with low internet downloading speed (i.e., 64.75%) showcased less motivation for online learning. similarly, the majority of the learners with high downloading speeds (i.e., 50.56%) indicated a high motivation for online learning. second, based on the chi-square test (χ2(1) = 102.06, p = 0.00), we rejected the hypothesis of no difference between internet upload speeds and learners’ motivation. in sync with the previous trend, we observed that most learners having low uploading speeds (64.06%) were less motivated to learn online. also, the study shows that majority of the learners having access to high uploading speeds (52.78%) were more motivated to learn online. third, we cross-tabulated internet stability with motivation and found them significantly related (χ2(1) = 548.23, p = 0.00). the trend of the majority of the learners with less internet stability (68.35%) having less motivation, whereas the majority of the learners with high internet stability (57.90%) having high motivation continued. further, the results from the itlde study conducted at iit jammu appear to resonate with the pan-iit study. here also, we discern learning effectiveness and internet problems to have a significant relation, as revealed by fisher’s exact test (p = 0.020). as a consequence, we see that the internet attributes, particularly its quality, severely impact online learning. also, learners with better access to the internet in terms of speed and stability exhibit better learning outcomes in the online landscape than the other learners. 10 a2i shapes learners’ media preferences after having established that a2i impact online learning, we intricately show its influence on the media. we underscore that lack of a2i is one of the primary factors, amongst the pool of others, influencing learners to be more motivated while learning through cm than om , as shown through the pan-iit study and the itlde (graph 1 & 2). in both the graphs, we notice a consistent trend of learners’ preferring to learn from cm over om due to hiccups related to a2i. graph 1: learners’ motivation in the pan-iit study graph 2: learners’ motivation in the itlde study the reverberations of a2i on media become further clear from the the itlde study which reveals that only 9.9% of the learners preferred learning online in the future. we justify the reasons for these skewed media preferences as follows. 11 first, the itlde study reflected the hiccups faced by learners due to poor internet connectivity, as shown in graph 3. graph 3: learners’ problems1 in online learning due to internet hiccups (itlde study) second, as mentioned earlier in the paper, learners in iit jammu faced additional wrecks of internet shutdowns, as reported by every 4 out of 10 learners. we surmise that these learners might have taken online classes from the campus, instead of going to their homes in different indian states and uts, when the covid-situation slightly improved and faced the problems of internet blackouts. here, we highlight that 93.33% of the learners facing internet shutdowns did not prefer the om. third, the pan-iit study showed power cuts as one of the factors profoundly impacting the a2i (χ2(1) = 198.16, p = 0.00)., thereby resisting the smooth flow of online learning. the above factors, related to the impact of a2i on the media, explicate the reasons for learners preferring cm in contrast to om. consequently, tracing a2i for leading to learners’ skewed media preferences would not be incorrect. social stratification led by limitations in a2i in this sub-section, we explicate how the lack of a2i lead to polarization in society, particularly emphasizing the rural-urban divide. the data from the itlde study revealed a significant dependence between locality (i.e., rural or urban) and internet-related problems, using fisher’s 1 while the problems in online learning due to hiccups in internet connectivity, as shown in graph 1, are self-explnataory; there is one problem that we think is a little specific in the indian context and needs certain elaboration for the global audience, i.e., “travelling long distances to find stable internet connection.” the contoured a2i in india leads to poor internet connectivity in certain far-flunged pockets of the country, forcing learners to travel long distances in search of stable internet connection. it is to be noted that various geographical, social, and political factors are responsible for this uneven spread. the paper also discusses one of the social inequalities, i.e., rural-urban divide, erupting in the online landscape due to this uneven spread. 12 exact test (p = 0.00). the descriptive statistics show that 96% of the learners from rural households faced internet problems over 71.42% of the learners from urban households. we speculate that the discrepancies associated with the unequal spread of a2i have the potential to aggravate the rural-urban divide, thereby devoiding equal opportunities to one stratum of learners coming from a specific rural background. it throws light on the need to redesign the curriculum with urgency, making it more inclusive for the vulnerable section of the learners. discussion in summary, we reiterate that it becomes relevant to revisit the ‘great media debate’ (gmd), which metamorphosed substantially with the evolution of media over the years (hastings & tracey, 2005). the exponential growth in technology saw an eruption of computers, the internet, and artificial intelligence in the present scenario, all of which did not exist back then when the methods vs. media debate took shape. the advancements in educational technology are believed to revolutionize the higher education. this line of thought also diffuses in the indian context, as is evident through its national education policies. for instance, nep 2020 (government of india, 2020, p. 57) proclaims that the “emerging disruptive technologies [...] will necessarily transform the education system.” to our best understanding, this narrative starkly invites clark’s (1983, 1994) scepticism, who emphasizes that instructional methods are responsible for learning, not the advancements in media or media attributes. further, it would not be wrong to say that modern technology turned the “delivery truck into a supersonic jet” (hastings & tracey, 2005). the concern of the ‘truck’ or ‘supersonic jet’, or simply the media reaching all the learners equally lingers on. we fail to agree with clark’s (1983, 1994) truck analogy as it undermines the importance of media in the instructional fabric by reducing it to mere carriers of knowledge. jonassen (1994) rightly points out that “trucks would be unable to deliver anything if there were no highways, fuel distribution centres, and public safety infrastructures.” there are always concerns about trucks not reaching all the marked destinations due to inadequate support. in the same manner, by discarding the role of media in learning, clark’s (1983, 1994) argument becomes exclusionary of the social inequities inhibiting the availability and accessibility of media resources to the learners. it becomes a matter of concern that despite clark (1983) acknowledging that various media might influence other instructional problems, including equity of access, he chooses to remain silent on these issues. we resonate more with kozma (1991, 1994) in that he acknowledges the conjunction of media and methods to cause learning. resier (1995) backs this argument by remarking that “successful delivery of instructional methods (the groceries) is dependent, in part, on the attributes of the medium (the vehicle) used to deliver them.” further, anderson and dron (2010) remark that “the technology sets the beat and creates the music, while the pedagogy defines the moves.” however, we also underscore that the debate needs to be diversified in the present context by incorporating a2i as one of the social factors influencing gmd. 13 we show evidence that a2i impacts online learning in both the sychronous and asynchronous modes. we saw that learners who have a better quality of internet in terms of downloading and uploading speeds and stability showcase higher learning effectiveness and motivation. further, we found a relationship between a2i and the media. the study shows that learners faced numerous problems due to the lack of a2i, with the bottlenecks aggravating because of factors like internet shutdowns and power cuts. this hindered the smooth flow of learning in the online landscape, thereby shaping learners’ preferences toward the media employed in traditional classrooms. the study also affirms the eruption of social polarization due to the asymmetrical spread of a2i in the form of rural-urban inequalities. the skewed distribution of digital resources to urban households bereaves a large set of learners from rural households from getting equal opportunities to learn in online mode, in contrast to their counterparts. these findings can be supplemented by the nss 75th round (government of india, 2018), which reveals the drastic rural-urban divide, with only 4.4% and 14.9% of rural indian households having access to computers and internet, in contrast to 23.4% and 42% of the urban households. additionally, it is to be marked that only 4 out of the 10 people accessing mobile internet belong to rural parts of india (india cellular & electronics association, 2020). consequently, the social polarization due to the rural-urban divide is quite stark in the indian scenario, particularly in online spaces. also, it becomes pertinent to note that the analysis of social stratification is based only on the data collected from the itlde case study. at this juncture, we highlight that the itlde study, to an extent, represents the national scenario, given that the online learning captured in the present paper is during the time when the enrolled students belonging to various indian states and uts had gone to their homes because of the covid-19 pandemic. also, acknowledging that internet shutdowns, power cuts, and unequal distribution of resources are not specific to j&k, we argue that the findings are not restricted to learners of iit jammu. for instance, the data presented on the website internet shutdowns reports more than 15 internet shutdowns in the last decade in the following regions, other than j&k: rajasthan uttar pradesh, haryana, west bengal, and meghalaya. beyond access to digital resources, power cuts remain a major hurdle. the gravity of the situation is reflected in mission antyodaya’s report of 2020, which explicates that 27,930 villages in india have no electricity at all (government of india, 2021). however, more data from diverse heis can potentially further strengthen the present argument. in this way, we empirically claim that a2i is one of the social contextual factors holding the potential to variegate kozma’s (1991, 1994) standpoint in the gmd. therefore, our work makes a contribution to the theory development related to the gmd, which finds its implications in curriculum re-imagination. it is undeniable that the need to refurbish the curriculum proliferates in the light of social contours, led by the unequal spread of a2i. this also implicates the reverberations of factors influencing learning on curriculum re-imagination. the recent pandemic time noted a tremendous change in curriculum re-designing by giving huge impetus to online learning. the changes are plotted in graph 4, where we see 14 prominent weightage to online learning in nep (2020), which was launched during the covid19 pandemic, in contrast to draft national education policy (government of india, 2019), which came before the onset of the pandemic. it was further championed by the ugcs (2021) mandate suggesting that 40% of the content for each course be transacted online for he. it reflects how covid-19 influenced the significant curricular changes in india, through its education policies, by laying a momentous thrust on online learning. graph 4: comparative word density (%) analysis of “online” learning in draft nep (2019) vs nep (2020) however, such a curricular reform fails to include the learners who are deprived of digital resources, specifically the students from rural households, as reinforced by the present study. it does not give due attention to the social context of the learners, who are one of the primary stakeholders (chaudhary, 2015) and are at the receiving end of the curriculum implementation process. therefore, it is not practical to reimagine a curriculum without taking into account the factors influencing learning. consequently, it becomes necessary to identify the broad spectrum of factors that influence online learning. while the gmd strives to achieve the same, the present study calls for expanding its scope in the present times. hence, by broadening the horizon of the gmd and acknowledging one of the specific factors that impact online learning, i.e., a2i, we pave the way for a holistic approach to curriculum re-imagination. conclusion in the present paper we refurbished the clark (1983, 1994) vs kozma (1991, 1994) debate in the context of online learning. we acknowledged that factors beyond methods and media impact online learning and delimited the present paper to just one such pivotal factor, i.e., availability and accessibility of the internet (a2i). we established that a2i impact the media directly, influencing learners’ preferences for classroom media. the study also pointed out that the 15 asymmetrical distribution of a2i led to growing rural-urban disparities in online learning. it calls for the pressing need to redesign the curriculum in the context of online learning by keeping into consideration (i) the various stimuli having the potential to impact learning, particularly the a2i, and (ii) the plausible contours led by the unequal distribution of a2i (for instance, the ruralurban divide). further studies may explore other stimuli impacting teaching and learning in the present scenario and subsequently contribute to extending the gmd. research may also be conducted linking these stimuli with curriculum revisions to make the process of curriculum development more enriching and effective. acknowledgements the study builds on the data derived from two projects. the first project titled the “pan-iit survey on online education” was piloted by iit dharwad and iit jammu, along with the other core members of the pan-iit group on online pedagogy. the second project, "integrating teaching-learning and digital education (itlde): a case study of the higher education institutions in jammu & kashmir and ladakh” was funded by the indian institute of technology jammu [project codesgt100033]. we are thankful to the pan-iit investigators for granting permission to construct the present paper on the collected data. we also acknowledge iit jammu for the study on itlde and for allowing us to use iit jammu as one of the case study institutes. references anderson, t., & dron, j. 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(1993). thinkertools: causal models, conceptual change, and science education. cognition and instruction, 10(1), 1–100. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532690xci1001_1 https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543061002179 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/bf02299087 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2010.10.001 https://www.jstor.org/stable/30218686#metadata_info_tab_contents https://doi.org/10.5897/err11.0305 https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2007.03613 https://www.jstor.org/stable/30218687#metadata_info_tab_contents https://www.jstor.org/stable/30218687#metadata_info_tab_contents https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543047001099 https://www.jstor.org/stable/30218688#metadata_info_tab_contents http://www.usq.edu.au/e-jist/ https://www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/7782448_public-notice.pdf https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532690xci0101_4 https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532690xci1001_1 microsoft word 84-100-timberlake research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 june 2020 volume: 2 issue: 1 pp. 84-100 recognizing ableism in educational initiatives: reading between the lines maria timberlake* * state university of new york at cortland, foundations and social advocacy department, cortland, ny, usa. e-mail : maria.timberlake@cortland.edu article info received: march 13, 2020 revised: may 26, 2020 accepted: may 28, 20202 this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the cc by-nc-nd 4.0 international license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0) how to cite timberlake, m. (2020). recognizing ableism in educational initiatives: reading between the lines. research in educational policy and management, 2(1), 84-100. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.02.01.5 abstract the ubiquity of ableism in education policy requires being increasingly alert to the portrayal of, (including the absence of), disability within educational initiatives. ableism is a form of oppression, a largely unconscious acceptance of ablebodied norms from the inaccessibility of instructional materials, to assumptions about the body (a healthy body is within one’s control) to the acceptance of segregated settings. in response to the call for this special issue, previous qualitative inquiry into the unintended consequences of three educational reforms were synthesized using critical disability theory. seemingly disparate at first glance, all three initiatives, while ostensibly increasing equity, also contained ableism that reinforced stereotypes about student variability and served to further isolate disabled students. one federal (alternate assessment), one state (ccss modules), and one local (projectbased learning) policy implementation are included in this theoretical analysis. reading between the lines means being alert to ableism, and is essential to prevent the historical marginalization of students with disabilities from continuing within contemporary “progress”. keywords ableism; educational policy; special education. 10.46303/repam.02.01.5 85 introduction teachers are routinely expected to implement policies developed by others (good et al., 2017; conchas et al., 2020). education policies or reforms will frequently have unanticipated outcomes; some students will benefit more than others or implementation may falter as the complexities of local contexts arise (gottfried & conchas 2016; park & datnow, 2017). unintended consequences may be positive or negative, and access and inclusion for students with disabilities represents this mixture of outcomes. small gains have been made, however, there is a pattern of approaching then turning away from truly transformative change for example, educating students in the least restrictive environment (lre) was a potentially radical provision when the first special education law was passed in 1975 (hehir, 2005). instead of being at home or institutionalized, students’ schooling could occur in one of an array of placements, including public school classrooms. educators were directed to engage in a team process, discuss individual needs and make decisions. however, more than four decades later, students are heavily segregated by perceived ability and disability label (cosier et al., 2018). in essence, a policy provision with transformative potential resulted in some mainstreaming but largely enabled various forms of segregation (annamma et al., 2012). race/ethnicity, poverty level, neighborhood location, and other variables also impact the implementation of education policy but once ableism is identified, it’s presence is undeniable (connor et al., 2016; piepenza-samarasinha, 2018). policy has been a tool for both moving the quest for equity forward, as well as keeping disabled students largely on the margins of schools and classrooms. the argument advanced here is that hidden ableism is a major reason for this troubling paradox. while ableism was not a term widely used at the time, the elements of disability as a deficit, a characteristic needing protection or custodial care, and regarded with benevolence or pity, are evident in looking back (baynton, 2017). these elements reveal a pattern of good intentions with little real change in the status of individuals with disabilities, and can be expected to continue unless policymakers and educators learn to read ableism between the lines and act to counter it. the call for this special issue invited exploration of the unintended consequences of a “business model” of education and what teachers can do to regain their profession in the face of increasingly narrow mandates. the purpose of this analysis is to provide one definitive answer. first, ableism will be defined and then it’s presence illustrated within three different education policies. findings from two of the initiatives have been published previously utilizing street-level bureaucracy theory from the policy implementation literature. the analysis of these policies provides a guide to help educators to recognize and then act to counter, ableism., in so doing, teachers as well as students will benefit. ableism as a theoretical perspective ableism is a largely unconscious acceptance of able-bodied privilege and sense of normal that does not need to be defined, normal is recognizable, and “we know it when we see it”. 86 ableism is inherent in the inaccessibility of physical structures (i.e. the absence of ramps) to assumptions about the body and mind (having a “fit” and healthy body, and regulation of one’s emotions and moods is within one’s control) to the acceptance of segregated settings for people who appear to behave and communicate differently than “normal” (baglieri & lalvani, 2020; broderick & lalvani, 2017; davis, 2018; dolmage, 2017; danforth & gabel, 2016). ableism underlies assumptions about physical and mental health and wellness and the perceptions of individuals who fail to meet society’s standard of normal (dolmage, 2017). ableism has been described as political and social circumstances that are experienced by individuals who otherwise would have little in common and, similar to other systems of oppression, “ableism thrives on the beliefs of the inherent superiority of some and the inferiority of others on the basis of group traits.” (baglieri & lalvani, 2019 p. 2). the identification of ableism has come largely from disability studies, an interdisciplinary field encompassing the social sciences, arts, philosophy, literature, education and more (davis, 2018; dolmage, 2017). as a theoretical framework, critical disability studies rejects disability as a deficit or limitation within an individual but rather, asserts that disability is a social and political construction (ferguson, 2016; ferguson & nussbaum, 2012; danforth & gabel, 2016). as such, categorical labels (i.e. emotional disturbance or intellectual disability) that seek to sort and explain disability actually allow students to be segregated and their needs pathologized as “exceptional” or “severe”. recognizing and critically questioning the nonspecific but negative connotation of these terms is part of reading between the lines. reading between the lines to identify ableism is not about blame or suggesting odious intent by policymakers or educators, but rather, developing an increasingly sophisticated awareness of the assumptions about disability that have been absorbed by all citizens simply by being in the world (baglieri & lalvani, 2020). disability is not a static or singular experience but in popular culture, disabled people are often disfigured villains in films, sick and weak heroines in novels, and quirky savants on television. stories of individuals with disabilities are often offered as inspiration or motivational for nondisabled people, or the same individuals are lauded for their courage and heroism for merely living. (davis, 2017; 2018). identifying ableism requires dedicated and deliberate unlearning of prolonged societal conditioning. wellintentioned policies and educational interventions are likely to enact ableism within this overarching societal mindset. the three examples that follow illustrate how ableism hides within seemingly benign and innovative educational initiatives. once identified, the process of unlearning can begin. overview of the three educational initiatives three examples of initiatives that appeared promising to students with disabilities are provided as evidence of unexamined ableism, from federal (alternate assessment or aa-aas) to state (common core state standards modules) to local (pbl or project-based learning). although these may appear as disparate items at first glance, they all contained elements of 87 ableism that reinforced stereotypes about student variability and further marginalized students whose status was already tenuous. in addition, while focusing on the outcomes for students with disabilities, analysis found two indicators that accompanied the deficit narrative and can serve as a warning that ableism is also at work: teacher autonomy was subtly reduced, and neoliberal values of individualism and competition were couched in progressive-sounding language such as equity, engagement, and social justice. in each of the following initiatives, although teacher participants rightfully criticized the hurried implementation, the same teachers reported that they implemented the reforms in good faith. while the stated aims of increased academic achievement (via test scores) may have been met, each initiative resulted in more segregation of students with disabilities while also restricting teacher decisions over classroom instruction. alternate assessment (aa-aas) the alternate assessment (hereafter aa-aas) addressed the lack of accountability for students historically considered “not ready” or unable to benefit from academic instruction. learners considered to have less cognitive ability have often been denied equal access to academics and other opportunities (parekh, 2017). in the united states, both no child left behind (2002) and the reauthorized individuals with disabilities education act or idea (2004) stipulated that students with significant cognitive disabilities, considered unable to take state assessments even with accommodations, must participate via aa-aas. the aa-aas promoted “high expectations for academic learning” by measuring academic progress, and calculating student scores into school accountability reporting (timberlake, 2016). this extraordinary and unprecedented policy requirement appeared to legitimize students who were often relegated to secluded classrooms and taught primarily daily living skills (ayres et al., 2011; hehir, 2005; ruppar et al., 2018). the transformative possibilities of academic curricula for these students seemed feasible with the provision that all students with disabilities, not only be provided “access to the general education curriculum” but be assessed on the same standards as their nondisabled peers. (malow-lroff et al., 2008; ruppar, et al., 2018) such access to the body of knowledge enjoyed by nondisabled students was significant because curriculum and instruction were seen as the pathway to legitimacy. every state was charged with developing their own assessment but all had to align with the state’s overall academic standards. the aa-aas required evaluation on standards in math, science and english language arts, meaning academics was now required and daily living skills could not constitute a student’s entire schooling (goldstein, & behuniak, 2012). now, they would be assessed on academic material and their scores would count; it appeared their value as students and status in schools had improved. however, while there have been changes, lofty expectations have not yet been realized. curricular modules with scripted instruction the second policy example comes from the state level, and also represents an attempt to use teachers to implement a reform linked to standards. scripted curricular modules were 88 disseminated to assist with common core state standards implementation (ccss). curricular modules in english language arts (ela) and mathematics for grades pre-kindergarten through 12 were available for download online and at one time, were in use across ny and available to other states (barrett et al., 2017). the materials included lesson plans, scripted notes for teacher and student responses, supplemental readings and assessments. the language was remarkably similar to that of the aa-aas, including “high expectations for all” and improved academic achievement for all students. thus, another policy implementation was begun with renewed possibilities for academic access for students with disabilities. the ccss would prepare students for careers or college and ensure that all students would be receiving similar high quality academic programs regardless of where they resided (kornhaber et al.,2016) for students receiving special education services the implantation of the ccss would mean the same as the aa-aas – access to challenging academic content and higher expectations for what they could learn (https://www.cec.sped.org/special-ed-topics/specialty-areas/common-core-statestandards). while revisions to the ccss have recently been made, the revised standards (next generation learning standards) are still accompanied by modules designed to guide teacher behavior (sawchuk, 2017). project -based learning the third example is teacher implementation of project-based learning (pbl), a teaching process in which students are guided through an extended sequence of inquiry around a realworld problem. advocates of pbl assert that this teaching method supports students to evaluate sources of information, think critically, direct aspects of their own learning, and communicate effectively with peers and adults (dole et al., 2017; dufour & dufour, 2015). the appeal and promise of pbl is that it can engage students with a wide variety of strengths, needs, interests, and competencies together (lee & blanchard, 2019). pbl serves as the example of local policy implementation because extensive professional development was offered to teachers in public schools in a region of new york state from 2015-2018. teachers who implemented pbl after training were invited to participate in an implementation study. both those identifying as general and as special educators were interviewed about their successes and challenges. different expectations were reported by teachers because some districts required a certain number of projects per year, others empowered teachers to create projects as they were inspired, while still others provided pre-designed projects for teachers to implement. methodology a qualitative design employing in-depth interviews with teachers was utilized in all three studies. the highlights of the methodology are contained in table 1. all interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using elements of grounded theory and narrative analysis to understand the power of curriculum and uncover how decisions about academic 89 access was part of teacher decision-making for students considered to have significant cognitive disabilities. the data were then re-analyzed deductively through a perspective of ableism, noting deficit-based language, references to disability categories, student ability, and the ways teachers referred to their own ability to make choices and decisions about their practice (wertz et al., 2011). the participants in all three studies were different, but overwhelmingly female, white, and with a range of experience from 4-25 years. the aa-aas study was conducted in rural and suburban areas in one new england state and the curricular modules and pbl studies were conducted in primarily rural and suburban areas of a second east coast state. while recognizing the importance of intersectional identities, the results were not aggregated by gender, race/ethnicity, age, disability or other identity markers. the percent of teachers who were non-white and non-female was so small that to identify them would compromise confidentiality. further detailed analyses may be found in (timberlake, 2016; timberlake et al., 2017; timberlake, 2020). the results represent a total of 53 interviews, 30 in-person and 23 via telephone. copies of all interview guides are available upon request. table 1: three studies of academic access and disability analyzed for ableism educational initiative participants data collected sample questions from interview guide manifestation of ableism 1. aa-aas special education teachers n=33 gr.311 2015 state a  could you walk me through your planning process?  has the aa-aas changed what you teach or how you teach?  hidden assumptions of separation built into the structure and content of the assessment as well as the implementation with individual students. 2. ccss scripted modules general education and special education teachers n=12 gr. 2-6 2017 state b  can you tell me a story about a way that the curricular modules are working for students?  can you tell me about any concerns you have about the ways students experience the modules?  dysconscious disability overlooked and not directly addressed. assumptions that treating all students the same way reflects fairness and equity. 3. pbl general and special educators n=18 gr. 3-11 2018 state b  what kind of observations have you made about your students and their responses to pbl?  could you think specifically about students who do not have strong social skills? …students who are significantly above or below grade level?  dysconscious perceptions of students remained intact while experimenting with pedagogy. maintained status quo for students with disabilities. 90 results revisiting the data from all three studies suggests why the policy intent of academic achievement and liberation from low expectations for students with disabilities has not yet been obtained. while some positive outcomes were achieved, three seemingly different initiatives share the same unintended consequences when analyzed through the lens of ableism. all three inadvertently reinforced medicalized perceptions of disability as weakness needing “remediation”, and as an “otherness” different from what were considered typical learners. next, the benign language in all three masked the neoliberal emphasis on individualistic, competitive achievement, and education as a commodity in the marketplace. as noted above, the full details of each investigation are available elsewhere but the impact of the reforms and the prominence of ableism in each are highlighted next. aa-aas: the ableism in “high achievement for all” ableism manifested in this first policy primarily through two conditions, isolation and teacher resignation. isolation the aa-aas led to a state implementation process where fidelity to the test meant increased segregation for the students. in an attempt to increase technical validity, the aa-aas was designed to mirror large state assessment models. thus, isolation was built into the structure and process of the aa-aas because compliance with the format and content of the assessment was outside of general education (goldstein & behuniak, 2012; timberlake, 2020) in the state where this research took place, special educators began to use the vocabulary of the assessment such as locs (levels of complexity) and aagles (alternate assessment grade level expectations) which served to cement not only their separateness as teachers, but the separateness of students whose status in schools was already separate because of the complexity of their disabilities. special educators’ also reported that they taught skills they may not have taught if they did not have to implement the aa-aas (especially in math and science), but they did so in isolation. “you can do the tasks over and over again …if i see that they’re going to be able to master the task before the deadline, then i’ll teach it but it’s out of the classroom and in total isolation.” teacher stress and resignation when queried about supporting students with disabilities in general education, special educators reported an increasing distance away from the ideas of community. they began to accept not only that general education was inaccessible but that they should not interfere with the achievement of more “able” students. they considered their general education colleagues too busy to have to deal with the extra demands of co-creating inclusive assessment tasks, “they are so stressed with the assessments they are required to do like 4 times a year, there’s none of that cooperative learning or nice big classroom activities...” the language of conformity and efficiency was reflected in the sense of responsibility to keep 91 students with disabilities from “bothering” others. “when they go in[to general education]the classroom rules apply to everyone. if they become disruptive to the classroom then we leave.” implementation of the aa-aas uncovered the very concerning finding that testing and the push to achieve more rigorous standards was serving to build academic proficiency for nondisabled students at the expense of students considered to have disabilities. when viewed through the lens of ableism, actions that seem considerate and pragmatic (refraining from disturbing general education) are shown to be based on a de-valuing of students, specifically, decisions of whose academic progress matters, who deserves engaging academic environments and what accommodations are important. finally, representing protective instincts but a belief in the “otherness” of disabled students, a teacher explained “we can’t just dump them in regular classes where everything is over their head and they won’t get anything out of it”. the ableism within this concern is that the need for a segregated setting is obvious, when in actuality, self-contained classrooms do not inherently guarantee quality, (causton-theoharis et al., 2011) that students with disabilities are inanimate and may be metaphorically picked up and “dumped”, that content was “over their head” implying a lack of comprehension within the student without articulating the responsibility of educators to make content accessible. such unexamined ableism allows policies that segregate students into self-contained classrooms and into special assessments that may only be conducted by special teachers at special times, to be developed and implemented without the critique they deserve. all bodies “have strengths and needs that must be met” (piepenza-samarasinha, 2018 p. 21). more learners than not, experience anxiety, sensory overload, struggles with comprehension, illness, and other challenges at some point, however, hidden ableism keeps disabled students and teachers in their place. ccss: the ableism in “equality for all” in a similar way, the use of scripted curricular modules also reduced schooling to test scores, reading levels and quantifiable outcomes, revealing an implementation guided by ableism. here, ableism can be located within the absence of disability, the lack of evidence that student differences (including disability) were addressed and that adherence to scripted materials was the way to be fair. broderick & lalvani (2017) argued for the use of “dysconscious ableism (as opposed to unconscious) building on prior work on dysconscious racism. dysconscious ableism is not an unawareness but a flawed awarenessa way of thinking about disability that upholds and is upheld by, mainstream ideology around normality. operating with dysconscious ableism means “tacitly accepting norms and privileges” including that there is a measurable attribute called “disability” and that the binary of disabled and nondisabled is a clear divide (broderick & lalvani, 2017 p. 895) disability and the need for structure within teacher implementation of the ccss modules, dysconscious ableism is a helpful lens as disability was not overtly ostracized but largely ignored, a background to the normal workings 92 of the classroom. according to teacher participants, despite some initial apprehension, the scripts provided a structure for implementing the much more ambiguous ccss, and provided rigor and equality because all students were taught using the same scripts. the words “structure” and “anchor” explained the modules’ appeal, i.e. “very well-structured’ while two special educators described the modules as difficult for students but “good for them” nevertheless (timberlake et al., 2017). the participants in this research were committed to student learning and concerned about students’ academic progress, but the ableism had them viewing disability as an individual deficit that could be remedied without an examination of why they were using materials where disability was invisible. for example, reading between the lines could mean asking whether disability is represented in the texts and scripted materials, and if so, how? if not, what might the absence of disabled people mean? what additional pathways could be offered for students to access the content in the modules and might all students benefit from using different materials and veering from the scripts occasionally? as with the aa-aas, the language of “high expectations” and the importance of “raising the bar” appealed to educators’ professionalism and desire to serve their students well. treating all students fairly participants reported that “equity” meant that students were held to the same standards and were provided access to the same content. for example, i thought it was pretty exciting because a lot of times the expectations in different schools varyi worked in [--] city schools and it was really sad to see the effect that lower expectations had on those studentsso i thought it was neat that we all have certain standards that we have to adhere to, i thought it might help level the field. teachers repeatedly referred to the ability of the modules to help students achieve high standards, and that equal exposure to content coverage was a remedy for underachievement by subgroups including students with disabilities “i’m working on making sure i’m mentally ready to hold my expectations high regardless of what i see the students coming in with, still pushing them as much as i possibly can.” the policy message had been communicated to the teachers the scripted modules had been sold by appealing to the values of fairness, equity, and rigor, but masked the inequity of ignoring student variation. importantly, ableism does not deny impairment but rather asserts that responses to impairment are problematic. for example, the way student needs are defined (too distractible, unmotivated) and the vocabulary used (“low functioning”) can be changed by recognizing ableism. what’s wrong with rigor? the policy language in the three initiatives outlined here sounds inviting but actually served to solidify the status of students with disabilities as outsiders. supposedly virtuous concepts (i.e. “rigor”, “raising the bar”, “assess all students on the same high standards”, “engage all students in relevant activities”…) come “laden with ethical baggage”, and are far from neutral (aldred, 2009 p.6; allais, 2012; slee, 2014). orthodoxy, a term from the economic literature is 93 helpful when learning to read between the lines. economic orthodoxy refers to the unquestioned acceptance of certain economic explanations (aldred, 2009). educational orthodoxy is reflected in oft-repeated tenets that are accepted as “true” without critically questioning the conclusions being asserted, such as the need for students with disability labels to have separate assessment systems and the value of teachers using scripted or packaged materials in the name of equity and fairness. as discussed next, ableism and orthodoxy also appear in the words “real-life, engaging and relevant”. progressive and student-centered reform language masks neoliberal values with winners and losers and an ableism that is easy to overlook. ableism in pbl: “engagement for all” reflecting on the data from interviews about local pbl implementation revealed a similar strategy to that of the scripted modules and the aa-aas. specifically, in districts that embraced a pbl approach teachers reported “we have to do at least five projects a year” and others received a bound book of pbl activities for them to implement. teacher autonomy was again reduced in pursuit of an intervention that would raise achievement while being in the “best interests” of students. ableism can be considered “dysconsicious” here as well (broderick & lalvani, 2017). meaning, in this context, that participants shared varied experiences with projects but descriptions of students contained familiar disability constructs and vocabulary. innovations in pedagogy the language of pbl has the same appeal to neoliberal values despite the friendlier terms of “real-world,” “relevant, and “21st century” (hallerman et al.,, 2011). 21st century skills include collaboration, working in teams, problem-solving and are defined as what “the business world tells us that successful employees, managers, entrepreneurs and leaders in the 21 century economy need…”(hallerman et al., p. 9). the presence of ableism in the local implementation was not reflective of teachers deliberately discriminating against students, the dysconscious ableism here refers to the norms of ability grouping and perceptions of “high and “low achievers” that remained despite pedagogical shifts. pbl received mixed reviews including teachers who spoke in glowing terms (“exciting”) and those that were disappointed in the outcomes (“the kids didn’t really get invested”). a sixth grade teacher in a district that required pbl but allowed teachers to create their projects reflected, “i gave them choice on things they didn’t need to have a choice about.” and then “the end product was so open that they had a really difficult time completing their task.” this educator continued to refine their skills “i was young and still in a very eager mode whereas now i’m a bit more skeptical. i know what i’m doing is good and i want to make sure if i’m adding something new, it’s worth it”. autonomy and growth for teachers was a positive outcome in districts that enabled teacher innovation, although the impact of unexamined ableism remained. another participant was less reflective about the complexity of real change and defined pbl as a class project that they 94 “turned around on them [the students] “i kind of turned it back on them and said, “this has to come from you”. special educators who were in inclusive settings expressed concerns that required accommodations and modifications weren’t always included in the project planning while general educators felt that special educators weren’t supporting the projects. this finding suggests that the special-regular binary continues to influence roles and expectations regardless of pedagogy. pbl appeared to be more effective when students were heterogeneously grouped (i.e. teachers referred to “advanced students” who could “push” other students to achieve more). but, the language of ability was still strong, i.e. students as “high and low functioning” with “slackers” being students who interfered with the success of the projects, mostly due their behavior and social interactions. defining the real world unsurprisingly, implementation was key, pbl required a significant change from traditional instruction and implementation research has regularly found that results depends on myriad local factors including (but not limited to) teachers’ interpretation of the policy, time devoted to experimenting with new ideas, resistance to mandates, collegial support and ability to enact change within already heavily work schedules (brodkin, 2015; good et al., 2017; gottfried & conchas, 2016) consistent with prior research on implementation, teachers made pedagogical decisions based on their interpretation of what pbl meant within their current circumstances (brodkin, 2000 ; gottfried & conchas, 2016) from an implementation perspective, variables that help explain the outcomes could be organizational, institutional, the agency of individual actors, but ableism rearranges the picture. viewed through the lens of ableism, the projects would be considered real world and relevant depending on the ways students were included and how the topics accounted for the social and political realities that disabled students face. again, critically deconstructing “normal” and refusing the security of seeking normal learners creates more possibilities for all students. notably, the rhetoric surrounding pbl as “real world” and geared toward students’ future employment mirrors the language used to deny academic access to students with intellectual disabilities (ayres et al, 2011; courtade et al, 2012). for students with disabilities, preparing for the “real world” has meant that much of academics and inclusive social activities has been considered frivolous when time is short and the future depends on self-sufficient independent workers. in describing their instructional decisions, it was clear that general educators have been exposed to the same pressure to prepare students for an uncertain future holding high standards and providing instruction as directed. a common theme across the three studies was teachers’ fear that they must focus intently on preparing students for a future where the individual is expected to work, be productive and independent, and not rely on others in a competitive and ruthless economy. 95 discussion the ableism contained within values such as independence, rigor, achievement and productivity, is not immediately apparent as these terms are revered in the u.s. as the hallmarks of hard working individuals. however, reading between the lines reveals an acceptance that there is a “normal” learner and there are “normal” bodies who have the ability to thrive while others are incapable. recognizing ableism means re-defining normal and committing to the belief that student variability is not a surprise, but is the norm. the specialgeneral education binary must be questioned because the line between special and ordinary is amorphous and ableism has offered only two positions for students with disabilities: as deficient and needing intervention or as inspirational, needing admiration. the need for separate teachers with separate certifications in separate classrooms teaching separate content is often perceived as obvious and the separateness allows more attention and a better education. however, the belief in the students with disabilities as outsiders helps explains why each of the three initiatives were created and implemented without considering a wide variety of student characteristics and contexts. in demand the impossible (2016) ayers asserted “when the aim of education is the reproduction of all the social relations as they are now, schooling is nothing more than locating oneself on the grand pyramid of winners and losers. (p. 159). avoiding such a consequence can be minimized or eliminated by using the framework of critical disability studies, specifically ableism to read between the lines. reading between the lines also means recognizing when educational initiatives are moving students with disabilities and their teachers further from the school community. one recommendation to avoid ableism is to separate disability from special education by replacing the medicalized paradigm of disability and the protective and care-taking orientation with real equity and respect. the second is to be alert to the ableism within economic capitalist concepts that appear in education reform as the language of benevolence and success. unlearning ableism special education has been a source of significant progress and provided students with services and supports that were unimaginable in the past. the procedures for ieps and due process provisions have given parents options that did not exist prior to 1975 (hehir, 2005). however, special education now occupies a contested spacewhile initially a significant civil rights provision, it has inadvertently served to label, segregate and remediate students to fit a standard of “normal”. teachers are prepared to support separate populations of students, maintaining disability as “otherness” and an entire system of professionals and institutions profit from the required curricula, evaluations and certification tests (broderick & lalvani, 2017). many special educators have heard some version of “you must be a special person” or “you must have so much patience”. such apparent accolades are common but troubling as they assume disability to be burdensome, distasteful, and difficult. unlearning ableism means 96 re-imagining education, asking new questions about what disability means, and challenging the prevalent deficit-based language, practices and policies of schooling (danforth & gabel, 2016). a critical disability framework centered on ableism asks penetrating questions about how disability is construed and who benefits from the definition, who is served by the status quo, who makes decisions, and whose agency is respected (connor et al., 2016). this fundamental query can be used to analyze policy and read between the lines to see, for example, who decides where students learn the skills to be assessed on the aa-aas or how a project is designed in pbl with student identities in mind and reminding caring and concerned educators to reject the discourse of “high or low functioning”. distinguishing between special education and disability does not mean denying impairments or limitations but responding differently and allowing the full range of human-ness to be part of schooling. committing to critically questioning the presumption that disability is a static objective state that can be managed by nondisabled professionals with the correct certification is a powerful way to resist ableism, as is rejecting the discourses that some students are “slackers” or too difficult to participate in all schooling has to offer.. conclusion this paper has argued that teachers and students will benefit when policymakers and educators act to recognize and then counter ableism. educators and advocates for students with disabilities have been on a quest for full participation in the life of school: academic achievement, extracurricular enrichment, friendship and social engagement. (connor et al., 2016; danforth & gabel, 2016) while policies have helped the quest advance, there are still hidden obstacles in the way. the policies and interventions discussed (aa-aas, ccss modules and pbl) have offered outcomes previously not afforded to students with disabilities and are certainly important destinations to have reached. reading between the lines is now essential for concerned educators and policymakers to recognize how the historical marginalization of students with disabilities has occurred and to prevent it from continuing within educational interventions of the future. author’s note i alternate people-first, “students with disabilities” and identity-first “disabled students” because of the debates in the field as to which is preferred and most respectful. see dunn, d. & andrews, e. 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(2011). five ways of doing qualitative analysis: phenomenological psychology, grounded theory, discourse analysis, narrative research and intuitive inquiry. guilford press microsoft word 40-56-wilcox research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 june 2020 volume: 2 issue: 1 pp. 40-56 policy storms at the central office: conflicting narratives of racial equity and segregation at school committee meetings serena m. wilcox* * university of kentucky college of education department educational policy studies & evaluation, lexington, ky, usa. e-mail: swi339@uky.edu article info received: march 30, 2020 revised: may 14, 2020 accepted: may 17, 2020 this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the cc by-nc-nd 4.0 international license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0) how to cite wilcox, s. m. (2020). policy storms at the central office: conflicting narratives of racial equity and segregation at school committee meetings. research in educational policy and management, 1(2), 40-56. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.02.01.3 abstract this article reports findings from a multiyear critical ethnography that examined race talk dilemmas of school leaders at the central office at a small urban school district to understand why racialized educational policies and practices still persist against african american students. this study takes a structural approach to investigating the impact that race talk has on educational policymaking at the local district level. the guiding research question in this paper examines how we can understand educational reform and policy implementation and the unintended consequences of those interventions through the local from a historical context. keywords school desegregation; structural intersectionality; critical ethnography; structural racism; educational policy. 10.46303/repam.02.01.3 41 introduction policy storms are the confluence of issues in education policymaking and reform efforts (boylan et al., 2017). inequalities and privilege are two main concerns of education policy discourse because the distribution of power has greater implications for those who are poor versus those who are affluent. the continuous national refusal to adhere to the 1954 supreme court decision in brown vs. board of education to integrate public schools in the united states is central to understanding public school failure and the persistence of unequal educational opportunities for african americans (fruchter, 2007). researching school desegregation requires an analysis of structural racism by highlighting the relationship between marginalized citizens and the legal system in the united states. a structural view of racism reveals how school-community factors affect students of color while taking into account how instances of racial disparities are connected to historical and current sociopolitical policies embedded in white supremacy (blaisdell, 2016). one of the goals of school integration was to offer quality educational opportunities to all students in public schools. however, quality education is now discussed and measured in educational research by scores on standardized tests and the racebased concept of the achievement gap that public schools around the country are attempting to narrow no matter how segregated the schools may be. blakesdale school district (a pseudonym) has a long history of racial inequity regarding african american students. blakesdale was under a federal consent decree between (20012011). a controlled school choice program and mandatory busing was implemented during the late 1990s and early 2000s in an attempt to desegregate the school district. one of the requirements that blakesdale had to adhere to in order to end the consent decree was to establish diversity, equity, and inclusion committees that would meet several times a year and work to ensure that the district would provide an equal educational opportunity to all students. school district leaders at blakesdale formed these committees, but demonstrate little support for racial harmony by convening public meetings that are not well advertised to the public and are not attended by families and other community stakeholders. conflicting narratives at these meetings reflect interracial intolerance and discriminatory behaviors and practices by school officials at blakesdale towards marginalized populations in the school district. one of the major dilemmas between policy and practice is that people and agencies who are placed in positions of leadership or problem solvers are the groups that the policies aim to correct (cohen et al., 2018). the work of education policy is to provide goals and strategies for problem solving. education policymaking and administration reveal the nexus of power and voice (diem & young, 2015). the disproportion of power is seen discursively by who is allowed to participate in decision-making processes and who those decisions benefit (diem et al., 2014). who loses due to a lack of representation in the decision-making process? the historical purpose of school desegregation policies is connected to ideas of civil rights and educational access for everyone. since brown, our public schools have become the 42 site where we attempt to deal with racial problems (ladson-billings, 2004). race in this context is defined as a social assemblage that is used to categorize groups of people based on difference and status. a more invisible mode of racism operates through conversation of culture rather than race, difference, and superiority (gillborn & youdell, 2000). the way we think about discrimination influences how politics and policies are structured so that hardships are categorized as singular issues (crenshaw, 1991). the race talk of school officials at blakesdale disclose the degree to which their ideologies and tensions about race, class, and gender inform their work and become enacted in local school policymaking, and contribute to personal and professional conflicts. how can we understand educational reform and policy implementation and the unintended consequences of those interventions through the local from a historical context? the sundown movement and school desegregation policy james loewen (2006) says sundown towns or white ghettos are any organized jurisdiction that restricts african american or other racially minoritized groups from living in towns or suburbs for “all white” purpose (p. 4). loewen asserts that sundown towns are violent modes of forced segregation that uses illegal local ordinances to bar racial minorities from working in these towns after sunset, owning, or renting residential property. african americans and other racially marginalized groups who violated these laws were harassed or murdered. blakesdale was a sundown town and is surrounded by several active sundown towns today. loewen notes that residential segregation makes it easier to discriminate against african americans and other racialized populations in schooling, housing, employment, and other city services. many teachers and educational leaders at blakesdale school district live in active sundown towns. school desegregation laws and policies threaten the purpose of sundown towns by challenging the idea of equality of public schooling and the stigma of total exclusion (loewen, 2006, p.171). the sundown town movement teaches us about race relations and the formation and ongoing utility of segregation structurally in the united states. blakesdale school district has been entangled with equity lawsuits for several decades. david gillborn (2013) argues that education policy is an act of white supremacy and is a means to maintain it structurally. sharon radd and colleagues (2019) view desegregation policy as a particular kind of education policy that should be examined as a cultural artifact of race-based policy in public education in the united states. integration ideology during the civil rights movement was driven by the idea that racism could end when blacks were thoroughly interspersed in society (bell, 1980). opponents to school integration resist policies that would change the current public school structure that heavily advantage white students over all others. integrationists believe that racial balance in public schools would also provide an even distribution of resources that white students received over all other students which was one of the benefits the brown case hoped to achieve. 43 legal scholar charles lawrence (1980) says the purpose of school segregation is to subordinate blacks in society by providing them with inadequate resources and teaching them to feel inferior to whites. he posits that all whites benefit from segregation policies that reduce the educational opportunity for black students. he asserts that white school officials are complicit in maintaining segregation systemically through school board policies. lawrence believes that the brown decision ushered in a post racial way of thinking about race in the united states both within the legal system and society. james loewen (2006) says that segregation affirms the notion that african americans are inferior to white people who feel an equal social contract with them should never exist. however, there is no legal recognized right or ethical claim that us citizens have to an educational opportunity (freeman, 1980). desegregation of schools is a narrow way of addressing segregation as an institution. instead, an intentional dismantling of institutional segregation must occur (ladson-billings, 2004; lawrence, 1980). discursive policy shifts from equal educational opportunity to closing the achievement gap research by james crawford (2007) reveal the term achievement gap began to become more widely used in education policy discourse in 1999. he notes that the term was developed by karl rove and george w. bush when no child left behind act (nclb) was revised in 2002. all references to equal educational opportunity were replaced with the language of closing the achievement gap. this revision helped shift the way equity was viewed in education policy and changed the focus from providing equal access to resources and opportunity and altered the way we think about accountability (anderson et al., 2013; crawford, 2007). nclb compares test scores by racial categories whereby white students’ achievement is measured against african american students. the gap between the test scores of white and black students is known as the achievement gap (horsford, 2017; span & rivers, 2012). the term black-white achievement gap is focused mainly upon achievement between two racial groups while omitting the struggles of other racial and ethnic groups in schools. efforts to close the achievement gap has been unsuccessful in u.s. public schools (darling-hammond, 2007; delpit, 2012; ladson-billings, 2006; payne, 2008). the achievement gap has normalized underachievement for african american students (horsford, 2014). marguerite clarke (2007) says that policies similar to nclb were less likely to close the achievement gap, but rather expand it. she adds that no state has been exceptionally effective at closing the black-white achievement gap which calls into question the validity of using the standards-based reform model for attaining academic excellence in u.s. education systems. the former discourse of educational opportunity acknowledged that equity, unlike equality, means that the most vulnerable require additional resources, not equal resources (anderson et al., 2013; crawford, 2007). the culture of policy framework discloses how policy-driven language and procedures of public schooling conflict with stated equitable aims of racial and ethnic inclusions while promoting systems of stigmatization and deficit thinking strategies 44 (stein, 2004). gillborn and youdell (2000) suggests the rationing of education in public schools are concealed from public critique. a major aim in this kind of discourse is to examine the ramifications of education reforms and how they bolster inequities and injustice in public schools. the nexus between intersectionality, race talk dilemmas, and the resistance to school integration what is intersectionlity? what does it do? in her address to the united nations, kimberlé crenshaw (2000a) says that intersectionality is a provisional framework that encompass two forms: 1) structural intersectionality shows how policies intersect with foundational structures of inequality to create compounded injury for vulnerable victims; and 2) political intersectionality refers particularly to how women who are members of marginalized groups organized in different ways to challenge oppressive conditions. structural intersectionality maps the corporeal consequences of systems of oppression while political intersectionality describes the strategies used to fight against those systems of oppression (crenshaw, 2014). intersectionality is the study of how social and structural dimensions of inequality shape social life (grzanka, 2014). intersectionality is not theory centered on identities or identity politics, but a sociological concept that is concerned with providing a structural analysis and critique of how social inequalities are produced and maintained (cho et al., 2013; collins, 2009; crenshaw, 2000b; dill et al., 2001). crenshaw (2000b) notes that when the most privileged groups are centered in discrimination analyses, it works to marginalize those from more disadvantaged groups. it creates a distorted examination of racism and sexism because the experiences of the under privilege group are grounded in the experiences of the other. systems of oppression—the law the law is a discursive arena where social norms are created and maintained, and where the social contract is both supported and resisted (grzanka, 2014). legal structures are an example of the kinds of structures that intersectional teaching, research, and activism target (2014; p. 1). the law can be understood as a system of oppression in which structural intersectionality demonstrates the ways in which oppressed social groups resist their oppression (crenshaw, 2000b). the law marks how its historical dimensions are entangled with institutions and stakeholders who have an investment in exploiting difference and the manufacturing of it (reddy, 2005). intersectional research examines how major current and historical events exhibit systemic patterns of discrimination, exploitation, privilege, and deprivation such as unfair sentencing practices (farrell et al., 2010); incarceration and schools (meiners, 2007); and antidiscrimination law (crenshaw, 1991) are created and governed by systemic forces that create structures of inequality. school and residential segregation are patterns of systemic oppression that use illegal policies and practices to displace, dominant, and discrimination against marginalized groups. the u.s. supreme court in 1917 in the case of buchanan v. warley deemed ordinances that excluded african americans from living in segregated 45 communities in louisville, ky to be illegal (loewen, 2006). dorothy newman (1978) posits that residential separations relies on formal and informal policies and practices that are carefully followed that no legislation has been able to eradicate. structural intersectionality attempts to capture the structural and material consequences of the interactions between multiple systems of subordination and address the ways the specific policies and practices create inequalities (crenshaw, 2014). brown v. board of education was a landmark decision that provided an actual legal strategy for not only integrating public schools in the united states, but segregated communities as well. race talk dilemmas race talk is a way in which we perceive and talk about race and how language is performed in public (sue, 2015). race talk dilemmas are discursive ways in which issues of race, class, and gender are revealed. race talk is an intersectional discursive framework that provides a lens to investigate the methods used to single out certain groups for discriminatory treatment on the basis of race, class and other forms of oppression. the race talk among school officials in this research illustrates the effects of segregation on the formation of racist ideology of educational leaders in blakesdale school district. race talk is intersectional because it provides an intellectual examination of racial issues and dilemmas that helps educational stakeholders perceive and address their own racial practices with clarity (pollock, 2006), it links the origin of the beliefs and practices to the system(s) that produced it. counter-narratives of race talk are extremely threatening to whites and to our society because they demonstrate how power and privilege work and how white talk justifies ways in which african americans and other marginalized social categories are subjugated (felix & trinidad, 2020; sue, 2015; bell, 2003). educational opportunities for marginalized students are mediated by school officials’ ideologies of race, class, and gender. their beliefs about students limit the quality of education the students receive. methodology critical discourse analysis (cda) is the lens used in this study to analyze how discursive replications of racism, power abuse, and social inequality are form and are sustained structurally. cda is a kind of discursive analytic used to examine social power abuse, how dominance and inequality are produced and resisted through verbal and texts in the social and political context (dijk, 2008). conversations construct social relations and position people categorically as social subjects and is a form of ideology of linguistic material (fairclough, 1992). critical refers to illuminating hidden causal effects that require interventions for those who are disadvantaged through processes of change. anthropologist faye harrison (2019) asserts that race does not exist separate from the structural racism that produces and maintains it. she posits that racism is connected to corporeal relations of social and discursive actions that bolster oppressive power associations between groups that are perceived to be 46 different. do educational leaders have the language to critically examine and transform harmful social practices that are encapsulated within current educational policies that create inequitable educational opportunities for all students? critical ethnography of racial inequity and race talk dilemmas blakesdale is a small urban school district of (n=10,094) students located in the midwestern part of the united states. the racial history of blakesdale county is complicated by its close proximity to several active sundown towns. all names and locations used in this research are pseudonyms. fieldwork for this study was conducted over two years with data that documents efforts to desegregate blakesdale school district over a twenty-year period. for decades, school officials at blakesdale have grappled with the local african american community to provide racially fair and equitable public education services. data for this article comes from a larger critical ethnography research project that seeks to disrupt neutrality and assumptions projected into groups of people by revealing obscure operations of power and domination (madison, 2012). the study examines the impact of race talk on education policymaking structurally at the central district office level. qualitative research methods in this study employed the use of in-depth interviews, archival data, observations and a critical discourse analyses of public educational documents such as student achievement data, and meeting minutes from the school district. primary methods used in ethnographic fieldwork are participant observations, in-depth interviews, and document analysis that helps the ethnographer see and make meaning of policy processes systemically (mccarty, 2011; wolcott, 2008). district school officials at blakesdale feel that there is no other school district comparable to them and the issues they face to inform school improvement reform. it was important that i used data from the district to speak to them about how their policies, practices, and race talk are central to achieving better educational outcomes for all of their students. language policy the apa 7th edition require racial categorical terms like black and white be capitalized. however, i will not capitalize the term “white” when using it to describe a racial category unless it is the first word in a sentence. here, i follow the du boisian tradition of capitalizing the word black to acknowledge and render respect on the page for those who the new york times says have been for generations in the “lower case,” (du bois, 2007; tharps, 2014; the new york times, 1930). race matters are manifested through public discourse, organizational power arrangements, and social norms and practices (harrison, 1995). this study is concerned with the discursive dimensions of dominance and by capitalizing the racial category of black and not white is an act of disrupting the tools of whiteness discursively. the language use in any citations from research data such as school publications, school meeting minutes, code of conduct manuals, archival data, or transcriptions of observation field notes and in-depth 47 interviews will not be changed in any way. citations and references in this article adhere to the apa 6th edition manual style. researcher positionality i am an african american working class woman from the rural southeastern part of the united states. my positionality as a researcher is as an activist-scholar which michelle fine (1991) describe as an ethnographer whose position is to disturb hegemonic practices and advocate for marginalized categories by exposing injustices in spaces where disadvantaged people are located while offering alternatives. my interest in small rural and urban schools stem from my own upbringing and education in public schools in the rural southeastern part of the united states. my personal interests and experiences inform why i chose to conduct this research project. however, i do not believe that the analysis of my findings are limited by those experiences or is diminished by current historical occurrences. this study encompasses the histories of african americans who have suffered and fought systemic oppression not only in the quest to become educated in formal educational settings, but to be considered citizens of the human race. results this section begins with a collection of conversations from different school committee meetings at the central district office at blakesdale around issues of racial equity and school segregation. the race talk that emerged from the committee meetings provide insights into what ruth frankenberg (1993) calls the social geography of race. this refers not only to how material space is sorted and inhabited, but also to how space is understood and the kinds of relations that take place within it. the portraits of the race talk dilemmas that occurred at these meetings helps to reveal some of the signs of racial division at blakesdale and how local manifestations of the city’s social geography of race are entangled within school policies and politics. portraits of race talk dilemmas from central district office education leaders attack rhetoric blames teachers for public school failure. the degradation of the teaching profession has negatively impacted the job market and has resulted in creating an unstable workforce. blame is a powerful mechanism for revealing sites of struggle and can be seen as a lazy approach to public deliberation (hlavacik, 2016). school officials in this context can only be reactive to issues that students bring to school from home, but reject notions of racialized structural behaviors within the school system. mr. jackson [a black man] reported that luda (large unit district association) and the ocr (office of civil rights) asked district representatives to give a presentation on the discipline initiatives the district has implemented which address the goals of sb 100. he stated that despite the myriad interventions and supports in place, discipline data remains racially disparate with african american students receiving the lion’s share of 48 disciplinary consequences. caleb williams [a white man] responded to mr. jackson’s comments by laying the responsibility for student misbehavior on their community and families. he stated that schools are held accountable for issues beyond their control. mr. jackson stated that although violence in the community and family factors are beyond the schools’ control, educators need to do the best they can with students during the seven hours a day they have them, including teaching behavioral expectations that may differ from the expectations students learn at home. mr. williams suggested that school expectations be presented to parents via ‘road shows’ in their communities and explained using scenarios to which parents can relate. one taskforce member suggested having walks in the community to share this information. it was noted that community walks had been held in the past to communicate information about attendance and community coalition goals. according to public imagination, public schools are failing at an alarming rate, (dea committee meeting minutes, 9-10-15). white educational leaders who live and work in and near sundown towns develop color blind racist rhetoric to explain inequality of social structures like public schooling and use such discourse to justify why achievement gaps persist (loewen, 2006). racialized professional talk in these school meetings renders whiteness invisible and reduces the possibility of understanding race talk in these meetings as a deterrent for organizational change (irby & clark, 2018). racism in the united states has relied on normalizing racialized hierarchy and ideology of white intellectual superiority of over blacks (pollock, 2004). an example of this racialization of intellectual superiority can be found in the statement by mr. william when he suggested that, “school expectations [should] be presented to parents via ‘road shows’ in their communities and explained using scenarios to which parents can relate.” the parents he referred to are african american families in the school district. it is clear that he does not believe that they have the intellectual ability to understand school expectations and thus would need the information presented to them in the form of a “road show” so that they could relate. mica pollock (2006) observes that race talk is not just talk, but a discursive lens that allows us to see how we negotiate with racial inequality, and the consequences of those negotiations to harm the most vulnerable students in our public education system. the utility of race talk in this example reveals the presence of structural racism and the ways in which it co-opts the purpose of the discipline, equity and education (dea) committee’s ability to find solutions to racial inequality at blakesdale. despite how black students perform in school, their teachers often ignore data that does not conform to their prejudices and stereotypes they hold against them (dumas, 2014; pollock, 2004; irvine, 1990). these deficit-based ideologies become embedded in the school’s norms, policies, and practices even by teachers who self-identify as good teachers of african american students (buehler, 2009; ladson-billings, 2006). everyone has something to lose by preserving inequalities in public spaces that allow for public goods to become privatized. a popular idea about why achievement and disciplinary disparities persist among african 49 american students is based on a notion that class not race is the reason for low academic achievement for students who are from low-income families (gordon et al., 2000; maran, 2000; portes, 2005). the poverty argument as the causal effect of low achievement and disciplinary issues is problematic. the establishment of the committees have not changed the racial climate at blakesdale. educators can’t control what goes on in the home, but they can do their best to meet children’s needs during school hours. it was noted that all schools have a small number of students who would benefit from social/emotional instruction done via small groups. unfortunately, mr. jackson pointed out, these groups would be racially identifiable. mr. williams commented that the community is segregated, so schools shouldn’t be condemned if services are racially identifiable. he said he would support the concept of having separate classrooms in schools to address the small number of students who have more intense needs, (dea committee meeting minutes, 9-10-15). mr. williams is a member of the discipline, equity, and achievement (dea) committee and an alternate school board member and he states, “the community [at blakesdale] is segregated, so schools shouldn’t be condemned if services are racially identifiable. he said he would support the concept of having separate classrooms in schools to address the small number of students who have more intense needs,” (dea committee meeting minutes, 9-1015). mr. williams’ comments on the taskforce have always reflected a segregationist position at blakesdale. residential and school segregation is normalize at blakesdale and mr. williams’ comments reveal his support for that social arrangement to continue in the school district. as charles lawrence (1980) notes once segregation is institutionalized as a labeling device, little maintenance is needed. any recourse that does not take into consideration the systemic nature of the harm caused by segregation will fail. community concerns over the persistence of segregation race talk at blakesdale is used to assign deficit labels of vulnerability to african american students and their families. race talk dilemmas of risk, equity, and schooling often view vulnerability as a pathological issue connected to racial groups who are poor, while concealing that vulnerability is also associated with privilege (khalil & brown, 2019; lee, 2009; spencer et al., 2006). the local context is important to examine how district leaders promote equity initiatives in order to understand the relevance of how education policies operate (mattheis, 2017). on december 2019, the local chapters for the american civil liberties union (aclu) and national association for the advancement of colored people (naacp) sent a letter to the school superintendent of blakesdale school district calling out the lack of progress on racial equity. the aclu, naacp, and a few members from the equity and education committee (eec) complained about school segregation and the lack of access to gifted and advanced placement courses for african american students in the district. 50 maggie johns [white female] is a parent and member of the eec said “the within-school segregation was extreme” at her daughter’s elementary school. she remarked, “almost all of the white children were in the gifted program, and almost none of the [b]lack children were in the gifted program.” the president of the aclu in blakesdale noted that since the federal consent decree was lifted from the school district eight years ago, racial equity at blakesdale has worsen (local newspaper report, 12/2019). the president of the naacp said “the consent decree was lifted some time ago... it may exist on paper but in action it hasn't done any good,” (local newspaper report, 12/2019). the ineffectiveness of the consent decree regulate racial equity and compliance to federal laws illustrates the shifting power based the courts have to promote education policy change (superfine &thompson, 2016). a spokesperson for the school district replied to leaders of the aclu and naacp saying, “this was a very thoughtful letter. the district takes it seriously and looks forward to having a discussion,” (local newspaper report, 12/2019). eec member maggie johns said that the segregation at her daughter’s school is so bad that her daughter and friends thought that “they were going to go into school one day and see the water fountains had also been designated for separate races.” johns said “witnessing all-[b]lack or all-white classrooms in schools sends a huge message to the kids, and it’s doing damage every day,” (local newspaper report, 12/2019). charles lawrence (1980) believes that the brown case has not abolished school segregation because the legal system’s way of thinking about segregation denied the reality of race and racism in america. lawrence says the problem of segregation “comes from its “system” or “institution” rather than from “particular segregating acts,” (1980, p. 50). race-conscious education policies like brown could not address or eliminate racist actions within the classrooms. “the problem was not caused by a limited number of racist actions, but by traditions and practices that embodied and perpetuated deeply entrenched racial inequality even without new discriminatory actions,” (orfield, 2014, p. 274). amanda lewis (2003) asserts that schools are one of the fundamental institutions involved in constructing racial categories. racial categories are ways that people socially create and arrange their identities and behaviors that influence their social experiences and educational outcomes. discussion public schools have moved away from using race conscious practices like forced busing to address racial inequity (petts, 2020). instead, school committees and taskforces are established with the aim of leading the institutions into becoming more inclusive. the discourse from such committees at blakesdale school district demonstrate how educational leaders at the central district office grapple with racial equity and school segregation. the local racial history of sundown towns and school segregation is a problem that educational leaders still struggle to address. many educational leaders at blakesdale live in active sundown towns and espouse the racist ideologies of social isolation. policy storms become evident during 51 these meetings through professional race talk that reveal the paradox of how white educational leaders who reside in sundown towns deal with educational law, racism, and segregation. culture of policy frameworks are created from both historical arrangements and institutional practices (stein, 2004). educational research by mica pollock (2004) on race talk dilemmas in schools finds that race talk can reveal how silences are systemic when race is situated in a culture of risk in educational settings, it becomes a matrix for determining power and privilege distribution. education policy narratives have tangible consequences for those whose behavior the policies seek to regulate (koyama, 2015). the most prevalent discursive tropes in u.s. education policy is related to the achievement gap metaphor. one of the pivotal ways the gap discourse regulates targeted groups is through federal mandated standardized tests (mccarty, 2015). the most effective outcome of culture of poverty discourses has diverted attention away from institutional educational inequities based on race and class in policies viewpoint (stein, 2004). therefore, whiteness should be viewed as a social identity that is linked to relations of domination (frankenberg, 1993). white middle-class norms dominate many schools that creates a culture whereby school officials often have negative views about low-income and marginalized families. the ways in which race talk become evident is the ways in which language reveals the ideologies of school officials which is used to create racialized school environments. conclusion in order to achieve racial equity in public schools requires all educational stakeholders to center the work of structural racism. public education systems cannot allow organizational immunities that preserve structural racism (irby & clark, 2018; kegan & lahey, 2009). the race talk of school officials at blakesdale reveals how these local educational leaders resist federal laws and policies that threatens their privilege. one of the major unintended consequences of desegregation policies and equity lawsuits at blakesdale is that school segregation still continues. one of the implications of this research is to consider how racial equity and policy change should be viewed as institutional work. a policy change as institutional work approach provides an alternative way of thinking about federal policymaking and how those policies are or are not implemented at the local school district level (svensson & tomson, 2017). the institutional work for racial equity and policy change at blakesdale will require the educational institution and the african american community to contend with the historical issues of structural racism that has prohibited progress in blakesdale county and the school district. the african american community has consistently filed and won equity lawsuits against blakesdale school district, and yet racial inequality persists. this may explain why public schools are failing and how current institutional work and policy change for racial equity and achievement exacerbate disparate circumstances that contribute to inequity and achievement gaps. 52 references anderson, g.l., mungal, a., pini, m., scott, j., & thomson, p. 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(2014). the case for black with a capital b. the new york times. www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/opinion/the-case-for-black-with-a-capital-b.html. wolcott, h.w. (2008). ethnography: a way of seeing (2nd ed.). lanham, md: altamira press. research in educational policy and management repamjournal.org open access journal 2019, 1(1): 1-16 research paper school, ethnicity and nation-building in post-colonial myanmar francesco bigagli* * phd, independent researcher, italy (former assistant professor, dhofar university, school of applied sciences and languages, salalah, oman). e-mail: frabigagli@gmail.com article info received: 18.11.2019 revised: 28.11.2019 accepted: 02.12.2019 how to cite bigagli, f. (2019). school, ethnicity and nation-building in postcolonial myanmar. research in educational policy and management, 1(1), 1-16. abstract drawing on concepts of ethnicity and ethnic nationalism, this paper analyzes the reasons and extent to which school education has been utilized to define postcolonial myanmar. it will examine the way in which the nation has been defined by the suppression of the ‘other’ as opposed to being formed in its integral nations. this will be done through an analysis of myanmar’s political history and, subsequently, through an examination of specific educational policies and practices such as the introduction of a one-language policy, standardized curricula and textbooks and teacher-centered pedagogies that have deliberately been used in the attempt to assimilate rather than integrate the country’s ethnic diversity. the second part of the paper will look into the nature and dynamics of the country’s enduring identity-based conflicts by analyzing the effects of such exclusive state building policies. it will argue that the ‘ethnicization’ of the education system (in favor of the bamar majority) has both catalyzed political violence and has reinforced ethnolinguistic identities through the use of education as a tool of resistance. keywords educational policy; school; nation-building; ethnicity; nationalism; myanmar. introduction listed as a lower-middle income country (world bank, 2019a), myanmar has been rife with violence between bamar-majority governments and ethnic minority groups demanding greater political and human rights since the end of the british colonial period in 1948. the international labor organization (ilo, 2019) estimates a population of over 53 million, 68% of which is accounted as bamar/burman (world population review, 2019). most of its non-majority population inhabits the rural states on the borders with bangladesh and india to the west, laos 2 repamjournal.org and thailand to the east and china to the northeast. while over 65% of the population aged 15 and older is stated to be in employment (ilo, 2019), one in four people in 2017 was estimated to live in poverty corresponding to almost 11.8 million people (world bank, 2019b). starting 2011 with the quasi-civilian government of president thein sein, economic sanctions imposed since 1997 to isolate the military regime had gradually been removed. despite initial optimism, the country’s economic growth has slowed down from 6.7% in the 2017/18 period to a 6.2% in 2018/19 (world bank, 2019a). apart from much needed infrastructure development and reforms, myanmar’s economic growth and poverty reduction largely depends on its political stability, particularly in relation to the ongoing peace process. despite the ratification of a number of ceasefire agreements (reuters, 2015), the conflict environment has not changed much since 1948 and the government is still unable to control the majority of its borderlands and heavy combat is ongoing (davis, 2019, july 2). in her opening speech at the inauguration of the national reconciliation and peace centre on january 1, 2017, myanmar’s state counselor daw aung san suu kyi, leader of the first democratically elected government in november 2015, urged all representatives “to help mark 2017 as the year of peace” (myanmar times, 2017, january 3). further steps towards the realization of a “peaceful democratic federal union” based on the ratification of 2015 nation ceasefire agreement (nca) between the then thein sein’s government and eight ethnic armed groups were undertaken at the second and third meetings of the union peace conference panglong in may 2017 and july 2018. the signings of the nca by the new mon state party and the lahu democratic union in february 2018 (ap news, 2018, february 13) was seen as a further step forward to a comprehensive cease fire although some of the most powerful ethnic armed organizations (eags) like the kachin and the shan are yet to lay down their weapons. while the outcome of the panglong’s talks bodes well for the next meeting to be held early in 2020 with several agreed points on the extension of legislative, judicial, and executive powers to ethnic minority states, the highly sought-after deal on the issue of self-determination has yet to materialize (myanmar times , 2017, may 29). this is a serious constraint to the implementation of the nca which advocates the right to self-determination “on the basis of liberty, equality, and justice while upholding the principles of non-disintegration of the union” (nca, 2013, p. 1). in the context of myanmar, the concept of self-determination should be articulated in a way that both majority and minorities “feel they equally co-own the country” (kapi, 2014). in practice, each member state of the union should be able to elect its own political leaders, make decisions on how wealth is distributed, and exercise the right to mother-tongue based education. as ignatieff (1995, p. 3) argues, “self-determination comes down to either democratic self-rule or the exercise of cultural autonomy”. in this regard, consensus on education policies that would grant the right to determine instruction in a medium other than burmese a legacy of fifty years of military regimes -, and create/revise curricula in line with local needs will not be easy to achieve for suu kyi without antagonizing the tatmadaw (i.e., 3 repamjournal.org myanmar armed forces) who enjoy autonomy in their affairs under the 2008 constitution (chapter vii). bearing in mind the emergency situation in a number of borderlands, “there tends to be a concern . . . that the promotion of minority languages and ethnic identities will lead to greater divisiveness” (lall & south, 2016b, pp. 132-133) rather than unity; always with the risk of a call for secession from ethnic armed groups (mail online, 2017, may 28). bush and saltarelli (2000, p. 18) contend that there is no empirical evidence that “minority language teaching necessarily diminishes a sense of political unity”. yet in a country riven by decades of identitybased conflicts and divided along ethnic lines, the promotion of inclusive education policies through decentralization would require greater political commitment from the government, including the tatmadaw. this might also necessitate ethnic armed groups to discontinue using education “as a political tool to shape identities” (south & lall, 2016a, p. 133). myanmar’s turbulent political history teaches us that the imposition of a specific national culture, the bamar, as the “socialist way” to build and maintain national unity has simply led the country to a perpetual state of conflict and “insurgency as a way of life” (smith, 2007, p. 15) resulting into a “nation-destroying” process (walker, 1972). since independence from british rule in 1948 and, more pronouncedly, after the military coup in 1962, myanmar has essentially embarked on a mono-ethnic project of state nation-building, mainly through the predominance of the bamar language and culture. although the adoption of a dominant (state) language in colonial/post-colonial contexts is often legitimized as being an essential nation-building (and nation-maintenance) tool in order to encourage social cohesion, promote a sense of belonging and integration of diverse groups in all aspects of public life (ulasiuk, hadirka & romans, 2018), the way this is carried out is also crucial. while the integration of diverse groups in society is unlikely to occur without an understanding of the state language, the exclusion of minority languages and cultures can be perceived as a threat to the survival of a particular group’s ethnic identity (bush & saltarelli, 2000), leading to the emergence of highly resilient “minority nationbuilding” stances (kymlicka, 2001, p. 233) working against the exclusive state policies and fuelling dissent and enduring tensions. purpose of the study drawing on concepts of ethnicity and ethnic nationalism, this paper will first review the politics of educational reforms in post-colonial myanmar by analyzing the extent to which school education has been used as a political tool in the state formation process by the suppression of the ‘other’ as opposed to being formed in its integral nations. this will be done through an analysis of myanmar’s political history and, subsequently, through an examination of specific educational policies and practices such as the introduction of a one-language policy, standardized curricula, textbooks and teacher-centered pedagogies. the second part of the paper will look into the nature and dynamics of the country’s enduring identity-based conflicts by analyzing the effects of such exclusive state building 4 repamjournal.org policies. it will argue that the ‘ethnicization’ (bush & saltarelli) of the education system—in favor of the bamar majority—has both catalyzed political violence (exacerbating civil-military tensions) and has reinforced ethno-linguistic identities through the use of education as a tool of resistance. this latter point has critical implications for social cohesion, tolerance for diversity and the overall future of the country. the conclusive part of the paper will explore ways forward to foster national unity through the promotion of inclusive education policies vis-à-vis the ongoing peace process. as guibernau (2007, p. 27) warns us, “failure in this respect inevitably threatens social cohesion and fuels further claims for devolution and secession.” ethnicity and nation-building as research shows (lall, 2009), inter-ethnic violence in burma precedes sovereignty from british colonial rule. independence hero, gen. aung san, was gunned down in july 1947 by a group of paramilitary. a few months earlier, at the first panglong conference, aung san and ethnic representatives of the chin, shan and kachin frontier areas had unanimously agreed to the formation of a unified burma with autonomy to be granted to the country’s ethnic minority areas thus de facto paving the way for an independent federal state. unity in diversity was aung san’s motto to “heal ethnic differences and build the new nation” (smith, p. 38). the agreement, however, included the right to secede after ten years of independence. according to lall (2009, p. 4), “the british colonial legacy of divide and rule entrenched differences between the bamar majority and other minority ethnic groups [that] have challenged the state since its inception, some asking for greater autonomy and some for outright independence”. the spirit of the agreement essentially envisaged the “coming together” of people possessing well-defined ethno-cultural identities which had been purposely cultivated during the colonial period, and which could represent a fertile ground for ethnic discord unless readily tackled. one could legitimately argue that the identities of the kachins, chins, and others were so deeply rooted in their ethnic cultural attributes and “frontier” territories to constitute themselves distinct “nations.” as guibernau (2007, p. 47) contends, a nation can be defined as “a human group conscious of forming a community, sharing a common culture, attached to a clearly demarcated territory, having a common past and a common project for the future and claiming the right to rule itself”. at its inception, the union was a state without a sense of nation. it was fundamentally comprised of different “nations” each intrinsically defined by ethnocultural characteristics, and it is worth noting that although the vast majority of the population in burma practises buddhism this did not act as a potential deterrent to inter-ethnic violence. in principle, however, diversity should not preclude to a successful nation-building process. nor should “such diversity increase the risk of warfare” (smith, 2007, p. 21). what did, in the context of burma, was the nationalistic approach by which the governments of u nu and, more pronouncedly, the military juntas of gen. ne win and, after him, saw maung and than shwe, had come to impose the dominance of the bamar group over others (smith, 2007). 5 repamjournal.org the politics of exclusion: education as a tool of dispossession following the assassination of aung san, the panglong agreement was never honored and, despite winning independence in 1948, the country has ever since plunged in a “conflict trap” (smith, 2007). powerful ethnic communist separatist forces which had gradually come to enjoy the support of foreign agents -most prominently mao’s chinagradually escalated into a militarization of the union leading to general ne win’s 1962 military coup. from 1962 to 2011, state power under ne win and ensuing military juntas imposed what had come to be perceived as a “burmanization” of society by moving away from foreign cultures and repressing autochthonous ethnic ones. this was not only with the aim to re-establish the burmese tradition at the expense of the country’s diverse identities -, and “reject (perhaps forget) the humiliating colonial past” (aung thwin, 2012, p. 250) but also, arguably, prevent the country from breaking apart (smith, 2007, p. 38). as ignatieff (1998, p. 3), with a tinge of dark irony, contends: “nationalism is an ethic of heroic sacrifice, justifying the use of violence in the defense of one’s nations against enemies, internal or external”. nation-building in burma took place within the terms of what hans kohn (1944) and other scholars (greenfeld & chirot, 1994) call ‘ethnic nationalism’ where “it is the nationalist community that defines the individual” and not viceversa and where an “individual’s deepest attachments are inherited, not chosen” (ignatieff, 1998, pp. 4-5). in practice, for ne win, the safeguard of a united nation-state coincided with the suppression of the ethno-cultural “other” and the imposition of “one ethnicity,” that is, the bamar, one language, burmese, and one religion: buddhism as “the burmese way to socialism” (tbws, 1962). in this regard, education has played a crucial though “destructive” (bush & saltarelli, 2000) role in the attempt to “unify” the new nation which translated into an “explicit and conscious project of forced assimilation” under ne win (lall & south, 2016b, p. 31). the use of education as a political tool for nation-building has been extensively researched. scholars agree that national identity-formation is a carefully engineered process constructed over time by those in power (guibernau, 2007, p. 15), and “the material taught in schools reflects the political ideology of the day” (lall, 2009, p. 1). some scholars argue that it is precisely through “free and compulsory” education that governments seek to produce political legitimacy and maintain the status quo (green, 2013, pp. 94-95). not surprisingly, in 1950, a new education policy aimed at providing free primary schooling was introduced. the scheme was complemented by the launch of a pilot project to implement compulsory primary education in rangoon (lwin, 2000, p. 7). in 1962, all schools were nationalized. as cheesman (2003) contends, the control of the school system represents a powerful tool for the cultivation and inculcation of national principles and ideals. the crucial role of education in identity development is therefore one reason why it often becomes a target for political manipulation. as research shows, citizens’ naturalization is a double-faced process that can lead to either integration or disintegration of society (bush and saltarelli, 2000). the process is integrative when it leads to building a society based on tolerance and respect for the other. it is disintegrative when the outcome of the process results into 6 repamjournal.org jingoism and intolerance for diversity. arguments that decades of warfare have been fueled by political reasons the risk of a breaking up of the union, or, in part, “greed” over the control of the resource-rich borderlands by some ethnic armed groups (eags), or simply sheer lust for power certainly have their raison d’etre though it should be clear that myanmar's internal conflict does not fall under the “resource wars” category (smith, 2010; lall & south, 2016a). to corroborate and advance lall and south’s (2016a) argument, it could be said that it was rather the attempt to eradicate diversity by replacing it with a self-same identity, as a form of neocolonialism and a way to the ethno-cultural dispossession of the “other,” that has contributed to the perpetuation of violence. the politics of exclusion in ne win’s burma has been perpetuated precisely through education as a tool of dispossession of the other’s cultural identity by denying the right to mother-tongue education, the imposition of a unified curriculum and textbooks as well as a highly politicized approach of teachers. monolingual education in 1962, under the ‘national language policy,’ burmese was established as the national language while the use of other ethnic languages was banned. the ban included the publication of newspapers and books in languages other than burmese (nya mon, 2014); reinforcing u nu’s previous 1958 policy on the use of languages. while the teaching of minority languages was still largely allowed (nya mon, 2014), u nu’s policy promoted burmese as the sole medium of instruction (lwin, 2000). this was in stark contrast with language policies employed under the british administration: locally run vernacular schools allowed, for example, the use of one of the “indigenous” languages. the nexus between language and power is undeniable and, perhaps, even obvious as governments “often use language policy to serve an instrumental purpose, such as building a national identity” (lall & south, 2016b, p. 133). it could be argued that while the need to institutionalize the use of a specific language that everyone understands is not only crucial to effective communication but also to the sharing of a national identity (guibernau, 2007, p. 14), failure to recognize a country’s minority language(s) is tantamount to a denial of the other’s cultural identity (bush & saltarelli, 2000, p. 11). ironically, the very institutions that is, schools that should have exercised what jenson (1998) calls “the practices of recognition of difference” (p. 16) have instead contributed to fostering alienation and exclusion. not only that as learning in a “foreign” language a concept known as “submersion” (skutnabb-kangas, in benson, 2004, p. 2) is proven to cripple a child’s cognitive development. the emasculation of mother-tongue languages under ne win to this day has thus not only contributed to an erosion of myanmar’s ethnic cultural heritages but has fostered inequality as attested by high rates of exam failures and dropouts among minorities (jolliffe & mears, 2016). 7 repamjournal.org the curriculum and textbooks in 1962, the regime announced its education policy in line with the “burmese way to socialism” by proclaiming the need to bring about a system “based on socialist moral values.” two decades on, the head of state of burma, senior general than shwe, corroborates this line of action by emphasizing that in education “moral and discipline . . . are of prime importance . . . only when they [children] possess good discipline, will they be able to serve the interest of the state (lwin, 2000, p. 9). the original 1962 policy also states that “science will be given precedence in education” along with the overall target to “bring basic education within the reach of all” (tbws, 1962, p. 23). in addition, examinations based on a pass/fail system were introduced at the end of each standard (lwin, 2000). the subordination of arts to science, underpinning non-critical thinking behaviors and, more to the point, a strong emphasis on civic content framing national identity-formation on the basis of a political credo tied up to ethnicity and culture (i.e., burmese) along with continuous examinations designate the employment of what kerr (1999) describes as the “minimal approach” to civics education. this type of approach is essentially meant to advance “exclusive and elitist interests, such as the granting of citizenship to certain groups in society but not all” (kerr, 1999, p. 13) through politically charged texts that leave no margin to interpretation. it informs a passive behavior and a process of identity-formation subordinated to the exclusive authority of the state rather than fostering a critical approach to an understanding of citizenship values (i.e., justice, equality, tolerance for diversity). as apple (1992, p. 182) argues, control over the curriculum and textbooks is key “to create what a society has recognized as legitimate and truthful.” history books, in particular, continue to reflect the exclusive political ideology of the military regimes. according to nya mon (2014), these narrate an ethnically charged vision of the world by depicting, for instance, burman kings as heroes “for conquering the mon kingdoms, while the mon see them as invaders” (pp. 9-10). in general, textbooks do not contain any reference to other ethnic groups and, in some instances, present eags as “destructive elements and enemies” (p. 10). in so far the unification of the country, nya mon (2014) maintains that references to the 1947 panglong agreement are rare also in light to the fact that it was rendered null under ne win. teachers, pedagogy and quality gellner (1983)’s image of teachers as “gardeners of nationalism” aptly describes their role under the military regimes. in 2006, at a primary school’s ceremony, gen. thein sein, the future president of the union, addressed the audience by referring to eags as “saboteurs” of the nation and called onto teachers “to organize the people to clearly see the perpetration of the saboteurs and to ward it off with union spirit” (fink, 2001, p. 174). teachers had no input in curriculum development and were required to teach by the book (fink, 2001). a strong emphasis on teacher-centered pedagogy and rote-learning underpinned children’s submission to authority. teacher absenteeism, particularly in rural areas, was widespread with catastrophic 8 repamjournal.org consequences for non-majority students. in most cases, teachers deployed to work in ceasefire areas had, and continue to have no knowledge of the local language(s), and teaching, in most cases, was and still is of poor quality (jolliffe & mears, 2016). over the years, this has inevitably widened the gap in terms of access and quality of education between urban/bamarmajority inhabited areas and rural/ethnic dominated territories. in addition, inadequate teacher training and lack of professional development as a direct consequence of major underfunding have contributed to a deterioration of the school system. according to hayden and martin (2013), underfunding of education was deliberate. a move, surely, to prevent people’s empowerment and impose control. there can be no doubt that the attempt to reify ethno-cultural diversity into sameness was a major factor in the perpetuation of violence. as bush and saltarelli (2000, p. 10) claim, “taken to an extreme, such repression can be termed ‘ethnocide’ . . . as the process whereby a culturally distinct people loses its identity as a result of policies designed to erode . . . its traditions, art forms, religious practices and cultural values.” in the face of adversity, physical and cultural precariousness, ethnic communities have, however, demonstrated a strong sense of resilience in the ultimate struggle for survival and self-recognition. as we shall see, the emergence of parallel education systems (pes), run by eags, have not only served as an element of social resilience to re-establish normality into the lives of affected populations (pigozzi, 1999) but have acted as a tool of resistance in an effort towards cultural re-appropriation. interestingly, while some of these systems offer an occasion for the possibility of creating a basis for relationality and intercultural dialogue, in some other contexts, dispossession has worked to produce a narrative of socio-cultural antagonism and intolerance rendering the path towards reconciliation, mutual recognition and integration problematic. education as a tool of resistance as noted just now, the development of pes in post-independence myanmar can be said to represent a direct response to the policies and practices of cultural homogenization to protect autochthonous ethnic identities from extinction. some of these pess are worth mentioning as their conceptualization, according to lall and south (2016a), reflects the political stance of their respective communities vis-à-vis the peace process. the kachin state, on the border with china and india, has provided non-state education to its people for decades. in 2011, the 1994 ceasefire between the kachin independence army (kia) and the government broke down. interestingly, during the ceasefire period, the kia education system was more convergent with the government one and increasingly more divergent since the resumption of violence by switching to the jinghpaw language and placing emphasis exclusively on kachin culture. this, according to lall and south (2016a), would indicate a potential call for secession in future. the mon national education committee (mnec) offers, on the other hand, somewhat of a “model” education system which bodes well for a possible integration with the government one (lall & south, 2016a). a ceasefire agreement in the mon territory has been in place for over two 9 repamjournal.org decades. since 1994, the mnec has been offering a curriculum similar to the government one in mon language at primary level, migrating to burmese from grade 9. this particular model provides crucial advantages not only from a strictly pedagogical point of view but also from a political and socio-economic perspective (benson, 2004). command of burmese and competency in the government’s curriculum signify the ability to sit the matriculation exam and progress to higher education. fluency in the first language also represents an opportunity to fully participate in the life of the republic. however, nya mon (2014) suggests that the curriculum still embraces an ethno-nationalist representation of history. in general, other pess (e.g., shan, karen) provide mother-tongue based schooling and employ a distinct curriculum with little to no consideration for burmese culture. while the importance of pess in the preservation of cultural heritages and resiliencebuilding process has been crucial, it could be argued that years of forced assimilation have led to a sharpening of ethno-cultural awareness among minority groups. and, growing selfawareness has come to produce discord rather than harmony, resentment newbury aptly calls it “resentment of the dispossessed” (bush & saltarelli, 2000) in lieu of forgiveness; ultimately resulting in a fragmentation of myanmar’s society along ethno-cultural and political lines: “these divisions run deep and all the peoples have suffered” (smith, 1994, p. 95). according to walker (1972), in these contexts, not only minority groups become more aware of those who share their ethnic identity but are susceptible of developing an “us versus them” weltanschauung. in a darkly ironic turn of events, “ethnic mobilizers” (walker, 1972) have used and fed into the human dimension of the conflict by imposing a prejudiced view of the world through the employment of curricula that promote a biased understanding of history and culture (jolliffe & smears, 2016). nya mon (2014, p. 10) argues that history textbooks in use in karenni and shan schools present burmans as “oppressors while their ethnic groups were oppressed or innocent”. significantly, lall and south (2011, p. 139) point out that karenni children “are being educated to become (virtual) citizens of a putative karen free state, rather than the union of myanmar”. unsurprisingly, a trend towards xenophobia has become more virulent and has gone mainstream in the arakan state on the border with bangladesh. muslim rohingyas are targets of ethnic-cleansing type of attacks by the arakan army and buddhist mobs, with the laissez-faire complicity of the tatmadaw. as un officials warn what is at risk is not simply the reputation of suu kyi in dealing with the rohingyas’ crisis as well as other minorities but the future of the union itself (reuters, 2017). education in post-independence myanmar has had a majorly destructive role. it was and still is part of the problem since it has served “to divide and antagonize groups both intentionally and unintentionally” (bush & saltarelli, 2000, p. 33). while the example of the mon community gives hope for creating the conditions of integration through diversity, the essential question running through the next section and conclusion is how can inclusive education leading to a process of social transformation be introduced and/or sustained within transitional systems, including the state one, as well as areas still characterized by tension and violence. 10 repamjournal.org inclusive education: a roadmap to nation-(re)building and peace? promising steps towards a reform of the education system with a focus on inclusive policies and quality in line with education for all and millennium development goals have been undertaken since 2014 with the introduction of a new education law and the 2016-2021 national education strategic plan (nesp). the law includes provisions for limited decentralization and mother tongue-based schooling. amendments to the law were made in june 2015 following clashes between the police and students (radio free asia, 2015, march 10) who demanded a further reduction of centralized control congruent with increased local empowerment over the development of curricula as well as the teaching of ethnic subjects and use of ethnic languages (jolliffe & mears, 2016). while commendable, reform efforts have had “limited success so far” (jolliffe & mears, 2016, p. 32). the teaching of ethnic subjects is still not compulsory and takes place outside of school hours. textbooks are translated into local languages and there is a major lack of teachers for non-majority languages. besides, “the law states that ethnic languages should only be used ‘if necessary,’ and ‘alongside myanmar,’ rather than asserting that teachers should use whatever language is most conducive to learning” (jolliffe & mears, 2016, p. 37). most scholars (benson, 2004; buhmann & trudell, 2008) agree that the use of mother-tongue based schooling at primary level with the subsequent introduction of the second language as the medium of instruction, as in the case of the mon model, is not only pedagogically sound but would help create the conditions for political and social integration. and yet, the examples of post-conflict multi-ethnic nations like kosovo and macedonia have proven that mother-tongue based education alone might lead to cementing the ethnic divide (unicef, 2009) unless complemented by peace and citizenship education programs supported by critical thinking skills within the terms of kerr’s (1999) “maximal interpretation”. unlike “narrower” civics education, citizenship programs promote an epistemological approach to the construct of national identity based on citizens’ rights and responsibilities rather than subordination to a state-imposed vision of the world (kerr, 1999); thus offering the opportunity to move away from a concept of nationalism tied up to ethnicity and mono-culturalism to one framed around ignatieff’s civic nationalism which “envisages the nation as a community of equal, rights-bearing citizens sharing the same attachment and respect to the nation’s civic institutions, values and rule of law” (ignatieff, 1995, p. 4). according to smith (2010), citizenship education programs are particularly appropriate in conflict-ridden societies where national identity formation is linked to ethnicity. in this regard, while it has been largely criticized for failing to include ethnic teachers, community representatives and civil society organizations in the policy-making process (voanews, 2017, april 22), the nesp places a strong emphasis on critical thinking which is crucial, as noted, in citizenship education. however, while the nesp promotes the development of specific curricula with ‘local’ components, put together by each state of the union, the new 11 repamjournal.org primary school curriculum only allocates five class periods per week for ethnic-based content (myanmar times, 2019, august 6; frontier myanmar, 2019, may 20). in addition, apart from a “life skills” module, the nesp makes no provision for the implementation of specific peace education and/or school conflict resolution skill programs, including opportunities for interethnic community projects which would help combat intolerance; ultimately contributing to a process of identity re-building and social transformation (pigozzi, 1999). as sinclair (2002, p. 31) states although “education alone cannot build and maintain peace,” peace education programs are crucial to fostering ethnic rapproachment. efforts in this sense are being carried out by aid organizations in cooperation with the moe although there is no national strategy in place and there is still very little engagement of local stakeholders. sinclair (2002) maintains that a “bottom up” participatory approach is a widely accepted best practice to produce sustainable outcomes in the least possible time. however, the implementation of (extra-) curricular activities that promote tolerance delivered within educational structures that are still fundamentally exclusive or elitist defeats the purpose (bush & saltarelli, 2000). this largely explains the lack of trust on the part of ethnic communities across ceasefire areas to send their kids to newly built state schools perceived as an encroachment of political and territorial control (jolliffe & mears, 2016). lall and south (2016a) additionally argue that aid agencies, perhaps unintentionally, are seen as promoting the government agenda in broadening state structures. ultimately, the most persuasive argument to achieve national reconciliation and contribute to the establishment of “a genuine, federal democratic union” (suu kyi, 2016) is the one put forward by jolliffe and mears (2016) arguing for a recognition of the pess. this would promote trust and “demonstrate that ceasefires will not be used to undermine existing systems” (jolliffe & mears, 2016, p. 51). conclusion the road towards peace is a process and must be one based on mutual recognition and tolerance through education as a tool of integration. the case of the mon community shows that the ethnic divide is rarely total despite past violence as attested by the implementation of bilingual policies and practices promoting mon schools as spaces of relationality and understanding of diversity. the recognition of the mon educational system would certainly represent a way forward towards sustainability although this would be perceived by the government, including the powerful tatmadaw, as an acknowledgment of the right to selfdetermination. arguably, failure in (re-)integrating existing structures could, in the long run, always provide room for further divisions and/or leverage for eags to continue using “education as a political tool.” this would not only affect areas still torn by violence but transitional systems too. as baumann (2009, p. 112) argues, as long as “negative, endogenous structures are left over as virulent factors, the danger of society’s return to violence is eminent. thus, the peace process remains fragile”. and yet, until the government and eags persist to lead the peace process as a top-down affair without the inclusion of civil society groups, education issues will 12 repamjournal.org continue to hang on the margins of politics (lall & south, 2016a). this is precisely why, wherever possible from a security perspective, aid organizations in cooperation with moe, as provided in the nca (2013), should provide support to both state and eag-run schools aiming at a convergence of efforts to “disarm” history and culture (bush & saltarelli, 2000) along with bottom-up community-based activities focused on peace-building and citizenship education programs. efforts to look for opportunities to mitigate divisions and advocate sensitivity towards the other should never stop. considering the complexities of myanmar’s peace process, education can certainly not wait. references ap news. 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(2019). myanmar population 2019. retrieved november 25, 2019, from http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/myanmar-population/ microsoft word tamang & shrestha research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 june 2021 volume: 3 issue: 1 pp. 1-18. let me fly abroad: student migrations in the context of nepal min kumar tamang 1 & milan shrestha*2 * corresponding author e-mail: milan.776781@gse.tu.edu.np 1. kathmandu university school of education, lalitpur, nepal 2. graduate school of education, tribhuvan university, kirtipur, nepal article info received: october 5, 2020 revised: december 8, 2020 accepted: april 14, 2021 how to cite tamang, m. k. & shrestha, m. (2021). let me fly abroad: student migrations in the context of nepal. research in educational policy and management, 3(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2021.1 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract student migration has been increasing over recent years in nepal. the increasing numbers of students leave the country to the developed countries for their higher education with the hope of getting practical skills and knowledge and other valuable experiences to enhance their future carrier. this paper intends to explore the motivation and excitements among international students while flying abroad to pursue their higher education from the developed countries. in doing so, narrative inquiry was adopted as research methodology with the aim of exploring their stories of mobility. using purposive sampling, three participants were selected from international english language testing system (ielts) preparatory class for the study, while data was collected through in-depth interview using open ended questions. the collected data was further transcribed, coded, categorized and thematized in the process of meaning making. the study revealed that students who have moved abroad have their own stories of motivation and excitement. their stories of motivation, as the study revealed, were linked to their expectation of handsome earning and pursuing a foreign degree. moreover, this paper also highlights the motivation of prospective students and their desire to fly abroad for their academic journey. keywords abroad study, excitement, motivation, student migration. 10.46303/repam.2021.1 2 introduction the motivation to explore the stories of migrant students started with my own reflection into the year 2009 when, as a young desperate student, i moved to one of the international universities in the united kingdom (uk). i completed my master-level study in the discipline of international management from the university of teesside, uk, garnering valuable experiences and confidence to start up my own business in my homeland nepal. as a young student migrant, i spent 6 years in the uk and returned to nepal in 2014 thinking that i would lead an educational consultancy and provide counseling to the young students who aspire to go abroad. although i had multiple options for the possible profession such a teacher, banker, entrepreneur, and broker i was determined to fulfill my desire. as a result, immediately after my return, i was able to outset my own educational consultancy company in kathmandu, the capital of nepal. i was scared about my business in the initial stage since it was tough to compete in the market. nevertheless, the flow of the students went more. let me reflect on my situation abroad. i have observed many of my friends who had not got a job even after they completed their postgraduate education in nepal. my case was also similar. though i had a master’s degree in english literature from tribhuvan university (tu), i was unable to support my family financially. i failed to access any job, as a result, my family continued their financial support even after my graduation. consequently, i was disappointed with the emerging situation. i used to think that my degree is useless to earn and support my family. therefore, i started applying to universities in the uk for further study. it was the month of january 2009, i started preparing the international english language testing system (ielts) to qualify for admission. the english language test was mandatory to enroll in a foreign university as english is the means of communication. then, i also prepared to manage the tuition fees for the master’s degree in the international management program (imp) which needed a big deal of money around $10,000. it was not an easy task for me to invest in education in the uk because i belong to the middle-class family from the eastern part of nepal. my parents has a traditional farming profession but, they fully supported me for my higher education trip to abroad. they always encouraged me to go abroad for my higher education. when i succeeded to get admission into one of the uk’s universities, they paid the entire tuition fees and travel expenses as well. after i went to the uk, i managed to have a parttime job to support my study and accommodation. i used to work full time during public holidays and summer holidays. i achieved a quality education and earned good money during my stay. besides, i became financially successful to support my family. hence, as long as the abroad study is concerned, for me, it is the migration process that has been developed from the necessity for survival to the necessity for a better life (neamtu, 2011). after the completion of my study in 2012, i got an opportunity to work in a full-time job 3 in my post-study-work visa. during that time, i earned some money along with the managerial job experiences. during my student visa period, i also saw the plight and difficulty of the immigrant students in the uk due to the negligence of the educational consultancies in nepal. i observed the misfortune of young students in foreign lands. therefore, i was encouraged to start an education consultancy to provide quality services in the field of international education. coincidently, after my return, i joined mphil at kathmandu university for my further study. during the research, the issues of student migration always remained my area of interest. in this regard, i was inspired to explore the particular issues on the youth trend of abroad study as my dissertation topic. so far, i have sent many students who have passed their higher secondary levels all over the world such as the united states, the uk, australia, canada, and many other countries for higher education. talking to their parents, i have found that even the parents are ready to pay the high tuition fees in international universities as they believe that their children can earn a quality education and later support them financially. in the same way, wagle (2010) also defended that the parents are ready to pay and send their children abroad regardless of their low economic status. likewise, students also believe that they not only achieve quality education but also find a better lifestyle. consequently, students leave their country for their academic purpose and gradually settle down after the completion of their study. in this sense, the youth culture of studying abroad shows that student migration has become a global phenomenon, particularly in developing countries. student migration: concept and context of nepal student migrations seek growing attention in both origin and destination countries. the destination countries gain income on the one hand, and the other hand, leaving countries losses their intellectual wealth (jong & fonseca, 2020; world bank [wb], 2006) due to the increasing trend of student migrations. it benefits the developed countries and suffocates the developing countries like nepal in terms of economic growth. in the context of developing countries, there is an increasing number of students who leave the country to pursue their higher education abroad (ghimire, 2019; sokout et al., 2020). the trend of leaving the origin of the country is widely crossed towards all over the world, mostly in australia, the uk, the united states of america (usa), and canada. it is indeed true that international student mobility is an important channel through which high-skilled immigrants arrive (suter & jandl, 2006). thus, the flows of abroad going students are still unexplored as both the quality of higher education and the earning levels are considered key issues (brezis & soueri, 2011). the opportunities for getting the qualities of life and education may encourage them to motivate international students to fly abroad (united nations development programs [undp], 2009). likewise, the increasing demand for the quality 4 higher education of the international degree has become the central point in attracting international students abroad (chacko, 2020). however, costello (2015) noted that student migration is an academic experience where students physically leave their home countries to engage in college study, cultural interaction, and move in the host country. thus, thousands of international students have been going abroad for their higher education. they spend millions of dollars on their tuition fees in international institutions (raghuram et al., 2020). they even move out of their country to study and most of them settle down in the host countries after completing their study (tu & nehring, 2020). student migration is broadly taken as a crucial investment to secure the future of students from developing countries like nepal. in the same way, student migration is defined as a life period filled with fantasy, excitement, romanticism, and a different mix of cultures of human (tjaden, 2018). they leave their home countries with the hope of getting skills, knowledge, and other valuable resources that can be useful to them after returning their home country. likewise, they have an opportunity to explore themselves after the completion of their study. they can garner international work experiences as well as earn money during their stay abroad (tran et al., 2020). hence, student migration has become the prime concern of both economic and social development because of its quality education and recognized degree. finally, it can be observed that student migration takes place when the person moves between the countries either temporally or permanently, for education and employment (goldin & reinert, 2007) or escape from the adverse political environment of their countries. as long as the abroad going students are concerned, the number of abroad going nepalese students are increasing day by day from nepal to foreign lands. similarly, some of the key reasons for leaving the home country could be for quality education, better lifestyle, language learning process, maintain status in society, job opportunities and financial reasons (abdullaeva, 2020), and so on. moreover, flying abroad of youth talents from developing countries to developed countries has brought the situation of brain drain in developing countries like nepal (brooks & waters, 2011). thus, it may bring the tough situations to our country since the young talents are fleeing to the developed countries. in contrast, some of the students do not want to come back to home countries from abroad. in the context of abroad study, ghimire (2016) calculated that the number of abroad going is higher by around 7 percent compared to fiscal 2013-14 when 28,126 students had got the certificate. the number of no objection letter (noc) seekers, now has been tripled. this shows that the dangerous trend of leaving countries for educational purposes has been increasing since recent years. furthermore, khania (2007) states that every year almost 25% of students leave nepal for higher education. hence, he stressed bringing them back who go to the usa, australia, uk, canada, denmark, malaysia, and many more. once they come back to their home country; they are more inclined to go abroad (smith, 2006). this information states that the rising trend of student migration has become a crucial issue in the context of nepal. 5 afterward, it is vital to explore the reasons for motivation, and excitement among prospective students to fly abroad for their higher education, even though there are several universities and colleges in the home country itself. on these premises, several questions were playing in our mind as researchers like; how do the students gain such immense excitement to o go abroad for further studies? why are they motivated to fly abroad to study in the foreign universities? how do the international students experience the socio-cultural challenges while flying abroad to pursue their higher education? how do they prepare themselves for an abroad study in developed countries? despite the prospect of exploring a number of questions relating to the stories of international migrant students, the study is focused only on uncovering the excitements, motivations and aspirations while flying abroad to pursue higher education in developed countries. concerning these questions, we only address few which are: how students were motivated to fulfill their higher education dream abroad? how do the students narrate the stories of their excitement towards study abroad? from these above questions, we have determined the crucial question which needs to be addressed is “how do the nepali students narrate their motivation, and excitements while flying abroad to pursuing higher education in the developed countries?” as issues of this study. literature review reflection on the trend of student migration global interconnectedness is rapidly increasing now, thus, student migration takes place from one country to another country mainly (masud, 2020) through the information which is provided by the peer and the network of migrant people in abroad (davis et al., 2002). concerning it, sharma (2009) states that student migration is caused due to the lack of further educational opportunities, peer influences from the previous migration history of the family, and the economic cause in the developing countries. similarly, most of the programs involve experiential education that focuses the effective learning activities, pragmatic education, and new language learning with a diverse cultural environment (pechak & thompson, 2009). they found information about the job opportunities, high qualities of accommodation, and other facilities are supplied by the kinds of students who have already been resided in the foreign land, and are likely to attract the students from developing countries. in the same way, some of these dimensions such as opportunities for career perspectives, self-development, and personal growth, socialization, and leisure, cross-cultural interest broadly attracted students to higher education abroad (aresia et al., 2018). moreover, levie (2007) even revealed that the high rate of unemployment of the university graduates in the home country and the unstable political situation could be the major push factors to migrate student to the developed countries from the developing countries. conversely, studies even illustrated that some privately funded universities run the foreign degree courses for which they need to pay a high amount of money for the quality of education. however, due to the lack of job opportunities in the origin country, 6 they may be less likely to pursue their education in the home country, and get instigated to move abroad. in the same way, sharma (2015) stated that nepalese students are frustrated with the traditional types of education systems, lack of job opportunities, and political instability in nepal. thus, they are pushed to fly abroad for their education at first and gradually involve in entrepreneurship and jobs. in general, student migration was reported to be concerned with quality education, prosperous life, stereotypical ideology, financial support, self-dependent, etc. nevertheless, there can be many other reasons subjectively independent to an individual which carry pertinence to be explored. motivation towards student migration the foreign universities, as literatures report, establish a highly internationalized university system which turns them as a top destination university for international higher education. this is agreed by lee (2014) who mentions that the higher educational institutions abroad motivate students, not only through the quality degree programs but also for the economic opportunities. similarly, these universities are even applauded for maintaining quality of education among students when they attain the provided class and subjects (brooks, 2018) and while talking about the motivations to go abroad, varun and okkonen (2012) stated that motivations are not only vital issues to gain the objectives and goals of the students but also to share the knowledge in the groups. hüfner (2003), in the similar context noted that higher education is an intellectual place where students construct or gain knowledge that can meet their as well as parents’ expectations, find the industrial relations, extend collaboration, and the networking with each other. although there are lots of higher education institutions including public and private universities, the number of student migration is currently increasing in the country. the probable reasons behind this could be the international competitiveness, underpinning of initiatives outlined in the policy texts, and the desire to involve completely in an international higher education market (slaughter & cantwell, 2012). in the similar context, parajuli and wagley (2010) has discussed the lack of effectiveness in management of higher education in nepal which can be an obstacle to its competitive image among students. thus, students exhibit readiness to pay premium fees for acquiring their degrees, up to three times the amount charged to local students for the top host countries like the usa and the uk (lall, 2008). the aforementioned articulations make it clear that despite the expensive charges, students from developing countries like nepal are attracted to foreign degrees. apart from the instigators in the home land, recognition of higher education as a real part of globalization (qiang, 2003) can be another possible contributor to the outflow of students to developed countries. likewise, aguinis et al. (2013) noted that economic rewards can also be a significant factor to motivate students as they will have a part-time employee available along with their studies. besides, the means of communication has also been the key 7 issue in receiving higher education in abroad. many youths are found to have been attracted to foreign countries due to the socialization of the international language which has value in the labor market in the world (varghese, 2007). in fact, it is widely appreciated that higher education may increase employment opportunities where they can involve an international dimension which may entail travel, working in another country, understanding other cultures and languages (king & ruiz-gelices, 2003). apart from these, as nyaupane et al. (2010) stated, the most important motivations for foreign students are influenced by both the internal (personal traits, financial situations, and social norms) and external characteristics (culture, language, and people). migration of students from developing countries due to the above stated reasons has ultimately led to the arrival of highskilled immigrants in the developed countries (suter & jandl, 2006), while the out flux is even complained to be probable of jeopardizing the socioeconomic development of the country of origin. however, how these motivations work as contextual phenomenon has still not been explored to its fullest. and since the study tends to narrate the experiences of student migrants from different sociocultural contexts, it can be a contribution to revealing the contextual challenges to retention of the youths in the homeland. student mobility and their excitements in general, student mobility is concerned with quality education, prosperous life, stereotypical ideology, financial support, self-dependent, etc. or there could be many reasons independent to an individual. while exploring how the students of nepal get instigated to move abroad, sharma (2015) stated that nepalese students are frustrated with the traditional types of education systems, lack of job opportunities, and political instability in nepal. there are a lot of public and private funded higher institutions in nepal. several universities like tribhuvan university (tu), kathmandu university (ku), and purbanchal university (pu) along with the more than 1000 affiliated campuses (ministry of education, science and technology hold a regular enrolment of about 382,000 students in nepal ([moest], 2017). these institutions, though, are supposed to align to the aim of improving the competitive skill manpower, to develop the knowledge through effective research skills; these achievements still lack in the higher education graduates in nepal (moe, 2010). while there is always debate on the quality of education provided by these institutions in the country, it is believed that the quality of life and the recognized degree are gained in developed countries. it is even replicated as a truism that they are pushed to fly abroad for their education at first and gradually involve in entrepreneurship and jobs. at this, it can be considered crucial to uncover how the students, who are studying in the homeland discover the underlying opportunities in the foreign countries which induce their mobility as international students. purpose and research questions of the study the purpose of this research is to explore the motivation and excitement of student migrants who want to leave the country for the educational purpose from developing countries to the 8 developed countries. for achieving these purposes, the study has been guided by the following research questions: 1. how do the students articulate being motivated to fulfill their higher education dream abroad? 2. how do the students narrate the stories of their excitement towards study abroad? methodology research design the study has been made, resting on the socio-constructivist paradigm which considers the construction of knowledge through experience and reflection upon the same (honebein, 1996). believing that reality about student migration and their situation is multiple and subjective (castellan,2010), we attempted exploring the reality about motivation and excitement for abroad study by assembling participant’s views, their background, and experiences (creswell, 2003). for this, narrative inquiry was used as research method which was helpful in assembling the stories (khalina et al., 2018) of student mobility and the challenges they experienced in the educational and employment aspirations in nepal. participants the participants in this study were selected from among the students who sought educational consulting services in kathmandu, nepal. three participants (resham, bina, and rojina) were selected through purposive sampling because they possessed strong sense of motivation, and excitement towards abroad study. these participants represent typical cases of educational migration among nepalese youths in terms of age, marital status, educational qualifications, and locale. stories of these participants are narrated, giving pseudo names to them so that the ethical consideration of anonymity could be maintained. their profiles, with pseudonyms appear in table 1: table 1. participant profile pseudonym gender age marital status educational qualification locale resham male 20 unmarried 10 plus 2 urban bina female 22 married diploma nursing urban rojina female 20 unmarried bachelor degree rural participant 1: resham resham originally belongs to bhaktapur district who always dreams to fly to the usa for further study. once he completed his school leaving certificate (slc) securing distinction marks (83%), he started dreaming of going to the usa. hence, he wants to pursue his education in the usa as 9 it is his dream-land as well as his destination, from where he wants to support his family in nepal. participant 2: bina bina comes from butwal and she wants to go to australia for her higher education. she is married and wants to take her husband as a dependent. for this purpose, she made her third attempt to take the ielts examination. she is supposed to score 7.0 in each skill test of ielts, but so far, she has only scored 6.5 as the highest on her 3rd attempt. she is quite obsessed with her journey to australia. participant 3: rojina rojina, coming from the eastern part of nepal, grew up and completed her study in india from where she prepared her academic journey for the uk. she completed her school leaving certificate and higher education from darjeeling, india. because her father was an army in india, she spent most of her childhood in different cities of india. she aspired to pursue higher education in the united kingdom. engagement in the field and data collection after obtaining ethical approval from the university to which the researcher belonged, informed consent of the research participants was taken. we personally visited them and engaged with them for a prolonged period of time. in depth interview was used as method to assemble the participants’ behavior, interest, and actions (stake, 2005). for collecting their experiences as narratives, each participant was interviewed 2-3 times across a period of three months. data analysis procedure data collected from the participants of this study was transcribed in the same order it was conducted (peräkylä, 1997). the transcribed data was further coded, taking references from the interview transcripts, participants’ observation, field notes, journals documents, literature, artifacts, photographs (saldana, 2009). while doing so, we adopted three strategies of rethinking, reorganizing, and reflecting on the interim text of the research from our positions. rethinking their stories from our position helped us to present their narratives in the third person because we have more flexibility in presenting the characteristics of our participants. in order to present several fragmented events in the life of the participants, we made a plot of the stories and employed our reflection to generate meaning. usually, we have employed thinking narrative techniques of saldana (2014) for generating themes from their interview. we generated two themes which further consists each three stories. the first theme is "motivation towards the flying abroad for higher education" and incorporated stories" resham’s american dream: motivation for pursing higher study and socio-economic prosperity", "friends stories motivated bina to explore australia", and "rojina’s motivation: discover the world". similarly, the second theme "excitement for abroad student mobility" and it includes stories as "wings of resham’s flying: excitement for abroad student mobility", "bina’s excitement to explore 10 australia", and "rojina’s excitement to fly to the uk" respectively. these themes reflected the student’s motivation, and excitement for their abroad study. insights were later developed through analysis, for which literature review was used for legitimizing the developed understanding. results and discussion motivation towards the flying abroad for higher education resham’s american dream: motivation for pursing higher study and socio-economic prosperity most of the students from the developing countries are motivated and excited to pursue both for their higher education and the socio-economic developments towards the international university (turcan & pirgaru, 2019). resham could be no exception to achieve such a dream. resham’s motivations to go abroad for higher education and wondered what appealed him to leave his country. he said, “during my college time, i always dreamt of going to the united states. most of my friends and relatives have already settled down in the usa. they also encourage me to go there. in addition; the usa degree is recognized and provides more opportunities after our further education in comparison to the other countries.” resham’s narration reminded us of our high school days when we used to discuss of the dream of going abroad at any cost. his words even reflected his desperation for the ameriacan dream, which, as mentioned by bensefia (2015). it is about the liberty, unlimited opportunities, simple living, happy family, and supporting oneself with honest, hard work where no one vies for things like that anymore. the way resham narrated his story revealed his anticipation that the usa would bring lots of opportunities for him if he completed his studies there. he perceived that foreign study would teach him to appreciate different cultures and languages which he illustrated as follows: “i see my career and education in america. i even tried my best to score higher marks in the language proficiency test. my parents are also supporting me financially for the processing costs. if i score higher points in sat and toefl, i will also able to find a scholarship at the university.” in a nutshell, he narrated the career opportunities and educational prospect as his motivation to go to the united states. the same motivation, as he narrated, has encouraged him to join the english language classes which he considered to be needed for getting enrolment in the international universities. friends stories motivated bina to explore australia bina was motivated by the stories of her friends who had been working in australia for a year. she said, “as far as i know, australia is the best destination for international students due to its recognized degree and job opportunities.” most of them have earned handsome money along 11 with their study. they were studying as well as working in a hospital in australia and they shared that they had a very good life there. they even supported their families financially from australia. they are financially able to help their younger siblings’ education in nepal with the earning they made in australia. they were hopeful to get australian citizenship after they completed their education. similarly, globally ranking universities has also motivated to explore meaningful international experiences for their future carrier (marklein, 2017). therefore, she is motivated to go to australia to pursue her nursing study and for her better future. she said, “i am influenced by my friends in australia who have been studying and working for a long period. they are earing better than in other countries. she always thinks of being self-dependent in her life. hence, she is hopeful to start her better carrier in australia with a recognized degree. therefore, she figured out that if she could complete these courses in the australia, it would equip herself with the lifelong learning skills and experiences to run her own professional. she thought that studying abroad would be inspiring, motivating, and life-changing since the opportunity to study abroad might occur only once or twice in her life. she also expected to find out about her chosen course that would explore different ideas. further, it would help her to earn some amount for her secure life in future. bina, added that education in australia would give her both the self-dependent and improve her professional carrier. she is an optimistic that abroad degree would bring her a completely different perspective to explore news ideas into her learning skills. she moreover expected that there would be an assignment and practical workshop where she would be required to do some business networking with other people within the industry. she would find some amazing information and practical skills which might lead her to grow her as practical women in the society. rojina’s motivation: discovering the world after completing her higher secondary, rojina planned to study in the uk, where she hoped to start her new life because of having quality education and the economic opportunities in the uk. she was excited to be the student who wants to leave her country or territory of origin and move to another for study (prazeres, 2019). she shared, “i hoped that it would be easy to get a part-time job and would have a better life than i had.” she also dreamt of her ordinary student life journey from the developing country to the world’s top education provider destination in the uk. it is indeed true that the internationalization of higher education has been growing significantly worldwide. she further shared, “although i was born and studied in india, i was always motivated to pursue a higher degree in the uk for the quality education.” after completing her higher secondary, she planned to study in the uk in comparison to other countries. as most of her relatives were living there. like rojina, as bhati and anderson (2012) mentions, foreign students are aspired to go abroad which will bring better opportunities and challenges in an increasingly globalized and interdependent world. driven by the same motivation, rojina thought to move to kathmandu as there were mushrooming numbers of educational consultancies. even the uk immigration 12 rule was also made comparatively easier for international students at that time. but, in nepal, she would only pass his time doing hardly anything besides her studies. she is extremely motivated to go abroad and settle down thereafter his higher education due to the quality and recognized degree. aligning to philips (2018), her motivation was her dream of navigating a world that becomes simultaneously more interconnected and less capable of silencing longstanding inequities. excitement for abroad student mobility wings of resham’s flying: excitement for abroad student mobility resham, is excited to fly abroad to improve his person in his future with the education he gains from the usa. generally, it is safe to say that youth can contribute to building a better nation if they get a quality education. thus, it creates opportunities to interact with different people from around the world that enables him to understand abroad. in this sense, he is willing to be a permanent resident of the united states. in the same context, cuss (2012) noted that personal development, the fulfillment of expectation, the impact of the us, travel, and connections to the new culture are key issues to encourage the youth for their higher education abroad. foreign universities attract the best students from all over the world through scholarships and offer generous stipends to some international students (foster & varghese, 2009). thus, the possibility of quality and practical education of overseas has added to resham’s excitement to get the job in an international market. studies have said that youths like resham, can move abroad for a plethora of reasons such as higher education, in search of job opportunities, and permanent settlement (united nations international children’s emergency fund [unicef], 2014). it also can be heard in the story of resham that studying abroad is for quality education to grasp better opportunities in the upcoming future. resham’s excitement towards study abroad indicated that excitement for his passion, interests, and capabilities are the keys to motivate him to study abroad. as campbell (2011) stated, studying abroad is an exciting opportunity because it promotes the inter-cultural relationship between international students and native students. resham’s story also revealed that he has desired to go to the usa to broaden his horizon of knowledge into international standards. to recapitulate, he seemed to be representing the voices of youths that abroad education can develop the knowledge and skills students need for professional, technical, and managerial skills (brint & clotfelter, 2016). hence, they are excited to fly abroad for their higher education. bina’s excitement to explore australia as far as the story of bina kc is concerned, she was excited to make her decision of applying to a university australia for her further education. she said that she would be completely a home bird in australia. she would love being near her family, friends, and hometown. she also imagined that being away from home would make her sad because she would travel thousands of miles away to start afresh meeting with new people and new cultures. she said, “i was excited 13 to pursue my further education in australia as most of my friends are going to australia with their dependent.” she further mentioned, “i had also participated in the seminars and programs which had also helped me to go to australia.” due to the low quality of education and fewer opportunities in nepal, most of our participants have planned to fly to australia. bina was found to be incredibly excited about her journey to australia. until she applied for a student visa, she would constantly be questioning whether it would the right thing to do or whether she would be pushing herself too much. however, many of her friends had encouraged her to apply for australia since she decided that it was a chance of her lifetime. she knew that she needed to do research and speak in mass about her plans to australia. therefore, she had participated in several seminars in nepal by universities’ representatives. furthermore, she would feel better if she had some relatives or friends in australia. she imagined that it would be an incredibly great time if she would meet them. in this story, of bina kc, several challenges in her study, families, and her future abroad were also expressed beside her attraction to modern technology in australia. her attraction signposted that development of local youth sense is increasingly influenced by global electronic media such as television programs in dialogue with local managers, seminars of event organizers, sponsors, and various entertainment venues (gjelstad, 2014). bina has garnered lots of experiences about abroad study through the connection of the different channels such as television, facebook, the internet, and so on. hence, she narrated her excitement about collecting different information about abroad by using modern technology and the seminars, events on the abroad study, simultaneous to her dream of becoming a selfdependent person. rojina’s excitement to fly to the uk rojina is excited to start her journey to the uk to pursue her higher education. she wishes she will get admission and visa to the uk; she will become self-dependent and a determined lady after completing her education from abroad. rojina shared, “i am thinking that abroad study can bring confidence and self-dependent to their life.” she is confident to be strong and selfdependent. although she would be traveling thousands of miles away for her higher study, she was hoping to start her new career in the uk. she hopes that the journey to the uk would bring changes in her life. she was an optimistic to become an academic as well as the financial sound. she had also seen some relatives who already had gone and settled down there. i also had supported the idea that international education as a means to improve better opportunities for her advanced carrier, personal growth, and life skill development (rennick, 2015). it was also found from her story that she spent a huge sum of money to improve her english. she was hoping to get opportunities to meet new people and share their culture to adjust to the developed countries. she further shared, “i will achieve an international degree certificate which is globally recognized. i will also gain valuable work experience which will enrich my professional lifestyle for my future. i will able to become self-dependent due to an international degree. i will have my own identity here in nepal.” 14 her story illustrates the hope for the successful life journey and experiences of the students and their study and work life in the uk. in doing so, highly talented immigrants from the developing countries to the developed countries are attracted towards the economic opportunities and quality of education which may cause the brain drain in the developing countries (brooks & waters, 2011). increasing demand for the quality higher education of international degrees has become a central point in attracting international students. therefore, thousands of nepalese students are going abroad every year for the sake of such an international degree. conclusion this research paper has explored the motivation and excitements among students considering abroad mobility, which has been widely occurred all over the world, mostly in australia, the uk, the usa, and canada. there are several reasons to motivate them to fly abroad. the qualities of higher education and economic prosperity have become a key issue in increasing international students. thus, student migration has become the most contributing concern for the economic and social development of the country due to its quality education and its recognized degree. similarly, they also understood the values of foreign degrees and the existing political instabilities are the main push factors to motivate students abroad. these outlooks of abroad study are one of the reasons for excitement among students regarding their study. however, within this excitement, they tackle a lot of socio-economic challenges and language barriers to fly abroad for achieving their bright future. implications of this study based on the finding of this article, this study implies ideas and steps to secure the situations of growing numbers of international students, higher education institutions, and educational policymakers of both origin and destination countries. it has also explored the experiences and the practical knowledge of the required prerequisites during the process of study abroad. thus, the youth will be concerned about the practices and rules which are needed to be done before the journey of 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(2006). global economic prospects: economic implications of remittances and migration. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/507301468142196936/pdf/343200gep0 2006.pdf research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 volume: 4 issue: 2 2022 pp. 37-55 thug life as framework for stages of consciousness: examining how black male mob youth navigate processes of alienation ishman anderson* * phd, faculty lecturer, criminal justice studies, san francisco state university, san francisco, california, united states. e-mail: ianderson@sfsu.edu article info received: june 7, 2022 revised: july 27, 2022 accepted: august 19, 2022 how to cite anderson, i. (2022). thug life as framework for stages of consciousness: examining how black male mob youth navigate processes of alienation. research in educational policy and management, 4(2), 37-55. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2022.6 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract this study examines the impact that my other brother (mob) has on k-12 black male youth in the mob community organization within oakland unified school district (ousd. in critically examining the narratives of 10 low-income k-12 black male students in mob: this study utilizes tupac shakur’s construct of thug life as a theoretical and analytical lens in assessing how black males in the mob program navigate processes of alienation. navigating processes of alienation was placed in context with four critical stages in alignment with thug life: these stages emphasized, 1) mob students’ recognition of racism/inequality on an individual level; 2) a recognition of structural level inequality of which they are members of a community of oppressed; 3) a recognition of pride and solidarity in communal struggle; and 4) a political praxis to resist structural racism/dehumanization through education as a function of black male success. the 4th stage of thug life, mob youth’s political praxis to resist structural dehumanization, is most important given that this stage of thug life is a stage of justice. justice is grounded in addressing real world issues that youth in this study experience, such as poverty. how can we re-imagine education policy and practice to support black male youth in receiving access to tangible financial opportunities as part of their education experience while being intentional about understanding that black solidarity and community is key to this process? education leaders and policy makers must support those that are already grounded in community that can do the necessary work to achieve black male success outcomes as defined by students. keywords brotherhood, black youth; racial identity; resistance; social justice, solidarity, tupac shakur. 10.46303/repam.2022.6 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2022.6 38 introduction black males in america are being systematically oppressed with respect to health, education, employment, income, and overall well-being. the most reliable data consistently indicate that black males constitute a segment of the population that is distinguished by hardships, disadvantages, and vulnerability (noguera, 2008). this especially connects to how black males are treated in schools. black people represent five percent of california’s k-12 student population, yet account for 18% of all the state’s k-12 suspensions (harris iii & wood, 2013). moreover, black males still have the highest suspension rate, are at the bottom of academic achievement, and are disproportionately to this day, still pushed out of school at alarming rates (duncan, 2002; duncan-andrade & morrell, 2008; noguera, 2003, 2012). to be clear, the problem is anti-black racism and structural racialization and how it impacts young black males in and outside of educational experiences. the findings presented in this article are drawn from a program evaluation of the my other brother (mob) program, which serves as an intervention to the black male deficits that are highlighted in the above data surrounding black male experiences in k-12 and the larger society. mob aims to reverse this trend by improving educational and cultural content knowledge while fostering black male student agency to resist oppression. in connection to mob, tupac shakur was a black revolutionary, a community organizer, hip hop artist/rapper, actor and poet that became a voice for the urban black masses during the 1990s and remains so even in present day. given that tupac shakur’s life work highlights resistance, agency, and political contestation against structural racialization: we used tupac as a theoretical and analytical tool to illuminate mob youth narratives found in this study. purpose of research my other brother (mob) the purpose of my other brother (mob) is to empower black men and provide them with a counter space and sense of community that will allow students to utilize each other as systems of support to aid in on their success. the core values of mob are unity, black culture, culturally validating identity development and k-12 outreach in urban, low-income communities. rooted in these core values, mob objective is to develop students into scholars/leaders and to establish a sense of belonging for urban black youth rooted in mentorship, culture, and identity. in accomplishing this goal, mob partners with the oakland unified school district, with castlemont high school as mob’s main headquarters for collective wrap around support services and mentorship of the castlemont football program. in addition, working with nonstudent athletes, mob contracts with dewey high school, mt diablo unified school district (mdusd) riverview middle school and works with youth on an individual basis at mcclymonds high school. as part of this work, k-12 mob youth partake in community-based research projects where students analyze the existing issues and strengths that they see in their surrounding 39 oakland community to impact practice based on how they construct knowledge. most critically, mob has a youth peer mentor program of which mentors are paid to develop close connections with k-12 mentees and their families to support students along their experiences in school, and their life experiences outside of school to impact the holistic development of the student. these grassroots, community-oriented approaches to our mob work sets the foundation for conducting this study. furthermore, this study is grounded in the experiences of myself, student participants, and the larger inner-city black community that we are members of. based on 4 years of mob programming, the basis of this study was to determine what all this work means to black students that are part of this organization. in what ways, if any, has the program’s focus on racial justice, solidarity and pride assisted students as they attempted to navigate spaces and practices of alienation? before we can answer this question, it is first necessary to further contextualize tupac’s relevance to this study. tupac utilized the term “nigga” as an acronym meaning: never ignorant getting goals accomplished. there are two key inferences that must be made here. first, tupac is articulating a political project not simply in solidarity with, but as originating in and entrenched with the oppressed black masses. secondly, with the acronym that’s objective is to accomplish, he is proclaiming a political praxis that is on the terms of the black masses. now it should be abundantly clear how and why tupac is so crucial to this study. he is articulating a particular understanding of racial pride. it is a racial pride and identity development that is defined by, and in the terms of the oppressed black masses from predominately working class and low-income communities. and with his conceptualization of “getting goals accomplished,” tupac is defining a notion of success that counters many advertised by academics. in other words, success is defined by the people. in these ways, tupac enables us to analyze some aspects of black cultural practices that others may deem pathological. accordingly, this article explores how students in the mob program are impacted by the practices within the mob program and why these practices are important. the objective is to make meaning of 10 low-income black male students’ experiences in the mob program and contextualize the outcomes based on their experiences. further, this research connects student experiences in the mob program to tenants-’ of racial pride, community, and solidarity that are embedded in tupac’s construct of thug life as a function of black male success. eurocentrism, knowledge production and the myth of objectivity this work is rooted in the critical ethnic studies tradition. as such, it questions the underlying and foundational assumption that knowledge is produced independent of geopolitical contexts. critical ethnic studies scholars call for a recognition and critique of eurocentrism. for these scholars, the historical processes of colonialism affirmed europe and its forms of knowledge as the center of the world while simultaneously ‘subalternizing’ the forms of knowledge found in its periphery (brown and barganier, 2018). for these scholars, the social sciences are founded on the eurocentric myth that knowledge can be produced objectively. instead, ethnic studies 40 scholars argue for an acknowledgement of the social, political context of the researcher and for a critique from the perspective of the oppressed (tuhiwai-smith 1999). this study is guided by these principles. by acknowledging the relationship of the production of knowledge to relations of power, i decentered traditional methods of research and engaged the research subjects as active participants in the construction of knowledge. in this sense, this research was a collaborative effort between myself and other mob members. given that this work follows this tradition, my study differs from traditional works in several key ways: (1). conceptually: i take a fundamentally different approach to concepts such as “success.” i understand success by means of students gaining a sense of pride and confidence to resist and interrupt forms of coloniality (which may show up differently from student to student.) (2). methodologically: to meet these stated ends, we utilized a black emancipatory action research approach (bear) to allow both myself and students to make meaning of their interviews and data in a black cultural way experienced by people of african descent (akom, 2011). (3). in other words, i have attempted to construct a methodology that privileges the knowledge production of my participants. therefore, tupac shakur serves as a theoretician that can illuminate the experiences of my subjects with more clarity than traditional education research. (4). analytically: my data analysis is grounded in the experience of my research participants and how the participants and i constructed meaning making of data together in connection to how we analyzed certain tupac shakur lyrics in connection to the data. (5). accessibility: this work is intended to serve as a lens that is for the community and by the community. this work is for blacks of the community overall to tap into their very own community cultural power to liberate themselves. theoretical framework: t.h.u.g. l.i.f.e. because mob is rooted in the experiences of urban black males, the program aligns itself with many of the principles espoused by tupac shakur. these principles are central to the work of the program itself. in order to adequately measure how the program utilizes these principles in helping students navigate processes of racialization, this study uses a new set of concepts related to tupac shakur’s development of t.h.u.g. l.i.f.e. these concepts allow me to explore and make sense of the experiences of mob students. the hate u gave little infants fucks everyone (t.h.u.g. l.i.f.e or thug life) framework of tupac shakur within hip hop in particular, is a new type of black cultural capital that instills confidence, racial pride, and resiliency in black people to utilize their struggles as a source of empowerment that allows them to navigate life against all odds (shakur, t., & shakur, m, 1992). black males identify with thug life because the hate that has been bestowed upon black men as young children is seeds of oppression and will eventually blow up in the faces of colonial systems (shakur, 1993). shakur further conveys that a thug is a person who comes from rough conditions and who is oppressed, that still rises above to empower themselves (shakur, 1993). in connection to community cultural wealth (yosso, 2005), thug life is embedded in forms of 41 communal, familial, cultural, and resistant capital nurtured through the code of thug life for black men and women. there are four key concepts that i have developed related to thug life. these provide an opportunity to understand the experiences of mob students with nuance and depth. following the table below, i provide a conceptualization of each of these concepts. in this study, i use these concepts as a framework to do a discourse analysis in which i am looking for these themes in the data. table 1. thug life as a conceptual framework thug life as a conceptual framework stages of consciousness they don’t give a fuck about us recognition of inequality/individualized racism and dehumanization i guess it’s cause we black that we targets recognition of a community of the oppressed conquer the enemy armed with education recognition of communal struggle/solidarity never ignorant getting goals accomplished political praxis rooted in poverty/racial alienation: mobism *note, tupac expressed many militant frameworks via taking up arms to resist the police/government in this praxis. our mob youth, in contrast, focused more on resisting poverty by means of economic community building as part of this fourth stage “they don’t give a fuck about us”: recognition of inequality/individualized racism and dehumanization one theme that emerged from the data was student recognition of racism. several students expressed frustration over feelings that they were frequently subjected to racial discrimination. these sentiments are captured in the tupac song, “they don’t give a fuck about us.” in this song, tupac describes the racial oppression that blacks are confronted with on a global scale. i use this concept to describe a beginning stage in the development of consciousness when students realize the discrimination that they face based on their blackness. students describe a process of understanding the reality of what they must face as black people. this experience with racism often follows them to campus. although during this stage, students speak of individualized 42 experiences of racism, such as “i” and “me,” they begin to make connections between individual and collective experiences with racism. this understanding is captured in the tupac phrase “they don’t give a fuck about us.” “i guess it’s cause we black that we targets”: recognition of a community of the oppressed in this stage, students make clear connections with their personal experiences with racism to structural forms of domination. for example, students begin to realize that they are part of a community of others that share a common experience with racism. in this stage students often use words like “we,” “our,” and “us” when speaking about racism. these sentiments are captured in the tupac song, “letter to the president;” in particular, the line from the song “i guess it’s cause we black that we targets.” in this line, tupac describes the racial oppression that blacks face on a systematic level as a community that experiences this shared struggle. i use this concept to describe another stage in the development of consciousness when students realize the discrimination that they face based on their blackness on the individual level (personal experiences with discrimination on campus and in the real world outside of campus), are experiences that black men face as a collective. this experience with racism often extends beyond the k-12 campus. although this is a stage where students speak of experiences of racism as a community, such as “our” and “us,” they also begin to develop a sense of pride in this collective struggle and begin to gain a consciousness, a black identity, that is grounded in their community struggle. this understanding is captured in the tupac phrase “i guess it’s cause we black that we targets.” “conquer the enemy armed with education”: recognition of communal struggle/solidarity in the “conquer the enemy armed with education” stage, students begin to identify the need to resist collectively against the forms of racism that they have identified. students begin to develop a collective sense of pride in the same cultural attributes that they are often chastised for. in other words, students see their blackness as both tying them to a community of the oppressed and as an archive for resistance. during this stage, students begin to identify the need to educate themselves in order to resist the racism and poverty that they are facing. these sentiments are captured in the tupac song, “words of wisdom;” in particular, the line from the song “conquer the enemy armed with education.” in this line, tupac defines education as knowledge of self/culture and the historical struggle that blacks face as a collective. tupac uses education as a political praxis to establish collective black pride, grounded in collective black struggle, to resist oppression. i use this concept to describe a stage where students develop a consciousness to use their education to resist aspects of discrimination by constructing solutions to their collective black struggles via seeking out opportunities to better themselves and their communities. 43 “never ignorant getting goals accomplished: n.i.g.g.a.”: political praxis rooted in poverty and racial alienation (mobism) in this stage of development students begin to engage in political praxis rooted in their sense of pride in being black. students have recognized their shared experiences with racism, have expressed a collective affirmation in their blackness and have made a commitment to resist the structures that they have identified. these sentiments are captured in the tupac phrase, “n.i.g.g.a: never ignorant getting goals accomplished.” in this phrase, tupac has expressed a political praxis that is grounded in pride in collective black struggle-producing an individual and collective commitment to resist poverty and discrimination in a way that is for the black community and by the black community. i use this concept to describe a stage where students develop a consciousness, an eternal commitment to resistance and justice by the means of whatever justice looks like to the collective black community and themselves as individual members of that community. whether it be students’ commitment to engaging and building with the urban black youth as peer mentors, seeking out paid opportunities, trade schools and college applications, or utilize their black pride to resist discrimination in their personal encounters in school/life: their justice aspirations are completely grounded in their own meaning making systems in alignment with the collective oppressed black masses. dyson conveyed the term nigga in connection with thug life as a praxis to judge and critique the anti-black society that constructed the term nigger in the first place (dyson, 2006). the term “nigger,”is used to insult blacks and push a subservient identity that is under white coloniality. “nigga,” in contrast, is the black counter term to nigger that is embedded in black pride and empowerment in a collective struggle to overthrow the very institution that created the term nigger (dyson, 2006). racism and black male educational experiences existing literature discusses the impact that racism in education has on black male student attitudes, experiences, and retention in education (harper, 2006). moreover, the literature highlights the importance of affirming black males’ racialized and cultural/community realities to impact black male success in schooling (emdin, 2011). the problem with much of the literature (even the literature that incorporates student culture and race in schooling), is that it focuses on academic success and not on students’ process of racialization as the primary focus. therefore, much of the literature is not sufficient for understanding how students develop a critical consciousness. in other words, a student could say “fuck school.” much of the literature would understand that as academic failure. however, there is something more nuanced happening and in order to see what is happening we need to develop a new framework. that framework is provided by tupac shakur. when we analyze phenomena through a tupac shakur thug life lens, we can see that the key factor is that the knowledge and practices of black youth should be first and foremost understood through their own experiences. below, i provide discourse analysis of tupac lyrics in order to demonstrate his conceptual utility. 44 i see no changes, wake up in the morning and i ask myself, is life worth livin'? should i blast myself? [recognition of racism at the individual level] i'm tired of bein' poor and, even worse, i'm black my stomach hurts so i'm lookin' for a purse to snatch [recognition of racism at the individual level] cops give a damn about a negro pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero [recognition of community of oppressed] we gotta make a change. it's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes [recognition of communal struggle/solidarity] let's change the way we eat let's change the way we live and let's change the way we treat each other you see, the old way wasn't workin' so it's on us to do what we gotta do to survive [political praxis rooted in poverty and racial alienation]. (shakur, 1998) while school success and the achievement gap solely, is important, primarily focusing on the achievement gap for black males does not speak to the overall historical experiences and realities that shape black male students outside of school regarding systematic racism and poverty. furthermore, achievement gap politics is not praxis for taking up forms of resistance and justice against the institution. instead, respectability politics via the academic achievement gap, privileges the institution. tupac helps us understand that a sense of solidarity amongst blacks, pride in culture and identity, and affirmation of racialized experiences as a lifestyle of resistance against oppression/poverty, privileges black males, thus, creating success by their own values and standards. methodology and data analysis this research aimed to explore the racialized experiences of young black males. in particular, my interests lay in the ways in which young black males experience schooling as a process of alienation, the ways in which they navigate these processes, and what role programs that embody the solidarity, racial justice, community/solidarity and racial pride identity, philosophy and practices of tupac (can) play on helping students navigate these experiences. undergirding this interest is a deep concern for how these students live their blackness and how these spaces of alienation can be mitigated in a manner that leaves this blackness intact. in essence, this work simply asks: what does mob mean to black male students in the mob program? research design to examine how black males are impacted by community, solidarity, racial pride, and racial justice in navigating processes of alienation, this study featured 10 high school male students within the mob programwho self-identified as black and from a low-income community. at 45 the start of the study, i sought to interview all high school student members of the mob community organization, which serves as full wrap-around support service program to impact student success. however, i ultimately decided to focus on the graduating senior class of mob youth given that i had been building a relationship with these youths for two to three years and had seen their overall development. all mob students interviewed in this study were 12th grade students at castlemont high school, mcclymonds high school, and dewey high school during the time of the interviews. all students are recognized as official student members within the mob community organization. the students represented a mixture of lower-performing, middle performing, and high achieving black males as measured by gpa. lower performing are students that have below a 2.3 gpa, middle performing students have between a 2.31and 2.99 gpa, and high achieving students were identified as having a 3.0 or higher gpa. this study was designed as a program evaluation, in which we utilized an approach of student self-reflection testimonial narrative to measure the effectiveness of the mob organization and the impact that mob has on black male student participants. to examine student experiences in the mob program and mob’s impact on students, i used a video recorded and written narrative interview method in which student participants responded to the open-ended question: what does mob mean to you? interview questions were used to explore student experiences within the mob program, assessing what mob means to students in connection to identity, community, culture, and student development data was collected in the form of video recordings and interviews: each semi-structured interview that took place for approximately 15-30 minutes. video recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim. out of the 10 participants in the interviews, 2 participants in this study did not respond to the interview questions on camera; these 2 participants chose to have their interview response in a written narrative format on paper. all 10 student interviews in this study were conducted at castlemont high school campus in east oakland, california, in the media center on campus. the 3-part coding and data analysis process involving myself and students took place in this same classroom the following week after completion of student recorded interviews. i had known each of the participants since the start of the mob organization partnerships with castlemont high school, mcclymonds and dewey (since 2019 and 2021-current). some of these students had been familiar with me since their freshmen, sophomore, and junior years in high school. by the time of this study, these same mob students that began with me in 20192021 had progressed through the program and grew to take up leadership roles as our first class of peer mentors in the 2021/2022 academic year. i was able to witness the youth transition to their senior year in high school, developing leadership roles within the mob in overseeing caseloads of younger mob youth by serving as their peer mentors. i established and continue to maintain close relationships and connections with these students that extend beyond this study. 46 data analysis to measure community/solidarity, racial pride, and racial justice (tenants of thug life) and how black male mob students navigate processes of alienation through their mob experiences, we conducted our study in the same room on castlemont high school campus where we held our weekly mob meetings. the two mob students that chose to write their narratives down on paper instead of being video recorded were also in this room to write their narrative response to the interview question once their names were called. all students knew ahead of time that once they were called, to go to the location of the room where they would respond to the openended question, “what does mob mean to you?” this allowed mob student participants the opportunity to still be present in solidarity with their fellow brothers in the mob program and freely express what mob represented to them based on their experiences in the program. most critically, students were able to ground their responses with the knowledge that they created along their journeys as members of the mob program over 2 to 3 years. in connection to this approach, we utilized a bear framework to analyze and construct data based on student narratives. black emancipatory action research (bear) is a research orientation aimed at creating strategies of liberation from intersecting forms of oppression experienced by people of african descent across the diaspora (akom, 2011). since bear has roots in critical afrocentricity and africana womanist scholarship, it deals with the question of race, gender and other forms of identity from the perspective of black cultures being centered, located and grounded (akom, 2011). in this mob study, black male student participants coded their own narratives and made meaning of their data around their racialized identities. mob research study participants took part in a community based, 3-part coding process in transcribing and analyzing their own interviews. this process included the following after each student interview was conducted: • all student participants first listened to/watched each student interview on screen together in the castlemont classroom/media center (same room where weekly mob meetings take place during academic year). then, they wrote down on the white board what they felt, heard, and saw from each interview as the interviews continued to play. • students listened to/watched all of their interviews for a second round on screen and went back to the whiteboard to write stars next to the most salient ideas and concepts that they felt and heard in the interviews. • next, each student picked /circled the three most salient concepts from the interviews that had stars next to them and defined what those concepts meant to them in written narrative. • finally, both students and i then came together with our most salient concepts that we had wrote stars next to and further defined. then, together, we came up with the most salient concepts from student interviews that we felt represented what mob represented to student participants in study based on their interviews. several 47 concepts were used interchangeably and combined given that students used the same or similar definitions for those concepts. • findings/salient concepts from interviews were color coordinated and highlighted with various colors to represent each concept/theme from the interview findings. findings what mob means to black male students the collective analysis produced four primary themes found in student data: 1) black male students’ recognition of individualized racism-dehumanization (racialized experiences/blackness). 2) black male students’ recognition that they are part of a community of oppressed (sense of family and community among each other). 3) a recognition of communal struggle/solidarity (a sense of pride in collective racial struggle). 4) a political praxis rooted in their racial alienation to seek out justice and be the change that they want to see in their educational journeys and life-mobism. it is important to state that the stages of consciousness are not linear, rather, they are a continuum. the consciousness stages could happen simultaneous to one another depending upon the participant and how they made meaning of their racialized experiences as a function of the mob program. the below narratives are examples of how the consciousness/praxis process works. most salient mob concepts from above student data recognition of inequality/individualized racism-dehumanization (racialized experiences/ blackness): the experiences of discrimination or discussion of racial alienation that black male mob members experienced at the individual level. these racialized experiences serve as focal point for the historical and contemporary lived experiences of blacks male students in the mob program. ex, “being a young black man in oakland makes me anxious already”-mob member narrative recognition of community of the oppressed (sense of family and community): students recognize that they are part of a community of peers that share the same struggle. being part of a community that navigates racial discrimination together: ex, “they took a lot of wealth away from african-american’s and stripping out this school structure fell into our homes because a lot of our fathers now didn’t have jobs and our mothers couldn’t provide with food and other things”-mob member narrative. recognition of communal struggle/solidarity (authenticity/racial pride in identity as foundation to seek justice): this is the stage where black male mob members build a sense pride in their shared struggle, thus building solidarity as a community to resist racism. ex, “mob means black men coming together”-mob member narrative. political praxis rooted in racial alienationmobism (commitment to justice and resistance via uplifting the black community on an individual and systematic level and obtaining tangible outcomes such as jobs/money/access to wealth and/or exposure to college and career): ex, “with the structure of the mob, the mob program implements in the schools…we have job 48 opportunities…building these things together creates leaders, young men who are willing to go in the world and find out what they’re passionate about… inspiration so our kids they can go back to their neighborhoods and they start their own programs and businesses”-mob member narrative. mob youth reflections/testimonial narratives and thug life concepts narrative 1 the mob means young black men coming together to have a positive impact on our community (mob member narrative). in this above narrative, this mob member explained that mob represented a sense of community in the sense of “black men coming together.” in placing this narrative in proper context within my personal discussions with this student, black men coming together, and the sense of family is a necessity in affirming this students’ day to day reality as a black man. in connection to the thug life concepts, “black men come together” is a recognition of a community of the oppressed. in this stage, this mob member makes clear recognition for a sense of community via a space where black men come together. within this same narrative, the student points to the impact of being within a community of individuals that share a similar struggle. moreover, within this same narrative, there was a transition to another stage of consciousness of which this student recognized a sense of solidarity with his black male peers to reach a common goal. in the recognition of communal struggle/solidarity stage within the four thug life concepts, students begin to identify the need to educate themselves to resist the racism that they face as a collective/community. this mob member expressed this by conveying “to have a positive impact on our community.” in this case, this student expressed mob as not just a space where black men come together (community of oppressed), but it is a space where black men come together to have a positive impact on our community (communal solidarity). in working with this student for two years within the mob program, “having a positive impact on our community” is grounded in mob members discussions of historical, systematic, and individual level discrimination and various solutions to addressing these problems as defined by the black male mob members. this connects to the final stage within the four thug life concepts in alignment with mob: a praxis to do something about the collective struggles that mob students experience and highlight in their work. for this mob member, his political praxis rooted in his experiences with racial alienation was to “have a positive impact on our community.” this student contributed to this practically in serving as a lead peer mentor within the mob program in which he mentors younger black male students within the organization. within this short narrative, this student is expressing that mob represents a sense of community where black men come together, thus impacting a communal solidarity and political praxis to pay it forward by having a positive impact on the black community. in connection, this data points to how mob members flow through different 49 stages of consciousness throughout their narratives. and most critically, students have different meaning making systems for their political praxis. consistent across all narratives is: 1) mob members’ political praxis was grounded in their collective racialized experiences ; 2) students have various types of discrimination that they experience;subsequently, how they choose to resist discrimination varies from student to student; 3) across the board, the justice/political praxis was a form of resistance/justice that was defined and implemented by the students collectively, grounded in a sense of taking matters into their own hands to impact their community. justice was also grounded in a commitment that students have to being the change that they want to see in their community. in this mob member’s case, the commitment to “having a positive impact on his community” himself is an act of justice as he feels that he can impact his people better than the “system” can. it is his responsibility, as a black man, to positively impact his community. these various thug life stages of consciousness were also expressed as a continuum in the below narrative. narrative 2 the mob program is a program that made me more confident in my future toward college and how i see things. my experiences with my mob mentors and brothers have been nothing more than enjoyment and hard work. being a young black man in oakland makes me anxious already, but knowing i have a goal and help from the mob program helps me be more comfortable in who i am to put in the steps to the right path. i would highly recommend this to any other young black man in oakland. (mob member narrative). like the student in the first narrative, this mob member expressed a sense of community/family via “my experiences with my mob mentors and brothers” -which i categorize within the theme “a recognition of community of oppressed.” furthermore, this theme was followed by the thug life concept of communal struggle/solidarity. “my experiences with my mob mentors and brothers have been nothing more than enjoyment and hard work…knowing i have a goal and help from the mob program.” this line from this narrative was more so an expression of communal struggle/solidarity given that the student mentioned the words “hard work, “goals,” and “help” grounded in a sense of community as young black males. this alludes to shared goals that can be used to build on during students’ racialized struggles. “being a young black man in oakland makes me anxious already” and “knowing i have a goal and help from the mob program helps me be more comfortable in who i am:” his was a jump to several stages of consciousness that points to his recognition of communal struggle/solidarity grounded in his racial pride of “being comfortable of who i am” and based on his established communal solidarity with his mob brothers via “help from the mob program.” this mob member also expressed “being a black man in oakland already makes me anxious”-which illuminates the stage of consciousness that recognizes racism/dehumanization at the individual level. this was in alignment with “being confident in my future toward college” 50 and “taking the steps to the right path”-which is a stage of political praxis/justice for this student grounded in communal struggle/solidarity that he established with other black male mob members. in recognizing that the racialized experiences that he encounters are not only at the individual level, this student finished by saying, “i would highly recommend this to any other young black man,”-which demonstrates recognition of being part of a larger community of oppressed. thus, this student’s testimony is also a call for black male solidarity in communal struggle to reach tangible outcomes/justice (political praxis grounded in racial alienation) of “being confident to put in steps to the right path and pursue college.” this data demonstrates that mob members navigate these different stages of consciousness as a continuum within their mob experiences. yet sometimes these stages are also linear. data reflects that mob members building solidarity within their communal struggle in most cases was followed by the political praxis to do something about it. “doing something about it” is akin to, justice or mobism. in this mob member’s case, “knowing i have a goal and help from the mob program helps me be more comfortable in who i am (recognition of communal struggle/solidarity) to “put in steps to the right path” (political praxis/justice). this is an example of how, at times, the thug life concepts can flow in a linear way in regards to student experiences with racism and development of resistance. like the first narrative, this mob member’s political praxis for success was grounded in the youth’s meaning making for what it means to be a black man. this speaks to mob members meaning making systems of resistance in alignment with knowledge that is by the black community and for the black community. this is a form of justice that privileges mob members’ ideas for what justice/success looks like based on their experiences with racial alienation. narrative 3 i feel like we lack the structure within our homes, our schools, and within our communities. i believe it started in the 1970s when they started the industrialization of schools for inner city kids. taking opportunities away that was given to african americans such as jobs and plumbing, carpentry, and other handy work. they took a lot of wealth away from african american’s and stripping out this school structure fell into our homes because a lot of our fathers now didn’t have jobs and our mothers couldn’t provide with food and other things. with the structure of the mob, the mob program implements in the schools to where we have study hall, we have progress reports and implements in homes. we have check-ins at homes with parents, our grades and on how we’re going. we have job opportunities. building these things together creates leaders, young men who are willing to go in the world and find out what they’re passionate about. and with those things and that inspiration to our kids they can go back to their neighborhoods, and they start their own programs. and they start their own businesses, and they start their own success that was built within the mob program. so, building that structure within the mob program allows a lot of guys to go through and make their own paths in 51 their own ways. it could be about anything, but you go in and use that structure to create whatever you want. (mob member narrative) in the political praxis rooted in racial alienation stage within the thug life concepts, students begin to engage in political praxis rooted in their sense of pride in being black. students have recognized their shared experiences with racism (community of oppressed), have expressed a collective affirmation in their blackness (solidarity in communal struggle) and have made a commitment to resist the structures that they have identified (justice/political praxis). in connection, the above mob members narrative reflected two core aspects for his political praxis: 1) a dedication to community in implementing community support programs grounded in visiting black youth in their homes with their families, providing tutoring/mentor support via progress reports and providing job opportunities for black community members to address issues of poverty and lack of wealth in the community. 2) a sense of “each one teach onecommunity building” in mob youth going back to their neighborhoods/communities and creating their own businesses, programs, and creating community leaders that are pushing for success in whatever way they want in the black community. this is what success, justice, and resistance against racial discrimination looks like to this student as a function of his political praxis. this mob member’s political praxis for justice was shaped by his experiences with racism at the community level (community of oppressed). the student mentioned “taking opportunities away that was given to african-americans such as jobs and plumbing, carpentry, and other handy work…took a lot of wealth away from african-american’s and stripping out this school structure fell into our homes because a lot of our fathers now didn’t have jobs and our mothers couldn’t provide with food and other things.” this student’s narrative demonstrates the 4 stages of consciousness in a linear format: to address the systematic racism that shaped poverty among the black community, the student’s political praxis was a sense of community reparations. in other words, this student conveyed justice by means of the black community and youth in the mob program becoming leaders of their community and shaping future generation to start black businesses, programs, and other opportunities within the community to generate empowerment and wealth. in alignment with the previous two mob member narratives, this political praxis is grounded in strictly for my n.i.g.g.a.z. this mob member expressed the importance of becoming a leader and going back to the neighborhood to implement programs and businesses in the black community. for this mob member, “going through and making their own paths in their own ways” is grounded in the idea that blacks must liberate themselves in their own way grounded in solidarity with the oppressed black community to uplift the black community. moreover, data from this narrative reflects the student’s individual and community dedication to resist discrimination in a way that is by the community and for the community; tangible access to wealth and ownership through businesses in particular, is this mob member’s praxis and strategy. 52 the concepts of justice reflected in the 3 mob member narratives above are in alignment with the thug life theme consistent in all mob members’ narratives, -that is, an idea of success that is grounded in solidarity with meaning making systems of those students and their communities opposed to the institutional focus on academic achievement alone. below are the most salient concepts found in mob member narratives. discussion and conclusions existing literature on black male success is guided by what success look like when the eurocentric institution is placed on a pedestal. for example, with literature focusing on black male achievement; graduating, academic success, or being retained by the eurocentric institution is the primary focus (harper, 2012). this often comes at the expense of invalidating black identity given that the institution (which is shaped by a history of european colonialism), is a space that is not affirming to the lived experiences and values of urban black males. for these reasons, the achievement gap model is problematic. moreover, even with existing literature that does focus on culturally responsive pedagogy (crp) practices by including students’ lived experiences/culture into the education: crp is typically a means to an end to get students to succeed academically. data reflected in this mobism study builds on prior studies on cultural wealth and challenges the achievement gap literature by highlighting the racial, cultural, and community affirmation and politicization of black males in the mob study as most critical as praxis. data from the mobism study reveals that when black males are affirmed in their racialized experiences (the real world outside of school for black males) through community and solidarity, they have the confidence to accomplish whatever it is that they want to accomplish in life. from an academic lens, this is the claim that these students can be black, critical/conscious and demonstrate high levels of academic achievement. in fact, data from this study reveals that students critical/consciousness is the fuel to their academic achievement and community/ career aspirations. the findings within this study, and how we are framing the findings, reflect the above duality within mob student outcomes that are grounded in mob members’ development of black consciousness as the foundation for their success. this duality reflects 1) mob student success by means of achieving academically through community and resistance; and 2) mob students resisting/achieving success in the form of pushing to create their own system in their communities via community service, mentoring and creating jobs and businesses. academic institutional achievement through black male resistance as mentioned, the black consciousness/resistance that i discuss is not contradictory to academic success. in fact, based on mob student data, it facilitates academic success. mob members come to this consciousness and develop attitudes of justice through their active engagement with each other and the mob program,-and then come out on the other side as 53 successful, even by the traditional academic terms. this is expressed when a mob student conveyed, “the mob program is a program that made me more confident in my future toward college.” moreover, when a mob student conveyed “mob program implements in the schools to where we have study hall, we have progress reports and implements in homes where we have check-ins with parents and on our grades.” these narratives convey how students’ black consciousness and development of resistance attitudes facilitated forms of success within the institution for students. in this case, thug life is a framework that gives black males the confidence to be their authentic selves and resist educational barriers to impact their success. in illuminating some of the above positive academic outcomes, mob has a 100 percent retention rate and has graduated all 10 high school seniors within mob, who served as participants in this study. high school graduations occurred in may and june 2022. three mob members within this study served as peer mentors paid to work with 9th and 10th grade black male youth within mob. these seniors began attending an hbcu in fall 2022 semester on an academic/athletic scholarship; another mob member attended a community college this fall 2022 semester where he majored in art/graphic design and continued serving as a mentor in the community. the third mob peer mentor (a student that we supported in getting released from juvenile hall in 2020) attended community college in the fall 2022 semester to prepare for a future in real estate. in addition, this student is an east oakland rapper and continues to prepare for his weed/dispensary license and business for his entrepreneurial work once he is of legal age. in addition, this youth continues to serve as a graduate peer mentor with mob. his mob mentor goals are to scale mob to other low-income inner-city school districts to impact especially formerly incarcerated youth that faced similar struggles as he did. all of the mob graduates in general have landed trade program opportunities post high school and have been accepted to attend 2-year and 4-year college institutions. these success stories are important because they highlight how mob has fostered black male academic and professional success through forms of mobism. which is a success groomed in resisting racism in their own way with their own knowledge construction, grounded in affirmation of their black identities. students have made a commitment to dedicating themselves to their communities as they continue to progress in life. references akom, a. 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(2006). whose culture has capital: a critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. journal of race and ethnicity in education, 8, 69-91. research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 december 2021 volume: 3 issue: 2 pp. 1-21 the effects of a professional development program for technology integrated algebra teaching evrim erbilgin*1 & baki şahin2 * corresponding author e-mail: evrimerbilgin@gmail.com 1. emirates college for advanced education, abu dhabi, united arab emirates. 2. muğla sıtkı koçman university, muğla, turkey. article info received: september 12, 2021 revised: november 08, 2021 accepted: december 17, 2021 how to cite erbilgin, e., & şahin, b. (2021). the effects of a professional development program for technology integrated algebra teaching. research in educational policy and management, 3(2), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2021.4 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract this study examined the development and changes in the technological pedagogical content knowledge of middle school mathematics teachers who participated in a professional development program designed to integrate technology into teaching algebra. twenty-eight middle school teachers from 20 different schools located in a southwestern province of turkey participated in the study. the data collection tools were the technological pedagogical content knowledge survey, reflective journals, lesson plans, and the program evaluation form. the data analysis showed that the participants’ technological pedagogical content knowledge increased significantly over the course of the program. the positive effects of the professional development program seem to be related to the following components of the program: the applicability of the program activities in middle school classrooms, the program’s focus on using technology in teaching algebra, the introduction of new technological tools and software related to mathematics, and the interactive nature of the program activities. keywords professional development; technological pedagogical content knowledge; teacher education; teaching algebra. 10.46303/repam.2021.4 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2021.4 2 introduction the rapidly developing technology has influenced all aspects of our lives including learning and teaching processes in schools. we have recently witnessed this influence more significantly due to the covid-19 breakout; many schools around the world stopped face-to-face teaching and transitioned to online education (hove & dube, 2021; subedi & subedi, 2020). the influences of technology on educational processes present some challenges to school teachers (rodríguezmuñiz et al., 2021). today, teachers must teach a generation of students who were born in a digital world and experienced using a variety of digital technologies. additionally, teachers have needed to adapt their teaching strategies for online instruction because of the pandemic. these challenges highlight the importance of professional development activities for teachers to help them use technology effectively in their lessons. this study reports on the results of a technology-focused professional development program that was designed for and used with middle school mathematics teachers. technology has the potential to positively influence students’ mathematics performance by facilitating problem-solving and higher-order thinking (bray & tangney, 2017; tong et al., 2021). with technological tools, students and teachers have the opportunity to use the time that they spent doing tedious pencil-paper work in the past to solve problems and explore mathematical concepts in depth. for example, students can plot several functions in seconds by using a graphing calculator and examine the influence of the function parameters on the graph characteristics. this was a more difficult and time-consuming task in the past. today, students can formulate/test hypotheses and deduce mathematical relationships through experimenting with online simulations. when used effectively, technology can support the enhancement of teaching and learning processes in mathematics classrooms (drijvers et al., 2016; roschelle et al., 2000). research studies have shown that when technological tools are used in mathematics lessons to support students' reasoning and inquisitive thinking, students' motivation and conceptual understanding increase (drijvers et al., 2016; raines & clark, 2011; roschelle et al., 2000; souter, 2001). in her action research, souter (2001) compared the success, motivation, and attitude of students who learned algebra with technology to those of students who learned algebra without technology. the researcher found that the students who learned technologyassisted algebra were more motivated to learn, had a more positive attitude towards algebra, and had higher academic gains. in their literature review on the use of graphing calculators in mathematics lessons, kastberg and leatham (2005) reported that students who learned mathematics using a graphing calculator were more successful in practice and problem-solving questions than students who did not use graphing calculators. similarly, the meta-analysis study conducted by li and ma (2010) revealed that students who learned mathematics in a computerbased learning environment were more successful than students who did not use computers to learn the same material. tong et al. (2021) reported that technology-assisted mathematics 3 instruction enhanced students’ problem-solving skills and motivation to learn. the research studies pointing to the positive effects of using technology in mathematics education emphasize the effective use of technology in instruction to obtain these reported positive results. as is the case with every educational tool, the mere use of technology in lessons will not bring success on its own. improved learning outcomes can be obtained when technology is used to promote higher-order thinking skills, metacognition, and communication in the classrooms (drijvers et al., 2016; etherington, 2019; raines & clark, 2011; tong et al., 2021). teachers have an important role in designing and delivering lessons that use technology in this manner. they can optimize the potential of technology by using activities in which students experience processes such as problem-solving, developing and testing conjectures, reflecting, inquiring, and decision-making (ministry of national education [mone], 2018; national council of teachers of mathematics [nctm], 2000). research studies, however, point out the need to foster teachers’ knowledge and practices for using technology effectively in mathematics lessons (bray & tangney, 2017; rodríguez-muñiz et al., 2021). theoretical framework teachers need specific knowledge and skills to successfully integrate technology into their lessons (mone, 2018; nctm, 2000). a theoretical framework that characterizes knowledge that teachers should master for using technology effectively is called technological pedagogical content knowledge (tpck) and was developed by mishra and koehler (2006). tpck “…emphasizes the connections, interactions, affordances, and constraints between and among content, pedagogy, and technology.” (mishra & koehler, 2006, p.1025). the current study used the tpck framework to design a professional development program and assess its effects on the participating teachers’ knowledge. each knowledge domain of tpck and their intersections are defined as follows: • content knowledge (ck) refers to knowledge about core concepts, theories, and procedures of a particular discipline. teachers should have a robust understanding of the subject that they teach. in the current study, ck refers to the teachers’ algebra knowledge. • pedagogical knowledge (pk) is a generic form of knowledge on teaching methods. it includes knowing lesson planning and delivering, developmental levels of students, assessment, and classroom management. • pedagogical content knowledge (pck) includes knowing what teaching methods fit with specific content and designing teaching activities to make the content (algebra in the current study) comprehensible by students. pck is related to the meaningful representations of the content, knowledge of what makes a concept easy or difficult, and being aware of students’ conceptions and misconceptions. 4 • technology knowledge (tk) requires teachers to operate with non-digital (e.g., whiteboard) and digital (e.g., interactive board) technologies. they should be able to install and remove software and create and save documents. • technological content knowledge (tck) is related to knowing which technology is suitable for teaching a particular content. in mathematics, different technological tools can be used to teach different mathematical topics. • technological pedagogical knowledge (tpk) refers to knowledge of technologies used in educational settings. tpk also involves knowing what affordances these technologies offer for teaching and learning processes. • technological pedagogical content knowledge (tpck) requires teachers to have a robust understanding of instructional methods that use technology to teach a certain content. in the current study, tpck refers to using specific technologies to teach and learn middle school algebra concepts. a teacher who has robust tpck knows and applies the pedagogical methods and techniques of teaching a subject matter using technology (mishra & koehler, 2006). according to niess (2005), a teacher's tpck is the key factor in order for technology to promote the conceptual learning of students. for example, a mathematics teacher with a strong tpck can choose an appropriate dynamic computer application in teaching the concept of slope and help students explore this concept by examining and connecting its multiple representations. when teachers increase their tpck, this development can also contribute to the enhancement of teaching and learning processes in general (martin et al., 2010; pozdniakov & freiman, 2021). with the emergence of the importance of teachers' tpck, professional development programs aimed at increasing this type of knowledge were designed and implemented, and the effects of these programs were investigated (mishra & koehler, 2006; niess et al., 2010; richardson, 2009). for example, niess et al. (2010) examined how a group of primary and secondary school teachers, who were enrolled in a graduate course, used a spreadsheet program as a tool to teach science and mathematics. the tpck levels of each teacher taking the course advanced. the researchers attributed the development of teachers’ tpck to the fact that the course activities focused on teaching a subject matter (science or mathematics) and that the teachers actively participated in the activities that required problem-solving or modeling using spreadsheets. xie et al. (2017) taught 109 teachers from different subject areas how to evaluate digital learning contents. they found training teachers on evaluating digital content to be an effective professional development model in terms of enhancing teachers’ tpck. richardson (2009) examined the development of tpck of the eighth-grade mathematics teachers who participated in a 120-hour professional development program. the program focused on using technology in teaching algebra i course. the analysis of qualitative data revealed an increase in the participating teachers' tpck. as the cited literature shows, researchers are designing different professional development models to enhance teachers’ tpck. examining professional development models 5 from different countries will contribute to research in this field. the professional development program examined in this study was implemented in a country (turkey) where mathematics teachers’ technology use in schools was mostly limited to preparing and reflecting slides, using an interactive board to show questions to the students, and having students watch educational videos (bozkurt & cilavdaroğlu, 2011; önal & çakır, 2016). integrating technology into lesson activities in a way that allows students to explore concepts, discover ideas, and collaborate with peers to deepen their understanding was limited. one of the common suggestions of researchers working in this field is to increase and disseminate professional development programs on tpck. examining such programs and the tpck changes of the teachers participating in these programs will make significant contributions to the related literature. the professional development program the professional development program was designed based on the recommendations of the publications on how to develop effective professional development programs for teachers (garet et al., 2001; loucks-horsley et al., 2010; yoon et al., 2007). for example, programs that focused on subject matter knowledge were found to be more effective (garet et al., 2001). aligned with this idea, the designed program included activities that aimed to teach the algebra domain of mathematics. in particular, the focus was on using technology effectively in teaching middle school algebra. the duration of a program is also an important factor. since the programs less than 14 hours had limited effects on teachers' knowledge and practices (yoon et al., 2007), the designed program was planned and implemented as a 6-full day and 1-half-day program (40 hours in total). it was the maximum period that we could work with the teachers due to logistic and financial limitations. another design element used in the program in light of the related literature was the active and collaborative participation of the teachers (aronson et al., 2020; loucks-horsley et al., 2010). the professional development programs that increase professional cooperation among the teachers offer them opportunities to learn from each other and support each other’s growth. therefore, the current program included tasks that required teachers to examine the concepts or tools actively and collaboratively. the designed program included activities that engaged the participating teachers in collaborative discussions on content, pedagogy, and technology. content-wise, the professional development program was designed based on the tpck framework with a focus on ck, tk, tck, and tpck. in each program activity, the teachers were introduced to a new technology and were engaged to use the technology to teach middle school algebra. as noted previously, the ck was middle school level algebra. in each activity, the content dimension of the activity was discussed. the tk involved learning how to use a graphing calculator, motion detector, geogebra-a dynamic mathematics software developed by hohenwarter (2002), virtual manipulatives, and hands-on materials (algebra tiles and unit cubes). after learning the basic functions of these technological tools/applications (tk), the teachers completed tasks that integrated algebra with the relevant technology (tck). to 6 promote the development of the teachers’ tpck, they were asked to complete teaching activities by taking the role of a student. this approach allows the teachers to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the tasks from a wider perspective and to predict which processes their students might experience when they use the task in their classrooms (boston, 2013). at the end of each activity, the teachers discussed what learning opportunities or difficulties the task might present to their students. table 1 shows some examples of the technologies used in the program and what algebra topics and learning outcomes they were related to. table 1. example technologies used in the professional development program technology content learning outcomes algebra tiles virtual manipulative (https://www.nctm.org/ classroomresources/illuminations/ interactives/algebra-tiles/) -linear expressions -linear equations -equality -understand the role of equal sign in solving linear equations. -expand and factor linear expressions. -solve linear equations in one variable. algebra balance scales virtual manipulative (http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav / frames_asid_201_g_3_t_2.ht ml?open=instructions&from= category_g_3_t_2.html -linear equations -equality -understand the need to preserve equality when solving equations. -solve linear equations in one variable. motion detector -linear functions -quadratic functions -interpret algebraic relationships represented by symbols, graphs, or movements. -translate among the multiple representations of a linear function. postcard activity (adapted from fernandez, 2001) is described to illustrate the pedagogical approach used in the current professional development program. this activity was completed using the geogebra software. before the activity, the teachers learned the basic functions of the geogebra program (tk) and how to plot linear functions using this program (tck). in the activity, the teachers created digital postcards using geogebra. figure 1 shows an example card. while creating the postcards, they needed to engage in mathematical reasoning and problem-solving such as finding the equation of a line, determining the intersection point of two lines, and limiting the domain of a function. for this activity, some functions of geogebra 7 were limited so that the participants had to engage in mathematical thinking. after the participants completed creating a digital postcard, they discussed how this activity could support their students' learning (tpck). they also discussed possible ways to revise the activity. for example, one teacher suggested differentiating the activity by requesting further criteria from the higher achieving students. reflections on teaching activities are important for teachers to solidify their learning of content, technology, and pedagogy (boston, 2013; richardson, 2009). figure 1. an example digital postcard created by using linear functions as part of the professional development program, the participating teachers were required to create two teaching materials: a lesson plan and a webquest. the teachers worked in groups to plan a lesson that integrated technology into teaching algebra. they were asked to implement these lessons during the next school year. the first author visited some of these lessons. the other product, webquest, was also designed as a group. a webquest is a projectbased learning activity in which students access information through the internet pages determined by the teacher. students use web resources to solve a problem related to real life. in the current program, each teacher group created one webquest and then introduced it to other groups. purpose of the study this study sought to examine the development of tpck of 28 middle school mathematics teachers who participated in a professional development program that focused on using technology in teaching algebra. additionally, features of the program that possibly contributed to the development of the teachers’ tpck were determined. algebra was chosen as the subject of this research since algebra is viewed as a gateway to both advanced mathematics and technological developments (katz, 2007). in addition, algebra fits the purpose of the study as it contains topics such as linear equations or patterns for which there is plenty of high-quality digital content that can support student learning. the research questions that guided the study are as follows: 8 • did participation in the professional development program affect the participating teachers’ tpck? • which elements of the professional development program were perceived by the teachers as supportive of tpck? methodology this study employed the case study method (patton, 2002), where the case was the designed professional development program. in case studies, mixed-method of data collection and analysis can be used to analyze the case in-depth (gürbüz & şahin, 2015). accordingly, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed in the current study to examine any changes in the tpck of teachers participating in the professional development program. in this section, the research participants, the data sources, and the data analysis methods are presented. participants in order to determine the participants of the study, all middle school mathematics teachers (n=47) working in a school district located in a southwestern province of turkey were contacted and informed about the professional development program. of these teachers, 28 agreed to participate in the program voluntarily. the participants consisted of 13 female (46%) and 15 male (54%) teachers from 20 different schools. twenty-four teachers filled out the questionnaires without missing information, and the data from these teachers were used in the dependent sample (paired) t-test analysis. data collection tools four different data collection tools were used in the study: the tpck survey, reflective journals, lesson plans, and the program evaluation form. the tpck survey was used to collect quantitative data, while the other three data collection tools were used to collect qualitative data. the first data collection tool was the tpck survey developed by schmidt et al. (2009). this instrument was adapted into turkish by öztürk and horzum (2011). the turkish version was used in the current study to evaluate the tpck of the participating teachers. the instrument consists of 47 items in seven knowledge domains (tk, ck, pk, pck, tck, tpk, tpck). the participants answered each item by using a 5-point likert scale: strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, and strongly agree. in their instrument adaptation study, öztürk and horzum (2011) investigated the validity and reliability of the survey by using it with 291 teachers. the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis results presented evidence of validity. the cronbach alpha value was calculated to be 0.96, an indicator of high reliability. the second data collection tool was the group lesson plans of the participating teachers. towards the end of the professional development program, the participants worked in groups and designed a lesson plan to use in their classes. the focus of the lesson plans was using technology in teaching algebra. these lesson plans provided information about the 9 technological pedagogical content knowledge level of the participant teachers by the end of the program. the lesson plans were written using the format given in a prior curriculum (mone, 2009). the third data collection tool of the study was the reflective journals of the participants. in different phases of the program, the participants answered questions in their reflective journals. for example, the participants were asked to define algebra at the beginning and at the end of the program and to write down a problem that they thought represented algebra in their journals in order to determine possible changes in their tpck. at no point in the program, a definition for algebra was shared with the participants. the participants also wrote reflective notes on each program activity by answering open-ended questions such as “how might this activity support your students’ learning? what challenges might it present?” all reflective journal questions were prepared by two mathematics educators (authors) who facilitated the program activities. finally, the fourth data collection tool was an evaluation form completed by the participants at the end of the program. through this form, written information was collected about which of the program activities the participants found useful, which ones they did not find effective, and the positive and negative aspects of the program for their professional development. in addition, the participants were asked to write which elements of the program they prefer to be revised for future implementation. data analysis aligned with the mixed-method research design, both qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques were used in the study. the change in the participating teachers’ tpck was determined by analyzing the quantitative data obtained from the tpck survey before and after the professional development program using the dependent sample t-test. the data collected for each sub-dimension of the survey instrument (tk, ck, pk, tck, tpk, pck, tpck) were examined to find out whether there was an improvement or not. the lesson plans written by the participating teachers were analyzed by using the effective technology integration rubric for mathematics lessons given in table 2. this rubric was developed drawing on ideas in the related literature about the effective use of technology in teaching (graham et al., 2007; nctm, 2000; wentworth & monroe, 2011). the performance criteria of the rubric are purpose of technology use, student engagement, and mathematical practices. the maximum score determined for each criterion was 2 points. 10 table 2. effective technology integration rubric for mathematics lessons criteria 0 point 1 point 2 points purpose of technology use technology was not used in the lesson or was not aligned with the purpose of the lesson. technology was used to introduce the topic or to motivate the students, but it was not an essential element of the lesson. the topic could have been taught at the same level without using the technology. technology was used to teach the concepts of the lesson meaningfully, supporting conceptual or procedural learning. without technology, it would be more difficult or impossible to teach the lesson. student engagement the teacher used the technology, not the students. although the students partially used the technology, it was the teacher who mainly used it to reach the purpose of the lesson. students actively used the technology to achieve the learning objectives. technology promoted students’ active learning. mathematical practices (problem solving, communication, connections, representations, and reasoning and proof) technology did not serve to include the mathematical practices in the lesson. technology served to include one, two, or three of the mathematical practices in the lesson. technology served to include four or five of the mathematical practices in the lesson. from the reflective journals of the participants, the definitions of algebra and the sample problems written to represent algebra were analyzed. algebra definitions written in the journals at the beginning and end of the program were coded with the open coding technique (strauss & corbin, 1990). these codes were used to understand whether there was a change in the participants’ definitions of algebra (content knowledge). the codes assigned to the participants’ algebra definitions were confirmed by examining the sample questions they wrote. the sample questions written by the participants were also examined to understand their pedagogical content knowledge. the most prominent mathematical practice related to meaningful learning and teaching of algebra is the use of multiple representations (nctm, 2000). mathematical representations involve but are not limited to, concrete materials, drawings, graphs, tables, and symbols (letters). in order to see whether there was an increase in the use of multiple representations for teaching algebra (pedagogical content knowledge), the questions written 11 by the participating teachers were examined and the use of different representations was determined. finally, the evaluation forms completed by the participants were analyzed. the participants’ opinions about the positive and negative aspects of the program were coded by using the open coding technique (strauss & corbin, 1990). then, similar codes were grouped to form themes. these themes were used to answer the second research question. in reporting the themes that emerged during open coding, frequencies and percentages were used to indicate how often the related codes and themes were observed in the qualitative data. validity and reliability of qualitative data analysis validity in qualitative research is related to presenting the researched phenomenon from the perspective of the participants as much as possible and providing the reader with the opportunity to decide whether to transfer the findings to similar situations (lincoln & guba, 1985; patton, 2002). patton (2002) suggested that data collection and analysis processes should be done meticulously, the research context should be described to the reader in detail, and quantitative and qualitative data should be used together to ensure validity. in our study, both quantitative and qualitative data collection tools were used based on the related literature. the study context was described in detail in the theoretical framework section. in the findings section, direct quotations from the participants were presented to increase the validity of the study. reliability in qualitative research is explained by the consistency and confirmability of the findings (lincoln & guba, 1985). in this study, data and analyst triangulation were used to ensure reliability (patton, 2002). multiple data sources were used to understand the tpck changes of the participating teachers. all qualitative data were analyzed by two mathematics educators (authors) collaboratively. in cases of disagreement, the researchers shared their perspectives and a consensus was reached. results the development of tpck in this section, we present the findings related to the first research question “did participation in the professional development program affect the participating teachers’ tpck?” in order to answer this question, we analyzed the data obtained from the tpck survey, lesson plans, and reflective journal entries. table 3 shows the t-test results for the tpck survey data. according to table 3, there is a statistically significant improvement in the participants’ perception of their tpck levels for all knowledge domains except for the pedagogical knowledge domain. these results indicate that overall, the professional development program positively influenced the participants’ tpck knowledge. another data source that was analyzed to understand the tpck development of the participants was the group lesson plans. eight lesson plans written by the teachers were analyzed using the effective technology integration rubric for mathematics lessons. according 12 to the rubric, the lesson plans received the following scores: 5, 6, 5, 5, 6, 5, 6, 6. the maximum score a lesson plan can obtain from the rubric is 6. the scores assigned to the lesson plans indicate that technology was an essential component of the lesson plans and was used to promote conceptual learning. furthermore, the lesson plans assigned students an active role in using technology and required them to engage in mathematical practices. for example, one group used color chips virtual manipulative and concrete color chips to teach the addition and subtraction of integers in the context of real-life problems. students were asked to solve problems using the chips and to conjecture rules for adding and subtracting integers. the high scores of the lesson plans show that the participating teachers were capable of planning mathematics lessons that require a high level of tpck. table 3. dependent groups t-test results for the teachers' tpck pretest and posttest scores tpck test n �̅� sd t p tk pre 24 24.6 5.11 3.35 0.03* post 24 27.96 4.7 ck pre 24 12.67 3.13 2.63 0.02* post 24 13.75 2.25 pk pre 24 29.5 4.8 1.65 0.11 post 24 30.29 4.95 pck pre 24 13.62 1.95 3.03 0.01* post 24 15 2.96 tck pre 24 3.83 0.7 4.37 0.00* post 24 4.41 0.72 tpk pre 24 17.17 2.6 5.99 0.00* post 24 20.58 3.45 tpck pre 24 19.5 3.3 2.56 0.02* post 24 21.1 3.3 *p<0.05 one goal of the professional development program was to enrich the participants’ perspectives about the meaning of algebra as it is part of their tpck. to understand the change in their perception of algebra (content knowledge), algebra definitions written by the teachers at the beginning and at the end of the program were examined. table 4 shows the themes emerged as the result of open-coding. teachers' definitions of algebra were grouped under 3 categories: building and solving equations, arithmetic operations, and a relationship between quantities. 13 table 4. teachers' algebra definitions before and after the program the focus of the definition at the beginning (n=26) at the end (n=22) building and solving equations 21 (%81) 16 (%73) arithmetic operations 3 (%11) 0 a relationship between quantities 3 (%11) 9 (%41) there were significant changes in the participants’ definitions of algebra before and after participating in the professional development program. first, initially, three teachers defined algebra incorrectly by focusing on four operations only. an example of such a definition was as follows: "algebra consists of problems that require using four operations." there were not any teachers who defined algebra incorrectly at the end of the program. moreover, the definitions of algebra enriched. in addition to focusing on building and solving equations, algebra as a discipline that studies the relationship between two variables was mentioned by more teachers. for example, a teacher whose definition was coded as “a relationship between quantities” defined algebra as the following: “expressions that describe the relationship between variables with mathematical operations.” the change in the algebra definitions indicates that the participants enhanced their content knowledge, one of the tpck knowledge domains, throughout the program. the algebra questions written by the teachers confirmed the findings related to the development of their content knowledge. furthermore, these questions indicated an improvement in the teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. at the beginning of the program, most of the teachers (%81, n=26) focused on building and solving equations in their definitions and wrote example questions reflecting this definition. only two (7%, n=26) teachers used multiple representations in their questions. examples representing the questions written by the teachers at the beginning of the program are given below. example 1: there are 25 rabbits and chickens in a coop. if in all there are 90 legs, how many rabbits are there? example 2: what is the value of y when x=3 for the equation 2x+y=5? on the other hand, the example questions written at the end of the program had more instances of representing algebra as a discipline examining the relationship between variables. these questions required students to work with more representations. eighteen (82%, n=22) teachers used multiple representations in their questions. examples representing the questions written by the teachers at the end of the program are given below. example 1: a frog jumps 20 cm in each jump. to calculate the distance taken by the frog after the 12th jump; a) create a table. 14 b) write an algebraic expression to show the relationship between the number of jumps and the distance traveled. c) create a graph of the algebraic expression. d) interpret the graph you have plotted. e) find the distance traveled after the 12th jump. example 2: model (x+3)(2x) using algebra tiles. three representations (table, symbols, graph) are used in the first example, and two representations (symbols and concrete materials) are used in the second example. these questions require students to translate from one representation to another, to make connections among different representations of the same situation, and to reason about the mathematical procedures. asking these types of questions indicates an improvement in the teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. effective elements of the professional development program in this section, we present the findings related to the second research question “which elements of the professional development program were perceived by the teachers as supportive of tpck?” the evaluation forms completed by the participants at the end of the program were used to answer the second research question. the teachers’ comments (n=26) about the positive and negative aspects of the program were analyzed. table 5 presents the four themes that emerged from the analysis of the participants’ opinions on the positive elements of the program for their professional growth in tpck. table 5 shows that according to 17 teachers, one of the effective elements of the professional development program was that the activities could be used in their classrooms. teachers expressing this view wrote that the activities used in the program can increase active student participation, meaningful learning, and motivation level of the students in their classes. for example, one teacher pointed out that the program activities can motivate students with the following statement: “...also, the program gave me invaluable insights on how to grab students' attention to the lesson. i strongly want to continue attending this type of training and learn about the new information.” another teacher explained that the geogebra software he learned in the program could be used in geometry and analytic geometry lessons, and expressed the possible benefits of geogebra for meaningful learning as follows: “it can be used to add visual representations to the lesson, to allow the students to explore the concepts, and to support long-lasting learning.” 15 table 5. positive elements of the program according to the participants fifteen teachers explained that a positive element of the program was learning about new technologies that could be used to teach mathematics. regarding this theme, they wrote that they could use technology for teaching the concepts more meaningfully, designing homework (e.g., creating a webquest), allowing students to practice newly learned knowledge, and assessing students’ learning. for example, one teacher wrote, “i think that it was great to learn how to create a webquest. it would be fun to prepare homework for students in this way and i believe that it will be beneficial for students.” another teacher made the following comment: “for the first time, we had the opportunity to work in our field during the seminar period. we were able to see clearly how we can use technology more effectively in our lessons and lesson planning.” eleven teachers referred to the technological tools and software used in the program as one of its positive aspects. concerning this theme, some teachers wrote that they were introduced to new technologies without referring to specific tools, while some teachers exemplified the technology that they learned. for example, one teacher wrote, “i learned the geogebra software, thanks to the program.” while another teacher wrote, “we used a calculator that we have never seen before. we created graphs on the calculator with motion detectors.” eleven teachers wrote that a positive aspect of the program was being able to complete the program activities in an interactive environment. the participants expressed the view that the program activities were hands-on, fun, and offered opportunities to exchange views among the teachers. for example, one of the participants wrote, “we learned by experimenting and discovering in the program activities. in other words, by doing. i did not understand how the time passed.” there were also suggestions to enhance this aspect of the program. some teachers suggested changing the group members throughout the program to create more interactions between the teachers. one teacher suggested using creative drama to help teachers get to know each other better. in summary, four elements of the program were identified by the teachers as supportive of their tpck. most teachers did not write down any negative aspects of the program. four teachers specified a 1-hour presentation as a negative element of the program. this presentation was the only time when the teachers passively listened to a speech about the theme f % program activities can be implemented in the classroom 17 %65 increased knowledge about the use of technology in teaching mathematics 15 %58 learned mathematics-related technological tools and programs 11 %42 active and collaborative participation in the program activities 11 %42 16 benefits of using technology in education. these four teachers wrote that it was not effective and that teachers should be active in all program activities. discussion this study examined tpck changes of middle school mathematics teachers who participated in a professional development program designed to integrate technology into teaching algebra. the data analysis revealed that the participants’ tpck levels significantly increased as a result of participating in the program. the findings of the current study are consistent with the findings of research studies that examined the effects of professional development programs or courses aimed to improve teachers' tpck levels (mishra & koehler, 2006; niess et al., 2010; richardson, 2009; xie et al., 2017). the previous studies found that programs focusing on the effective use of technology in mathematics education improved teachers' tpck levels. the current study contributes to research in this area by focusing on a single strand of mathematics, namely algebra, and on a specific grade band, grades 6-8. this design allowed the program to focus on content, pedagogy, technology, and their integration. one of the findings of the study is that the participants enriched their algebra definitions (content knowledge). usiskin (1988) discussed four different definitions of algebra: generalized arithmetic, the study of procedures used to solve certain types of problems, the study of relationships among quantities, and the study of structures. some of the participating teachers defined algebra as four operations at the beginning of the program, which is more about arithmetic than algebra (akkan et al., 2011). most of the participants defined algebra as building and solving equations at the beginning of the program, presenting a limited definition of algebra. this definition falls within usiskin's (1988) second notion: the study of procedures used to solve certain types of problems. at the end of the professional development program, none of the teachers defined algebra as arithmetic operations. in addition, some teachers enriched their algebra definitions by referring to “the study of relationships among quantities” notion of algebra. the enrichment of teachers' perspectives on the meaning of algebra is an important step for effective teaching (ball et al., 2008). teachers who have deep content knowledge can better scaffold their students’ mathematical thinking. the tpck survey, the lesson plans designed by the participants, and the questions written to represent algebra showed improvements in the participants’ tpck. specifically, the lesson plans indicated that the participants were able to plan lessons that demonstrated effective use of technology to teach algebra topics (tpck). the questions written by the participants to represent algebra required students to use multiple representations and to engage in mathematical reasoning as suggested by the mathematics education communities (e.g., nctm, 2000). the questions indicated development in the participants’ pedagogical content knowledge. these are positive results for the designed professional development program. the positive effects of the professional development program seem to depend on some elements of the program. these elements are the applicability of the program activities in the 17 middle school classrooms, the program’s focus on using technology in teaching algebra, the introduction of new technological tools and software related to mathematics, and the interactive nature of the program. the program content was selected according to the existing curriculum since the school curriculum is one of the core determinants of teacher motivation (kagema, 2018). the participating teachers liked this aspect of the program as they will be able to use the program activities in their classrooms. for teachers who want to enhance their professional knowledge and practices, learning a new method or tool can be a motivational factor by revealing the areas that need improvement (hashweh, 2003). the participants used some technological tools (for example, a motion detector) for the first time in the program. they were not only introduced to new technological tools but they also experienced how these tools can be used in the classroom to teach algebra. the program’s focus on a certain content area (algebra) while introducing new technology is an element that helped teachers to develop and integrate their pedagogical, content, and technology knowledge, parallel to the recommendations of studies examining effective professional development programs (garet et al., 2001; mishra & koehler, 2006). the program’s interactive learning environment allowed the teachers to reflectively assess the advantages and disadvantages of the instructional methods used in the program. most program activities were completed as group work, and at the end of each activity, there was a whole group discussion that promoted reflection on the teaching and learning processes. reflective thinking and collective discussion are important approaches that help teachers deeply examine new information and consolidate learning (zaslavsky, 2007), as also observed in the current study. conclusion teachers need to enhance their professional knowledge and practices in order to provide positive learning environments to their students (borasi et al., 1999). examining professional development programs that might support teachers’ professional growth is important to understand different approaches to professional development. in this study, the effects of a professional development program that focused on using technology to teach middle school algebra were examined and the positive effects of the program have been reported. focusing on a certain content domain and grade level and using an interactive approach to 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(2007). mathematics-related tasks, teacher education, and teacher educators. journal of mathematics teacher education, 10(4-6), 433-440. research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 december 2020 volume: 2 issue: 2 pp. 78-96. practicing self learning of ict for resilience amidst the covid-19 outbreak: experiences from kathmandu valley dhanapati subedi 1 & ramila subedi* 1 * corresponding author e-mail: ramilasubedi@kusoed.edu.np 1. kathmandu university, school of education, department of educational leadership, lalitpur, nepal article info received: october 3, 2020 revised: december 8, 2020 accepted: december 9, 2020 how to cite subedi, d. and subedi, r. (2020). practicing self learning of ict for resilience amidst the covid-19 outbreak: experiences from kathmandu valley. research in educational policy and management, 2(2), 78-96. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2020.5 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract the purpose of the study was to unravel how the school leaders, teachers, students and parents from kathmandu valley have experienced the selflearning of ict use during the covid19. it basically aimed at exploring how the sudden outbreak of covid19 pandemic led the research participants to different vulnerabilities, and how the adoption of ict use worked as resilience mechanism for them. guided by the philosophical assumptions of interpretivism, the study considered the school leaders, teachers, students and parents to have subjective experiences regarding covid19 and ict use. and for making sense about how they have experienced ict use amid the pandemic subjectively, narrative inquiry was adopted as research method. using purposive sampling, a school leader, a teacher, a student and a parent having different socio-economic backgrounds were selected from kathmandu valley. their experiences were assembled through in-depth interview, for which the researchers engaged with them for a prolonged period via phone calls and real time meetings. the assembled experiences were further analyzed with theoretical support, following the process of transcribing, coding, categorization and thematization. through the collective narratives, it was explored that the covid19 outbreak had come to the research participants, while the adversities they experienced were about the insecurities and stress resulted due to school closures, along with their less familiarity with ict use. nonetheless, the adversities were found to have minimized due to their motivation for self learning of ict use, and adopting the same, they were found to have grown resilient. keywords covid19, coping mechanism, ict, resilience, selflearning. 10.46303/repam.2020.5 https://repamjournal.org/ mailto:ramilasubedi@kusoed.edu.np https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2020.5 78 subedi, d. & subedi, r. introduction ict and its use in academia, for long, has been getting wide coverage in studies. the emphasis reflects very well in m. e.b. (2006 as cited in cener et.al, 2015) which articulates the shift of turkish education system towards constructivism with the implementation of ict integrated projects. significance of ict for reinforcing pedagogical approach is illustrated by ratheeswari (2018) as well who mentions that ict helps teachers in their role of creating pedagogical environment since they can present teaching more attractively with ict integration. in the similar context, waters and hensely (2020) have highlighted the use of social media as an aspect of ict, which, with its multimodal functionality and connectivity features, is expected to benefit various school contexts including the ones with limited resources and isolation barriers. beside the significance that is highlighted, the studies even display a number of challenges to the integration of ict use, which, as mentioned by alkahtani (2017) include lack of understanding among pupils and teacher regarding how ict tools function, lack of mastery in teachers about ict use and the trainings to bridge the gap. another challenge is narrated to have been related to the inability of all schools to enjoy the luxury of technology integration since all schools from each nook and corner of a country may not receive equal distribution of devices for making the use of ict (waters & hensley, 2020). coming to the context of nepal, the use of ict in education is reviewed to be constantly emphasized along with the challenges in making its integration. be it in the national curriculum framework for school education which prioritized ict to be integrated as a subject to study (government of nepal [gon], 2005) or in the school sector development program 2016-023 (gon, 2016), ict integration has been given space as a medium of transforming traditional pedagogical approach. along with the emphasis, the challenges to the integration have also been narrated. as rana and rana (2020) mention, government universities and schools are still waiting for financial assistance so that they can ict use in education can be adopted. beside these, socioeconomic background of the teachers and students, geographical constraints, and the resistance to changing modality of teaching and learning are frequently recounted as the barriers to ict use in education. the constraints, no doubt, are replicated, relating to the pandemic outbreak and bridging gap between educational institutions and students via ict (tadeu et al., 2019). amid this, nevertheless, how the school leaders, teachers, students and parents experience the self exploration of ict use seems to have remained pencilsketched. at the same time, since the challenges to ict integration amidst covid19 have been regularly popping out of social media, the benefits it can bring as coping mechanism appear to be less contemplated (tarman, 2020). the study, since aims at exploring how selflearning of ict encouraged the students, parents, school leaders and teachers grow resilient amidst covid-19 outbreak, it holds pertinence to unveil how challenges induce selflearning practices, and how ict can come up as a mechanism 79 to bounce back the challenges an individual faces in educational arena when hit by the crisis in the 21st century. the inspiration to the explore selflearning practices of ict use among school leaders, teachers, students and parents was contributed by the experiences of shifting from the ‘chalk talk’ approach in the 2000s to the year 2020 which unveiled the possibility of accessing learners via virtual platform. performing roles as classroom facilitator, and as an individual leading an academic program, the years had blessed the researchers with ample appreciation for their readiness, enthusiasm and determination to practice newer ways for facilitating the learners. the same was the enthusiasm that constantly encouraged the researcher to explore how internet use could make the facilitation even more exciting. simultaneously, the readiness to manage daily lesson plans and grade sheets using software like words and excel; and probing upon how fascinating introducing evolution of human society would be through the use of animations kept enabling the researchers realize that the use of ict was not only reinforcing their pedagogical practices. rather, it was even helpful for the researchers in coping the challenges like time constraint, boredom of learners in monotonous classes, criticisms of being less updated facilitator, and, a teacher whose alternative is to be searched as soon as possible. the sudden outbreak of covid 19, provided the researchers with even stronger rationale to explore how selflearning practice of ict use could be best adopted for growing resilient. with an urge for physical distancing to be made, and with the repeated projections about uncertainty of schools and colleges to resume, the outbreak had come as a halt to the researchers’ enthusiasm as well. however, staying idle with hands folded was not the option the researchers saw! keeping the anxiety aside, the researchers moved forth, probing upon how the learning of ict use could be best utilized for bringing the learners together. and as soon as a few learners were brought closer, the enthusiasm overpowered the threat of how to cope with the situation. the success encouraged the researchers, not only to persuade the school and university to try bringing the learners together, but even strengthened the motivation to explore how the school leaders, teachers, students and parents assembled the experiences of making selflearning of ict use amid the pandemic, and how the ict use helped them grow resilient. purpose of the study the study aimed at uncovering the self-learning practices of ict use by school leaders, teachers, students and parents of kathmandu valley for growing resilient amidst covid-19 outbreak. it has focused on unveiling how the pandemic came as adversity to the school leaders, teachers, students and parents; and how the selflearning practice of ict use worked as coping mechanism for them. research questions the study aimed to unravel the following research questions: 80 subedi, d. & subedi, r. i. how do the school leaders, teachers, students and parents of kathmandu valley narrate their selflearning practices of ict use? ii. how do they articulate their ict use as resilience mechanism amidst the outbreak of covid19? delimitations of the study the study has been delimited to exploring the stories of school leaders, teachers, students and parents who align to the institutional schools of kathmandu valley. the main focus areas of the studies are the self-learning practices of the participants and reinforcement they experienced for growing resilient with the practices of ict use they learnt. the stories of their self-learning practices are basically concentrated on their experiences amid closure of schools and colleges during the outbreak of covid19 pandemic while their resilience is delimited to bouncing back the insecurities and stress they faced through utilization of ict use as coping mechanism. theoretical underpinnings the following section provides a brief overview of the theoretical implications which are made in the study. since the study basically focused on learning practices of the school leaders, teachers, students and parents, the use of connectivism as a learning theory has been used. at the same time, the focus of the study was also on exploring how the learning practices of ict use have enabled the school leaders, teachers, students and parents to grow resilient amid the covid 19 outbreak. hence, the study has also made the use of the theory of resilience. learning theory: connectivism learning theories as the part of human psychology, in the words of melchova and malcik (2012) were developed during the time when learning had no impact through digital technology. nonetheless, as melchova and malcik (2012) further mention, the digital technology has reorganized the way we live, the way we communicate and even the way we learn. in the similar regard, herlo (2017) has mentioned that living in the age when we are surrounded, and even immersed in technological changes, educational institutions including the universities have to find ways of learning more penetrable and unsolidified paths toward open source and student centered learning (kamenetz, 2010). the same notion of moving towards a more open source of learning connotes to the theory of connectivism as a learning theory for the digital age which states that knowledge exists in the world rather than in the head of the individual (melchova & malcik, 2012). as proposed by siemans and downes (2009) cited in duke, harper and johnston (2013), connectivism can also be described as the process of social learning that is networked. the very notion was relatable to the study since the experiences of the participants who were selected had also experienced learning ict tools, techniques and practices by exploring the world where they had been living and the challenges they had experienced in the world that they had found to have been regulated by ict. at the same time, as the contribution of ict use 81 as mechanism for bringing about the changes the school leaders, teachers, students and parents desired was also covered by the study, the theory was of a great help. resilience theory with its main focus on the capacity of an individual to face adversities, overcome them and even stand stronger amid such situations, the theory of resilience is considered to have emerged, getting associated with an increased emphasis on strengths (rak & patterson, 1996). the strength which rak and patterson (1996) have used, is connoted to the ability of an individual to cope with serious adversities or risks which allows him/ her to come out with relatively better outcomes than that of other individuals who might be facing adversities of the similar kind (rutter, 2013). rutter’s articulation provides an indication that all individuals might not be able to cope with the situation that appears distressing; while only those who are able to cope with the challenges are able to come out with desired positive outcomes. the concept of resilience, to some extent, even reflects darwin’s metaphysics of ‘the survival of the fittest’, which, as reviewed by paul (1988) hints that only those who could struggle with their environment would have best chances of surviving, and procreating their kind while those who would not be able to do so would be rigidly destroyed. despite having similarity in term of the discussion about the ability to struggle and survive, the theory of resilience differs in a way that it focuses basically on the vulnerabilities one goes through and the competency the individual displays in utilization of promotive measures (masten & powell as cited in rutter, 2012) so as to come out of the vulnerabilities and stand strongly. the theory was applicable in the study, since it could be helpful for making sense about how the school leader, teacher, student, and parent have coped with the vulnerabilities that they came across being hit by the covid19 and how they stood stronger than others. ict in education and the context of nepal: an introduction integration of ict in education, for a long period of time, has been a discourse given a great priority in nepal. inspired by education for all (efa), ‘introduction of information technology based education at the basic and primary level’ was incorporated as one of the major actions in the long-term strategies (201215) by the government of nepal (2003). this initiative hints the readiness showed by the nation to embrace use of ict integration with the dawn of 21st century. moving further, the strategies were identified to ensure equitable access to education in nepal through it policy (2010), national ict policy 2015, ssrp (2009-2015), ssdp 2016-2023and three-year plan (2011-2013). apart from this, the national curriculum framework (ncf, 2007) has also highlighted the 'need of ict based education' (gon, 2007). despite the initiatives that are made by the government for introduction and integration of ict in education, different challenges are reported simultaneously. some of the challenges that are repeatedly recounted include geographical constraints, lack of adequate infrastructures, awareness and attitude of people towards ict, poor economic status of parents 82 subedi, d. & subedi, r. and lack of trained facilitators (dahal & dahal, 2015). apart from these challenges, as stated by joshi (2017), provision of computer education as elective subject, lack of ict related facilities in educational institutions, lack of awareness among the teachers and responsible bodies about ict practices are considered as the barriers to proper use of ict in education in nepalese context. challenging though the ict introduction is considered to be, the opportunities its use can bring are undeniable. as mentioned by the united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (unesco) (2014), ict in education can have multiple opportunities including the orientation of students to new set of skills, access to the students with no or less access to educational institutions, improvement of teachers’ proficiency, and the minimization of costs related to traditional approach of instruction. moreover, as dhital (2018) illustrates, icts can be helpful in assisting teachers to access a wider range of pedagogy which ultimately leads to learning effectiveness of students. at the same time, echoing in the words of dhital, learning and using icts can even benefit teachers to get oriented with administrative tasks and result in complementation, enrichment and transformation of education for better. if the articulations are taken into account, they indicate greater possibility of bringing transformation in education through the use of ict. at the same time, the literatures even provide a space to probe upon how the challenges that appear in educational landscape in the 21st century can better be resolved through the learning and practice of ict. however, when it comes to exploring the facets of ict in education, a greater emphasis is mostly given to what challenges do exist in integrating icts in general rather than to how different individuals have been perceiving the use of ict in their lives. a growing emphasis to ict use and its integration amid covid-19 the sudden outbreak of covid 19 is reported to have led different dimensions of social life to a halt, where education is no exception. illustrating the disruption resulted by the outbreak in education, the united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (unesco) (2020) counted about 290.5 million students from across the globe to have been hit by school closures and even anticipated that the prolonged closures might threaten the children’s right to education. narrowing down to the context of nepal, the impact of the covid outbreak has been apparent in a series of discourses on students’ growing intimidation amidst the closures of schools and colleges, and the confusions about their future led by the postponement of standardized tests and exams (pokharel, 2020 april 25). vulnerable though the educational landmark seemed to be, practices were initiated by the government, schools, colleges and universities so that the impact of the outbreak on education could be minimized. and, one of the initiatives made for coping with the vulnerabilities has been the adoption of ict integrated teaching learning. looking around ourselves, we can see that ict integration in teaching learning has become a global discourse at present. articulated in different ways; be as remote learning or 83 virtual or distance learning, ict has been adopted across the world as a bridge to connect the educational institutions and students who are confined inside their homes. in fact, as ali (2020) has illustrated, efforts are rapidly being made from the national level to utilize technology which has become a reinforcement to the quick emergence and evolution of remote learning and distance education during the pandemic. the growing emphasis on the use of ict in educational discourse reflects even in mulenga and marban (2020) where they have hinted that shifting into digital pedagogical approach could be a positive response to the covid19 closure. adopting ict as an adaptive response to the challenges instigated by the pandemic has even been referred to by a collaborative effort of harvard graduate school of education, the organization for economic cooperation and development (oecd) and the world bank where the digital sources including radio, television and internet devices are included in curative module to support the continuity of teaching learning with educational leaders across the globe (organization for economic cooperation and development [oecd], 2020). apart from the initiatives mentioned above, an education cluster contingency plan was disclosed with an initiation of the gon in march 2020 where the main focus was on bridging the gap between schools and home; while the mechanism that was chosen as the bridge was the ict. as the cluster mentions, the federal government, provincial and local governments were expected to collaborate so that the learning needs of the students from different socio economic backgrounds could be catered by through online learning portal, offline learning materials sms-based learning packages, automated voice messages, tv and radio programs, along with the printed materials (nepal education cluster [nec], 2020) which demanded the use of ict tools and techniques to a maximum. as the plan itself suggested, ict has been emphasized amidst the pandemic as a mechanism to grow contingent. in the similar way, collaborative effort was exhibited by unicef and save the children in preparing and prepositioning of resources like internet, radio and tv as preparedness intervention to prevent 7.2 million school children of nepal being permanently encumbered from their access to education (united nations nepal [umn], 2020). the preparations and the inclusion of ict in them make it apparent that adopting ict at present has been prioritized more as a way to fight back the challenges that have appeared due to the school closures. vulnerabilities articulated within the alignment: a metaphor to the pencil sketched opportunities in ict apart from the initiatives made from the end of the government, different schools, colleges and universities are informed to have showed their readiness in shifting to virtual mode of teaching learning as soon as the prolonged closures were projected. as reported by the rising nepal (2020 march 20), no sooner the government announced the closure, kathmandu, the city commonly acknowledged as a hub of education witnessed the outflow of more than 300, 000 individuals in three days. the out flux undoubtedly led to the scattering of the students all 84 subedi, d. & subedi, r. across the nation, and the only way the schools and colleges saw to reach the students was the embracing of ict. in the same context, khati and bhatta (2020) have articulated that online education was adopted as alternative to facetoface approach and later formalized by many universities. amidst this shift, nonetheless, a number of challenges are articulated to have existed. some of the challenges, in the words of bhusal and rimal (2020) include the possibilities of cybercrimes, geographical constraints, discourse of affordability and diverse socioeconomic background of the students. aterya and jenash (2020) in the similar way, have articulated how lack of private environment, interruptions of electricity due to environmental conditions, and less possibility to conduct hand on practical sessions have been inducing the challenges to remote teaching learning. these articulation, to a great extent, indicate the priority given by studies towards exploring the adversities and vulnerabilities faced by students and educators in embracing ict in pedagogical practices. apart from the vulnerabilities that are explored from the part of students and teachers, studies have even unveiled how the adoption of ict practices came up with different adversities in the part of the parents. with the decision of the government of nepal to introduce digital learning system to continue teachinglearning, parents are stated to have been burdened with the load of school fees and online fees (poudel & subedi, 2020). poudel and subedi further stress that the shift to digital approach and the priority given to blending ict of different forms have particularly been stressful to the families with less access to the resources. and if the remarks about ict use that have been emerging from different nooks and corners of the country are to be revisited, the challenges that are narrated with relation to the access and practicability of ict based classes appear to be pretty obvious. at the same time, since the discourse of education and educating itself has been brought up in the long-held tradition of face to face tutoring by the guru (teacher) (pangeni, 2016), using devices and shifting to a mediated mode of teaching learning might have appeared cumbersome. despite the challenges that are often related with embracing ict in education, the way ict use has been emphasized as a mechanism to fill the gap during the pandemic allows probing upon the stories of the school leaders, teachers, students and parents on how the pandemic induced their aptitude to explore ict tools and techniques, and how their selflearning practices enabled them grow resilient which have remained behind the curtain. indispensability of ict in the 21st century education (pineida, 2011) has always been a much-raised discourse in academia. be it for reducing mass literacy through introduction of distance mode of teaching learning, or for improving pedagogical practices through effective learning, and quality evaluation (patel, 2017), integration of ict has been gaining an extensive attention of individuals across globe, and particularly in the country like ours. beside this, the use of ict in education has also been linked to enhancing leadership, evident to which is twining’s (2008) argument that the leadership functions can be best achieved when the vision to enhance teaching learning is aligned to the use of ict. in the similar way, twining et al. (2013) have projected ict as an opportunity for supporting change in the educational system that is 85 felt required for teachers’ professional development. coming precisely to the present scenario where the pandemic has hit the regular educational phenomenon and change in modality of leading the educational institutions is expected everywhere, initiating, promoting and implementing ict can facilitate transformational change in school leadership practices (afshari et al., 2008). the possibility of changing leadership practices in the present scenario that is considered to get easy with integration of ict encourages developing an understanding that the more the individual is keen at learning and practicing ict tools and techniques, the less he/she bears the burden of remaining isolated and distressed, no matter how challenging the changing scenario appears to him/ her. methods the study has been conducted, being guided by the philosophical paradigm of interpretivism, which believes that the experiences of one individual regarding seeing the adversities and coping them vary. since vulnerabilities themselves are considered to be relative discourse, and since the way the people experience them form the reality (levers, 2013) for them, subjective way of experiencing (guba & lincoln, 2005) the vulnerabilities and the subjective response to them made by the research participants have given shape to their ontology that adversities amidst the covid 19, the use of ict as coping mechanism, and being resilient are the knowledge that are created by the individual’s mind (rodriguezpereyera, 2002) and are relative to the context where they are living. as the method of the study, narrative inquiry was adopted (cohen & morrison, 2012) so that the experiences of the school leaders, teachers, students and parents regarding their development as resilient beings through the use of ict could be explored. the school leader, teacher, student and parent who were selected for the study belonged to kathmandu valley while purposive sampling was used for selection of participants. this was done since the individuals having knowledge and experience of ict use and resilience (creswell & clark, 2011) were required for the study. further, the experiences of the participants were assembled through story telling. in the process of collecting the participants’ stories, the researchers engaged with the participants for a prolonged period of time through conversational action, reaction and interaction (saldana, 2015). while having interaction with the research participants, nonetheless, the researchers even kept reflecting upon the experience of learning ict use and coping with the vulnerabilities they came across amidst covid19 outbreak. the narratives that were collected were later transcribed, coded and categorized. based on the commonality the participants’ stories had, the themes were further developed and the meaning was generated, relating the stories with theory and relevant literature. in the process of meaning making, the notions of narrative inquirytemporality, sociality and place (clandinin & connelly, 2000) were followed so as to maintain the quality of the study as that of an interpretive research. the quality standard was even reinforced by the ethical considerations of 86 subedi, d. & subedi, r. being tolerant and responsive (josselson, 2007) which was taken into account while collecting data. at the same time, the researchers have paid respect to their experiences, following the notion of human dignity and values of the research participants (luban, 2009). furthermore, strong rapport with the research participants was built during the research process, leading to the generation of meaningful and credible data. results the section unveils the stories of the research participants, who experienced adversities of different kinds amidst the covid19 outbreak while playing their roles as school leaders, teachers, students and parents; but at the same time, were able to cope the challenges and stand firmly as resilient through their selflearning of ict use. meanings about the participants’ experiences have been presented under different metaphorical themes. the covid19 outbreak: an avalanche the outbreak of covid – 19 was recounted as an unexpected whirlwind by the research participants, while the waves they experienced were that of fear, anxiety and risk. the wave as a metaphor was articulated by dipasana, a school leader of kathmandu valley with such a meticulousness that it even instigated reflecting upon the researchers’ experiences of staying inside the premises, pondering if the identity as facilitators would continue or not. while dipasana had been recollecting her experience of staying awake for nights during the initial weeks of the pandemic outbreak, the tears in her eyes were telling the vulnerabilities she had gone through, even clearer than her words. with a great sigh, she quoted: for about three weeks after the announcement of the pandemic outbreak, i kept remaining captivated by the threat of what next! for me, the pandemic meant no school; and no school directly denoted to me that my identity as a school leader was about to get extinct. i could anticipate my school moving towards complete degeneration. i got insomniac, since the regular functions of the school were halted. there were my friends too, who used to share similar feelings of threat and anxiety with me. but i could not stop myself from thinking that i was really vulnerable. there was no communication with the teachers, parents and students and i was feeling like being in isolation, finding no way to lead my career as a school leader! (dipasana, personal communciation, 2020, july 29) sumnima’s adversities were similar to that of dipasana. similar to dipasana who had been imprisoned in fear of losing existence as a school leader, sumnima, a school teacher working in a reputed school of kathmandu had the same feeling of whether she’d be standing as a teacher in the days to come or not! the vulnerability she had gone through reflected very clearly in her surging accent while talking about the days she had gone through. i say, it was the first time when i asked myself why i chose to be a teacher. there were no schools, and being a teacher without classrooms was appearing impossible to me! i just kept thinking how to retain my existence as a teacher and this thought even 87 instigated me to get more irritated, less responsive and restless. financial break down was adding to my trauma! but i could do nothing, since the school would not pay a teacher who was doing nothing for the school and the students! (sumnima, personal communication, 2020, july 28) bhumi’s experience as a parent of two children was a little different from that of dipasana and sumnima since she had to think a lot on how to remain an encouraging and a strong mother, who would remain less affected by the outbreak of covid 19. vulnerable she was herself, however, greater adversity for her was to manage the fear and anxiety her children had been going through amid the school closure. the outbreak was really challenging. i was feeling traumatized with regular discussions about the uncertainty of the schools to function. but the greater risk for me was the vulnerability of my children who are the school students. i was engrossed by the fear that if i fail to support my children as a strong mother, i won’t be standing as firmly as i used to stand in front of them. (bhumi, personal communication, 2020 july 29) bidhya, a student pursuing her bachelor’s degree in a reputed college of lalitpur, on the other hand, recounted the risk she faced regarding her academic career. the challenges the pandemic brought to her, however, were no lesser than that of the challenges that were faced by dipasana, sumnima and bhumi. the college announced its closure overnight! i was puzzled, thinking, ‘what about my end semester assessment?’ all of us were confined and whenever i’d talk with my friends, the only discourse would be the anxiety. anxious i had been, since it seemed as if my dream of pursuing bit was breaking down. i didn’t express what my real pain was, but my mom would often talk of my changing behavior! the outbreak was really traumatic. even today, i get terrible goosebumps, recounting how i had nearly got sick, thinking on how to move on with my academics! (bidhya, personal communcication, 2020, july 28) from the abovementioned stories of dipansana, sumnima, bhumi and bidhya, it could be derived that the vulnerabilities were shared as common experience. anxiety regarding how to protect the self was experienced by all the participants. however, the derivation of anxiety was made by dipansana, sumnima, bhumi and bidhya in different way. different though the pathway to derivation of the knowledge of adversity was, the knowledge they shared about vulnerabilities encouraged the researchers construct the ontology that covid 19 has really come with vulnerabilities and high risk to the educators, parents and students. learning and getting connected to the ict use: a mechanism to grow resilient you can’t stop the wave, but you can learn to surf jon kabatzinn while reflecting upon of how the covid19 pandemic abruptly came as an adversity, and how the adversities were recuperated with the selflearning of ict use, the researchers recalled jon 88 subedi, d. & subedi, r. kabatzinn’s illustration of the wave and learning to surf. ‘wave’ and ‘learning to surf’ appeared to the researchers as a metaphor to how one can learn to utilize coping mechanisms even when he/ she is going through serious adversities. coping the challenges and getting resilient, however, were not the researchers’ experience only! the similar experiences were shared by dipasana, sumnima, bhumi and bidhya as well, who had bounced back the vulnerabilities they faced through their self -learning practices. dipasana, the school leader who was very less familiar about ict use and practices narrated how the pandemic allowed her to explore different ict tools and techniques because of which she was able to rise from the anxiety and risk of losing her stance as an educational leader. while she had been swerving from the recounting of her vulnerability to her resiliency, her eyes were sparkling. with the same sparkle in her eyes, she articulated: difficult was the situation, and i had really got insomniac. however, one night i recalled the story of an ant which survives by fighting with the tide which my mom used to narrate during my school days. and the same story made me realize that i have to come out of the situation. and, the only way which could lead me towards a brighter day was learning of the ict use. i had no one to give a bigger help, and i was not a technical kind of person. and i must say, the anxiety had not disappeared. however, keeping the anxiety in one corner of the heart, i went on, exploring how i could communicate with my parents, teachers, and students and how the educational activities could be conducted. the more i went on learning, the more confident i started getting. and, look at me these days! i have started suggesting my friends to find similar mechanisms so that they can also come out of their stress and run their schools’ activities virtually. (dipasana, personal communication, 2020, july 29) dipasana’s hands had been moving on the computer while she had been narrating her story. and the confidence with which she illustrated how her works are appreciated by the parents and the students hinted her resilience. dipasana’s story, at the same time, took the researchers back to the confidence that was gained with selflearning of ict use. the story simultaneously encouraged relating to the experience of sumnima as well who had found selflearning of ict tools as the strategy to grow resilient. engrossed in my own melancholy, i had been surfing the google to see if i could find any opportunities to move abroad. i had really got frustrated due to the school closures, and i had no enthusiasm left to continue with my profession. the surfing didn’t notify me about any chances to go abroad. but it came to me as an opportunity since i got a glimpse of how to connect with students via zoom application (an ict tool). i tried doing as shown in the internet. and it was magical! it worked beautifully! encouraged, i started learning newer techniques and tools, executed them in the class. now, i was no more an idle teacher. my selflearning enabled me to come out of the risk i had anticipated of losing my career and i can say that i have strongly survived a reversing tide! (sumnima, personal communication, 2020, july 28) 89 dipasana’s and sumnima’s story were quite relatable to bhumi’s resilience which started getting mirrored in her body language. her readiness to explore the priorknowledge she had about ict use, as she said, helped her instill confidence in her children that school closure was not the ultimate full stop to getting connected with school and learning. no sooner my anxiety had started dominating my thoughts, i decided to recall the knowledge about ict use i had assembled during my university days. i admit, i was going close to emotional devastation with repeated questions of my children about their studies. but as i started learning different ways of engaging my children through ict tools and techniques, i was able to regenerate the happiness they would express at the completion of their project works. it even encouraged me to stand as a stronger mother who can stand strongly and support her children as an educational leader even when the situation is really against her! (bhumi, personal communication, 2020 july 29) bidhya also had the similar experience of rising from the adversities. her selflearning of ict use, as she narrated, not only enabled her in getting acquainted with her course content, but even helped her expand her social networking. she could defeat her anxiety regarding her academic career since the exploration allowed her to take extra academic courses during the lockdown and even let her entrepreneurial skill spring. just thinking about how to secure my academic career amidst insecurities, i had really been vulnerable. i used to get nightmares about my ruining future. but one day, i talked to my teacher and she suggested me to gather courage. her words motivated me, and something that really helped me come out of the trauma was my continuous learning of how ict could be best utilized for developing an academic network. i learnt about different applications through youtube, and tried manifesting them in newer ways. i even went on exploring how learning applications could be developed and how they could be installed even in simple kind of smart phones. the exploration helped me in a multiple ways. firstly, i could beat my own fear about my future. secondly, i could even start my own application as a job from which i have even been able to make some money. i feel like my learning has emancipated me. (bidhya, personal communication, 2020, july 28) the experiences which the research participants shared reflected the commonality that they all have stood as resilient individuals, coping the adversities that had made them really vulnerable. the mechanism that they applied for beating the vulnerabilities was selflearning of ict use. their stories even enabled construction of knowledge that beginning from the self is the best way to bounce back every hard times, while ict use can come up as strong mechanism to fight against challenges in the present scenario. 90 subedi, d. & subedi, r. discussion its undeniable, pandemics hit the mankind in less contemplated way, and are potential of leaving undesired effects. the belief has got even stronger with the outbreak of covid19 that was unexpected, and instigated the collection of distressing experiences. similar experience of distress, anxiety and fear was assembled during the covid 19 pandemic by the participants of the study too, which has made the researchers believe that pandemics can result to heightened level of anxiety experience (roy et al., 2020). the effect of covid 19 in the form of anxiety and vulnerability has been reviewed by ozdin and ozdin (2020) as well, who articulate how traumatic the pandemic can be; and how the questions about its uncertain existence can reduce people’s sense of security. the concern about the reduction in sense of security and uncertainty reflected in the stories of dipasana, sumnima, bhumi and bidhya as well. the insecurity that the participants faced, however, were more associated with school closure which has been enacted so as to maintain social distancing and selfisolation (jordan, 2020 as cited mustafa, 2020) for combating the spread of the corona virus. similar to the national child traumatic stress network (2020) which discusses the adversities faced by the school system for connecting, teaching and supporting students and families due to the uncertainties of the covid19 pandemic, concern about how to approach the students and families, and how to continue the school functions had created adversities for dipasana and sumnima as well. similar to the adversities faced by the school leaders and teachers on how to connect to the families and retain their stance in the domain of educational leadership, uncertainties of the pandemic had been stressful for bidhya, a student as well. the anxiety she expressed spoke very well of how confused and lost she had been feeling, and how the confusion had been leading her to frustration and anxiety (unicef, 2020) amidst the closure resulted due to covid 19 outbreak. the growing anxiety among the students due to school closures echoes in (rehman et al., 2020) as well which presents that the students all over the world are experiencing distress due to uncertainty of examinations and with regards to the availability of job in the days to come. parents on the other hand, as narrated by bhumi were reported to have gone through the challenges resulted due the anxiety seen in their children (unicef, 2020) and the growing probability of the children falling back in their academic growth amid prolonged school closure (kuhfeld & tarasawa, 2020). success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts! winston churchill the adversities faced by the participants of this study were stressful. but, as winston churchill has mentioned, dipasana, sumnima, bhumi and bidhya didn’t give up. rather, they rose from the adversities and were able to stand through selfexploration and learning of the ict use. the same competency the research participants displayed in learning ict has 91 stimulated the researchers’ belief that being resilient individual is not about gaining success magically; rather it is all about how the people can adapt in the environment where they are living, making right use of the available resources (rutter, 2006 as cited in shean, 2015) to bounce back the vulnerabilities they come across. the resources which rutter (2006) has mentioned for growing resilient, in the stories of the participants of this study, were the ict tools and techniques, while the use of ict was reinforced by their selflearning practices. the stories of dipasana, sumnima, bhumi and bidhya illustrated that they were guided by the conviction that learning in the digital age could be facilitated by being a part of network that constitutes humans and nonhumans (bell, 2009). as the theory of connectivism further introduces learning as a cyclical process where the learners connect to the network for generating information (kop & adrian, 2008), the research participants had also been able to construct newer information through their connection with ict network. at the same time, dipasana, sumnima, bhumi and bidhya were even successful in connecting to the community who aligned with them with regard to their interest in continuity of educational functions through interaction, sharing, and dialoguing (siemens, 2004), which ultimately helped them in the fighting back the stress and anxiety and rise as resilient individuals. the closure of schools during covid 19 had induced sumnima, a school teacher’s stress in such a way that she had started perceiving her teaching profession to be strenuous and frustrating (lambert, o’donnell, kusherman & mccarthy, 2006). school closure during the outbreak, in the similar way had instigated dipasana as well to question her own choice of being a school leader. nonetheless, both the individuals made the utilization of self-learning of ict use as coping strategy which helped them mediate the level of stress (montogomery & rupp, 2005). similar to dipasana and sumnima, the stories narrated by bhumi and bidhya also illustrated that their readiness and the positivity (lopez & snyder, 2011) they carried that they could learn better use of ict during the covid 19, not only developed their competency in the ict use, but also helped them adapt positively (eldridge, n.d.) amidst vulnerabilities they had been experiencing due to school and college closure. furthermore, the resilience the research participants had developed through their selflearning of ict use even boosted their confidence that they could bounce back the challenges of similar kind in the days to come. it has provided the researchers with an insight that learning the ict use in the 21st century can come out as a strong mechanism to cope the vulnerabilities the teachers, parents, educational leaders and students come across in the educational process. conclusions and implications the study enabled construction of knowledge that, among the numerous adversities the outbreak of covid19 has brought, the closure of schools and colleges resulted in high degree of stress and insecurity among the school leaders, teachers, students and parents. vulnerable though the individuals had been feeling, they even carried the positive psychology that they 92 subedi, d. & subedi, r. could find ways and bounce back the adversities. hence, the school leaders, teachers, parents and students made selflearning of ict use which worked as coping mechanism for them. through the utilization of icts, they were not only able to reduce their stress and anxiety, but were also able to come out of the vulnerabilities and stand stronger. at the same time, the resilience they developed with the selflearning of ict use further ensured them about their potential of bouncing the challenges back in the days to come too. the study implies that selflearning and the significance of ict are to be given emphasis in pedagogical domain. furthermore, it even infers further exploration to be made in educational leadership about how the crises like pandemic can bring insecurities and stress among different stakeholders, and how the insecurities can be bounced back through thoughtful use of icts. references afshari, m., bakar, k. a., luan, w. s., samah, b. a., & fooi, f. s. 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(2020). measuring rural p-12 teachers’ attitudes, perceptions, and utilizations of social media. research in social science and technology, 5(3), 2554. https://ressat.org/index.php/ressat/article/view/506/90 https://en.unesco.org/news/290-million-students-out-school-due-covid-19-unesco-releases-first-global-numbers-and-mobilizes https://en.unesco.org/news/290-million-students-out-school-due-covid-19-unesco-releases-first-global-numbers-and-mobilizes https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/nepal-documents/novel-coronavirus/covid-19-nepal-preparedness-and-response-plan-(nprp)-draft-april-9.pdf?sfvrsn=808a970a_2 https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/nepal-documents/novel-coronavirus/covid-19-nepal-preparedness-and-response-plan-(nprp)-draft-april-9.pdf?sfvrsn=808a970a_2 https://ressat.org/index.php/ressat/article/view/506/90 research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 volume: 4 issue: 2 2022 pp. 18-36 revisioning educational leadership through love and the ancillary: a critical self-study derek markides* * foothills school division, calgary, alberta, canada e-mail: derekmarkides@gmail.com article info received: may 31, 2022 revised: july 21, 2022 accepted: august 13, 2022 how to cite markides, d. (2022). revisioning educational leadership through love and the ancillary: a critical self-study. research in educational policy and management, 4(2), 18-36. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2022.5 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). note this article is based on the primary content of the author’s thesis, “learning and leading through love: a critical personal history self-study of an educator”, written for the werklund school of education, university of calgary. abstract engaging in a bricolage of critical self-study allowed one school administrator to better understand his roles, responsibilities, and formation of identity within the context of a school system while envisioning the divergent possibilities of a yet-to-beknown future through the lens of love. the primary intention of this paper is to discuss alternative possibilities for educational leadership considered through an ancillary vision of walking alongside enacted through pedagogies of love. pedagogies of love can be understood as more than the embodiment of romantic notions of the word. pedagogies of love enact relationality: blending care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust. ever-evolving and situational, these pedagogies are understood as tentative. during the critical self-study process, personal affective experiences were reflexively interrogated to draw out and unpack themes regarding one lived teaching life. personal positionings, over time, emerged as a crucial part of studying one’s self as a means to explicate previously misunderstood privileges. the criticality of this self-study can be found in the ways that the relationships between power, authority, knowledge production, and contextual social relations are illuminated and mediated. keywords self-study; pedagogies of love; ecological sensibilities; critical study; relationality; educational leadership. 10.46303/repam.2022.5 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2022.1 19 introduction to understand education, one must love it or care deeply about learning, and accept it as a legitimate process for growth and change. to accept education as it is, however, is to betray it. to accept education without betraying it, you must love it for those values that show what it might become. (battiste, 2013, p. 190) education is political. regardless of the intention, education inadvertently promotes the status and standing of groups in power and with privilege. education is the enactment of societal understandings, beliefs, and values. however, while we may envision a possible future through education, enacted education is always entangled within our lived affective history and experience. the structures, curricula, and pedagogies of education come into being through the enmeshed experiences of the past, present, and possible future. when enacted in a good way, education may afford engaging, enlightening, and emancipatory possibilities—possibilities of hope and love. i understand hope to be the unwavering ability to imagine an unknown future. hope may allow for the possibility of disrupting currently entrenched understandings and beliefs and help us recognize that there may be other ways to view, interpret, or name the world. markides (2017) suggests, “in a western worldview ‘hope’ becomes fragmented and measurable—acceptable research” (p. 293), research that is bounded by a history of safe and quantifiable commensurability. in this context, love becomes the enactment of relationality—a responsibility and reciprocity for and to all within a community. by reflexively drawing-out themes by engaging in the process of a critical self-study in a similar manner to samaras (2011), i have come to better understand that there are many ways to enact educational leadership in schools, and these enactments are intimately connected to leader paradigms and school culture. throughout this paper, i will discuss my potentially alternative paradigm and theoretical framework existing in the confluence of the critical and complex and then share the themes that have emerged. each of these themes could afford for a new, possibly more adequate vision of education—one which contradicts the safety and security of an absolutist and objective education—which is, in fact, social, messy, and interconnected. when we envision schools and educational leadership through a lens of ecological sensibilities and relationality, educators have the opportunity to engage learners in a previously unimagined way, creating possibilities for broadened understandings of knowledge production. this educational leadership vision is non-positivistic and ancillary—leaders as guides walking and learning alongside teachers and students—enacting pedagogies of love. locating and positioning absolon and willett (2005) suggest that “neutrality and objectivity do not exist in research... we write about ourselves because the only thing that we can write about with authority is ourselves” (p. 97). i share who i am with no attempt to hide or remove biases and initiate this dialogue to foster a sense of relationality and trustworthiness with readers. as kovach (2017) states, “it is not simply about trust in the findings and ‘validation of the data’; it is about trust in 20 the relationship” (p. 224). therefore, it is up to the reader to make sense of, accept, deny, or struggle with my emergent themes. as mishler (1990) suggests, “focusing on trustworthiness rather than truth, displaces validation from its traditional location in a presumably objective neutral reality, and moves it to the social world—a world constructed in and through our discourse and actions, through praxis” (p. 420). i recognize and acknowledge that i enjoy the privilege of working as a school administrator, which will not only bring me credibility with readers who happen to have administrative experiences but may serve to reduce my credibility as a veteran teacher. the perception of trustworthiness is not simply whether the reader has faith in the data that i present. it cannot be that simple. trustworthiness has to do with how readers will come to trust me. the trustworthiness of the stories that i share begins with the way i choose to articulate them and then concludes with the ways in which readers choose and continue to choose to connect their histories to these stories to make coherence in their understanding. the validity of these stories becomes less about objectivity and more about relationality. i am a veteran teacher-turned-administrator with diverse k-12 teaching experiences. i began my teaching career as a mathematics and physics teacher in high school and have since taught a wide variety of subjects throughout k-12. i grew up in rural northern british columbia, canada, and am a fierce advocate of student inclusion and supporting a balanced approach for student access to fine arts, academics, physical education, and complementary courses. i have a solid connection to nature and land-based pedagogy and have coached and competed in athletics to the post-secondary level. i am a father and husband and am highly influenced by my partner’s paradigms and pedagogy. i recognize and understand that as a collective of educators and staff, all schools have unique cultures and histories and, as a result, seek to enact improved practices and opportunities for learners in varied ways. as an educational leader, i continuously engage in critical reflexive practices individually and with colleagues to foster emergent possibilities for students while challenging hegemonic practices. on being critical through self-study, i have been able to formalize my current understandings of the criticality of my pedagogy. i align my understandings of criticality with paulo freire (1996) when he shares, “to surmount the situation of oppression, people must first critically recognize its causes so that through transforming action they can create a new situation, one which makes possible the pursuit of fuller humanity” (p. 29). i now better understand that all education and associated pedagogies are political. as a result, the enactment of paradigms and what we believe about students will, in turn, define what possibilities may be afforded through education. by using the term critical and incorporating critical pedagogy, i adhere to the understandings of freire (1996), steinberg and kincheloe (2018), giroux (2011), and the descriptions that henry giroux shares as part of an interview with tristán (2013). 21 critical pedagogy illuminates the relationships among knowledge, authority, and power. it draws attention to questions concerning who has control over the conditions for the production of knowledge, values, and skills, and it illuminates how knowledge, identities, and authority are constructed within particular sets of social relations. similarly, it draws attention to the fact that pedagogy is a deliberate attempt on the part of educators to influence how and what knowledge and subjectivities are produced within particular sets of social relations. (para. 2) enacting critical pedagogy thus promotes critical reflexivity whereby teachers and students are challenged to engage in an “investigation of their social location in the world as well as their relationship with the world” (mclaren, 2015, p. 46). contrasting two paradigmatic possibilities? for this paper, i would challenge readers to consider a possibly alternative paradigm that may contradict the historically adequate convergence-focused safety of an absolutist and positivistic paradigm. when enacted in the best and most efficient way, this paradigm for education and educational leadership was believed to be predictable and controllable. alternatively, i put forward a messy, interconnected, and collective understanding of education, where learning and learners may be understood through a more adequate paradigm for the possibilities associated with the multiplicity of cultures, beliefs, and understandings of a social, interactive, (inter/intra)-connected collective and complex humanity. the embodiment of this paradigm i consider to be enacted through pedagogies of love as defined by bell hooks (2001) as the relational enmeshment of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust. i suggest that educational leaders have the opportunity and the ethical and moral responsibility to evaluate, consider, and challenge how appropriate or adequate their inherited curricula (tarc, 2011) are within the current and emerging cultural and collective context. educational leaders are now called upon to make decisions through multiple lenses in a responsive manner that considers the past but creates the opportunity for their transformative work to become tacit and readily subsumable through future iterations of reinvention to disrupt hegemonic teaching paradigms through pedagogies of love. doll (1993) suggests that “it is not the individual as an isolated entity which is important but the person within the communal, environmental frame. in fact, the concept of isolated or rugged individualism… is a fiction” (p. 92). the wants and desires and the successes and failures of each society are as diverse as our planet’s ecosystems, and no one way to exist can be considered the hierarchical best way. through transformed possibilities for education, teaching and learning would not be “about convergence onto a pre-established truth, but about divergence—about broadening what can be known and done” (davis & sumara, 2007, p. 64). doll (1993) suggests that such a shift would make it so that “the focus would now be on a community dedicated to helping each individual, through critique and dialogue, to develop intellectual and social powers” (p. 174). 22 shifting paradigms would not negate the learning of content; rather, it will require an increased level of richness, recursion, relation, and rigor (doll, 1993) by considering learning as reflexive processes. educators who consider this critical and ecological framework may create a space for pedagogies of love—education that is ancillary and not necessarily causative. i hope that all educators may understand that the vision of the absolutist and reductionist teaching paradigms are no longer adequate to support students as they move into uncertain futures. this possible new consideration aligns with doll (1993) when he suggests that education “is a process—not of transmitting what is known but exploring what is unknown” (p. 155). therefore, it is the responsibility of ethical educators and leaders to be both dependent and accountable for the unknown. doll (1993) also states that “a constructive curriculum emerges through the actions and interactions of its participants” (p. 162). the divergent possibilities of the not-yet-imagined ecological sensibilities may allow students to consider schools as places—no longer disconnected from life outside of school—where vivid memories of community, complexity, and collectivity facilitate long-term connections to the process of learning. through the embodiment of ethical relationality, donald (2016) envisions that “people face each other as relatives and build trusting relationships by connecting with others in respectful ways through the embodiment of ethical relationality. in doing so, we demonstrate that we recognize one another as fellow human beings and work hard to put respect and love at the forefront of our interactions” (p. 10). by (re)imagining schools as complex ecosystems, educators and learners may embody the transformative pedagogies of love. when one comes from a paradigm of control, a certain element of fear exists with an inability to predict or control all aspects of what could happen in the classroom. alternatively, connected curricula and the associated pedagogies of love, afford for the (re)imagining of education as inherently messy; occasionally uncomfortable; open, biological/ecological, chaotic; meaningful, transformative, empowering, and emancipatory. by considering the classroom as a complex adaptive system, we can enact an ancillary teaching paradigm where classrooms and learning may be understood as collectives that are self-organizing and generative—environments where students with agency adapt and impact their own and all others’ trajectories. considering the actuality of complex understandings of education could require educators to shift their paradigm to recognize the enmeshed nature of the classroom collective—complex relationships that are codependent and often bottom-up. when considered through this alternative lens, doll (1993) postulates: the teaching-learning frame switches from a cause-effect one where learning is either a direct result of teaching or teaching is at least a superior-inferior relationship with learning. the switch is to a mode where teaching becomes ancillary to learning, with learning dominant, due to the individual’s self-organizational abilities. (p. 101) education embodying and enacting historically adequate paradigms of control, presupposes that teaching effectively prepares students for a known future by ensuring that 23 learning discrete and static pieces of knowledge. perpetuating these understandings may solidify for students and teachers that content area disciplines or classrooms are mutually exclusive and disconnected. when language that supports absolutist and reductionistic metaphors for students is used, positivist binaries of learning are perpetuated to future generations—leaving no room for acceptable divergent alternative epistemologies. it is important to emphasize that the current hegemonic, positivistic, convergent, data-driven teaching paradigm is but one possibility for education, one of a multiplicity of possibilities for education. bricolage and critical self-study to know the past is to know oneself as an individual and as a representative of a sociohistorical moment in time; like others each person is a victim, vehicle, and ultimately a resolution of a culture’s dilemmas. (bullough & gitlin, 1995, p. 25) the multimethodological nature of the bricolage allows for the opportunity to widen one’s senses to a divergence of possibilities in inquiry, avoiding the reductionistic tendencies of singular research perspectives. by employing bricolage, researchers are not necessarily tied to the axiomatic foundations of a singular research method and fully acknowledge the complexity and subjectivity of social research. as bricoleurs recognize the limitations of a single method, the discursive structures of one disciplinary approach, what is missed by traditional practices of validation, the historicity of certified modes of knowledge production, the inseparability of knower and known, and the complexity and heterogeneity of all human experience, they understand the necessity of new forms of rigor in the research process. (kincheloe, 2001, p. 681) for this reason, social research is not and should not be considered objective. therefore, it is up to the researcher-as-bricoleur to recognize and embrace uncertainty and messiness within social contexts in the pursuit of robust research. by recognizing their active participation within and onto research, the bricoleur acknowledges their undeniable impact on social research through relationships that allow for their increased expertise in the relationality of power and oppression interior to disciplines. the bricolage is a process that acknowledges the complexity that has been ignored within social research. the bricoleur works to uncover the interrelated nature of social research, looking toward relationships rather than things (kincheloe, 2001). this type of research's complex interactions and relationality necessitate the reconsideration of a methodological framework in an active manner rather than a passive and static methodological stance. accordingly, the bricolage affords what many of us already understand: that “we occupy a scholarly world with faded disciplinary boundary lines. thus, the point need not be that bricolage should take place—it already has and is continuing” (kincheloe, 2001, p. 863). 24 self-study self-study is a critical, dialogical, and relational qualitative research and necessitates an interdisciplinary and responsive methodology that, in this case, affords the honoring and witnessing of an administrator’s stories. as a result, no one method can adequately accommodate both the researcher as (emic) insider and (etic) outsider (innes, 2009) while allowing for the recognition of the emergent nature of social research. self-study research exists in the confluence of biography and history (bullough & pinnegar, 2001) and the self and other, whereby the researcher situates themselves inside the process (samaras, 2010). self-study is “autobiographical, historical, cultural, and political and takes a thoughtful look at texts read, experiences had, people known and ideas considered” (hamilton & pinnegar, 1998, p. 236). this place of complex, contextual, and irreproducible interactions is at the center of self-study research where the everchanging and evolving space for personal research necessitates us not to focus specifically on the self but rather on the space between the self and the practice and the other. according to laboskey (2004), the characteristics required for self-study methodology necessitate self-studies are: self-initiated and focused, improvement-aimed, interactive, primarily qualitative methods, and exemplar-based validation (pp. 842-853). similarly, samaras (2011) suggests a five-foci framework for enacting self-study research where self-study is personally situated inquiry, critical and collaborative, improvement-focused, transparent and systematic, and generative for knowledge and presentation. as the primary participant, critical self-study has allowed me to unpack and reconstruct my affective history to inform my professional and personal identity formation. in turn, i have gained meaning to my pedagogical understandings and made explicit the connections of my practice to theory (samaras et al., 2004). foundational to this self-study research process were the following three possibilities for teaching as defined by samaras et al. (2004): 1) self-knowing and forming—and reforming—a professional identity; 2) modeling and testing effective reflection; and 3) pushing the boundaries of teaching. (p. 913). self-knowing and forming a professional identity is intimately connected to reflexivity and autobiography. by unpacking and revisiting the enmeshed and affective past, i have envisioned a broader possible future. reflective acts become those of reflexivity when we “consider what is not obvious and what is yet to become because a grounding in personal experiences encourages consciousness and being awake to themselves and to the contexts in which they are embedded” (samaras et al., 2004, p. 915). modeling and testing effective reflection seem to be key to challenging and reimagining the possibilities for education. while there is a great deal of emphasis on self-reflection in preservice teacher training, time and the complexity of teaching life can become barriers to growth opportunities of self-study for practicing teachers and administrators. through selfstudy and its autobiographical provocation, we can challenge the perception of the objectivity 25 of teaching, learning, and knowing and provide opportunities to better know who we are as educators. pushing the boundaries of teaching may come from a better understanding of self through self-study. samaras et al. (2004) suggest that teachers drawing on their personal histories through self-study may “examine the inconsistencies involved in their teaching and showcase their failings so that they and others, especially their students, might learn from their mistakes” (p. 924). reflection on personal histories may help teachers to understand better the multiplicity of affective histories and associated understandings that students bring with them into learning spaces, in turn transforming pedagogies. engaging in critical self-study through a critical and complexity-focused ecological lens allows for the disruption of sacrosanct understandings while broadening possibilities by considering complex connectivities. the recursive and iterative process involved autobiographical writing, interpreting critical friend feedback, and rewriting/reporting. throughout these processes, i was challenged to (re)consider what i understood about educational leadership and schools as well as my professional identity. why pedagogies of love? bell hooks (2001) defines love as a combination of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust, where all of these characteristics work (inter/intra)-dependently. weber (2017) states that: love is not a pleasant feeling, but the practical principle of creative enlivenment. this principle describes the way in which living communities on this planet—groups of cells, organisms, ecosystems, tribes, families—find their own identities while also fostering the relationship that they have with others and with the system surrounding them. (p. 6) additionally, hooks (2010) suggests that “the loving classroom is one in which students are taught, both in the presence and practice of the teacher, that critical exchange can take place without diminishing anyone’s spirit” (p. 162). love is inherently interwoven within strong professional relationships and care. darder (2017) suggests that “greater possibilities for school and social transformations can be realized” (p. 96) when we engage in dialogue where love is at the heart of the work. while there is no question that romantic notions of love exist, through this critical selfstudy, my intention has been, at least partially, to trouble common perceptions of what love can mean and what pedagogies of love can afford. from the bell hooks' definition of love, i have come to better understand that love can provide room for failure, struggles, and mistakes but ultimately to grow. richard wagamese (2016) suggests that: 26 love is not always the perfection of moments or the sum of all the shining days— sometimes it’s to drift apart, to be broken, to be disassembled by life and living, but always to come back together and to be each other’s glue again. love is an act of life, and we are made more by the living. (p. 151) as educators of generations of young people, it is our responsibility to (re)consider our understandings of classroom pedagogies with a sense of urgency and humility—(re)focus on a shift toward pedagogies of love. clingan (2010) shares: if we humans move beyond the feeling and the fears about love, stretch our minds past our wondering about love, and take our greatest philosophies and thoughts about love to a consistent practical application, that we will see, healthier communities that are filled with and sustained by love. (n.p.) enacting a pedagogy of love can allow for an equitable and socially just education which allows for stronger, collaborative, and kind relationships. changing roles of educational leaders educational leaders’ roles have changed greatly throughout the past decades and the impact of these leaders on student learning is second only to those of classroom teachers (adams, 2016). the roles of school leaders have shifted from a role primarily focused on management toward ones that also include instructional leadership, community engagement, mentorship of new and upcoming inductees, and engagement and consultation with the community. all of these shifts require the enactment of pedagogies of love. table 1, adapted from bedard and mombourquette (2015) illustrates how the roles of leadership have changed and continue to change for educational leaders, and i use indicators of from and toward as a recognition of a constantly evolving reference frame. table 1. shifts in educational leadership from toward compliance based capacity building shared commitment and dignity, and focus on mission and vision administrative matters and managerial work instructional leadership, relationality, building culture loosely connected divisional elements robust professional networks traditional, top-down decision making sharing and collaborating, and more permeable boundaries between district and schools narrow data collection broader means and acceptance of data collection, specifically around qualitative data leadership succession focused, standards-based identification and selection outside, expert-based professional learning embedded professional learning and increased leadership autonomy over school professional learning passive engagement of stakeholders building relational trust with stakeholder through consultation and increased transparency 27 the prominent changes that stand out in the righthand column in table 1 allude to the understanding that community engagement and collectivity are recognized to be drastically more important than in the past. ultimately, leadership is now, more than ever, pedagogical responsibility and relationality—the art and science of modeling effective practices with learners and communities in an ancillary manner. through a deeper, more dynamic awareness of (our)self, we may be able to shift pedagogies from those of the “impossible imperative assignment” (markides, 2018, p. 42). put differently, educators and educational leaders, through the consideration of an alternative, emergent, and interconnected paradigms “are being asked to consider identity not so much as something already present, but rather as production, in the throes of being constituted as we live in places of difference” (aoki, 1993, p. 260). self-study has allowed for the critical illumination of ways to afford interconnected possibilities in educational leadership. it is this ancillary and ecological sensibility, envisioned as a direct challenge to the reductionistic, fictitious simplification of classroom dynamics that may challenge pedagogies that conjure a singular, prescriptive, and safe understanding of living classrooms—classrooms that are ever-emergent, continually adapting, and divergently redundant. these alternative spaces of the possible and the not-yet-imagined can be fertile locations of growth and change. emergent themes in this section i will share and discuss a summary of the themes that emerged from the critical self-study process. the themes listed in the following section will read as a summary and short literature review of ideas. each of these themes has emerged through the overarching framework of pedagogies of love and is based on bell hooks’ (2001) definition of love as the enmeshment of care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust within the theoretical framework in the confluence of criticality and complexity. love and wisdom many of the metaphors for wisdom are related to age and experience, however, these understandings seem to be rooted in love. cozolino (2013) suggests that wisdom is the way in which intelligences are brought harmoniously together—the synergy of the heart and mind. for staudinger (1999), those who appear to be wiser are “creative, endorse a judicial, and nonconservative cognitive style, furthermore, are open to new experiences and show personal growth, as well as having been exposed to existential life events and/or to certain professional settings” (p. 660). wisdom appears to be embodied within a life of love, a comprehensive experience and outlook, an empathetic and kind outlook, an attitude to/for others, and resiliency for personal responsibility toward growth-focused solution attainment. wisdom is not simply gained through experience, time, or existence. becoming wise appears to be more about openness to hearing, witnessing, and envisioning the possible. “while knowledge gives you the capacity to understand what you are 28 doing, wisdom helps you to attain correct, prudent, and just application of that knowledge” (cozolino, 2013, p. 209). wisdom may be about experiencing and then better knowing how to respond in the future because “knowledge is not wisdom. but wisdom is knowledge in action” (wagamese, 2016, p. 130). wisdom can be about supporting others through one’s own experiences by challenging how best practices rhetorics have evolved to better practices and then to wiser practices—always evolving. for “it is in the journey that one becomes wise” (wagamese, 2019, p. 51). wisdom in the context of educational relevance can be understood as embodied pedagogical dampening helping us to believe that we are on the correct path to supporting learners and can provide us faith in the pedagogy of love as a means to trust and commit to supporting all learners. wisdom requires a deep understanding of specific content so that we may be better able to listen to our students through writings and dialogues and truly hear their intentions and not just our own—seeking to listen for contextual meanings and not searching for faults. love as radical listening winchell et al., (2016) suggest that “radical listening involves consciously valuing others by attempting to hear what the speaker is saying for the meaning he or she intends, rather than the meaning the listener interprets through his/her own view of the world” (p. 101). they draw on the teachings of joe kincheloe (2008) where they specify that in order to gain critical consciousness, first, one must recognize that, 1) knowledge is contextual and can never be separated from the knower; 2) the ways of knowing we reward as educators reflect what we value; and, 3) in order to re-envision our understanding of the world must listen in value what others have to say about the world specifically those with understandings that vary from our own (winchell et al., 2016). radical listening allows for shifts in power dynamics within schools and requires teachers and educational leaders to be placed into a position where they are not the knower of all information. decentering power is an act of love and is atypical of what most pedagogical practices and teaching metaphors necessitate. winchell et al. (2016) challenge that, “it is possible that what might arise from being reflexively aware of radical listening included learning from other, setting aside one’s own standpoints, and messing with axiology by intentionally disprivileging cherished values” (p. 102). radical listening requires that we acknowledge the complexity of the messiness of humanity within schools. we must acknowledge what students bring in and what students’ lives look like outside of the classroom while incorporating their knowledges into the work that we do every day. radical listening demands that we acknowledge that students are autonomous beings with motivations and preconceived understandings. radical listening requires the teacher to be brave and trust in the process of learning where knowledge is not some fixed understanding but rather how we negotiate the way we make sense of the world. 29 radical listening allows for moving away from singularity of understanding towards a multiplicity of ways to make sense of ideas and concepts and requires teachers, in a loving manner, to encourage dialogue as a means for transformations. it shifts the privilege of hearing towards the student’s intention when speaking. freire (1996) suggests that: dialogue cannot exist, however, in the absence of profound love. the naming of the world, which is an act of creation and re-creation, is not possible if it is not infused with love. love is at the same time the foundation of dialogue and dialogue itself. (p. 70) radical listening represents a decentring of the teacher’s power, but still allows for direction and focus, by a caring and loving teacher who is a guide rather than the center of attention. this is a shift in a metaphorical understanding of teaching itself toward the ancillary— teachers as guides walking and learning alongside students. radical listening is a pedagogy of love when enacted within the classroom where a commitment to the learning process and relationality are prioritized. this commitment respects learners as individuals within the classroom community. ultimately, “radical listening is thus prismatic in transformative, involving multiplicities of culture, experiences, and self, which works to counter the monochromatic epistemologies and ontologies that are prized by social efficiency and put forth as “universal truths” for all humanity” (winchell et al., 2016, p. 106). love as relationality relationality and trust are intimately interconnected and are enactments of love. as kovach (2017) suggests, “relationality is a set of values; relationship is the action” (p. 223). when we celebrate differences, we enact pedagogies of love. as we recognize the complexity of relationality when working with other humans, we begin to see that there can be no singular way to understand, learn, or see. this does not mean that we cannot come to similar conclusions but helps us to recognize the infinite pathways we can take towards understandings. by understanding the tentative state of flux (kovach, 2017) in which we exist, we may challenge our perception of reality. we do not always have one-to-one means to map our paradigms and worldviews to those of others in order to communicate effectively. it is the recognition and valuing of difference as the place where we can incorporate an ethical relationality (ermine, 2007) that can allow for dialogues that seek understanding rather than power. seeing our paradigms as possibly incommensurable to those of others, we can then begin to consider different vantage points. it is this comfort with the discomfort of relationality that will allow us “not to extrapolate but rather to seek situational understanding” (kovach, 2017, p. 221). dwayne donald (2009) posits, “ethical relationality is an ecological understanding of human relationality that does not deny difference, but rather seeks to more deeply understand how our different histories and experiences position us in relation to each other” (p. 6). as educators interested in shifting classroom practices and pedagogies towards those of love, it is imperative that relationality is at the forefront of our work. ethical relationality and dialogue 30 are entangled in a way that are co-implicit. we must seek to understand, hear, and radically listen to value student knowledges and thoughts. relationships within schools focused on pedagogies of love require care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust, and it is the actions that the teacher carries out and the ethic that they uphold and foster within the space that fosters relationality. this relationality may allow for safe spaces for students to take greater risks which can allow for learning opportunities that transcend learning outcomes occasioning transference to other knowledges. love as the beginnings of decolonizing education modern educational thought finds actual human consciousness too messy to be studied, which may account for why youth get the facts but not the discussion of what their own purpose is within the life in which they are submersed. (battiste, 2013, p. 31) the education that i received was positivistic, a singularly, hegemonic truth taught through the narrative of racist myths (donald, 2009)—a post-contact historical narrative. the strength of this education was its neat, orderly, fact/truth-focused absolutism, a form of cognitive imperialism that assumes that the dominant understanding of the world is the only possible, correct, and privileged knowledge that is perpetuated throughout western society. according to battiste (2013), when “knowledge is omitted or ignored in the schools and a eurocentric foundation is advanced to the exclusion of other knowledges and languages, these are conditions that define an experience of cognitive imperialism” (p. 26). unfortunately, cognitive imperialism will never be an adequate enactment of curriculum, “it denies the fact that human beings have their own ways of being and thinking, their own reasons and motivations” (biesta, 2013, p. 3). on a daily basis, caring educators enact the only curriculum that they know—a colonized, familiar, static body of knowledge—in order to help students achieve success in a fictitious known future. the singular colonized vision of success sets up a dichotomous reality of have or have-not, success or failure, normal or deviant. these binaries are the embodied and enacted politics of eurocentric education and its curriculum which negates the plethora of possible alternative epistemologies. little bear (2000) posits, “no matter how dominant a worldview is, there are always other ways of interpreting the world. different ways of interpreting the world are manifest through different cultures, which are often in opposition to one another” (p. 77). because dominant culture is the culture that has instituted and maintained a colonized curriculum, it is this same culture that must undergo a transformation in understanding, lens, and pedagogy to decolonize curriculum. therefore, divergent thinking is required for the decolonization of education. the colonized curriculum ignores all but the dominant culture’s truths and is based on students converging toward the attainment of discrete, measurable, quantifiable targets that are already fully understood—a dead body of knowledge. in this curricular context, students 31 must be objectively measured. this implies that a specific—often identical—expected behavior has already been anticipated as a measure of the successful attainment of the objective regardless of who the learner may be. treating each of these learners as identical does not allow for the divergence of thought or variation of process. in this vision of education, deviation is easy to deal with, it indicates a failure on the part of the student that may be fixed. the “desire to make education strong, secure, predictable, and risk-free” (biesta, 2013, p. 3) is deeply entrenched within the positivist curricular paradigm, however, it does not recognize learners for who they are—complex organisms that act both independently and as part of larger collectives. “it denies the fact that human beings have their own ways of being and thinking, their own reasons and motivations” (p. 3). transformations away from a simplistic, predictable, strong, safe, and quantifiable view of education (biesta, 2013) can be an enactment of love and is decolonial work—a recognition that the persistent view of students as controllable variables has never been adequate. in education, students and classrooms are not simply related. but to view students nonmechanistically may require a completely different paradigm for curricula—one focused on relationality, reciprocity, and responsibility. marie battiste (2013) suggests, “the modern educational system was created to maintain the identity, language, and culture of a colonial society” (p. 30). so, we have caring people doing the best that they know how while perpetuating a continued convergence towards “a single intellectual and spiritual modality” (davis, 2009, p. 192). how can we disrupt these static colonial paradigms? how can we begin to decolonize curriculum? to decolonize education, we must begin by recognizing that education and teaching are always political acts and are more complex than previously understood—there can be no generic understanding of knowledges or experiences. perhaps decolonization of curriculum begins with a recognition of the possible, the awakening to a multiplicity of epistemologies, and an awareness of the divergence of thought that just may be one of many truths. decolonizing curriculum and classroom spaces is about honoring and celebrating relationality, truly listening to students, and de-centering knowledge structures—it is about enacting pedagogies of love. to decolonize education—to make it inclusive and empowering for all learners—we must recognize the complexity of learners and their lives; we must understand that all learners come with their own affective histories, aspirations, motivations, desires, and goals. decolonization by enacting pedagogies of love “depends crucially on the extent to which we believe that education is not just about the reproduction of what already exists but is genuinely interested in the ways in which new beginnings and new beginners can come into the world” (biesta, 2013, p. 4). pedagogies of love may foster emancipatory classrooms that “offers the space for change, invention, spontaneous shifts, that can serve as a catalyst” (hooks, 1994, p. 11)—a catalyst for hope, opportunity, and empowerment. school must be a place that recognizes the multiplicity of literacies and the multiplicity of narratives, one that rejects the singular 32 understandings of colonial education, one that nurtures students’ aspirations and strengths, one that is supported by masters of their craft that facilitate the empowerment of all learners. this education needs to be experiential—an education that recognizes “that our experience is always incomplete” (greene, 2013, p. 137). decolonizing the curriculum, according to linda tuhiwai smith (2012), “does not mean and has not meant a total rejection of all theory and research or western knowledge. rather, it is about centering our concerns and world views from our own perspective and for our own purposes” (p. 41). it is not a complete rejection of the oppressive norm, but rather a divergent transformation that subsumes current pedagogical beliefs. decolonizing curriculum and classrooms require teachers to enact pedagogies of love whereby they better know students for who they are and walk alongside them on a journey of coherence and understanding. for little bear (2000) “one of the problems with colonialism is that it tries to maintain a singular social order by means of force and law, suppressing the diversity of human worldviews” (p. 77). the risk of decolonizing education is that society will recognize the complexity that exists— complexity that is divergent, messy, and self-sustaining. by valuing the multiplicity of epistemologies, education may become more inclusive of all learners—supporting coherence of world-curricula (lessard et al., 2015) and fostering acceptance of diverse worldviews. the work, according to greene (2013) for “teachers is to stimulate an awareness of the questionable, to aid in the identification of the thematically relevant, to beckon beyond the everyday” (p. 138). as educators, our every day must be spent realizing and normalizing decolonization, together. shifting practices and pedagogies to ones that emphasize possibility and love. it is the work of brave educators as guides, to delve into the unknown of the not-yetimagined, working alongside students to make these changes possible. perhaps decolonization of education is about seeing education for what it can be—to afford hope for all learners through the embodiment of pedagogies of love. conclusion through this critical and reflexive personal history self-study i have identified the themes that i feel define my current identity-in-progress as an educator and administrator. over my life, my paradigm has evolved from a passive, positivistic, predetermined recognition of the world towards that of an ecological, caring, relational, and interconnected world-in-flux—a symbiotic world where the human and more-than-human (abram, 1996) world are irreducibly enmeshed. i feel that if educators and administrators can reconsider their understandings of education through a sense of wholeness, embodying pedagogies of love, education may well become the catalyst for societal growth and change. the themes drawn out through the process of self-study were love and wisdom, love as radical listening, love as relationality, and love as the beginnings of decolonizing education. by looking further than statistics and effect sizes and considering the wholeness of learners and their affective experiences, education may possibly achieve substantially more 33 than it was ever intended to do. “when we act from love the results transform for the good. with love our laws can change, our systems can change, and we can in fact begin to heal the world” (clingan, 2010, n.p.). life preparation—a known, predictable life—is no longer the purpose or intention of school. pedagogies that serve as a catalyst for social awareness, decolonization of curriculum, and social change should and can be the hope and possibility of education—ancillary possibilities. pedagogies of love can be understood as more than the embodiment of romantic notions of the word. pedagogies of love enact relationality: blending care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect, and trust. ever-evolving and situational, these pedagogies are tentative and can help students in understanding who they are is as important as what they understand; and what can be shown on assessments. this shift in pedagogy presents the possibility for students to better understand their interconnection and inherent responsibilities to others and the world. students can be motivated to see the beauty of the messiness that is the enmeshed complexity of society and the human and more-than-human worlds. rochelle brock (2005) suggests that “when education targets wholeness of being…individual and collective transformation happens” (p. 94). education that prioritizes the ethical engagement of students and respects their academic well-being while winning their hearts and souls will prove to support social change. bell hooks (1994) is adamant that by teaching “in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin” (p. 13). by departing from the safety of the oppressive rational ideal of an already imagined future we can consider a future through a pedagogy of love that is not yet imagined—a place of the possible. ultimately, the self-study has emerged as a story of impact and possibility—perceptions of the subtle perturbative evolution of leadership and teaching paradigms for the transformation of pedagogies from reductionist and positivist towards enmeshed and relational ancillary possibilities of love. as kahn and kellner (2008) suggest, “education, at its best, provides the symbolic and cultural capital that empowers people to survive and prosper in an increasingly complex and changing world and the resources to produce a more cooperative, democratic, egalitarian, and just society” (p. 25). i believe we deserve this society. references abram, d. 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(2022). reports and effects of german experts on physical education and sports in the early republican era in turkey. research in educational policy and management, 4(1), 22-41. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2022.2 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract after the proclamation of the republic, major reforms took place in almost every field in the transition from the ottoman empire to the republic of turkey, that is, from a 600-year-old empire to a nation-state. this great transformation in the institutional structure and mentality put education at the focal point of the reforms. in order to change and increase the quality of education and training activities, many experts came to turkey, conducted investigations and interviews, and prepared reports containing their recommendations. the main reference points for the founders of the republic were ‘health’, ‘youth’, ‘secularism’ and ‘equality between men and women’. ‘physical education and sports’ were given importance on the way to reach the goal in these matters. the invited experts presented their works on physical education and sports. within the scope of this study, the reports prepared by the german sports experts on physical education and sports were investigated, and all the reports reached were examined. in the analyzed reports, findings on physical education and sports were determined and solution suggestions were analyzed. keywords physical education; sport, german experts, early republican turkey. 10.46303/repam.2022.2 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2022.2 23 introduction the state, which broke off ties with the ottoman empire, which was the ‘old’ or ‘sick man of europe’ as it was called in the 19th century, defined itself as ‘young’ and ‘healthy’ (bozdoğan, 2015). the republic aimed to establish a brand-new coalescent society of ‘healthy, equal, egalitarian and harmonious’ individuals (kılınç, 2009). accordingly, people with strong ‘healthy and dynamic’ bodies were needed as the foundations of a robust republic (yumul, 2012). physical education and sports occupied an important place in the public education system controlled by the state (lüküslü & dinçşahin, 2011) within the framework of the project to create a healthy and strong population, which was envisioned as a ‘national cause’ (arpacı, 2015), and in line with the aim of the new national turkish state to transform the entire social structure into that of a modern western society. on the basis of the idea that “nations were expected to train and reinforce not only their minds but also their bodies” (bend-i mahsus, 1338, p. 4), the goal was to create a holistic education program. this goal was also mentioned by mustafa kemal atatürk in the following statement (türkmen, 2012, p. 231): it is the clear goal of our main policy to raise a virtuous, strong generation rising on the foundations of positive sciences, cherishing fine arts, ascending with improved qualities in training of not only the intellectual but also the physical capacity. with this understanding, studies on education began before the republic was declared. it was decided to open a school for the training of physical education teachers at the first delegation of science meeting, where every aspect of the education topic was discussed (arun, 1990; sarı, 2013). the idea of inviting foreign experts from abroad was addressed in various articles, with emphasis on the necessity of demonstrating diligence in the selection of the experts to be invited among those who were expected to be specialized in their own fields (asım, 1924; cahid, 1924; mütehassıslar bahsi, 1923). shortly after the republic was proclaimed, foreign experts were invited to create a system in line with their opinions. for this purpose, john dewey (1924), an education expert, was invited and an education report was requested from him before the republic was even 1 year old (ata, 2000; i̇nal, 2008). experts from different fields were invited, in addition to those with a holistic view to the field of education, such as dewey (şahin, 1996). sports scientists from germany were invited to organize the field of physical education in the early republican period. as a result of these invitations, german sports scientists who stayed in turkey for various periods prepared reports on physical education and sports. german influence on the turkish physical education and sports system began with von der goltz1, who pioneered the establishment of ottoman power and youth associations 1 von der goltz, who founded jungdeutschlandbund (young german league) in 1911, argued that young people should be prepared physically and mentally for military service as wars gradually changed form, eventually becoming the 24 (osmanlı güç ve genç dernekleri) in the last period of the ottoman empire, long before the arrival of german sports experts, and continued during the republican years. herman altrock and carl diem, recognized as the pioneers in the educational and managerial aspects of the sports system in germany2, were invited to turkey during the republican period and maintained their relations on a number of occasions. there have been no studies yet on physical education and sports recommendations, the reflections of this recommendation, applications, and the results of german sports scientists. with the aim of filling this gap in the literature, this research deals with the physical education and sports recommendations in the reports of german sports experts carl diem, herbert riedel and aleks abraham. in the reports and studies of the german sports scientists, they made suggestions in various dimensions, such as the acceleration of performance sports with its recreational dimension, implementation in schools with its physical education dimension and establishment of sport fields and stadiums. therefore, these reports written, during the construction process of the young republic, contain important data in order to understand the german influence on the development of sports culture and tradition from the past to the present and at the point where it came. method research model in this study, the historical research method was used, a method for studying historical facts with the stages of heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, and histography (brundage, 2014, mc caffrey et al., 2012). a historical research model, which makes it possible to conceptualize, theorize, and examine the social factors of social change that cause a certain result, was used (kaptan, 1991). historical research was carried out through 5 stages, namely topic selection, source collection (heuristics), source criticism (verification), interpretation, and writing (historiography) (brundage, 2014; mc caffrey et al., 2012). data collection in the design of this qualitative research model, literature review and document review methods were used for the data collection. the literature review method allows the identification and limiting of a specific problem, taking a historical point of view, and associating the present with past information. in addition to a thorough literature review, the expert reports were the primary sources of information (yıldırım & şimşek, 2008). the data also were obtained by the document review method in this study. document review has advantages in terms of quality, low cost, sample size, long-term analysis, lack of reactivity, individuality, and originality (balcı, 2005). accordingly, the document review made it possible for this study to take place within the limits of scientific analysis. mission of the entire nation over the time, and thus, entailing the nation to mobilize all of its physical and moral skills and resources (ateş, 2012). 2 for further reading, see teichler, h.j. (2009). altrock und diem: zwei vergleichbare biographien. m.krüger (ed.), in der deutsche sport auf dem in die moderne: carl diem und seine zeit (p. 375-384). berlin: lit verlag. 25 data analysis the data collected by the literature review and document review methods were evaluated by descriptive analysis. in descriptive analysis, concepts are summarized and interpreted within the framework of predetermined themes. the descriptive analysis method consists of four stages: creating a framework, processing the data according to that framework, defining the findings, and interpreting the findings (sözbilir, 2009). the descriptive analysis method was used for the data analysis of this study. findings the reports written by the experts who were invited during the early republican period were recorded in the archives in different formats and codes according to the places where they were presented, in this sense, it was only possible to reach some of them recently. within the scope of this research, the reports of carl diem, herbert riedel, and alex abraham, who were prominent figures in the german sports community of the period, were reached with the literature review and document examination method. the content of the reports was examined and the suggestions presented were evaluated in accordance with the findings made, and the reflections of these suggestions in turkish sports were again attempted to be put forward by scanning the period applications. in this part of the study, these reports and their reflections will be examined in turn. physical education in the carl diem's report german sports scientist carl diem was invited to turkey in 1933 to work on the establishment of a physical education organization in turkey (dab beden ve gençlik, 1938). carl diem was welcomed by athletics trainer aleks abraham, water sports trainer tegethoff, and swimming committee chairman ekrem rüştü akömer at the istanbul sirkeci train station on september 16, 1933 (spor mütehassısı geldi, 1933; spor mütehassısı, 1933). in the letter he wrote to bolu deputy hasan cemil before he came to turkey (dab beden ve gençlik, 1938), diem stated that he planned to start his duty with a general information trip to see the current situation of physical education and sports in turkey. in this way, he would get an idea about to present recommendations to be implemented. carl diem prepared a comprehensive report on sports training and management after nearly two months of travel and investigations. the content of the report, consisting of educational recommendations, was quite detailed (dab türk sporu, 1933). in his report, diem started the first step of physical education with children aged 3–6 who do not have to go to school yet and go to kindergarten. participation for children and their mothers would be voluntary and free of charge. it should be mandatory for municipalities to organize one-hour exercises twice a week for boys and girls under the supervision of appropriate teaching staff. special groups should be arranged so that mothers can participate in these exercises, and movements and exercises should be done in the form of games so that mothers can enjoy moving. exercises for children should include natural walking, jumping, throwing, 26 balancing, pushing, pulling, climbing, and carrying exercises, and it should be preferred that these exercises are in the form of a game in order to maintain order. diem then took up primary schools, arguing that physical education lessons in primary school should be prominent in school life in order to have a place in life habits. physical education should not be a boring exercise to be done in school, but a pleasure to be achieved with little effort. physical education classes should be compatible with federation sports so that after school, sports can be a part of life. according to diem, physical education should not be seen as a subordinate of other fields, but rather as a major and independent educational tool for mental education, to be equated with other courses. for this reason, the position and salary of the physical education teacher had to be exactly the same as for teachers in other fields. the physical education teacher, like other teachers, should have received a scientific-based education. in his report, diem also mentions that a special, rational scientific institution, a physical education, and sports college is necessary for the training of teachers. according to diem, this institution had to be run by a modern highly educated specialist who was also a versatile athlete. diem emphasized that this institution, which will train teachers, needs teachers who are experts in cultural sciences, medicine, pedagogy, citizenship and organizational knowledge, music, and dance for the basic branches of physical education. according to diem, the teacher should not only be knowledgeable, but also have a strong-willed personality like a soldier. the success of the student in the physical education course would be evaluated in each passing period and in the end-of-term report card. the physical education final exam should be combined with a special celebration or program at school, and all educators, members and parents of the school should attend. achievements and leadership qualities in physical education should be rewarded and recorded in the students' honor books. in schools, at least one hour of physical education classes should have been compulsory every day when mental classes were held. a walk should be organized once a month. students should be required to attend a three-week tent camp each year. exemption from physical education lesson would be possible with a report issued by the school doctor and valid for a maximum of two months, and even in the case of exemption, the student must be present in the lesson to benefit from it. strengthening the organs through athletics, spine exercises and swimming, as well as expanding the chest and increasing elasticity, should be emphasized as the primary purpose of the physical education course. training goals, such as muscle strengthening and endurance (instrumental physical education-wrestling-hiking) should come after this. third, it is necessary to have the skills needed in games and life (climbing-rowing-shooting-military order forms-land exercises). folk dances should be performed for relaxation, and competitions should be held to revive the physical education course. teachers should set an example by taking an honest stance towards the other class competing with their class during competitions. teachers would be able to punish dishonest or inappropriate behaviors (loud shouting, fighting, lack of punctuality) in competitions with low 27 marks. to maintain health, diem stated that every school administrator should request a school doctor. according to diem, this doctor should have additional training in physical development and attend physical education classes from time to time. according to diem, the physical education course should be given by teachers who are experts in their fields as much as possible in all schools. however, in small schools, this task could be fulfilled by classroom teachers who would be trained in special four-week courses. hygiene education should be given periodically in the physical education classes, students should be accustomed to cleanliness by ensuring that they wash regularly in school showers. the lesson should be held in physical education clothes made of white and washable fabric under all conditions, male students should have their upper bodies bare in good weather, and female students should have their arms and legs exposed. the physical education teacher should also always teach in physical education attire. in his report, diem suggested that regular physical education is a moral obligation for every turkish woman and man, which should be proclaimed as a state law. the structure proposed in the report for management of sports was based on a top-down hierarchical organizational model, which would function via a ministerial sports directorate run by the head of sports. the proposed organizational structure should consist of regional heads of sports under the presidency of the head of sports, and the district organization affiliated to the regional heads. diem listed thirteen sports branches in his report: general education, physical education, defense sports; light athletic sports, handball; wrestling, boxing; football; swimming; rowing; sailing; tennis; cycle sport; riding; shooting; gliding; mountain and ski sports. the head of sports would also be authorized to appoint the heads of sports branches to run the sports branches. heads of sports branches would be empowered to establish the national olympic committee under the presidency of the head of sports if the sports branches were included in the olympic program. the head of sports, branch managers, regional heads of sports branch would constitute the sports high council of the turkish sports club, and one representative from each of the ministry of defense and the ministry of health would be authorized to attend the council. achievement exams and sports organizations were emphasized by diem as another topic for purposes such as disseminating and promoting the body culture, bringing versatile qualities to individuals and clubs, and creating models from successful athletes. in his report, diem categorized such national events as annual events and quadrennial events. among the annual events proposed in the report, the most notable ones were “gazi youth celebrations” to be held all across the country on may 19, and the “great relay run” to be held on may 19 in settlements with a population of over three thousand. in addition to those mentioned, five different sports events were also included in the list of proposed annual events. among the quadrennial events proposed were the “turkish national games” to be held in ankara, and award of the “youth badge of honor for boys and girls”, and the “sports badge of honor for men and women”. diem 28 also suggested that citizens with important contributions to the field of sports should be awarded a ‘state badge of honor’. he suggested that a “school of physical education” should be founded with the aim of closely following the developments around the globe. in addition to the proposed school of physical education, diem also suggested that an organization similar to jungdeutschlandbund should be founded, which would be titled the gazi youth union. there would be a single curriculum that would be implemented within the organization, which consist of the following classes: running, jumping, shot put, gymnastics, swimming, shooting, order and dryland training exercises, hiking, annual camping and field trips, patriotism, and hygiene and cleanliness. membership with the gazi youth union, which would be organized in three different age groups, would be free of charge and the activities would be carried out two days a week. as for the members who were required to attend the school, the activities in the gazi youth union would substitute the physical education classes in the school so that the curricula of associations would be balanced by the schools. sports clubs, another form of organization planned by diem, would have to host sports activities such as general physical education, exercise and field sports, light athletics, games (football or handball or volleyball or basketball), and swimming, if possible. diem, who suggested boxing, wrestling, and fencing in particular, proposed an autonomous status for the club administrations and required establishment of a club merely upon approval by the regional head of sports. youth or sports clubs without official registration would be banned from activities, and clubs demonstrating inappropriate behavior and suffering from a decrease in the number of members would be optionally liquidated by the sports department upon request by the regional head of sports. the clubs would be managed by a board of directors consisting of five members, who would be elected among members of the club and approved by the sports department. every respectable turkish citizen over the age of 18 would have the right to establish a club and become a member of the club. diem's system required a uniform structure of foundation and management for turkish sports clubs, which would constitute the turkish sports club and be bound by the legislation of the club. the clubs, interconnected like partners of the same management, would be expected to replace the feelings of competition that had persisted until then by shared feelings. clubs would choose their own names, colors, and signs, and yet there would be a common dress code for all of the clubs, as proposed in the report. all of the members would be given a clubapproved sample id card of the turkish sports club; issuing custom cards would not be allowed. each member would be obliged to pay the membership fee and contributions determined by the turkish sports club. part of the proceeds from this would be transferred to the sports directorate. the system proposed that the clubs could be given support, not only financially, but also in other ways; for example, maintenance works for sports fields could be undertaken by municipalities, and that, for the next stage, the clubs should be assisted with foundation of sports infrastructure facilities and completion of vocational training of the members. while the 29 sports directorate would be expected to support the clubs in terms of tools and equipment, when required, through the regional sports equipment warehouse to be launched by the directorate themselves, the clubs would also be able to cover within their own means, as a requirement of the institutionalization process, the expenses that would arise. according to diem, the objective of sports clubs would be to contribute to the raising of an outstanding social and patriotic consciousness by paying due attention to the development of a physical education system that is healthy in all aspects. turkish sports clubs would have the obligation to treat all citizens of the state on an equal basis, without discrimination, and show a true representation of the unity of the people. each club would be obliged to pay due attention to the existence and protection of patriotism as well as provide an educational social environment. another institutional category proposed in carl diem's report for the social implementation and dissemination of physical education and sports was cultural associations. members of the association would be expected to be over 30 years of age, and holding double membership in the cultural association would be allowed as well as in the case with the sports club. the goal of those associations, which would constitute the club, would be to promote physical activities so as to improve social and intellectual life that would prevent premature aging. presentations, educational films, music, and multi-faceted non-competitive physical activities would serve as the means to achieve that goal. members of cultural associations would be able to benefit from all of the sports facilities in their region, free of charge, and enjoy the services of all of the sports facilities of the club for a small fee. the associations would receive a fee determined by the sports department, part of which would be transferred to the sports directorate. when the report was evaluated in general, it was seen that physical education was considered as a part of an integrated and complementary whole. diem gave advice on the inclusion of sports in life starting in kindergarten, and on continuing it as a daily life habit after finishing school. the effects of diem's report on turkish physical education and sports the first obvious reflection of diem's report in the government policies was in the manifesto declared by the republican people's party during their 4th convention held in 1935. with the following statements in article 50 of the manifesto, titled youth organization and sports, diem's suggestions were implemented, albeit partially (chp programı, 1935, p. 43): “it will be obligatory for everyone in schools, state institutions, private bodies, and factories to engage in physical training according to their age group. fields will be provided and institutions will be launched as needed for sports activities and physical training. local authorities and municipalities will be particularly engaged in the procurement of the fields”. 30 the fact that the turkish training community alliance3 (tici), which was based on the existing club structure and management of sports, was superseded by turkish sports association (tsk), a sports organization directly affiliated with the state, is one of the major reflections of diem’s report. thereupon, sports activities, regarded as a ‘national cause’ in line with the view that the development and mass dissemination of sports activities carried out by clubs remained insufficient, were entirely left to the administration of the party-state structure (akın, 2014; çağlar, 1936). the turkish sports association emerged as a new administrative system with the idea that mass participation was necessary to achieve the ultimate goals of physical culture policies, and the tici would fail to organize turkish sports on that scale. consequently, with the influence of various dynamics, the general directorate of physical education was established in 1938, shortly after the establishment of the tsk, under draft law numbered 3530, which was submitted, including diem's proposals, to parliament so as to delegate sports management directly to the state. in frame of the law, sports were transformed into an ‘obligation’ and membership in clubs was made compulsory for overall sports. an advisory board was established to manage physical education and sports affairs from a single center under the umbrella of the general directorate of physical education. the law stipulated that each province would be declared as a physical education region, and a school of physical education would be opened in ankara (3530 sayılı, 1938); however, the necessities imposed by the impending world war prevented the opening of the school. in addition to the law, a number of steps were taken to implement the recommendations of diem in his report, in the frame of which training courses were opened (dab etimesgut’ta açılacak, 1941; korkmaz & bağırgan, 2019), the construction of sports facilities and fields and swimming pools was started in the provinces (dab vilayetlerdeki spor, 1936; dab türk spor, ty); and youth trips were organized (dab gençlerin doğuyu, 1936). however, the objectives aimed in the ‘overall sports’ movement, which was defined within the scope of the physical education law, numbered 3530, could not be achieved for a number of reasons, such as changing priorities due to the upcoming war, physical deficiencies regarding the infrastructure, the unavailability of trainers and coaches, the failure in fully informing the enforcing parties about the objectives, and consequently, the exclusion of stakeholders from the enforcement. in regard the general directorate of physical education (fişek, 1983), which directed sports towards paramilitary purposes under the provisions of the law on the physical training obligation enacted in 1938, diem wrote in his book titled ‘weltgeschichte des sports und der liebeserziehung’, in 1960, that colonel cemal gökdağ, who was educated in berlin, was appointed as the head of the institution, and was later substituted by nizamettin kırşan; however, cemal gökdağ was never appointed as the manager, and nizamettin kırşan acted as the general manager between 1956 and 1957 (diem, 1960; genel müdürler, ty). the celebration 3 the sports management organ of the period. 31 of the physical training festival, initiated by selim sırrı tarcan, as the national youth holiday on may 19 to pay tribute to mustafa kemal atatürk, who landed in samsun on may 19, 1919, was described by diem in his book as the zenith of the sports life (diem, 1960). physical education and sports in the aleks abraham’s report alex abraham (1886–1971), who worked in turkey between 1928 and 1935, also coached the national athletics team during this time (yıldız, 2020). having the opportunity to observe turkish sports during his time in turkey, abraham also prepared a report (dab türk spor, ty). although no date was specified in the report presented by abraham in the state archive records, it was noted that the period of education in the school of physical training was 3 years, which proved that the report was written after 1933, and the emphasis on recognition of anatolia in terms of sports before the berlin olympics revealed that it was written before 1936. according to abraham, if a nation wants to train strong athletes, it should first associate its countrymen with sports. he stated that there were training zones in the big cities of turkey, but the athletes could not be trained because there were not sports trainers in every zone. according to abraham, the expert, who will be the trainer of one of the sports branches, will be able to arouse interest in sports only in a few people in anatolia, who are talented in that branch. abraham stated that a contemporary sports trainer who understands many branches, such as gymnastics, athletics, swimming, mountaineering, skiing, and football, can create a change among the countrymen and arouse interest in sports. mentioning that this sports trainer can organize sports festivals, he recommended that these sports festivals be held under the supervision of the governors, with assistance from the political party and community centers. he stated that if a modern sports trainer works in every province, a bright sports organization will be obtained. he emphasized that this sports trainer should train young people in his region as sports trainers for clubs. abraham mentioned that this trainer can be a sports organizer among the schools, clubs, and family, since anatolia needs not only experts who will coach and train in one sport branch, but also sports trainers who understand several sports branches. abraham mentioned that in order to create strong turkish national teams, it is necessary to establish a sports organization with the permanent activities of sports trainers, while experts stay in the provinces for a few days to inspect and give lessons. he stated that the expert can achieve success as a result of the pre-establishment of the sports organization by the provincial sports trainer, and that it is completely useless for an expert to work in anatolia without this preparatory activity of the provincial sports trainer. after this arrangement and training, the expert should select the athletes from the provinces who are capable of entering the national team. abraham suggested organizing a special course in a suitable city in anatolia after the talented ones are selected. apart from these, abraham suggested that a physical education seminar should be opened by experts and stated that every province could send a few athletes who have talent 32 about sports coaching. he stated that these students could stay in school for one year and practice and learn all of the sports branches and that these trainers could be used as sports trainers in their hometowns. abraham emphasized that it is very important for the anatolian people to train sports trainers with a one-year seminar in order not to be left without an instructor, since full education at the high school of physical education takes 3 years. abraham emphasized that the anatolian people were used to movie screenings and that these movie screenings were the only entertainment for many anatolian cities. therefore, he stated that good sports movies will arouse great interest, not only in youth, but also in adults. since scientific sports movements can be shown very clearly in sports movies, abraham stated that every athlete has the opportunity to learn something from the movie, emphasizing that movie screening can be used as a good teaching method. in addition to this report, abraham submitted a report to the relevant federation about winter sports and uludağ (türkiye’de kış sporları, 1933; uludağ kış, 1933). according to abraham, skiing gained importance as a winter sport in europe. in addition, skiing under the sun and in the fresh mountain air strengthens the body and gives health in a way that no other sport can provide. abraham stated that there are no plateaus as long and wide as they are on uludağ, at an altitude of 2000–2550 meters, and there is snow from january to may. in fact, according to abraham, it is possible to ski every week from december to march in open fields covered with snow at an altitude of 600 meters close to bursa. according to abraham (türkiye’de kış, 1933; uludağ kış, 1933), uludağ should be a place where students and their teachers will travel every winter vacation. however, for this, first, a building should be built to accommodate them at the junction of the uludağ road and the highway, which is 20 kilometers away from bursa, and at a height of approximately 1200 meters. since this place is very suitable for ski courses, every novice skier can learn to ski by staying here for a few days. the 13-kilometer road from this building to the uludağ hotel, at an altitude of 2000 meters, must be skied. since the motorway cannot be traveled as long as it is covered with snow, this road must be marked with stakes. this ski path to the hotel can be shortened by passing through the forest and should be properly marked. in bursa, the building to be built at the road junction and the uludağ hotel should be connected by telephone. permanent guards who can help and know how to ski should be placed in the building to be built and at the uludağ hotel. skiing equipment should be made and supplied at cheap prices. the effects of abraham’s reports on turkish physical education and sports it was seen that turkey was trying to implement the suggestions that abraham presented in his report during his time in turkey. we saw from the newspaper reports that he went on a trip to anatolia for the propaganda of the physical training film (aleksi abraham’ın, 1935). abraham also contributed to the spread of physical education and sports with his newspaper and magazine articles (abraham, 1931; spor: herr abraham’ın, 1933; efe, 1935). 33 as was seen from various news, abraham’s suggestion regarding sports films was implemented (güzel bir, 1935; spor filimi, 1935). it was reported in the news, titled ‘spor filimi gösterildi (sports film was screened)’, that the film brought from germany was screened to an audience of athletes at the elhamra theater; the film consisted of two parts, as men’s sports and women’s sports, and that physical training, athletics, swimming, rowing, football, wrestling, boxing, ski sports, fencing, and alpinism activities were introduced. it was also reported in the news that the film was interpreted by abraham during the screening as it was a silent film (spor filimi, 1935). in other news published in 1935, it was announced that a sports film would be screened in the university and that abraham would narrate to the audience during the screening (üniversitede, 1935). again, in other news dated 1936, it was stated that a sports film screening would be organized in a big theater of the period by turkey training community alliance (bir spor, 1936). it was also stated that the film depicting the german preparations for the olympics as of the year 1936, as well as sports branches and sports fields, would be screened in bursa and izmir after ankara and istanbul (güzel bir spor, 1936). abraham’s view that a one-year seminar should be held to meet the need for trainers was realized shortly after the opening of the department of physical education in gazi institute. with the tici replaced by the turkish sports association in 1936 and the notion of ‘sports for the mass’ gaining ground (akın, 2014), a six-month course was organized in 1938 to train sports coaches and trainers to be assigned for different sports regions across the country (ankarada yerli, 1937; spor eğitmenleri, 1938). in that first course, followed by similar courses in the subsequent years, the trainees who received theoretical and practical courses were assigned duties in various parts of the country (korkmaz & bağırgan, 2019). recep peker submitted abraham's report to aziz koryürek, the deputy of the province of erzurum and the general president of the tici, requesting the organization of a program for the implementation of the recommendations detailed in the report and asking to be notified of the process. subsequently, a rough budget was prepared with a simple architectural program including the construction of safety shelters and marking of roads in line with abraham's suggestions, which were then submitted to peker in form of a report. on the other hand, a review of the official correspondence in the state archives reveals that the arrangements envisaged in uludağ were started in line with abraham's report, yet without setting a legal or institutional framework and without a zoning plan. the ski house was opened in december 1935, and later renovated, arranged, and repaired in different periods until the 1950s. students of gazi institute of education took ski lessons there (kaya, 2016). physical education and sports in herbert riedel’s report herbert riedel arrived in turkey in 1933, and stayed until 1939 (kirste, 1998; schäffer borrman, 1998; şen, 2020). in fact, riedel’s mission in turkey started when altrock, who received an 34 invitation from the higher institute of agriculture in ankara, sent riedel instead (kirste, 1998). riedel, who stated that herman altrock wrote related reports, also indicated that altrock facilitated the establishment of a new sports institute in ankara school of agriculture in conformity with conditions of the period. although it was claimed both by riedel and in other sources that altrock also presented a report on physical education and sports, the report in question has not been brought to light yet (riedel, 1942; akın, 2014). during his time here, he worked in a wide range from running the national ski team to his position at ankara higher agriculture institute, to his sports broadcasting. during his time in turkey, riedel also carried out a study on the structuring of the physical education college, and he published this study as a report among the publications of the higher agricultural institute (riedel, 1939). according to riedel, the aim of the institute consisted of organizing the physical education of the whole nation in order to be suitable for health education, love of work, ability to work, and military. the institute must have a scientific and applied position to fulfill this task. his job would be to research, practice, teach, and oversee their effects. in order to achieve this aim, the institute should train agricultural associations, traveling teachers and even the educational forces of other schools, if possible, so that the nation can achieve as homogeneous physical ability as possible in terms of military service, by cooperating with the military authorities. riedel stated that the institute should include two branches for study and practical teaching. the duties of the examination branch were as follows: to prepare the cultural principles of physical education in the highest education institution of the country, develop the education practically and methodically in accordance with biological laws, examine the technical issues related to the construction of training grounds, the construction of school and public training grounds, be an expert for those who ask opinions and thoughts from official authorities, establish a high advisory authority, at the same time, examine the materials required for the production of sports equipment and to investigate whether the sports equipment was useful for this purpose, and inspect the damage caused by use in order to make corrections and modifications. this was possible by creating a technical collection that included examples of training grounds, materials, tools, and equipment. according to riedel, in this way, sports equipment and the equipment industry and trade with a strong manufacturing power in terms of national economy will be created and these will be trade areas for the asian back area. riedel stated that the results obtained on the health control and development of young people should be examined in the medical branch. the relationship between physical education nutrition and sanitation and their practical application on education and public education were among the duties of the medical branch. the benefit to be derived from the results of the relationship between population and ability to function was extremely important for the nation's overall defense capability. according to riedel, the issue of public health in cities and especially in villages, as well as regular physical activity and its organizational development, was a special task of the medical branch of the institute of physical education. 35 according to riedel, the work of the practical teaching branch should be aimed at educating the future gymnastics powers of all school types. the physical education teacher to be trained should fully know the winter physical training exercises with the most used reciprocal games, such as light athletics exercises, instrumental gymnastics, swimming, rowing, boxing, and fencing. he should know all of the rich forms of gymnastics in order to give the body the most perfect development opportunity by combining gymnastics and sports training in a meaningful way. maintaining this situation needed to vary in form and quantity according to the age of the students, and they must be differentiated from the purely military physical training exercises. the main aim of the institute should be to train people who have been trained in the same way as possible and who can work physically. according to the experience in germany, the most appropriate period for gymnastics training is 4 years. however, at the beginning, 3 years is sufficient. riedel stated that another task of the practice branch would be to organize physical training in order to prepare all of the students for future chief-officers. for this, the person exercising must have a talent in the sports field, which he can choose according to his organism and ability. weapons training should be given by military teachers once a standard capability has been achieved. according to riedel, one of the tasks of this branch would be to create a public gymnastics movement by educating heads of society, gymnastics, and sports associations. these presidents should be called from their hometowns to attend short-term courses and trained to form sports associations in their hometowns. according to riedel, through this branch, it should be aimed to create a national team for the olympic games, raise the people in a healthy lifestyle, increase national health, and acquire the talent and love of work that can do greater work. in addition, special courses should be opened to teach the science of modern physical education and show the way it is applied to doctors, nurses, teachers, and civil servants who are assigned or operating in provincial and district centers. effects of riedel’s report on turkish physical education and sports when riedel's report was examined, it was seen that a sports school model was created in detail, and many details from institute departments, who would benefit, from the course content to the school duration, were discussed. it should be noted that riedel, who performed duty at ankara higher institute of agriculture for many years, managed to implement the plan he contemplated for the school of physical education and sports there, albeit partially. in addition to practical courses in the field of physical education and sports, theoretical courses such as ‘history of physical training’, ‘launching physical education areas’, ‘massage’, ‘physical training hygiene’, ‘first aid in accidents’ were also included in the curriculum at the higher institute of agriculture (akman, 1978). furthermore, the teams started and athletes trained by riedel under the umbrella of the higher institute of agriculture actively participated 36 in various competitions and events. the institute trained performance athletes in many branches, such as shooting, fencing, and athletics (ankara yüksek, 1943; spor hareketleri, 1944). riedel, like abraham, who stayed in turkey for a long time, wrote and published articles on the dissemination, understanding, and teaching of physical education (riedel, 1935a; riedel, 1935b; riedel, 1938). riedel collected his views and observations on physical education and sports in turkey in his book titled ‘leibesübungen und körperliche erziehung in der osmanischen und kamalistischen türkei’, which was published in 1942. riedel mentioned in his book that the turkish government received the opinions of german experts (prof. altrock, dr. diem, prof. march), even though the architect of the ankara 19 mayıs stadium was an italian. he stated that he and kurt dainas, another german instructor who worked in the division of physical education of gazi institute for education, were often called upon to give advice. riedel also noted that the governor of ankara commissioned him to provide training for kerim bey for two years as the stadium manager. moreover, riedel reported that the sports fields of the higher institute of agriculture in ankara were built between 1935 and 1939 after riedel and herman altrock were consulted for their opinions (riedel, 1942). riedel made significant contributions to the recognition of sports and the development of sports literature and introduced sports branches with his publications on sports among the publications of the higher institute of agriculture, as well as his articles in newspapers and magazines. conclusion in the early period of turkey, which was on the path to creating new people and new citizens, when the people living within certain borders with the nation state created the new power of the state, creating a 'strong' generation was seen as a means of strengthening and protecting the state. therefore, sports policies were shaped with the aim of improving the population qualitatively as well as quantitatively. the aim of the german sports movement, which emerged from the aim of establishing a german nation state, aimed to develop the 'power of the nation' (pfister, 2009) and to be strong rather than better performance, unlike modern sports, overlapped with these goals. having started with von der goltz and von hoff in the last period of the ottoman empire, german influence also continued in the republican period. german experts were generally invited, since the experts who carried out the modernization on the basis of the german model in the last period of the ottoman empire, the majority of whom were educated in germany and adopted the german system, were in managerial and decision-making positions after the proclamation of the republic (nicolai, 1998). among those invited were german sports scientists to organize the field of physical education and sports. in the 1930s, when a more systematic approach to mass sports was developed, german sports scientists were invited. in this period, carrying out mass sports education and training required the training of physical education teachers and trainers to work in schools and clubs. 37 when the reports given were examined, it was seen that they were shaped to meet certain expectations, such as protecting the homeland, being productive in the economy, and restoring the race by beautifying and strengthening it when necessary for political, social, economic, and eugenic reasons. as in the german sports movement, instead of professional/competitive sports, sports were handled in a way that would contribute to nationalization, and the issues of power and homeland defense, health and eugenics, entertainment and socialization, international representation and propaganda were all melted into the sports pot. the three-year period of education, which was recommended as the physical education teacher training period, was implemented for many years; however, after the 1980s, the period of education was increased to four years. while it took years for the school of physical education and sports to be established, which was addressed as a significant topic in the reports, teachers were trained with long-term courses opened during this period. management of the courses was assumed by instructors such as cemal gökdağ, in constant dialogue with experts such as diem and riedel, who were trained in the german system. the courses, with their curricula elaborately planned for the long term, proved beneficial for the training of physical education teachers and coaches. furthermore, students were sent from turkey to germany to study physical education in the 1930s when german sports experts were often invited to and performed missions in turkey 4 (altunya, 2006). this period under german influence was described as follows by riedel (1942: p. 81): “healthy body culture nurtured with pure german influence since 1933 had grown visibly. turkey has made so much progress in almost 10 years that it has come to a position to waive expertise of foreign experts”. what made this period special was the attempt to give direction to physical education and sports in turkey, similar to the understanding in germany. german experts, such as diem and riedel, who founded the cologne and berlin sports academies in germany and organizationally recreated the concept of event and club management in the field of sports management, performed activities to launch a similar system in turkey. in this context, although the famous sportsmen, who we can define as the founders of german sports in the early republican period, took part as a guide in turkish sports, when we examined today's sports approaches in germany and turkey, it was observed that the sports thought shaped by the same thinkers developed in different ways. this situation should be seen as an indicator that reflects 4 turkish candidate teachers were sent to berlin physical education academy in germany, including cemal alpman and mehmet arkan in the academic year 1934-1935, and hasan örengil, cevdet arun and ahmet yaraman in the academic year 1935-1936, who, after their return from germany, worked in various schools and departments (altunya, 2006). the mentioned teachers, who were the pioneers of the field of physical education and sports in turkey, performed duties in universities in terms of education in the field of physical education and sports, and assumed managerial positions in a variety of institutions such as the turkish national olympic committee, the directorate of physical education, etc., contributing to the training of athletes in professional and recreational terms. 38 the perception, internalization level, and dimensions of the sports understanding of the two communities. references 3530 sayılı beden terbiyesi kanunu. 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(2012). ötekiliği bedenlere kaydetmek. kenan çayır, müge ayan ceyhan (eds.), in ayrımcılık: çok boyutlu yaklaşımlar (p. 89-96). i̇stanbul: i̇stanbul bilgi üniversitesi yayınları. research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 volume: 5 issue: 1 2023 pp. 33-52 teaching emergent bilinguals: how in-service teachers’ perception of first language acquisition theories inform practice razak kwame dwomoh*a, araba a. z. osei-tutub, stephanie oudghiria, alankrita chhikaraa, lili zhouc, troy bella * corresponding author e-mail: rdwomoh@purdue.edu a. department of curriculum & instruction, purdue university, west lafayette, in, usa b. department of teacher education, university of ghana, legon, accra-ghana c. department of curriculum & instruction, california state university, los angeles, usa article info received: august 24, 2022 accepted: november 4, 2022 published: january 28, 2023 how to cite dwomoh, r. k., osei-tutu, a. a. z., oudghiri, s., chhikara, a., zhou, l., & bell, t. (2023). teaching emergent bilinguals: how in-service teachers’ perception of first language acquisition theories inform practice. research in educational policy and management, 5(1), 33-52. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2023.4 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract different writers, linguists, and researchers present nuances in language acquisition theories. however, few studies explore inservice teachers’ voices in such discourses. it is, therefore, imperative to explore the voices of in-service teachers in such narratives as they teach emergent bilinguals (ebs) and culturally and linguistically diverse students. this paper examined how in-service teachers perceive first language acquisition (fla) theories and how those perceptions influence teaching ebs and informing classroom practice. centering on freeman and freeman’s discussion of fla theories (imitation, reinforcement, behaviorist, social interaction, active construction, connectionist), we argue that in-service teachers’ perceptions of first language acquisition theories impact how they teach and engage ebs in their classrooms. findings show that in-service teachers consider the social interaction theory most beneficial to students’ language development. however, the precariousness of fla theories makes it challenging for them to determine the best approach to teaching ebs. additionally, teacher education programs and critical professional development (pd) courses are instrumental in fostering understanding and robust pedagogical mindsets and preparing teachers to meet the needs of emergent bilinguals. keywords emergent bilinguals; in-service teachers; first language acquisition; professional development. 10.46303/repam.2023.4 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2023.4 34 introduction emergent bilinguals (ebs) or english language learners (ells) are terms used to describe english learners (els)—individuals who learn english as a second language. ofelia garcía, a researcher of urban and bilingual education and the author of bilingual education in the 21st century: a global perspective, describes ebs as children who attend school but speak a language other than the language of instruction and contends that “bilingual education is the only way to educate children in the twenty-first century” (garcía, 2009, p. 5). garcía uses the term emergent bilinguals to affirm students’ ability to expand their language and communication potential (garcia, 2009; see also garcía & kleifgen, 2010). although the two terms (i.e., ebs and ells) refer to students who learn english as a second language, in this paper, we prefer to use emergent bilinguals (ebs) to refer to english learners, considering its potential for students to expand and develop their language proficiencies. emergent bilinguals enrollment grows steadily in u.s. public schools. the national center for education statistics (nces, 2022) report shows that eb enrollment in u.s. public schools grew exponentially from 4.5 million (9.2%) students in the fall of 2010 to 5.1 million (10.4%) in the fall of 2019. additionally, the national education association (2020) predicts a potential for the eb student population to increase by 2025, where every american classroom may have at least one out of four children who are emergent bilingual or english. considering the nces report and the national education association’s prediction of significant growth in eb student population for u.s. future classrooms, it is becoming increasingly necessary for teachers, especially in-service teachers, to examine their perceptions about language acquisition theories (i.e., how individuals acquire first and second languages). thus, rethinking or reassessment of those perceptions could inform their classroom practice. the conceptualization of language equity requires a re-think of language as actionable— something we do instead of something we possess (anya & randolph, 2019; garcía, 2009). an investigation into the processes of how children acquire a language is described as language acquisition (mehrpour & forutan, 2015). first language acquisition (fla) deals with how children acquire their mother tongue or first language after birth (susanto, 2017). studies over the years portray differing perspectives in theories of first language acquisition (e.g., beckner et al., 2009; bergmann et al., 2007; freeman & freeman, 2014; halliday, 1994; mehrpour & forutan, 2015; rice, 2002; skinner, 1957; susanto, 2017). for example, in explaining the need to study linguistics, freeman and freeman (2014) posit that “a well-educated person should know something about language” (p. 7). thus, teachers need not only to know about language but also to “understand how students learn first and second languages” (p. 19). freeman and freeman point out that teachers can make language understandable when they know how it works. they also argue that “people acquire a second language...in the same way that they acquire a first language” (p. 18). as a professor emerita and professor emeritus, the heinemann professional development providers, and leading scholars in the field of linguistics focused on language development for emergent bilinguals, yvonne freeman and david freeman have been at the 35 forefront of preparing educators to teach english learners grounded in theory-based practices. for this module and to develop a conceptual understanding of the early theories of first language acquisition and language development to teach ebs effectively, we emphasized the readings in freeman and freeman’s (2014) chapter on essential linguistics: what teachers need to know to teach esl, reading, spelling, and grammar. we selected freeman and freeman’s text as our primary reading resource for our participants because it delineated the various fla theories and provided context for our participants to conceptualize what the theories were and a space for them to add their voices and reflections about the theories. from these reflections, we extracted the data that informed this study. as a result, freeman and freeman’s text provided the lens through which we gauged the perspectives of in-service teachers perception about the fla theories and how those perceptions inform their classroom practice. therefore, centering on freeman’s discussion of the fla theories (imitation, reinforcement, behaviorist, social interaction, active construction, connectionist), we argue that in-service teachers’ perceptions of language acquisition theories impact how they teach and engage ebs in their classrooms. however, in-service teachers are often removed from such discussions that should be informing their practice. it is important to note here that ebs and many school children experienced less contact with teachers during the pandemic. that necessitated the power of this professional development experience for in-service teachers. additionally, while the pd course did not focus on the methodology of teaching language, it focused on how these in-service teachers made meaning of language within their classroom spaces. this is especially relevant as teachers strive to enhance inclusivity by reimagining learning spaces. in light of the nuances in theories of first language acquisition and freeman and freeman’s assertion that there is no difference in how people acquire a second language from the first language; we (a team of six scholars and researchers), through a four-week professional development module course, examined how inservice teachers—teachers certified to teach or who teach in k-12 classrooms—perceive first language acquisition theories, and how those perceptions influence the ways they teach ebs. specifically, this paper is driven by two research questions 1) how do in-service teachers perceive first language acquisition (fla) theories? 2) how do in-service teachers’ perceptions of fla theories inform action or classroom practice? conceptual framework a critical understanding of ebs and language acquisition theories, particularly first language acquisition (fla) theory, provided the lens through which we gauged the perspectives of inservice teachers. considering how in-service teachers’ voices are not heard in language acquisition discourses, this paper explores and seeks to amplify the voices of in-service teachers’ perceptions about fla theories and how those perceptions inform their classroom practices. this research is also conceived at a time when emergent bilinguals, in the aftermath of covid19 due to public health and economic instability, have suffered academically because of less contact with teachers. 36 participants’ conceptual understanding of critical theory (e.g., bohman, 2021; giroux, 2003) and culturally sustaining pedagogy (csp) (alim & paris, 2017) grounded the professional development (pd) course. specifically, these frameworks were crucial in guiding how participants conceptualized and reflected on their understanding of fla theories and their impact on cultivating inclusive classroom experiences with ebs. it also created a space for participants to reimagine their learning environments and instructional methods to foster inclusivity for ebs in mainstream classrooms. this is due to the increasing advocacy for educators to be well-equipped with a critical mindset in educating emergent bilinguals. to fully engage with these theories, participants were encouraged to confront biases and cultivate a shifting mindset in order to embrace a “perpetuat[ing] and foster[ing]–to sustain[ing]–linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of schooling for positive social transformation” (alim & paris, 2017, p. 1). guided by self-reflection and in-depth discussions, spaces were created for participants to meaningfully engage in dialogue about race, culture, and ethnicity in order to create inclusive classroom cultures and effective teaching for a diversity of student populations (ladson-billings & tate, 1995; pirbhai-illich et al., 2017). moreover, institutions and school districts are also responsible for providing support through curriculum planning, pedagogy, and policy interventions to ensure socially just and inclusive classrooms for all learners (nieto, 1999; pirbhai-illich et al., 2017; sulkowski & wolf, 2020). the findings of this study also reflect the notion that teacher education programs and critical professional development (pd) courses are instrumental in fostering understanding and robust pedagogical mindsets and preparing teachers to meet the needs of emergent bilinguals. literature review language has become indispensable to human social life, and as halliday (2004) puts it, we learn language, we learn through language, and we learn about language. language is essential in daily interactions and teaching. educators, especially in-service teachers, express varied perspectives about language development and how knowledge about language development helps teach ebs. that presupposes that a teacher’s knowledge of fla theories could be a precursor to effectively teaching ebs or english as a second language. first language acquisition (fla) theories according to chomsky (1975), humans are born with innate abilities for language acquisition. first language acquisition comprises early theories in the twentieth century, such as imitation, reinforcement, and behaviorist theories. theories of first language acquisition from the twentyfirst century include social interaction, active construction, and connectionist theories, which focus on the child, environment, and language. freeman and freeman (2014) point out that if “we acquire our native language without first learning the grammar. why, then, do we need to teach a second language by teaching the grammar?” (p. 10). therefore, teachers’ understanding of how students develop language can “guide their curricular decisions” (freeman & freeman, 2014, p. 21). rice (2002) adds that “any satisfactory model of language development must be compatible with how children learn; their ability to perceive, conceptualize, store, and access 37 information; and their motivations” (p. 21). as a foundation for preparing teachers to engage critically with ebs, our study reveals that when teachers understand how language works, they are better equipped to support and engage ebs in their classrooms effectively. according to freeman and freeman (2014), the early theories of first language acquisition that are “now no longer accepted by linguists” are the imitation theory and reinforcement theories (p. 23). imitation theorists propose that children “learn language through imitation” (bergmann et al., 2007, cited in freeman & freeman, p. 23), and reinforcement theorists assert that “children develop language through positive reinforcement of standard language forms, and they are corrected when they produce nonstandard forms” (p. 23). as freeman and freeman (2014) posit, the widely accepted theory of language acquisition during the late 1950s and later received much criticism was the behaviorist theory, which was an amalgamation of the imitation and reinforcement theories. the contemporary theories of language acquisition, on the other hand, include the following: social interaction theory that proposes “language occurs in a social context” (p. 32), or the relationship that exists between language and the social context (halliday, 1994); active construction of a grammar theory suggests “children invent the rules of grammar themselves” (bergmann et al. 2007, p. 316); and connectionist theory addresses how children associate words and sound with objects, and the role of the brain in language development (freeman & freeman, 2014). support for emergent bilinguals and teacher preparations support for ebs in mainstream classes continues to be minimal or non-existent, as teachers have little to no preparation to teach linguistically diverse students (polat & mahalingappa, 2013; stains-davenport, 2021; villegas et al., 2018) and has been exacerbated due to the crises associated with covid-19. the above scholars find that training to get teachers ready to work with ebs is still not required in many teacher-education programs. in her attempt to understand how prepared mainstream teachers are to instruct ebs in the classrooms and engage teachers in questions about how to differentiate instruction for ebs, stairs-davenport (2021) found that besides not being prepared to teach ebs, the teachers she interviewed “expressed many wonderings and dilemmas of practice in their questions that focused on differentiating curriculum, assessment, and instruction, per the prompt, but many teachers also wrote questions related to building community, discerning language differences from language disabilities, and most striking, simply where to start in working with ells” [ebs] (p. 7). the above-highlighted example and phenomenon reflect teacher education programs’ lack and teachers’ unpreparedness to meet student needs. what polat and mahalingappa (2013) suggest is even more vital to the process and efficacy of supporting ebs. they explain that even with preparation through teacher education programs and pd regarding teacher competence to support ebs, there is a need for teachers to hold pedagogical beliefs that promote equitable practice for them to accept their roles and responsibility of providing necessary instructional support for linguistically and culturally diverse students in their classrooms. for instance, in a yearlong study focused on eb and monolingual first graders, moses and kelly (2017) examined identity development’s role in literacy practices. the authors 38 highlighted the experiences of ariana, a first grader in year one of a mainstream class. at the beginning of the school year, ariana’s teacher facilitated a strategy group of three students to position ariana as a student who needed extra support in decoding strategies. by mid-year, ariana’s teacher-facilitated partner reading provided ariana with the opportunity to position herself as a capable reader. while working with a fellow language learner, ariana’s coaching style led her to “confirm her identity as a capable reader and user of strategies in a second language with something to contribute to the community of practice” (p. 412). by the end of the school year, ariana had made significant progress as a reader and positioned herself in the classroom community as a leader. specifically, ariana was able to apply coding, comprehension, and coaching strategies her teacher put in place. through inclusive literacy practices, ariana found support in her classroom community to develop a positive personal and academic identity. thus, by preparing teachers who are knowledgeable of the acquisition process and strategies to support ebs and those who are linguistically and culturally responsive in their pedagogical beliefs, both in-service and pre-service teachers can better support ebs. method we designed a professional development course incorporating four modules on race, immigration, ebs, and women and gender in stem (osei-tutu et al., 2022) in spring 2021. each of the four modules was structured in a four-week format (weeks 1-4) that lasted 16 weeks. the module on ebs (module 3) incorporated first and second-language acquisition theories, as expounded by freeman and freeman (2014), and critiqued the various instructional models and theories regarding their implications for teaching ebs. this paper focuses on module three, a conceptual/critical understanding of ebs/ells (dwomoh et al., 2022). module three was purposefully designed for participants who were local teachers in a midwestern community. it aimed to introduce participants to theories of first language acquisition and the critical understanding of ebs (osei-tutu et al., 2022). we selected freeman’s text as the primary reading resource for the participants because this text expounded on the various fla theories and provided assessment tools for practice, such as the exit chart activity, which allowed participants to identify specific language acquisition theories from the readings, highlight the key points from the readings, draw evidence for and against/critique the theory, and express their thoughts and reflections of the fla theories. additionally, these readings and theories were selected because they were seen to be essential foundations for the participants in building a critical understanding of ebs, and it is on these theories that we analyzed in-service teachers’ perceptions in this paper. participants and data collection procedure sixty-two (62) in-service teachers from a midwestern community actively participated in the module mentioned above on ebs. however, a disaggregate of the participant characteristics were not collected. to explore participants’ understanding of first language acquisition theories and how they advance teaching ebs, we scaffolded the content and instruction in the four-week modular course (dwomoh et al., 2022; osei-tutu et al., 2022). in 39 week one, we assigned participants to read a textbook and two articles on ebs. for this module and to develop a conceptual understanding of the early theories of first language acquisition and language development to teach ebs effectively, we emphasized the readings in freeman and freeman’s (2014) chapter on essential linguistics: what teachers need to know to teach esl, reading, spelling, and grammar. the second week characterized asynchronous virtual peer group discussions. in the third week, participants completed an exit chart activity. the exit chart activity focused on identifying language acquisition theories, key points from the readings, the evidence for, the evidence against/critiques, and personal thoughts. in week four, via a zoom question and answer session, we invited a guest speaker, an expert on ebs, to further discuss the theories, readings, and activities from the first three weeks and answer questions the participants had. finally, participants wrote reflections on their newfound knowledge and experiences in the professional development module (osei-tutu et al., 2022) on ebs. however, the data used for this study was the sixty-two exit chart activity reflections that participants completed in week three of the module. data analysis this paper followed hsieh and shannon’s (2005) conventional approach to qualitative content analysis. researchers use this approach to analyze data that describes a phenomenon and to “gain a richer understanding of a phenomenon [the phenomenon under study is first language acquisition theories]” (p. 1286). it is more effective to use this approach when there is a gap in the literature about the phenomenon and themes/categories that emerge from the data during analysis (hsieh & shannon, 2005). we employed this approach because it is flexible in analyzing text data (cavanagh, 1997) and aided us in deriving themes directly from the text data. we analyzed the 62 activity reflections of participants because they reflect participants’ perceptions and understanding of first language acquisition theories and provide answers to the two research questions. the qualitative content analysis emphasizes the contextual meaning of texts (budd et al., 1967; lindkvist, 1981; mctavish & pirro, 1990; tesch, 1990), which in this paper were the narrative responses (activity reflections). narrative responses are part of several other qualitative data collection procedures, such as interviews, focus groups, observations, openended survey questions, and information in print (kondracki & wellman, 2002). each author was assigned ten to eleven activity responses during the initial coding. afterward, each author did a repeated and close reading of each text and highlighted key ideas as initial codes. next, each author made notes from the initial ideas generated, created codes representing several thoughts, and made categorizations. after reviewing all 62 activity reflections individually, we collectively reviewed each author’s codes and labels and grouped similar codes/labels into themes. finally, we derived themes that provide answers to the two research questions. to ensure credibility, we relied solely on themes that emerged from the data without preconceived categorizations (kondracki & wellman, 2002). in addition, we utilized strategies such as peer debriefing, individual and group extensive engagements with the text data, and constant 40 observations of emerging themes and categorizations to ensure the credibility of this study (lincoln & guba, 1985; manning, 1997). findings this section presents findings that address our two research questions (rq): (1) how do inservice teachers perceive first language acquisition (fla) theories? (2) how do in-service teachers’ perceptions of fla theories inform action or classroom practice? within this section of the paper, participants’ direct quotations are either in block quotations or inserted in the text. findings for rq1 include participants’ views based on their understanding of the various theories and the resulting emergent themes that include the precariousness of the various theories about language development; grammar is not a prerequisite to teaching emergent bilinguals; embracing diverse teaching practices (mindset/philosophy); the impact of previous schooling experiences/flexibility in schools, and social interactions on ebs. for rq2, participants’ responses led to the coding and the identification of three emergent themes that reflect how their understanding of the fla theories can improve their practice and engagement with ebs. these include refraining from correcting students, re-thinking teacher education and the curricula, and newfound knowledge on how to effectively and equitably teach ebs. rq1: how do in-service teachers perceive first language acquisition theories? the precariousness of the various theories about language development we address participants’ perceptions about each of the theories and how those theories inform practice for ebs, respectively. the theories we delineate in this paper include imitation, reinforcement, behaviorist, social interaction, active construction, and connectionist theories. participants noted there is a high level of uncertainty surrounding first language acquisition theories, and they view the theories differently. they claimed that “first language acquisition cannot be defined by one theory alone,” and the participants expressed different views as to how language develops in children, making it challenging for them as educators to determine the best approach to teaching ebs. figure 1. in-service teachers’ perception of first language acquisition theories 41 first, participants viewed imitation theory as overarching and essential but as a superficial theory to language development among children. among such views included their assertion that “imitation may play a role in the overall language development of children, but it doesn’t tell the whole story,” and “many times in teaching foreign languages, we use imitation (repeat after me) to learn pronunciation and sounds of words, but that does not mean any acquisition of meaning is happening.” one participant also noted: i am one who is guilty of continuing to believe that children learn through imitation. while i see the mounting evidence against this, i do find some merit in this as i saw my children learn the correct parts of speech through imitating my speech. second, contrary to the idea or belief that imitation theory is indispensable for children’s language learning, participants viewed reinforcement theory as beneficial but unreliable. they believed reinforcement can support language growth, but it does less to explain language acquisition than imitation theory. they indicated that “we, adults, are too inconsistent in supporting children [for children] to learn a language based on this theory.” again, they asserted that “language comes with time and experience, which renders this theory a little somewhat pointless” and that “language is more that [which] we do, rather than something we know—the more “language” we do, the more proficient we become.” some participants claimed that children learn language rapidly, regardless of reinforcement. also, while some participants believed there are many corrections to use this theory for children’s language learning, others expressed that corrections are necessary for learning grammar rather than language and words. a participant retorted: i do agree with the invalidity of this theory as i often try to use reinforcement in my class when my 6th graders say “ain’t” and “goed”, and i do find that they use the correct form but will return to their nonstandard form soon after. i think that in order for this theory to be somewhat effective, the corrections would have to be more consistent. this theory has many flaws because of the interactions of adults with children when they incorrectly use language. third, participants viewed the behaviorist theory as oversimplifying an incredibly complex process, and they believed language is too complex to be learned solely through this theory. they claimed that since this theory draws some of its background from reinforcement theory, it should be approached cautiously. since this theory amalgamates the imitation and reinforcement theories, they believed “this theory ignores the complexities of the cognitive abilities innate to human beings. to claim we know the language because it was imitated and reinforced muddies the originations of speech.” my son spoke early on and his first word sounded like this “eh ooh”. we had no idea what he was saying but he continued saying it. we didn’t reinforce anything because we had no clue what he was saying. we didn't even know what he was imitating. finally, one day while walking across the parking lot at sam’s club. he placed his hand up, said “eh ooh” and crossed with me. his first word was thank you! we had no clue! 42 fourth, participants viewed the social interaction theory as more robust and helpful for children’s language development than all the other theories. according to them, the early language acquisition theories [imitation, reinforcement, behaviorist] were not wrong but were very basic. they believed social interaction theory is “helpful as it promotes working with children to help them succeed, rather than working on specific behaviors,” and it works well “when the social interaction is between the child and caregiver.” however, some participants considered this theory “leaves out the initial development piece for language acquisition and development. it seems to suggest that once the proper language is provided to the child, then they will imitate it.” according to the participants, this theory could also be applied to writing— formal versus informal; texting language versus email language; writing to a friend versus writing to a professor; writing a research paper versus writing a quick reflection. a participant indicated: the earlier theories were not wrong, but they were very basic. it is true that language is acquired through imitation, reinforcement, stimulus, and response, but the social interaction that happens between the teacher, the learner, and the environment also plays an important role in how we learn a language. fifth is the active construction theory. participants viewed this theory as necessary yet having too many factors that rely on the learner, and it could be challenging for a beginner [novice educator] to understand this theory and use it properly. one participant indicated, “as a science teacher, i have learned that humans have questions and start testing what ifs. children have this innate ability to be curious and will start to test with what if’s in language as well.” another participant expressed that “it is interesting that children’s language errors often come from overgeneralization of language rules, which means that they hear common patterns of language and then apply them to new situations.” another participant also stated that: kids can make connections. when we think about reading comprehension, making connections is usually one of the easier strategies for kids. but i can also see the complexity of language and how abstract it can be at times. i can see both sides on this one because of this reality. lastly, there were participants who viewed the connectionist theory as influential to children's language development, yet it required a lot of work to see results. this is possible considering the books they read to children, using new words in the classroom, and reinforcing the idea of using pictures and gestures to teach the meaning of words to children. participants believed this theory illuminates background knowledge's importance in language development. a participant stated: the more exposure a child has to a concept, whether through personal experience or literature, the stronger the neural pathways in their brain will become and the more associations they will be able to make. similar to imitation theory, this reinforces the importance of naming objects, reading books, and having conversations with children about things in their world. 43 grammar is not a prerequisite to teaching emergent bilinguals. comments from multiple participants reflect the opinion/perception that learning grammar is not a prerequisite for bilingual language learning: i have seen teachers focus on sentence diagrams and memorizing verb tenses, which don’t provide practical tools for students learning english. according to freeman, “we acquire our first language without first learning grammar. why, then, do we need to teach a second language by teaching grammar? participants considered the dichotomy suggested by the precepts of the imitation theory and the belief that grammar must come first for ebs to learn english. a participant noted, “as a grandmother, mother, and teacher of 25+ years, in several locations across the us… i agree that children use what they hear to develop a set of rules… they listen and are awarded the conversation if they are successful in expressing themselves verbally.” this participant suggests that children can learn language through imitation and develop their own set of rules from what they hear without having to learn grammar first. another participant’s remark represented the thoughts of several others in the pd module who expressed support for the idea that imitation theory and grammar training are interactive in the process of emergent language learning. a participant indicated: as a parent...we watch my children imitate us all the time and use memorization as their way to learn. i also see how people are against it in terms of phrases and sentences and the fact that children pick up grammar as they are taught and if it was just memorization, they would be closer to speaking full sentences sooner. like other participants, the remark affirms imitation as a learning mechanism, but also considers that something else must comprise the process if children are delayed in their ability to construct full sentences from phrases and sentence fragments. as other participants supported reinforcement theory as a key mechanism for learning, their statements acknowledge that grammar can come from following speech patterns and subsequent reinforcement, not from formal grammar training. this is best illustrated by the following remark, “it seems like our children do seem to follow grammatical patterns based on how we speak to them, but we do a lot of reinforcing.” embracing diverse teaching practices (mindset/philosophy) participants recognized that there are processes and ways of thinking that need to be unlearned regarding first language acquisition. one participant expressed that, “i believe that sometimes the most supportive plan is to just allow a student the freedom to be him or herself and to speak freely in the language that is most natural.” other participants also indicated that: as teachers we teach and in one way or another, we mold minds. we must learn and unlearn some of the things that we have been taught in our classes. we need to continue to educate ourselves to make sure we are understanding all students including esl [ebs] learners. i’ve witnessed the frustration of teachers when an eb student is not comprehending questions or is struggling with another subject area although they seem to speak it just 44 fine. it’s important for educators to provide ebs students with scaffolding and context clues during lessons so that they are fully grasping the information. it’s never right to assume that just because a student does not speak english, they are not capable of learning. many of my students often mentioned their frustrations when they were given basic work because of their english level. i always encouraged them to try their best, and i assured them that the work would change as they learned more of the language; their teachers did such a great job of developing their skills and reinforcing the language they already knew. i believe that patience, a lot of it, is what is needed in classrooms with students who are learning academic content at the same time they are learning a completely new language. previous schooling experiences/flexibility in schools, and social interactions participants alluded to the process of socialization in shaping language identity. when learning a new language, people are encouraged to be in a context where that language is spoken, which facilitates learning the language quickly. environmental factors and social institutions like schools and peers could influence and shape language development, as one participant noted: previous schooling experiences may influence students’ performance in american classrooms because they provide the students with opportunities to socially interact with others, which is one way that language develops. through that interaction in a classroom students develop the understanding of the need to interact with one another, which promotes language development no matter where they are attending school. the mode of instruction may be different because different languages are spoken and written in different shapes. however, with that schooling experience, students have an increased desire to communicate, which will help them develop the new language quicker through their social interaction with others. similar to the idea presented above regarding social interactions as a catalyst for language acquisition, the next quote highlights the successful master of language with the openness and willingness on the part of educators to encourage students to communicate in their first language. rq 2: how do in-service teachers’ perceptions of fla theories inform action or classroom practice? in this section, we show how in-service teachers’ perception of fla theories informs their practice in the classroom. we identified three main themes based on participants’ responses: 1) refraining from correcting students, 2) re-thinking teacher education and the curricula, and 3) participants’ newfound knowledge. refraining from correcting students the teacher plays a role in the classroom to ensure correctness and accuracy. however, language learning is embedded in daily communication; thus, rather than correcting them, providing space that allows students to make mistakes would be more helpful for students to develop confidence in the language. making mistakes is also a process of learning which should not be skipped. a participant recognized that by saying, “students need to be given the 45 opportunity to experiment with language in an environment without shame and utilize it for practical purposes. this likely isn’t always what happens because many teachers are not adequately trained in this area.” correcting students might also discourage students. students, in particular adolescents, would feel ashamed to have their mistakes corrected. refraining from correcting and communicating with them will encourage students to participate positively in language learning. students may think that the teacher is focusing on their opinions more than just correcting their language. the quotes two participants added, “i learned that the ability to learn language is innate and that children when they learn a language, learn it better if the person just communicates with the child instead of correcting the child,” and “i think it can be very tedious and disheartening for the child if they are corrected every time they make a language mistake” attest to the notion that correcting may not be an effective approach to teaching ebs. re-thinking teacher-education and the curricula based on participants’ responses, in-service teachers seek new ways of supporting ebs in their classrooms. as participants reflected on their teacher education programs, several of them expressed feelings of being ill-prepared to work with culturally, ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse students. according to one participant: while it is clear that these ideas and strategies are best practices for teaching ebs, they are not always used in schools. many teachers are behind the curve, still focusing on grammar instead of practical application. how can we change teacher education and curriculum to focus on better instructional practices? additionally, as they transitioned from a pre-service to an in-service teacher, participants expressed limited knowledge of theories that informed pedagogical practices grounded in social justice. a participant stated that “teachers of ell or esl should focus more on creating equity and diversify education than equality.” participants were therefore responsive to enrolling in a pd course focused on critical theories to become more critically conscious, thus increasing their awareness of the social, educational, and political factors that impact eb’s in k-12 schools. participants were focused on building authentic relationships with students when reflecting on how the course readings and activities could potentially guide their teaching practices. as one participant described it, “i applied a self-check about how much of that is happening in my classroom, and my self-reflective self is telling me that i need to do more of that with more intentionality.” throughout the pd course, as participants engaged with new knowledge, many found inspiration through self-awareness and sought new ways of cultivating inclusive classroom environments, supported by several participants who found that: i have learned so many strategies that i never thought about with my ell students. i think the biggest thing that i noticed is that we need to think about ell students like any other student we have in our classroom. i think that sometimes, as teachers, we think that teaching ell students is more work for us, but that is not true. there are so many ways to add new experiences in the classroom involving everyone. 46 finally, for veteran in-service teachers who have been exposed to pd throughout their careers, participants expressed a desire to increase their funds of knowledge about eb students and families. i would love to learn more in-depth about our enl/ell families. this class module was a good starting point, but there is still so much that i could learn. i know that my teaching would probably benefit from some more information about this. this is something that we can all gain a better understanding of the information that has been presented. newfound knowledge one of the major findings from teachers’ exposure to eb learning theories in this module is a new understanding, perspective, and knowledge gained on effectively engaging and supporting students in their classrooms. participants’ responses approach this new knowledge from two different perspectives. the first category consists of participants who are teachers or educators but have no knowledge of these theories, understanding, or resources to work with ebs. one teacher remarked: it was a surprise to learn that the way most secondary language is taught in the school does not seem to be in line with the way that humans naturally acquire language. i didn’t walk away with a firm belief in any one of the theories as the definitive one: there are kernels of truth in all of them, and most likely are all pieces of the same very complex puzzle. another teacher discussed their new understanding by stating that, “at this point i have learned so much about language development from many areas of study, which i had never considered previously.” the second category is participants, teachers/educators, who already teach and support ebs but have come to a new understanding of how to support them effectively. one of the educators in the module indicated that, they are “looking at all of this [eb teaching, learning, and support] through a different lens than a traditional educator,” while another participant also reflected on how differently they would have engaged with their eb students had they had the opportunity to take this course earlier: i currently have three students who are new to the u.s. and are ells and wish i had been able to experience this module at the beginning of this school year to help build my teacher toolbox of strategies. it was also particularly useful to see the reflective and introspective approach that teachers were now bringing to their engagement with ebs. one of the participants reflected by indicating that: a key element of the readings is to help ell students by approaching them with a strengths-based mindset instead of a deficit-based mindset. i can change some of what i do in my own classroom to adjust to this strength-based approach. the findings suggest that teachers have voices regarding fla theories and that these perceptions inform their classroom practice. 47 discussion in contributing to teachers’ training support, this pd modular course introduced in-service teachers to critical perspectives, understanding, and dialogue about teaching ebs. as freeman and freeman (2014) addressed that it is necessary for knowledgeable people to “[also] know something about language” (p. 7); teachers, especially in-service teachers, who are seen as experts and have the requisite training and expertise to teach k-12 classrooms, have a responsibility to know about language and to “understand how students learn first and second languages” (p. 19). in-service teachers’ understanding of language acquisition and how language works can enable them to teach ebs for comprehension effectively. we discuss how this phenomenon is vital in k-12 settings, considering the minimal support for ebs in mainstream classes and a dearth of teacher preparation in teaching linguistically diverse students (polat & mahalingappa, 2013; stains-davenport, 2021; villegas et al., 2018). the perspectives of in-service teachers about fla in-service teachers viewed first language acquisition theories differently and indicated that they face the challenge of determining the best theory(s) and approach to teaching ebs. they believed language development in children differs with every child and that one theory is inadequate to define first language acquisition theories. among the theories (i.e., imitation, reinforcement, behaviorist, social interaction, active construction, and connectionist) of first language acquisition examined in this paper, in-service teachers consider the social interaction theory most beneficial to children’s language development. they believed the focus and the collaborative efforts between the child and the caregiver or the student and the teacher, in lieu of ascertaining behavioral tendencies, foster language development. also, in-service teachers indicated that language in a social context applies to students in formal and informal writing. it enables students to differentiate between texting and email, writing to a friend versus a professor, and writing a research paper versus journaling or reflection. thus, teacher educators should highlight the social interaction theory in both pre-service teacher preparation and inservice pds as they inform successful practice and engagement with ebs for academic growth and development. however, in-service teachers viewed imitation theory as broad and essential yet superficial to language development among children; the reinforcement theory as beneficial but unreliable; the behaviorist theory as oversimplifying an incredibly complex process where language is too complex to be learned solely through this theory; the active construction theory as challenging for a beginning teacher to understand and use it effectively; and the connectionist theory requiring strenuous efforts to see results. there is, therefore, room for differentiated instruction in teaching ebs, but it requires a shift in pedagogical mindsets. additionally, this perspective on connectionist theories has implications for how educators engage in-service and pre-service teachers on how some of the tenets of this theory can be used as a complement to social interactionist theory. 48 the role of in-service teachers in teaching ebs embracing diverse teaching practices requires a philosophical shift in mindset to enact equitable and inclusive classroom practices. supporting preservice teachers (psts) in teacher education programs often begins by challenging deficit thinking and promoting asset-based pedagogy. psts are not engaging with critical theories, so as they transition to future classrooms, they are unfamiliar with critical race, sustaining, relevant, and responsive pedagogies. while critical pd is needed for in-service teachers, teacher educators must rethink their curriculum and begin implementing these theories to fill in gaps of knowledge (osei-tutu et al., 2022). according to braden and gibson (2021), “teacher education programs have an ethical responsibility to support psts to build dispositions to create culturally responsive curricula for a diverse study body” (p. 242). specifically, the authors argue that as psts prepare for future classrooms, critical self-reflection becomes an integral part of transformative practices [using the experiences of inservice teachers, as the findings from this study portray]. thus, teacher education programs that promote critical theories that inform humanizing practices can better prepare psts to work with and support their students’ cultural, linguistic, and academic needs. fostering social interaction in teaching ebs one of our significant findings is that participants subscribed to the interactionist approach premised on learning a language from a desire to communicate. one of the significant implications of this understanding is that language development is incumbent on whom one communicates. the socio-cultural environment that someone grows up in is an essential indicator of language acquisition. we argue that the more diverse a teacher’s schooling or educational experiences, the better they can advocate for ebs. essentially, language learning and all aspects of teaching require establishing an environment of mutual respect for diversity and diverse school experiences. a mindset change to recognize an ebs cultural environment as holistic can help create a classroom environment conducive to language mastery. additionally, the nature of teaching is to provide instructions for correcting and eliminating mistakes. for teaching ebs, allowing mistakes is a way to promote students’ language development. research shows that “children develop language much better when adults help them communicate their intended meanings, not when they try to correct what they say or how they say it” (freeman & freeman, 2014, p. 41). thus, teachers who refrain from correcting students would leave a space for students to feel safe to make mistakes and learn from mistakes. teachers could support ebs in class practices instead of correcting students by extending waiting time and through effective communication with students. this strategy proves to be effective for students’ language development and makes students feel cared for and safe. it also promotes students’ interests and desire to use the language further. the call for “critical” professional training for in-service teachers the inability of teacher education programs to develop and train teachers prepared to meet the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse students (polat & mahalingappa, 2013; stainsdavenport, 2021; villegas et al., 2018) is further substantiated by the results of this study. as participants went through the course and reflected on their training, they realized how ill49 prepared they were to support ebs in their classrooms. in-service teachers called for the need for professional development courses that could help them effectively educate ebs that they continue to encounter in their classrooms. as durgunoğlu and trudie hughes (2010) pointed out, pre-service teachers were not prepared to teach ebs, and the in-service teachers who were mentoring the pre-service teachers were not providing any guidance because they also did not have the know-how. “teacher educators who enhance their attention to culturally responsive teaching by articulating a corresponding vision of linguistically responsive teaching may decide how to structure preservice learning to realistically incorporate appropriate learning during the relatively short preparation time frame” (stairs-davenport, 2021, p, 5). a more pragmatic way forward is that the teachers are willing to engage in more critical pd courses centered on ebs to support their newfound knowledge adequately. knowing how to support ebs is not enough if the teachers do not have the philosophical mindset and will to make changes in their classrooms. thus, the need for teachers to hold pedagogical beliefs that promote equitable practices in their roles and provide necessary instructional support for linguistically and culturally diverse students in their classrooms cannot be overemphasized (gay, 2018; mahalingappa, 2013). therefore, for teachers who did not know these eb theories, understanding, or resources to work with ebs, their explicit desire and strategic planning to implement some of their new knowledge with their students is commendable. on the other hand, are teachers who are already engaged with ebs at various levels, building their teacher toolbox of strategies through the pd course, though timely for the new ebs they will encounter, was too late for their previous students. teachers who are wellprepared, culturally and linguistically sensitive in mindset, with strength-based lenses on ebs, can change the exclusionary school culture that is a disservice to eb students and their families. conclusion as mentioned earlier, when it comes to teaching and engaging ebs, in-service teachers play a critical role in their academic success; however, their voices are not heard in language acquisition discourse. thus, what this paper sought to do, was to show that in-service teachers do have perceptions about fla theories and how those theories inform their classroom practice. the findings show that when teachers understand how fla theories inform or affect their practice, coupled with their classroom experience, opportunities are created for dialogue that can better serve ebs. additionally, developing a better understanding of fla theories has implications for how teachers teach ebs. changes in perspectives, as discussed by participants, reflect reimagined teaching methods. thus, teachers discuss various ways in which their teaching practices, such as refraining from correcting students, can change to support eb learning and academic success. that implies a dearth of pd sessions on fla theories and a critical understanding of eb learning are essential for in-service teachers. as the findings and discussion show, participants reflected on their training and realized how ill-prepared they were to support ebs in their classrooms. critical self-reflection becomes integral to transformative practices as pre-service 50 teachers prepare for future classrooms. the more diverse a teacher’s schooling or educational experiences, the better they can advocate for ebs. in-service teachers called for the need for pd courses that could help them effectively educate ebs. while critical pd is needed for in-service teachers, educators must rethink their curricula and begin implementing these theories to fill in the knowledge gaps. teachers can support ebs in class practices instead of correcting students by extending waiting time and effective communication with students. this strategy is effective for students’ language development and makes students feel safe and cared for. it fosters students’ interests and desire to use the language further, which has implications for enhancing inclusivity in the classroom. that is because teachers’ understanding of how ebs learn would mean showing teacher empathy and respect for culturally and linguistically diverse students. finally, this paper has implications for policymakers, fla theorists, and researchers. for educational policymakers, it is important to provide opportunities within the teacher education curriculum for pre-service teachers to be adequately prepared to teach ebs. fla theorists and researchers should begin engaging teachers to integrate theory and practice. limitations and further research as common with all qualitative studies, this paper also had limitations. the main limitation of this study is that we cannot generalize the experiences and perceptions of the 62 participants to all in-service teachers teaching in american classrooms. however, the findings can be extrapolated, and the implications for informing or improving classroom practice can be adapted to novel classroom situations. this study focused on only in-service teachers’ perceptions of first language acquisition theories. future research can examine pre-service teachers' perspectives about the same phenomenon and its implication for classroom practice. references alim, h. s. & paris, d. 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(2018). preparing future main stream teachers to teach english language learners: a review of the empirical literature. the educational forum, 82(2), 138–155. https://www.nea.org/resource-library/english-language%09learners https://www.nea.org/resource-library/english-language%09learners https://www.nea.org/resource-library/english-language-learners research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 volume: 4 issue: 2 2022 pp. 56-79 through the eyes of novice teachers: experiences with professional cultures within and outside of neoliberal “no-excuses” charter schools william waychunas* * doctoral candidate, school of education, university of michigan, ann arbor, mi, usa e-mail: billway@umich.edu article info received: february 24, 2022 revised: april 28, 2022 accepted: may 21, 2022 how to cite waychunas, w. (2022). through the eyes of novice teachers: experiences with professional cultures within and outside of neoliberal “no-excuses” charter schools. research in educational policy and management, 4(2), 56-79. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2022.7 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract as neoliberal education reforms spread globally, including the development of school choice pathways that create different types of schools, a reexamination of teacher professionalism may be in order. current literature about teacher experiences with neoliberal reforms often focuses on negative aspects of organizational professionalism and managerialism, describing shifts in professionalism as stifling teacher autonomy and diminishing satisfaction through increased accountability, standardization, and supervision. however, studies often only examine single school sites and the views and experiences of veteran teachers. this study considers two novice teachers' experiences as they transition between schools, one with more traditional professional cultures and the other within the hyper-neoliberal professional contexts of 'no-excuses’ charter schools, contrasting how they interpreted aspects of professionalism, development, and satisfaction in different environments. compared to more traditionally professional school environments, novices’ experiences with managerial approaches to teacher professionalism served to accelerate their development while having drawbacks in terms of workload and turnover. the collaboration and collegiality, bounded autonomy, and shared accountability to mutual goals at these “no-excuses” charter schools seemed to create occupational professional subcultures where novice teachers feel simultaneously challenged and supported. the paper discusses implications for reexamining neoliberal approaches to teacher professionalism, mobility, and school organization. keywords teacher professionalism; teacher turnover; teacher induction; school organization; charter schools; managerialism. 10.46303/repam.2022.7 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2022.7 57 introduction decades of global reform have increased the prevalence of neoliberal approaches to managing public service sectors, including teaching (connell et al., 2009; evetts, 2011). for example, neoliberal ideas, which emphasize market forces, privatization, and choice to spur efficiency, competition, and innovation of formerly public services, have led to the creation of school choice initiatives, such as charter schools and vouchers, in the united states. simultaneously, standards and accountability reforms over the past several decades (see coburn et al., 2016) have had a profound cascading impact on teaching and schools, such as initiatives or mandates that promote the standardization of teaching, close supervision and observation of classrooms, and increased accountability to standardized tests (zeichner, 2010). this neoliberal approach to school management, sometimes called managerialism (pollitt, 1990) or performativity (ball, 2003), has changed the very core of what it means to be a teacher. current narratives cast neoliberal reforms as threats to teacher professionalism (anderson & cohen, 2015; ravitch, 2013) as scholars are concerned that increased surveillance and diminished teacher autonomy negatively impact teacher morale and agency (brass & holloway, 2019; hall & mcginity, 2015; ravitch, 2013). ball (2003) argues that neoliberal reforms are a “terror” that will result in feelings of inauthenticity, individualization, depleted collaboration, and anxiety or shame from performance evaluation among teachers. beyond scholarship, these issues have manifested in other ways, particularly how teachers’ unions have made attacking such reforms central issues in recent teacher strikes across the united states (i.e., medina & goldstein, 2019). evetts (2009) conceptualizes the current reforms as pushing the teaching profession away from the collegial authority and internal regulation of occupational professionalism and towards a new or organizational professionalism characterized by a loss of autonomy and external controls (see table 1 in the following section for more detail). however, rather than resist such efforts at reshaping teacher professionalism, many “noexcuses” charter schools [necs], which i describe further in the literature review, have fully embraced this neoliberal management approach as a core function of how they operate and define professionalism within their buildings (pondiscio, 2019; sondel, 2015; torres & weiner, 2018). teachers view the professional cultures, or the shared values, beliefs, habits, attitudes, and approaches that shape teacher actions and define what it means to be and act as a professional teacher within a particular school context (chipaco & branco, 2018), of such schools as distinct from traditional public schools (weiner & torres, 2016). a small but significant set of studies suggests the possibility that these managerial approaches can be perceived differently, even preferably (lefebvre & thomas, 2017; torres & weiner, 2018) by newer generations of teachers (stone-johnson, 2014; wilkins, 2011) with such findings in mind, weiner (2020) suggests that instead of choosing sides and rushing to condemn neoliberal schools and approaches to teacher professionalism, there might be something that the field can learn by studying these new professional cultures. this point 58 seems especially pertinent given that some studies that look at the impacts of neoliberal management approaches on teacher professionalism tend to focus only on the united kingdom (i.e., ball, 2003 or evetts, 2011) and veteran teacher experiences (i.e., hall & mcginity, 2015). furthermore, comparisons between approaches to teacher professionalism are also scant, as studies tend only to examine the implementation of neoliberal reforms in single-school contexts and with teachers who have not experienced different professional cultures. this “grass is greener” dilemma, where teachers studied lack a comparative reference point to interpret their experiences, limits definitive conclusions about the impacts of such approaches to professionalism. to address these limitations and expand the knowledge base about how different teachers experience such professional cultures, i followed two novice teachers who left their school after their first year for schools with radically different professional cultures. by investigating how they experienced these transitions, i hope to throw light on the potential benefits and shortcomings of apprenticing novices into occupational and organizational communities of practice (lave & wenger, 1991; wenger, 1998), especially regarding instructional development and professional values. literature review and background conceptions of professionalism scholarly works that examine intersections between teacher professionalism and neoliberal education reforms frame changes in the field as two ideal forms of professionalism: occupational professionalism and organizational professionalism (evetts, 2009). table 1. ideal types of professionalism in knowledge-based work (evetts, 2009, p. 263) organizational professionalism occupational professionalism ● discourse of control used by managers ● standardized procedures ● hierarchical structures of authority ● managerialism ● accountability to external forms of regulation and performance review ● discourse constructed within professional groups ● collegial authority ● discretion and occupational control of work ● practitioner trust by clients and employers ● controls operationalized by practitioners ● professional ethics monitors by institutions and associations occupational professionalism is typically associated with publicly trusted fields such as medicine or law, where practitioners have extensive autonomy and discretion and self-regulate from within. descriptions of occupational professionalism emphasize the importance of relationships between clients and practitioners (evetts, 2009, 2011) and among professionals themselves, such as collaboration, collegial respect, and shared authority. notably, establishing 59 occupational professionalism requires a knowledge base from which practice and extensive preparation and apprenticeship for newcomers are based (evetts, 2009, 2011). in addition, education scholars tend to portray occupational professionalism as an ideal for teaching (brass & holloway, 2019; ravitch, 2013), as schools with such professional cultures have shown to be related to creating positive learning environments for students (weiner & higgins, 2017). however, many have also raised questions about the existence of a knowledge base for teaching (grossman et al., 1989; hiebert et al., 2002) and how the knowledge we do have is used by teachers (richardson & placier, 2001) or in teacher preparation (deans for impact, 2020). in striving to reach the ideals of occupational professionalism in teaching, scholars have called for extending and strengthening both preservice (holmes group, 1986) and in-service (feiman-nemser, 2001) teacher development and encouraging more teacher collaboration (hargreaves & o'connor, 2018). concurrently, scholars encourage teachers to resist neoliberal reform efforts to externally regulate their practice (brass & holloway, 2019; ravitch, 2010, 2013;). organizational professionalism (evetts, 2009), which scholarship links directly to neoliberal education reforms, is presented as diametrically opposed to occupational professionalism (connell, 2009). such professional environments align practitioners towards the organization’s goals and approaches rather than those of the larger occupation. in such contexts, teachers are professionally obligated towards the school rather than to teaching more broadly. organizational professionalism is characterized by "discourses of control," standardization, and surveillance (evetts, 2009), manifesting in practice as standardized testing, teacher evaluation, and other accountability measures that scholars argue deprofessionalize teaching (milner, 2013). traditional professionalism in u.s. schools despite attempts at reform in american schools, such efforts have fallen short of goals to close achievement gaps or raise student achievement (mitchell & lizotte, 2016). the disorganization of the education system and teacher professional norms often come into conflict with such efforts. not only is the education system in the united states highly decentralized and fragmented (spillane, 1996), but the teaching profession has a long legacy of privacy (little, 1990; lortie, 1975) where teachers still exercise high levels of discretion over what and how they teach (archibald & porter, 1994; sinnema & aitken, 2013). this loose coupling between system policies and instruction (meyer & rowan, 1977) means that teachers can ignore or superficially comply with reform efforts (coburn, 2004; lacey, 1977), especially as teacher dismissal or unsatisfactory evaluations remain extremely rare (kraft & gilmour, 2017). although not exemplifying occupational professionalism, schools in the united states have aligned with or strive to preserve elements of occupational professionalism in how they have resisted and remain unchanged by external regulation while maintaining wide-ranging 60 instructional autonomy. therefore, i use schools with these more traditional professional cultures to understand novice teacher experiences with occupational professionalism elements in contrast to their experiences in the more organizationally oriented necss. no-excuses charter schools and organizational professionalism charter schools, which are publicly funded schools that operate outside of traditional publicschool systems, have proliferated over the past 30 years as a neoliberal school choice reform meant to spur innovation through competition between schools. authorizers, or governing bodies such as state or local boards, review and grant charters or contracts to groups to open schools. these agreements include accountability expectations for the reauthorization of the school's charter every few years. in exchange for this external accountability, charter schools can generally run their schools as they see fit. “no excuses” schools, a term popularized in the early 2000s (carter, 2000; thernstrom & thernstrom, 2003), are a common form of charter school that has shown particular success in raising standardized test achievement for low-income and minority students in the united states (cheng et al., 2017). necss typically hold that all children are capable of learning and that poverty is not an excuse for poor academic achievement. this belief is based on observations that teachers too often use race and poverty as reasons to lower expectations for their students and lower the rigor of their instruction, effectively shortchanging already disadvantaged students. as such, “no-excuses” approaches hold that teachers and schools should take more responsibility for student learning. necss approach teaching, learning, and school organization in a hyper-managerial way, making them perhaps the most organizationally professional schools in the united states. they have highly structured environments where charter management organizations (cmos), such as kipp or success academy, determine network-wide goals and visions of teaching and pass these on to teachers through various systems. standardization of practice is common in necss, such as implementing schoolwide discipline systems (golann, 2015) or having a standardized curriculum across classes (mehta & fine, 2019; pondiscio, 2019; sondel, 2015). they also typically share a common language and vision of teaching (ellison & iqtadar, 2020), often emphasizing direct instruction (mehta & fine, 2019; sondel, 2016), though some research suggests that this instructional narrative may be changing (harrison, 2022). additionally, teachers in necss are frequently observed, publicly share assessment results, and engage in data-driven instruction based on standardized test results (lake et al., 2012; sondel, 2015, 2016). though coming under extensive debate and critique for how they may perpetuate inequity or deprofessionalize teaching (ellison & iqtadar, 2020; lack, 2009), necss represent microcosms of managerialism unseen in more traditional school settings, making them ideal locations for studying teacher experiences of organizational professionalism. 61 novice teacher experiences of professional cultures given the different needs of novice teachers, they may experience these organizational and occupational professional cultures differently from more veteran teachers. some work suggests that "veteran-oriented" school cultures which promote traditional individualistic and autonomous conceptions of teacher professionalism exacerbate novice teachers' struggles (williams et al., 2001). on the other hand, novice teachers have described having autonomy despite constraints from neoliberal reforms (hall & mcginity, 2015; wilkins, 2011), which may even promote their development (stone-johnson, 2014). torres and weiner’s (2018) study of early-career teachers in mostly necss found that they experienced this "new professionalism" positively, noting that observations and accountability cultures guided and supported their development. the literature on how teachers experience organization professionalism is severely limited, as weiner points out, by how "few researchers have considered whether there may be less negative, or even positive, reasons why educators might embrace parts of the new professionalism" (2020, p. 448). it is within this framework that i explore the following questions: • how do novice teachers experience organizational approaches to professionalism in neoliberal no-excuses charter schools compared to the more traditional occupational professional cultures at other schools? • what might this tell us more broadly about the potential benefits and pitfalls of these approaches to teacher professionalism? data and methods i collected the data used in this study as part of a more extensive study examining the intersection of school organization, teacher beliefs, background experiences, and contextual influences on instructional practice. unexpectedly, the professional environments became a dominant theme of the data, especially how teacher experiences in schools with different professional cultures framed teacher development. sample i located participants through informal school connections, reaching out directly to principals to find teachers within their first two years of teaching who were either entering or leaving a necs. next, i contacted individual teachers about participation and consent. out of four teachers contacted, two agreed to participate. the two novice teachers examined in this study had several common characteristics and critical differences (see table 2 below for comparison and timeline), allowing for comparative analysis via multiple case study methodology (stake, 2013). entering their second years of working in schools, both teachers had graduated from university-based teacher preparation programs (tpps), completed their student teaching in selective-enrollment schools in urban areas, and taught in the same midwestern city. both were in transition, moving from one school 62 to another between their first and second years. both teachers taught in a necs for one year, and both returned to teach in the high school they attended. at the time of this study, mr. ross1 was a white male entering his second year after spending his first year teaching middle school social studies at a necs named edwards prep. as a student from an affluent suburb who attended religious private schools during his childhood, mr. ross' biography stood in stark contrast to the students he taught at edwards prep, serving primarily low-income, black, and latino students. after a year of teaching, he left the necs edwards prep and returned to the private school he attended, chapman academy, to teach high school history. the other novice teacher in the study, ms. baez, had a very different background. a latina woman who grew up in a working-class neighborhood, ms. baez attended a traditional public school (tps) during grammar school. she then matriculated into grimm college prep for high school, a necs in a different charter network than edwards prep. grimm college prep was in her neighborhood and primarily served a low-income latino student population. after completing college with a certification to teach secondary english, ms. baez enrolled in a oneyear program where she worked as a teaching assistant in a 9th grade english classroom at montero high school, a tps near the neighborhood where she grew up. after one year at montero high school, ms. baez took a 9th grade english teacher position back at grimm college prep. the sample's limitations, particularly the small size and significant differences in participant positionality, mean that generalization to conditions in all necss or for all novice teachers is impossible. however, the experiences in these cases, taken in tandem with evidence from other studies, may contribute to a broader understanding of teacher experience in neoliberal professional settings and give insights into how and why contexts are differently experienced by different teachers. data sources starting in august of 2019, i collected data about teachers’ beliefs, practices, and experiences in different schools between their first and second years in the classroom. during the summer of 2019, teachers first completed a modified version of the learning from leadership survey (leithwood & seashore-louis, 2011). the results informed questions in semi-structured interviews (drever, 1995), which lasted about one and a half hours and covered a wide range of issues, including their experiences during their first year in the classroom and their own experiences as students. 1 all participant and school names are pseudonyms 63 table 2. participant biographical timeline biographical information teacher preparation first year after college second year after college ms. baez · latina, female · first-generation college student · raised in urban workingclass neighborhood · attended tps for grammar school · attended grimm college prep (necs) for high school · undergraduate, universitybased program · completed student teaching at urban, selective enrollment high school montero high school (tps) · teaching assistant in a 9th grade english class through 1-year service program grimm college prep (necs) · taught 9th grade english mr. ross · white, male · highly educated parents · raised in affluent suburb · attended private school for grammar school · attended chapman academy (p.r.) for high school edwards prep (necs) · taught middle school social studies chapman academy (p.r.) · taught high school social studies note. acronyms after school names describe school type: traditional public school (tps), no excuses charter school (necs), magnet or selective enrollment (s.e.), and private religious (p.r.) during the following fall semester at their new school, i observed each teacher twice, watching each teach for approximately 8 hours. debrief interviews, typically lasting about a halfhour, followed each observation. these semi-structured interviews asked general questions about the teachers' lessons and their experience in their new school. final follow-up interviews took place in january of 2020. for comparative purposes, many of the final interview questions mirrored those asked in the initial interview, with some additional questions based on a follow-up learning from leadership survey and other considerations. additionally, these final interviews probed further into comparing the two different school contexts concerning their experiences, job satisfaction, and instructional development. finally, to avoid imposing my personal beliefs onto the data, i used a synthesized member checking approach (harvey, 2015) during the final interview to test initial conclusions by allowing participants to confirm, respond to, and elaborate on preliminary findings. 64 analysis collecting data and writing memos started the analysis in an iterative process where i made preliminary assertions, and more data was collected to confirm, clarify, or revise assertions with each round of interviews (erickson, 1986). i transcribed interviews and wrote in-depth memos (charmaz, 2006) between each interview and observation to note trends, craft interview questions, and focus observations on emerging themes. after data collection, i analyzed interview transcripts using a hybrid coding approach (fereday & muir-cochrane, 2006). this process was both inductive, integrating data-driven codes, and deductive, using theory-driven codes. first, i used relevant concepts from the literature about professionalism and neoliberalism to create categorical codes (charmaz, 2006). examples of these categorical codes include supervision, standardization, accountability, and collaboration and the potential consequences of organizational professionalism such as workload, individualization/competition, and regulative pressures. next, categorical codes emerged from the data (strauss & corbin, 1994), such as enabled practice, instructional resources, teacher development, normative pressures, and instructional coaching. i then created focused codes (charmaz, 2006) within each categorical code to capture teacher experience and interpret the different schools' professional cultures. for example, within the instructional resources categorical code, focused codes were developed such as provided curriculum as enabling, provided curriculum as constraining, lack of curriculum as developmental opportunity, and lack of curriculum as burdensome. claims were determined based on trends and themes that emerged from this final round of focused coding. with these claims developed, i conducted a purposeful search for discrepant cases (maxwell, 2013) with full and un-coded interview transcripts to ensure the assertions' accuracy. findings experiences with professionalism in no excuses charter schools. despite being at different necss in different charter management organizations (cmos) and in different grade levels and content areas, both ms. baez and mr. ross had similar experiences that aligned closely with the neoliberal elements of organizational professionalism. additionally, despite teaching in different cmos, both schools were demographically similar, both serving students who were predominantly black and latinx and who came from various schools from across the city as neither campus has a necs “feeder” school at the time of this study. using aspects of organizational professionalism and neoliberal reforms in education from the literature and coding, i describe how each novice teacher interpreted these professional cultures. standardization in necs. both mr. ross and ms. baez described necs environments with a common goal of preparing students for college, a shared instructional language and vision, and semi-standardized 65 curricular materials. both edwards prep and grimm college prep had standardized discipline systems consistent across classrooms using punitive consequences to manage behavior. teaching methods at each also emphasized highly teacher-directed instruction that was skillfocused and carefully scaffolded. in describing teaching at necss, both teachers also employed a shared language using many terms to talk about teaching, much of which originated in texts such as teach like a champion (lemov, 2010). schools provided curricular materials to both teachers, though the extent to which they perceived that they could modify and stray from these curriculums varied. autonomy and discretion each teacher had slightly different experiences with perceived autonomy regarding what and how to teach and classroom management. both teachers expressed variation in how they implemented the discipline systems, applying the rules in ways they found fair and authentic. the curriculum was far from "scripted" in either case, as both teachers had some autonomy in its creation and delivery. ms. baez had considerable independence in using what she called the "baseline curriculum," not as a mandated curriculum but as a proven resource that she was free to use, modify, or disregard. mr. ross explained that at edwards prep, he had "almost no autonomy" when it came to making curricular decisions, having only the "flexibility...to modify where [the school] wanted it to be modified." even so, he described "mak[ing] a ton of adjustments to the actual materials," keeping the parts he liked and supplementing or modifying about half of the daily lessons. as the study progressed, both teachers expressed growing desires for autonomy and acknowledged that having bounded autonomy in these "micro-autonomous spaces" (wilkins, 2011) was helpful for their development. mr. ross explained that, when looking back at his necs experience, "i wish i had more [autonomy], but honestly, i was so overwhelmed sometimes. it was nice that i just kind of know what i had to do every day," adding that though standardization was constraining, he "viewed it as 'this is saving me time lesson planning and i've already got a million things on my plate.'" ms. baez shared similar sentiments, explaining that "the more and more [she got] into teaching, the more [she] realiz[ed] how important [autonomy] is," pointing out that curricular resources and limited autonomy were a necessary developmental scaffold. supervision, inspection, and evaluation both mr. ross and ms. baez experienced pervasive supervision at the necs, particularly the frequent classroom observations by school administrators, as generally positive and investments in their professional development. at grimm college prep, ms. baez was observed by a dean every other week. after observations, they had debrief meetings, which included instructional coaching items such as reviewing past areas of focus, recognizing and praising growth ("i see that you've been working on this"), and giving "bite-sized" areas for improvement. instead of viewing these sessions as invasive evaluations, she saw them as essential to her development and as an indicator of the 66 school’s professional culture where skillful teaching was valued, believing that "admin in my classroom equates to their investment in what i'm doing." mr. ross's experiences at edwards prep were similar. he saw observations and coaching, which happened “constantly,” not as surveillance but as growth opportunities. he explained that "at other schools, you might feel like you're being judged and assessed" but that he "really felt like when [administrators] were in there, [he] didn't feel pressure" and that mistakes weren't something to be feared because "they're going to try to work with [him]" to improve. both teachers felt that rather than surveillance, these observations and coaching were a critical investment from the school in their professional development, believing that the effort of supervising, tracking, and coaching novice teachers showed that the work they did in the classroom each day mattered. experiences with hierarchy and administrators rather than the adversarial relationship between teachers and administrators that one might expect to find in such organizationally oriented professional settings, both teachers described administrators in these neoliberal environments as teammates in achieving the school's mission and serving crucial roles in their mentorship and instructional development. in describing the principal at grimm college prep, ms. baez explained that "he was a big reason" that she decided to accept a position at the school because of his approachable manner. she trusted him and explained that this collegial relationship made her feel that he was "someone that [she felt] like [she] could go to" for help and support, similar to her relationship with the dean who observed her class. mr. ross had an even stronger connection with his principal. whenever the principal at edwards prep came up in interviews, mr. ross had glowing remarks to share, including that he was "beyond supportive," "incredible," a "major addition" to his professional growth. despite intense pressures to perform in the classroom, both novice teachers looked towards administrators at necss less as supervisors and more as wise colleagues who pushed their development and served as mentors. competition, collaboration, and collegiality some work has expressed concerns about how organizational professionalism emphasizes competition and stifles collaboration (evetts, 2009; sachs, 2016). however, across interviews and observations, mentions of competitive relationships with other teachers in necs contexts were virtually nonexistent. instead, both teachers in this study expressed extensive and authentic collaboration amongst staff that created professional environments where their input was valued and where teachers' collective knowledge and efforts drove instruction and school, department, or grade-level decisions. collaboration at edwards prep was "done at a really high level" and was "expected, encouraged, and at points mandated" as part of the professional culture, affirming that "the 67 culture among teachers [was] incredibly helpful" and an environment where "everyone was there for [him]." ms. baez additionally described how formal and informal collaboration in her necs context played a role in establishing the school's professional culture and setting organizational expectations. she described the daily importance of working with a veteran co-teacher as crucial for materials, feedback on lessons, advice about students, and generally as a professional role model. more formal collaboration, such as grade-level and department teams, was also described as essential to school operation as teachers were empowered to make collective decisions about policy and instruction. accountability teacher accountability measures were a part of the experience of teaching in the organizationally professional environments of necss. however, they were often experienced more as normative pressures (or the expectations sensed and obligations felt within and towards a group of colleagues) than regulative pressures enforced through mandates and policies (scott, 2001). both teachers shared alignment with their respective schools' missions of helping lowincome and minority students go to college but had reservations about an overemphasis on standardized test accountability. though test-based pressures existed, neither teacher indicated that these performance measures exclusively drove their work. instead, they noted that the real accountability came from the professional culture itself, where working with highly dedicated colleagues committed to delivering high-quality instruction to students every day created intense normative pressures for outstanding personal performance. mr. ross explained that the professional culture set the bar at edwards prep, where "there [were] not teachers that [were] slacking off...or not working hard," raised the expectations for all staff and that: ... there's just very high standards throughout the school, and you feel accountable to your students, which i think is a good thing. and you know, if your students are wasting time in your class, you're like, 'oh crap, other teachers here are doing a great job.' … i think it's kind of like i put a lot of pressure on myself. that's kind of where i felt accountable. similarly, ms. baez’s accountability pressures stemmed from her deep commitment to helping first-generation college students and how being "surrounded by people that also want[ed] to strive to be the best" intensified these feelings. in this way, though the organization may have set overall goals and accountability measures, enforcement and feelings of accountability were most present from internal regulation amongst teachers themselves. teachers set the standard for effort and dedication, grounded in a deeply held commitment to student learning. such internal accountability was facilitated by the school's collaborative nature, acting as a conduit for alignment across various 68 organizational features such as instructional coaching, curriculum, assessment, and the hiring of staff who shared similar visions of educational equity. teacher reactions to the professional cultures congruence and inauthenticity the tight coupling between goals, instructional vision, and various school elements made confronting neoliberal approaches of organizational professionalism unavoidable for both teachers. moreover, for both teachers, their experiences as students and the varying degrees of congruence (coburn, 2004) between their own beliefs about teaching and those of the necs context influenced how they interpreted organizational professionalism, shaping their overall satisfaction in such contexts. mr. ross, having attended schools with more inquiry-based approaches that emphasized discussion, writing, and critical thinking, found the educational vision at necs limiting, saying that the emphasis on test results was "problematic." the school's discipline system was the primary reason he left edwards prep, feeling that many of the infractions were unjustified, damaged relationships with students, and made him feel "so mean." this incongruence in both teaching and classroom management practices led to feelings of inauthenticity and, coupled with the burdensome workload, resulted in physical and emotional exhaustion that was "unsustainable." though ms. baez was a product of the necs school, she also experienced some incongruence and inauthenticity in the necs environment. she admitted struggles with the provided curriculum and in implementing the discipline system, both of which made her teaching feel inauthentic to an extent. however, ms. baez's experiences in her schooling with warm-demander teachers and strict environments led her to trust the system and to find a hybrid way of teaching that respected both her vision of teaching with the expectations of grimm college prep. the more extensive, though still bounded, autonomy that she had played an essential role in helping her navigate tensions and rectify dissonance in a way that mr. ross could not do in the more rigid and incongruent environment of his school. developmental scaffolding despite challenges, both teachers saw positives to organizational professionalism, especially how rigid structures scaffolded their development. a consistent theme across interviews and classroom visits was how the people and systems at necss made both teachers feel constantly supported. having a provided curriculum was a relief to workload issues, with both explaining that they were initially unprepared to meet the full demands of planning high-quality lessons coming out of their preparation programs. this saved them both time and allowed them to focus energy on establishing classroom norms and refining classroom management skills while learning to plan by modifying the existing lessons. additionally, both teachers attributed much of their development to the instructional coaching and collaboration systems that were part of the necs’s professional cultures. 69 reflecting on experiences in more occupationally oriented contexts this section briefly describes each teacher's time in schools with professional cultures that displayed more occupational professionalism elements. importantly, these experiences gave them a deeper perspective and a framework to compare and interpret their experiences with organizational professionalism in necss. looking back on occupational professionalism from an organizational perspective during her first year after her tpp, ms. baez worked at montero high school, a traditional public school with a more traditional or occupationally oriented professional culture. teachers had high levels of autonomy and little external accountability. administrators were "hands-off," teaching was private, collaboration was nonexistent, and accountability measures, such as observations, were rare and ceremonial. teachers at montero high school actively resisted external regulation, and collaboration across the school was uncommon. pre-announced classroom observations led teachers to prepare and bargain with students beforehand to engage and participate. implementing new initiatives was haphazard, exemplified by the attempts at developing a restorative justice program that left the school chaotic and created "a huge rift between teachers and security guards and administration.” this professional environment pushed her to seek something different. as she explained: "the school i always [saw] myself working at was something like [a traditional public high school]…it was definitely like a public school for a very long time. then i did student teaching in a public school, and i started inching more towards coming back to a [necs]. when i did last year at montero high school, i was like, 'oh, i'm definitely going back to an [necs].'" these experiences with more traditional or occupational professionalism left her feeling that these school environments were professionally "petty" places where teachers talked down about students and each other and where she would struggle. after working in the neoliberal context of grimm college prep, she looked back more and more harshly at the toxic professional culture at montero high school. though she initially described montero high school as a school with many "teachers [who] were really, really good at their job, but [who] just weren't ever able to reach their full potential," her description changed after a few months in a necs. increasingly, she talked about the teachers at montero in more hostile terms, claiming in the final interview that the "older teachers [at montero] really just stunk up every meeting" with their refusal to try new initiatives, something she grew increasingly appreciative of in the necs context. looking back on organization professionalism from an occupational perspective mr. ross offered a different perspective as he left the necs context for chapman academy, the private religious school he attended as a student. this environment was not chaotic like montero high school but had a similar professional culture that more closely resembled the ideals of occupational professionalism. 70 he described an environment of collegiality and only moderate levels of accountability at chapman academy. teachers exercised extensive discretion in their practice, and mr. ross was "shocked" by the "unlimited autonomy" he had at chapman academy, "how little guidance" he received, and the fact that no one ever "check[ed] anything [he was] doing." he was "basically given no curriculum" outside of some available textbooks, leaving him to "[build] courses from the ground up." school leaders were "not very hands-on," observing his classes infrequently, the feedback from which he found "wasn't [as] constructive" as the instructional coaching at edwards prep. the autonomy and collegiality at chapman academy seemed to create a private environment that was "not collaborative at all" and where "everyone [did] their own thing." however, this was not all negative, as mr. ross felt that colleagues would have helped him if requested and that planning courses was a welcome challenge and an opportunity to grow, even if it was "very overwhelming" at times. in general, he felt conflicted in his satisfaction; while he was "really enjoying the job," he felt like his development had stalled, wishing that he was "pushed harder," finding the work "less rewarding and engaging," and missing the "challenge" of teaching at edwards prep. he also yearned for opportunities to collaborate with other teachers reflecting on the isolation he felt at chapman academy as "[his] least favorite part of the school.” over time, his recollections of the previous year in a necs grew increasingly positive. taking the experiences all together, mr. ross looked back and concluded that "coming out of [my tpp], they, edwards prep, prepared me. i don't think i felt prepared coming out of [my tpp]." by the end of the study, he was increasingly confident that "if [he] did not have edwards prep, [he] really [thought that he] would've been screwed this year" at chapman academy as the professional culture in a necs intensified his growth as a teacher and was like "three years of experience in one." discussion and conclusions the current narrative around neoliberal reform's impacts on teacher professionalism revolves around performativity and managerialism as a threat to the ideals of existing teacher professionalism, moving teaching further from an occupational professionalism ideal. though these two cases cannot make generalizable claims about organizational approaches to professionalism in neoliberal schools, they suggest that performativity demands are not necessarily the problem. instead, they suggest that individual teacher congruence with the organizational approaches may lay at the root of teacher satisfaction in these performative contexts, providing an opportunity to reconsider organizational professionalism, especially for novice teachers' development. 71 teacher development in different professional cultures performativity as developmentally positive the performativity demands of necss seemed not to be a significant issue for either teacher; it was the congruence with the school’s overall instructional approach which caused problems, exposing a significant oversight in current thinking that links organizational professionalism to teacher job satisfaction. mr. ross left edwards prep not because of the supervision and accountability but because of incongruence with the school's discipline system and testing emphasis. ms. baez's relative congruence with the approach coupled with the school's bounded autonomy and support allowed her to thrive and improve her practice in a safe yet demanding and professionally satisfying environment. contrary to what current thinking would suggest, they described these pressures as overwhelmingly positive and crucial for their development as teachers, not as demoralizing or as a threat to teacher professionalism. moreover, both teachers were adamant about how the supervision, curriculum, and collaboration in the necs context supported their instructional growth, considering this a major draw or pull-factors towards teaching in such a professional environment. these cases suggest that we reconsider performativity experiences alongside the congruence between school approaches and values and individual teachers. performativity may only be a "terror" when schools force teachers to teach in ways they view as terrible. the performative demands in neoliberal schools and organizational professionalism could even be developmentally appropriate for novice teachers. traditional teacher professionalism as developmental stalling the teachers' comparisons between organizational and occupational professional contexts indicated that schools with wide-ranging autonomy, lack of oversight, and minimal standardization created either chaotic or unmotivating spaces where novices either floundered or stagnated in isolation. this also runs counter to literature that idealizes aspects of occupational professionalism, suggesting that such wide-ranging autonomy and discretion might be detrimental to novice teacher development (for more on instructional development in these more and less organized contexts, see waychunas, 2022). subcultures of occupational professionalism within organizationally professional neoliberal contexts as with a nesting doll, the exterior view of a necs seemed to be a clear example of organizational professionalism, yet inside lay something different. considering the impact of neoliberal reforms on teacher professionalism, these teachers' experiences in the necs contexts suggested a paradox where organizational approaches spurred the development of occupationally professional subcultures where collective responsibility and collaboration flourished within an environment with bounded autonomy for teachers. if occupational professionalism requires a foundational knowledge base and a lengthy apprenticeship period, 72 then the neoliberal spaces paradoxically built this through managerial methods. instead of threatening teacher professionalism, managerialism and establishing contexts with organizational professional cultures actually might serve as a pathway towards professionalizing teaching, perhaps a distinct path as theorized by mehta and teles (2014) in their description of plural professionalism. shared vision, language, and knowledge base generation clarity around what constitutes good teaching is critical for creating successful schools (i.e., johnson, 2019). in these two cases, we see how, in organizationally oriented schools, an instructional vision manifests through school structures, such as instructional coaching, curricular materials, and collaborative efforts. the neoliberal approaches to schooling clarified best practices with shared goals, a common language about teaching, and outcome metrics, resulting in the sharing of a knowledge base. the specificity of this vision allowed for the creation, refinement, and transmission of practices and materials that help meet these expressed goals. as both teachers refined their practice through rounds of reflection, coaching, and revision of curricular materials, they generated their own knowledge bases for teaching, the sharing of which seems possible through extensive collaboration efforts. additionally, the careful testing, development, and sharing of curriculum described in other literature about necss (mehta & fine, 2019; pondiscio, 2019) suggests that schools with cultures of organizational professionalism could contribute to the development of a knowledge base for particular instructional visions. extending and strengthening teacher education through scaffolded autonomy perhaps unexpectedly, these cases suggest that rather than being a threat to the profession by undermining teacher training, neoliberal approaches of necss to school organization professionalism, in effect, extended teacher preparation through apprenticeship and scaffolded autonomy. this can address long-standing concerns about teacher preparation being disjointed (i.e., ball & forzani, 2009; denscombe, 1982) and too short (feiman-nemser, 2001; holmes group, 1986). this occurrence is deliberate and unintentional. the necss in this study created scaffolds that directly addressed the typical needs of novice teachers, such as in planning, knowing how to improve one’s practice, and classroom management (veenman, 1984), by providing curriculum, discipline systems, and extensive instructional coaching. thus, rather than being exclusively stifling, the bounded autonomy gave their teaching direction while allowing them to deliver at least minimally effective lessons. mehta and fine (2019) refer to this as creating a “high floor” where resources unburden teachers, with the initial goal being to ensure a standard level of instruction. while the approaches of necss are problematic in many ways, they offer insights into how such organized schools support beginning teachers. the coherent visions of the schools 73 and the aligned systems and resources created consistency between classrooms and served as a highly scaffolded and developmentally appropriate step for novice teachers’ instructional development. accountability, collective responsibility, and collaboration among the most surprising findings of this study was how the organizational approach to teacher professionalism cultivated environments of responsibility, collaboration, and collegiality. both teachers saw themselves as part of efforts greater than themselves. the collaboration and standardization in necss created a culture of mutual responsibility towards the school’s mission, not just because of top-down mandates or policies, but because teachers felt compelled as an obligation to their students and colleagues. seeing and working with others who held themselves to such high standards apprenticed these beginning teachers into a collegial and collectively responsible professional culture, meaning that this occupational subculture was internally enforced and powerfully transmitted to newcomers. considering how both teachers experienced more traditional teacher professionalism, organizational approaches used in neoliberal schools may not be inherently adversarial towards occupational professionalism. on the contrary, organizational approaches may create a secure environment where occupationally oriented values can take root. balancing autonomy, mobility, accountability, and school organization while both teachers agreed that the professional culture and organization of the necss accelerated their development, their job satisfaction and corresponding mobility decisions were quite different. teacher congruence with a school’s instructional vision played a prominent role in determining satisfaction, with incongruence leading to dissatisfaction and turnover. yet, despite incongruence and dissatisfaction at a necs, mr. ross still insisted that these schools accelerated his development, raising questions about the relationship between teacher learning, school organization, and satisfaction. why might this be? autonomy seemed to play a mediating role in determining teacher satisfaction. while standardization and bounded autonomy enabled and guided practice, teacher incongruence with the established "bounds" was emotionally taxing, leading to turnover. however, ms. baez’s semi-congruence with the necs approaches and more extensive autonomy created a space where she could navigate the conflict between the school's vision and her own beliefs. if these schools had changed their formulas and traded school coherence for absolute teacher autonomy and discretion, how might that have influenced satisfaction, development, and ultimately, individual mobility decisions? this raises important questions about how much autonomy is appropriate for teachers. when is more structure needed, and why? when are teachers “ready” for more independence? is this dilemma between teacher autonomy, satisfaction, and turnover at odds with research saying that schoolwide alignment is crucial to improving outcomes (newman et al., 2001; 74 peurach et al., 2019)? how can we balance the seemingly contradictory needs for teacher autonomy and satisfaction while also organizing and improving schools? shulman (1983) wondered something similar: if the responsible and effective teacher must be both free and obligated, how shall we define the proper mix of those typically incompatible virtues? do we risk tyranny from above to achieve needed order and equity? or do we foster liberty and autonomy while thereby risking anarchy and chaos?...can we devise a system in which teachers are both responsible and free? (p. 486) this is not a simple answer, but neoliberal choice reforms may have a potential solution to offer. teachers self-selecting into schools whose values they are willing to uphold, as happened with these two cases, could make accountability feel less coercive, raise teacher satisfaction, and create school-wide alignment where occupational subcultures flourish. in this light, teacher turnover could signify burgeoning school coherence as a school aligns its vision with resources and systems, ultimately shedding unaligned staff. however, satisfaction and turnover are further complicated when considering congruence and creating organized schools. whether the schools or teachers in each situation have the “right” educational vision is highly subjective. one also cannot assume that teachers will sort into schools with the most equitable visions and practices, just as turnover could be a sign of teachers rejecting an unjust or cruel instructional approach. in this light, teacher turnover, rather than being a sign of coherence taking root, can also signal teachers leaving a mismanaged and chaotic environment. this suggests we make several considerations when examining efforts at reform and how they balance the often-conflicting demands of teacher autonomy and satisfaction with school improvement initiatives. first, we should not consider teacher turnover to be inherently harmful, nor should teacher satisfaction and retention be assumed to be always desirable. similarly, creating and maintaining school coherence should be equally scrutinized regarding what they are cohering around and how they create such alignment. it seems then that as researchers continue to study neoliberal reforms, we should be careful to check our assumptions and examine the biases that we bring to such work while also holding equity and educational justice as a lens that guides our work, not only bringing injustice to light but illuminating facets of excellence that are otherwise obscured by traditional thinking or our own preconceived notions. these cases are an example of just this: though assumptions about neoliberalism color their appearance from the outside, inside, they offer glimpses of how we might create professional spaces where teachers are both responsible and free while also avoiding the tyranny and chaos shulman feared. the “no-excuses” model investigated in this study is only one example of a coherent school, as others exist and can be imagined that have different approaches but similarly strong professional cultures (mehta & fine, 2019) where teachers can exercise bounded autonomy within environments of accountability. 75 future research and reform efforts must be careful in walking this tightrope, ensuring that what we organize around is equitable and promotes educational justice while simultaneously empowering teachers and not compromising too much for the sake of teacher satisfaction and retention. this is not to say that this is an easy task, but as this study suggests, it is possible to create environments where teachers are happy, have autonomy, and are accountable. disclosure and conflicts of interest the author discloses no conflicts of interest. references anderson, g., & cohen, m. 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(2010). competition, economic rationalization, increased surveillance, and attacks on diversity: neo-liberalism and the transformation of teacher education in the u.s. teaching and teacher education, 26(8), 1544-1552. microsoft word 1-22-vanoverschelde-piatt research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 june 2020 volume: 2 issue: 1 pp. 1-22 u.s. every student succeeds act: negative impacts on teaching out-of-field james p. van overschelde*1 & amy n. piatt1 * corresponding author e-mail: jv23@txstate.edu 1. texas state university, college of education, san marcos, tx, usa. article info received: march 31, 2020 revised: may 06, 2020 accepted: may 06, 2020 this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). how to cite van overschelde, j. p. & piatt, a. (2020). u.s. every student succeeds: negative impacts on teaching out-of-field. research in educational policy and management, 2(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.02.01.1 abstract every student succeeds act (essa) requires states to ensure the equitable distribution of out-of-field teachers. using over 180 million student-course-teacher records from texas between 2011-12 and 2017-18, we found out-of-field teaching rates have increased dramatically since essa became law. we also found vast inequities in which teachers are assigned to teach out-offield and dramatic differences in student out-of-field coursetaking rates across demographic characteristics. the strongest predictors of teachers teaching out-of-field is that they work in a charter school or completed alternative certification programs. black teachers and students are most likely to teach and take courses out-of-field, and latinx teachers and students are least likely. policy implications are considered given negative impacts of out-of-field teaching on student academic achievement. keywords every student succeeds act (essa); united states; teacher training; student performance. 10.46303/repam.02.01.1 2 introduction when teachers teach classes for which they are not certified, they are teaching out-of-field (du plessis, 2005; 2015; ingersoll, 2000; 2019; monk, 1994). out-of-field teaching is not a characteristic of the teacher, but a description of the misalignment of a teacher’s qualifications and a class subject being taught. for example, a teacher certified to teach chemistry and assigned to teach a chemistry class is teaching this class in-field, whereas this same teacher assigned to teach algebra ii would be teaching this class out-of-field. ingersoll (1999) argued that assigning teachers to teach out-of-field was equivalent to requiring “cardiologists to deliver babies, real estate lawyers to defend criminal cases, chemical engineers to design bridges, or sociology professors to teach english” (pg. 34). in the usa, the issue of out-of-field teaching has been recognized as a problem for more than half a century (national commission on teacher education and professional standards, 1965) and the topic is a subject of much current domestic and international research (e.g., du plessis, 2018; hobbs & törner, 2019; ingersoll, 2019; weldon, 2016; zhou, 2014). out-of-field teaching is a problem for several reasons. when teachers lack the requisite knowledge and skills to teach a particular subject they generally engage in lower-quality instructional practices (du plessis, 2015). when this happens, students experience less academic growth (clotfelter et al., 2010). out-of-field teaching is more difficult and stressful on teachers and they are, therefore, more likely to leave the profession (donaldson & johnson, 2010). one of the major pieces of u.s. federal legislation to substantially address the problem of out-of-field teaching was the no child left behind act of 2001 (nclb). nclb attempted to reduce the number of teachers assigned to teach out-of-field by increasing the statutory requirements for what constitutes a qualified teacher. under nclb, teachers were considered highly qualified if, and only if, they had at least a bachelor’s degree, full state certification, and demonstrated competency in the course subject being taught (nclb, sec 7801[23][b][ii]). a teacher certified to teach chemistry and teaching a chemistry class was considered highly qualified under nclb, whereas that same teacher teaching an algebra ii class was considered not qualified or underqualified. in 2015, the every student succeeds act (essa) replaced nclb. one of its main goals was to increase local control by states and school districts under the assumption that this freedom from federal legislative mandates would increase student achievement, improve teacher quality, and provide previously underserved students with more effective teachers (essa, sec 2001). instead of requiring highly qualified teachers like nclb, essa requires the distribution of ineffective or out-of-field teachers to be equitable between lowand higher-income children and between white and minority children (sec. 1111[g][1][b]). in other words, it is acceptable to have ineffective teachers or teachers teaching out-of-field provided the distributed across student groups is equal. essa also requires state education agencies to 3 define effective teaching (sec. 1111[e][1][b][iii][x]) and to report annually on the distribution of effective teachers to ensure equity (sec. 1111[g][1][b]; robinson, 2018). to determine whether essa resulted in the equitable distribution of teachers teaching out-of-field to different student groups, we analyzed over 180,000,000 student-teacher-course records from 2011 to 2018 from the texas education research center (erc). the longitudinal nature of these data allowed us to examine changes in out-of-field teaching rates during the last four years of nclb and the first four years of essa. as we document below, the rate of out-of-field teaching was relatively stable under nclb but has increased significantly since the passage of essa. we also examined whether essa resulted in the equitable distribution of qualified teachers to students and of teachers to classes. we found that students of color, low socioeconomic students, students receiving special education services, and students in charter and rural schools are significantly more likely to take classes taught out-of-field. we also found that male teachers, black teachers, teachers at charter and rural schools, and teachers who completed alternative certification programs (acp) are significantly more likely to be assigned to teach out-of-field. these finding are in direct conflict with the stated purpose of essa. the student academic achievement and policy implications of these findings are explored. background literature teaching out-of-field occurs when “teachers [are] assigned to teach subjects for which they have inadequate training and qualifications” (ingersoll, 2019 p 21). this misassignment of teachers to classes is largely the responsibility of the school principal (carey & farris, 1994; ingersoll, 1993, 2019). the states define the certifications that teachers must hold to be considered qualified to teach. subject-specific degrees and subject-specific teaching certifications have been conventionally used in research studies of out-of-field teaching (darling-hammond & youngs, 2002; dee & cohodes, 2008; goldhaber & brewer, 1997b; goldhaber & brewer, 2000; hill, 2011; porsch & whanell, 2019). like other states, texas publishes rules for what certifications are required to teach each subject and/or grade level. why teaching out-of-field matters out-of-field teaching assignments matter for many important reasons and each will be in examined in more detail next. to summarize, teachers engage in lower quality instructional practices when teaching out-of-field, student experience less learning when taught out-offield, and teachers experience more stress and are more likely to leave the profession. student success first and most important, out-of-field teaching matters because when students take classes that are taught out-of-field, the students are generally less successful and show less academic growth (chaney, 1995; clotfelter, ladd, & vigdor, 2010; dee & cohodes, 2008; goldhaber & 4 brewer, 2000; ingersoll, perda, & may, forthcoming, as cited in ingersoll, 2019; raudenbush, fotiu, & cheong, 1999; riordan, 2009). clotfelter and colleagues (clotfelter et al., 2010) used rich, statewide, longitudinal data from north carolina to compute value-added scores using end-of-course tests to examine student academic growth and found that high school students did significantly and substantially better when they took classes taught in-field compared to those taught out-offield. in fact, the positive effect of in-field teaching on student achievement was stronger than most teacher qualifications variables including years of teaching experience, graduate degree attainment, competitiveness of undergraduate university, licensure test scores, and national board certification status (see table 4, clotfelter et al., 2010). they concluded that the inequitable distribution of qualified teacher to students contributes substantially to high school achievement gaps across student race and income levels. using a small national dataset from the national education longitudinal study of 1988 (nels:88), dee and cohodes (2008) examined grade 8 student achievement in english, math, science, and social studies. they found that students who took math and social studies classes taught in-field did significantly better academically than students who took them outof-field, and the magnitude of the benefit of in-field teaching was greater for students in urban schools, low-income students, and male students. the positive benefits were also found for students at different academic levels. specifically, in almost every case, lowerand higherperforming students benefitted equally from taking in-field classes; conversely, all students were negatively affected by out-of-field classes. they found no relationship between in-field class status and achievement for english and science. goldhaber and brewer (2000) used a subset of the nels:88 data and found that grade 12 students who took math or science in-field received significantly higher scores than students taught out-of-field. this pattern of results is similar to goldhaber and brewer (1997a, 1997b) and monk and king (1994). ingersoll, perda, and may (forthcoming; as cited in ingersoll, 2019) examined national assessment of educational progress (naep) scores in reading, math, science, geography, and history and found that students scored significantly higher on all tests when they took classes infield compared to classes out-of-field. riordan (2009) used a small, nationally representative sample of data about a cohort of kindergartners from the early childhood longitudinal study of kindergartners (ecls-k) and found that students showed higher academic achievement in both reading and math when they were taught by in-field teachers compared to those taught by out-of-field teachers. this positive benefit was cumulative from kindergarten to grade 3 with each year of in-field classes positively contributing to the students’ academic achievement. conversely, students were negatively impacted by taking classes taught out-of-field and the negative impact accumulated thereby contributing to achievement gaps. 5 in summary, when students take classes taught in-field they learn more than when classes are taught out-of-field, and the positive effect of in-field classes is cumulative. in most studies, the benefit exists across all class subjects. lower quality instruction when teachers lack sufficient training and certification in the subjects they are teaching (i.e., teaching out-of-field), they often lack the requisite pedagogical content knowledge (pck) and engage in lower quality instruction (baumert et al., 2010; hashweh, 1987; hobbs, 2013; ingersoll, 1999; jones & carter, 2007; sanders et al., 1993). researchers have found that teachers, when teaching out-of-field, were more likely to rely on textbooks and workbooks for their lesson plans and they engaged in superficial instructional practices. those with higher content knowledge created their own lesson plan, scaffolded the current material with prior content, and supplemented the textbook material with creative classroom activities and materials. by connecting different topics and engaging in creative activities, the teachers teaching in-field gave their students the chance to learn subjects in a dynamic way that was able to keep students’ interest in the topic for a longer period of time. several studies have directly shown that teaching out-of-field is a characteristic of the alignment of teacher to class and not a characteristic of the teacher. for example, sanders et al. (1993) studied teachers who taught both in-field classes and out-of-field classes. when the teachers were teaching in-field, they had well-rehearsed, finely tuned lessons, presented concepts in multiple ways, and responded to student questions in richer, more effective ways. these same teachers, when teaching out-of-field spent more time trying to explain the content and concepts, were more likely to recite definitions, and struggled to respond to student questions. similarly, hashweh (1987) conducted a study involving teachers of chemistry and physics classes where one subject was taught in-field and the other was taught out-of-field. when the teachers taught in-field they were better able to scaffold the material and build on students’ prior knowledge. when teaching out-of-field, they tended to simply follow textbook material and use textbook activities regardless of student ability. the quality of the questions that teachers asked their students also varied. when teaching in-field, the teacher asked questions that required students to synthesize concepts, whereas when these same teachers were teaching out-of-field they asked more surface-level, recall-type questions. student learning environment out-of-field teaching assignments can result in less effective learning environments (e.g., du plessis, 2015; 2016). first, pck (how to teach a particular subject) is important for successfully engaging students (hobbs, 2013) and teachers teaching out-of-field are less likely to have the requisite pck (du plessis, 2015). second, teachers who are insecure about their own subjectmatter knowledge are more likely to act defensively in class, which causes tension between them and their students (du plessis, 2016). as tensions rise, emotional support for students decreases and these changes can negatively affect students’ self-efficacy, happiness, motivation, and self-reliance (blazar & kraft, 2017; pianta & hamre, 2009). 6 students’ attitude toward and enjoyment of a subject can be negatively affected by outof-field teaching (blazar & kraft, 2017; du plessis, 2016; cf., clotfelter et al., 2010). a positive attitude toward a class subject helps students learn better and they have higher test scores as a result (chaney, 1995). when a teacher has insufficient pck, it is often difficult for them to make the material relevant to students because they lack the knowledge necessary to connect the lesson to the outside world (du plessis, 2016). instead, teachers are more likely to rely on textbook materials and activities. as students realize that their teacher is not confident in their subject knowledge, students become less confident or interested in the class (du plessis, 2016). teacher attrition teachers who are assigned out-of-field classes are more likely to leave the profession than teachers who are assigned in-field classes (e.g., donaldson & johnson, 2010). this higher attrition rate is partially due to the stigmas and frustrations teachers experience by being assigned to teach classes for which they were not trained. teachers with out-of-field assignments are more likely to report a lower quality of work life, stronger feelings of professional alienation, lower professional status, and limited chances to use their professional training (sharplin, 2014). even when teachers reported some benefits from teaching out-offield (e.g., learning a new subject), they still report experiencing more satisfaction from in-field assignments than out-of-field assignments (sharplin, 2014). steyn and du plessis (2007) found that experienced teachers who were given out-of-field assignments perceived themselves to be not effective and therefore unsuccessful. for teachers who are struggling with their out-offield class assignment, an unsupportive principal exacerbates their dissatisfaction (du plessis, 2016; steyn & du plessis, 2007). sharplin (2014) found that a lack of support from colleagues also exacerbated the teachers’ negative feelings about their out-of-field assignments. subject and school differences the extant literature shows that the rate of out-of-field teaching varies across a host of variables including class subject, school characteristics, teacher characteristics, and student characteristics. several studies have found out-of-field teaching rates were higher in math (hill, 2011; hill & dalton, 2013) and science (nixon, luft, & ross, 2017) than in english and social studies. for example, using national survey data from the school and staffing survey (sass: 2007-08), hill (2011) found that 37% of teachers of high school math classes were teaching out-of-field, whereas 29% of teachers of english, and 26% of teachers of science and of social studies were teaching out-of-field. hill and dalton (2013) found that grade 9 students who were low-achieving in math were significantly more likely to be assigned teachers teaching out-of-field than higher-achieving students. nixon et al. (2017; see also ingersoll, 1999; lock, salt, & soares, 2011) examined data on 128 new middleor high-school science teachers during their first five years teaching and found 64% of these teachers teaching at least one class out-of-field. they also found that teachers in urban schools and in high schools 7 taught higher percentages of class out-of-field, compared to suburban schools and middle schools, respectively. out-of-field teaching rates have varied across student characteristics. students who were english language learners or who received special education services were more likely to take classes out-of-field (lankford, loeb, & wyckoff, 2002; nixon et al., 2017; seastrom et al., 2004; ramsay, 2018). students’ ethnicity is also correlated with out-of-field teaching. ingersoll (2008) found 30% of math classes in secondary schools were taught out-of-field if the school had a majority of students of color, whereas only 16% of math classes were taught out-of-field if the school was majority white. particular types of schools are also more likely to have a higher percentage of out-of-field classes, and the rates vary by school location and the demographic characteristics of the students in the schools. out-of-field teaching rates were higher in rural and urban settings than in suburban settings (ee-gyeong, 2011; ingersoll & curran, 2004; jimerson, 2003; nixon et al., 2017; sharplin, 2014; zhou, 2014) and higher in schools with large percentages of lowincome students or students of color than wealthier schools or schools with large percentages of white students (boyd et al., 2013; ingersoll, 2008; ingersoll, gruber, & american institutes for research in the behavioral sciences, 1996; jerald & education trust, 2002; lankford, loeb, & wyckoff, 2002). for example, ingersoll (2008) found that 27% of class in core subjects in high-poverty schools were taught out-of-field, compared to 14% in low-poverty schools. in addition, schools with majority students of color were 40% more likely classes taught out-offield compared to majority white schools. teachers also face different rates of out-of-field teaching assignments. out-of-field teaching is more common among male teachers than female teachers (butler, 2013) and higher for younger/less experienced teachers than older/more experienced teachers (ni riordain, & hannigan, 2011). butler (2013) found that 12% of male teachers were teaching out-of-field compared to 6% for female teachers. ingersoll (1999) found that teachers with fewer than 5 years of experience were teaching out-of-field at higher rates than teachers with 25 or more years of experience. federal regulations the two most recent federal omnibus education bills (nclb and essa) have attempted to address the problem of out-of-field teaching. nclb did so by federally mandating teacher qualifications for teaching courses and essa did so by giving states unlimited control over defining teacher qualifications for each course. these changes created a natural experiment to enable us to examine the impact of federal mandates versus state autonomy on the equitable distribution of certified teachers to different student groups. no child left behind act of 2001 nclb was a major overhaul to the elementary and secondary education act (esea, 1965) that federally regulates p-12 education in the united states. one of nclb’s primary goals was to 8 “ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments” (sec. 1001). under nclb, every teacher hired after 2002 had to be highly qualified and by the end of the 2005-06 school year, 100% of teachers in core academic subjects had to be highly qualified. highly qualified teachers in middle or secondary grade levels must hold at least a bachelor’s degree and demonstrate a high-level of competence on rigorous state subject-specific licensure tests in each academic subject the teacher teaches (sec. 9101[23]). the core academic subjects were codified as english, reading, language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography. a teacher was considered teaching outof-field if assigned to teach a class for which the teacher was not highly qualified – certified to teach that class. requiring schools to only hire highly qualified teachers increased competition for teachers in core subjects and some labor markets (e.g., rural or poor communities). highly qualified teachers could then be more selective of the types of schools in which they worked; they could select schools with greater resources and easier teaching assignments. this increased competition forced schools to compete more to hire teachers from the now-limited pool of highly qualified teachers, but poor schools had fewer resources to compete and every school had the same timeline to produce results (riordan, 2009). once schools realized that they could not guarantee that all their teachers would be highly qualified by the deadline, states began requesting waivers from the federal government. although 33 states reported that the percentage of highly qualified teachers had increased to over 90% by the 2004-05 school year, high-poverty schools and schools with large non-white populations had persistently greater percentages of unqualified teachers compared to wealthier or white schools (birman et al., 2007). every student succeeds act essa was introduced in april 2015 and replaced nclb in december 2015. similar to nclb, its main purpose is to “provide all children significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education and to close educational achievement gaps” (sec 1001). however, essa removed the requirement that teachers be highly qualified and instead it had the goal of increasing the number of teachers “who are effective in improving student academic achievement in schools” (sec. 2001). given the extant literature on the negative impacts of out-of-field teaching on student academic achievement and achievement gaps, an out-of-field teaching assignment would not meet these criteria. the essa authors seem to agree because states are required to submit plans that describe “how low-income and minority children” … “are not served at disproportionate rates by ineffective, out-of-field, or inexperienced teachers” (sec. 1111). any inequity identified in the distribution of out-of-field teachers must be addressed in a state’s plan. in addition, school districts must provide parents with “timely notice that the student has been assigned, or has been taught for 4 or more consecutive weeks by, a teacher who does not meet applicable state certification or licensure 9 requirements at the grade level and subject area in which the teacher has been assigned” sec. 1112[e][1][b]). essa defined the core academic subjects in the exact same way as nclb. research questions this present study addresses many of the critiques of prior out-of-field studies (ingersoll, 2019) because it involves real-world, student-teacher-class assignment data, teaching certification/licensure records for each teacher, and an explicit state map between teaching certifications and class assignments. using a statewide dataset from the second largest state in the usa, the primary purpose of this study is to longitudinally examine in-field versus out-offield teaching rates across subjects, secondary grade levels, teacher characteristics, and student characteristics. we examine these rates during the last four years of nclb and the first four years of essa to see if the rates changed in response to changes in the federal legislation. the specific research questions (rq) being answered are as follows: 1. what percentage of classes in grades 7 to grade 12 are taught out-of-field, by subject from 2011 to 2018? 2. is there an equitable assignment of teachers to out-of-field classes? 3. is there an equitable distribution of students to out-of-field classes? methodology data data for this study were obtained from the texas p-20 education and workforce data warehouse housed in the education research center (erc) at the university of houston. the erc holds 27+ years of person-level but de-identified and longitudinally linkable education and workforce records from the two state education agencies and the state’s workforce agency. since fall of 2011, the state has collected detailed, class-level data for all 5+ million p-12 students and these records can be linked to a particular teacher, in a particular classroom, subject, and during a particular period of the day/week. permission to access these confidential studentand teacher-level data was granted by the erc advisory board. teacher certification before in-field or out-of-field teaching assignments could be determined, the specific teaching certificates appropriate for each class were identified using the state’s published assignment standards (texas administrative code [tac], §231). the texas education agency (tea) created an explicit teacher-qualification map between the teacher certifications required to teach each subject. in texas, teacher certifications overlap at different grade levels. for example, the elementary teaching certificates are early childhood (ec) through grade 6, whereas the middle-grade teaching certificates are grades 4-8. the secondary teaching certificates can be grades 6-12, 7-12, or 8-12 depending on the subject matter. these tac rules were used to determine whether a teacher was teaching in-field or out-of-field for students enrolled in 10 grades 7-12 from fall of 2011 to spring 20181. we also added information from the teacher certification data about the type of teacher preparation program that the person completed. apparently in response to essa, the texas legislature passed a bill in june 2015 (house bill 1842; see also, texas education code, chapter 12a) that enabled districts to become “districts of innovation.” this legislation gave districts the authority to not comply with tac 231 – the certification-class requirements for teachers (see sec. 12a.003 and 12a.004). participants three different datasets were created to answer the different research questions. the method used to create each dataset is described in detail next. class dataset to answer the first research question, a class-level dataset was built. from a master dataset of over 400 million unique student-class-school-school year records for all texas students enrolled between fall 2011 and spring 2018, we extracted 180,273,585 records for students only in grades 7-12. a year-long course like english i is two semesters long and one record exists for each semester. by contrast, english classes in grades 7 and 8 were often listed as a single course for the entire school year and therefore only one course record existed. from this student-class sample, we identified 14,919,527 unique classes2. we matched teacher employment data for 13,407,237 of these class records (90%) for 271,330 unique teachers. we matched teacher demographic information for 13,282,833 (89%) class records. using the state’s educator certification licensure data, we then matched all valid, non-expired teaching certifications to each teacher of each classes using the state’s publish licensure course/subject/grade standards (tac 231). for brevity and for consistency with nclb and essa, this was done only for the core subjects and any other subjects that were in the top 25 most frequently taken class subjects (see table 1; minimum class count was at least 24,000). teacher dataset to answer rq2, a teacher-level dataset was built. from the class dataset, we extracted each unique combination of teacher and school year and computed the number of classes taught and the percentage of classes taught out-of-field for the core or frequent subjects. student dataset to answer rq3, a student-level dataset was built. from the master dataset, we extracted each unique combination of student id and school year, again only for students in grades 7-12. this resulted in 15,394,115 unique student-school year combinations. we then calculated for each student the number of classes taken and the percentage of these courses taken out-of-field, for the core or frequent subjects. 11 table 1: number of classes taught by subject and percentage taught out-of-field rank subject number of classes percentage taught out-of-field 1 music 634,204 5.0% 2 agriculture 194,968 9.4% 3 theater 236,273 10.2% 4 dance 103,726 11.1% 5 art 499,964 14.7% 6 french 73,150 16.2% 7 science 569,907 19.3% 8 physics 278,346 23.0% 9 biology 445,755 24.4% 9 math 2,058,826 24.4% 9 chemistry 360,069 24.4% 12 reading 319,986 26.2% 13 english 2,121,281 26.7% 14 geography 380,817 30.9% 15 history 1,166,007 31.3% 16 health 155,198 33.2% 17 spanish 765,989 34.6% 17 physical education 1,295,166 34.6% 19 speech 123,956 37.2% 20 government 168,767 38.4% 21 psychology 39,431 41.3% 22 social studies 32,012 41.7% 23 sociology 24,169 45.6% 24 physics/chemistry 150,120 47.0% 25 earth science 28,924 53.5% analyses to answer research question 1, we conducted descriptive analyses. to answer rq2, we conducted an ols regression using the percentage of classes teachers assigned to teach outof-field as the dv and with the following independent variables (ivs) about teachers: female (1=yes); ethnicity variables for black, latinx, and other-ethnicities (1=yes; white was reference); degree level; years of teaching experience; age as of september 1 of that school year; number of classes taught; type of teacher preparation program completed; and pedagogy licensure test score. it also contained ivs for each school year from 2011-12 to 2017 12 18 (2014-15 was reference), nine variables for district type (suburban was reference), and two variables for school type (middle, combined; high school was reference). for rq3, we again used an ols regression model with the percentage of courses taken out-of-field as the dv and the following student ivs: female (1=yes); ethnicity variables for black, latinx, and other-ethnicity (1=yes); economic disadvantaged status (1=yes); english language learner status (1=yes); special education services status (1=yes); number of classes taken. the same school year and district type variables from rq2 were included. results research question 1 the results for research question 1 about subject-specific out-of-field teaching rates are presented in table 1 and the subjects are listed in order from the lowest out-of-field teaching rates to the highest. as can be seen, music has the lowest level of out-of-field teaching (rank=1) followed by agriculture (rank=2), and then followed by theater, dance, and arts (ranks=3-5). only 5.0% of the 634,204 music classes were taught out-of-field. following french (rank=6) are the stem subjects of science (rank=7), physics (rank=8), and biology, math, and chemistry tied (rank=9). given the over 2 million math classes in this dataset, this means that over 500,000 classes were taught out-of-field. over 19% of science classes were taught out-of-field, and almost 25% of biology, math, and chemistry. reading and english came in at 12 and 13 with 26-27% of classes being taught out-of-field. physical education comes in at 17 with 35% of the 1.3 million classes taught out-of-field (~445,000 classes). the highest rates of out-of-field teaching occurs with earth science classes where a majority of courses (53%) are taught out-of-field. research question 2 the results of the ols regression to answer research question 2 are shown in table 2. the overall model was highly significant f(28,511984) = 927.22, r2 = 0.05. overall, the distribution of out-of-field teaching assignments is not equitable and varies substantially and significantly by teacher characteristics. we present the results in the order of strongest to weakest predictor of the rate of teaching out-of-field. teachers employed by charter schools are assigned the highest percentage of classes outof-field – 17% more classes were taught out-of-field compared to a teacher employed by a suburban, non-charter school (b = 17.07, t = 60.93, p < 0.001). teachers who were alternatively prepared were significantly more likely to be assigned to teach out-of-field (b = 6.72, t = 58.37, p < 0.001). teachers in rural schools were assigned out-of-field classes at higher rates than teachers in suburban school (b = 11.43, t = 47.20, p < 0.001). black teachers were assigned to teach out-of-field at higher rates than white teachers (b = 7.08, t = 43.89, p < 0.001), whereas latinx teachers (b = -1.99, t = -16.31, p < 0.001) and other-ethnicity teachers (b = -2.76, t = 10.89, p < 0.001) taught more classes in-field than white teachers. older teachers taught more 13 classes out-of-field than younger teachers (b = 0.27, t = 43.11, p < 0.001). teachers who have higher scores on the state’s pedagogy and professional responsibility licensure test taught higher percentages of classes in-field (b = -0.11, t = -37.56, p < 0.001). the rate of out-of-field teaching was not significantly different between 2015 and the other school years from 201112 through 2016-17. however, teachers working in 2017-18 were assigned to teach out-offield at a significantly higher rate (b = 0.41, t = 2.29, p = 0.02). table 2: regression results for percentage of classes taught out-of-field by teacher and campus characteristics. dv=percentage out-of-field coef. std. err. t p>|t| female -1.34 0.099 -13.54 0.000 black 7.08 0.161 43.89 0.000 latinx -1.99 0.122 -16.31 0.000 other -2.76 0.253 -10.89 0.000 degree -1.76 0.109 -16.06 0.000 teaching experience -0.29 0.013 -21.54 0.000 age 0.27 0.006 43.11 0.000 alternative certification preparation 6.72 0.115 58.37 0.000 out-of-state preparation 0.05 0.195 0.26 0.795 post-bacc preparation -0.40 0.186 -2.18 0.029 number of classes 0.26 0.007 37.44 0.000 2011-12 -0.09 0.181 -0.50 0.615 2012-13 -0.02 0.175 -0.09 0.928 2013-14 0.25 0.173 1.45 0.148 2015-16 -0.16 0.173 -0.93 0.354 2016-17 0.29 0.176 1.65 0.099 2017-18 0.41 0.179 2.29 0.022 urban -0.45 0.144 -3.09 0.002 central 1.72 0.149 11.55 0.000 central suburban 2.21 0.156 14.23 0.000 independent 3.39 0.240 14.15 0.000 fast 7.69 0.604 12.72 0.000 stable 5.60 0.213 26.31 0.000 rural 11.43 0.242 47.20 0.000 charter 17.07 0.280 60.93 0.000 middle school -2.22 0.108 -20.49 0.000 combined 1.36 0.235 5.78 0.000 pedagogy test score -0.11 0.003 -37.56 0.000 _cons 66.83 0.806 82.93 0.000 research question 3 the results of the ols regression to answer research question 3 are shown in table 3. as can be seen, students enrolled in texas public school in 2017-18 took a significantly higher 14 percentages of classes out-of-field relative to 2014-15 (b = 17.93, t = 961.45, p < 0.001). for students who took six classes in a school year, this change means students took more than one additional class out-of-field than they took just four years early. students who were enrolled in charter schools took a higher percentage of courses out-of-field – 1.3 more classes (b = 22.27, t = 817.61, p < 0.001). students receiving special education services took more classes out-offield than their matched peers (b = 8.05, t = 448.97, p < 0.001). students in rural schools took more classes out-of-field compared to students in suburban schools (b = 7.02, t = 238.43, p < 0.001), whereas students in urban schools took fewer out-of-field classes than their suburban peers (b = -0.77, t = -50.53, p < 0.001). black students took significantly more classes out-offield than white students (b =2.44, t = 136.36, p < 0.001), but latinx students (b = -0.32, t = 23.61.61, p < 0.001) and other-ethnicity students (b = -0.66, t = -29.46, p < 0.001) took fewer out-of-field classes than white students. female students took fewer out-of-field classes than male students, all else being equal (b = -0.30, t = -29.95, p < 0.001). students from low-income families took more out-of-field classes than their wealthier peers (b = 1.05, t = 91.16, p < 0.001). table 3: regression results for percentage of classes taken out-of-field by student and campus characteristics. pct_classes coef. std. err. t p>|t| ecodis 1.05 0.012 91.16 0.000 ell 3.15 0.017 189.71 0.000 sped 8.05 0.018 448.97 0.000 classes taken 0.04 0.001 37.19 0.000 female -0.30 0.010 -29.95 0.000 black 2.44 0.018 136.36 0.000 latinx -0.32 0.013 -23.61 0.000 other -0.66 0.022 -29.46 0.000 2011-12 -2.80 0.019 -145.27 0.000 2012-13 -2.10 0.019 -109.91 0.000 2013-14 -0.97 0.019 -51.17 0.000 2015-16 0.83 0.019 44.05 0.000 2016-17 1.33 0.019 70.98 0.000 2017-18 17.93 0.019 961.45 0.000 urban -0.77 0.015 -50.53 0.000 central -0.08 0.016 -5.44 0.000 central suburban 1.17 0.016 72.80 0.000 independent 3.47 0.025 141.38 0.000 fast 5.43 0.065 83.26 0.000 stable 2.61 0.023 113.33 0.000 rural 7.02 0.029 238.43 0.000 charter 22.27 0.027 817.61 0.000 _cons 10.88 0.022 504.73 0.000 15 discussion two of the main purposes of the every student succeeds act (essa) are: 1) ensure students receive a fair, equitable, and high quality education that closes educational achievement gaps (sec. 1001), and 2) to ensure the equitable distribution of effective teachers (sec. 1006). essa attempts to accomplish these goals by giving states and school districts local control over what constitutes effective teachers. using texas’ official certification-subject map for teaching, we analyzed over 180 million student-course-teacher records for every student enrolled in grades 7-12 between 2011-12 and 2017-18 to determine the in-field versus out-of-field teaching rates by course subject, by teacher characteristics, and by student characteristics. there are many new findings that are important from an academic perspective as well as an educational policy perspective. impacts on student courses our first important finding is that there is not an equitable distribution of out-of-field teachers in texas public schools. black students, male students, students who receive special education services, students from low-income families, and students who are english-language learners are significantly more likely to be taught classes by teachers teaching out-of-field compared to their peers, all else being equal. given the strength of numerous studies that have shown the negative impacts of out-of-field teaching on student academic achievement and growth (chaney, 1995; clotfelter et al., 2010; dee & cohodes, 2008; goldhaber & brewer, 2000; ingersoll et al., forthcoming; raudenbush et al., 1999; riordan, 2009), our present results imply that some groups of students are not receiving the same level of education as other groups. if you are a black, male student from a low-income family, then you are likely to receive an inferior education compared to a white or latinx female from a wealthier family. this basic finding is inconsistent with the stated intention of essa and with the core purpose of educational equity in the texas education code (sec. 1.002). essa is likely to be exacerbating, not closing, the “educational achievement gaps” that it was designed to fix (sec. 1001). additional research that directly examines the impacts of in-field versus out-of-field teaching on student academic achievement post-nclb is clearly warranted. our results are partially consistent with prior studies, but they also provide boundary conditions. for example, ingersoll and curran (2004; see also lankford, loeb, & wycoff, 2002) found that students in majority non-white schools were more likely to take classes out-of-field than students in majority white schools. these prior studies grouped non-white students into a single category. we found that not all non-white students are treated equally. latinx and other ethnicity students were more likely to take in-field classes than white students, whereas black students were most likely to take out-of-field classes. additionally, lankford and colleagues (lankford et al., 2002) analyzed school-level data and found that schools with predominately low-income students had large numbers of teachers teaching out-of-field. we 16 found the same general pattern while analyzing student class enrollment data, thereby strengthening lankford and colleagues’ findings. our second important finding is that students in rural and charter schools are more likely to take classes taught out-of-field than their suburban peers, whereas students in urban schools were less likely to take classes taught out-of-field. our findings are somewhat consistent with prior out-of-field teaching results. nixon et al. (2017) used a small sample of data from new science teachers and found teachers in urban and rural schools were significantly more likely to teach classes out-of-field compared to teachers in suburban schools. ingersoll (2004) used sass data and found that teachers in urban and suburban schools were equally likely and teachers in rural schools were most likely to teach out-of-field. since we used real student-course-teacher data, the differences between the present results and these prior studies might reflect either inaccurate survey responses or differences in state licensure requirements. our third new finding, and one that has important national policy implications, is that the rate of students taking classes taught out-of-field has increased significantly and substantially since the passage of essa and texas’ districts of innovation. also disturbing, the rate of out-offield teaching is increasing. since the passage of essa, students in texas are much more likely to take classes taught out-of-field than they did under nclb. giving states control over teacher assignment qualifications is having a negative impact on students. impacts on teacher assignments our fourth new finding is that teaching assignments are similarly inequitable and getting more so since the passage of essa. black teachers, male teachers, and older teachers are assigned to teach out-of-field at higher rates than their peers. teachers teaching in charter and rural schools are also assigned to teach out-of-field at higher rates than their suburban counterparts, all else being equal. as with the student results, teachers teaching in 2017-18 were assigned to teach a significantly greater percentage of classes out-of-field than in 201415, which again implies that the longer essa is in effect, the greater the negative impact on out-of-field teaching assignments. some of these findings are consistent with the extant literature. for example, as previously noted, several studies found that teachers in rural schools were more likely to be assigned to teach out-of-field (ingersoll, 2004; nixon et al., 2017), and butler (2013) found that male teachers were twice as likely to be assigned to teach out-of-field than female teachers. this finding is inconsistent with ingersoll (2019) who used sass data. he reported no differences in out-of-field teaching rates across the many years of sass data (page 27). this difference in results may have occurred because our results are based on actual studentcourse enrollment instead of on self-reported survey responses. our fifth new finding was that alternatively prepared teachers were significantly more likely to be assigned to teach out-of-field than traditionally prepared teachers. given the 17 negative impact that teaching out-of-field has on teachers (e.g., higher stress, higher attrition, less success with student growth), these mis-assignment of acp teachers may explain some of the reasons why acp teachers leave the profession at higher rates than traditional teachers (van overschelde & wiggins 2019). differences by course subject finally, we found that the out-of-field teaching rates varied substantially by subject. however, our findings were more detailed and more varied than prior studies. we found that fine arts subjects were most likely to be taught by qualified teachers, followed closely by stem subjects. large numbers of classes in english, history, social studies, and pe are assigned teachers who are not certified to teach these courses. these results are partially inconsistent with prior research in several ways. first, hill (2011) used sass data and found a greater percentage of teachers were teaching english infield (75%) compared with teachers teaching math (66%). hill also found that the majority of dance and theater teachers were teaching out-of-field, whereas we found some of the highest rates of teaching in-field for these subjects. ingersoll (1999) used three series of sass data and found nominally higher rates of teaching out-of-field for math teachers than for english teachers. texas equity report our present results also appear inconsistent with the state’s equity report (texas education agency, 2019), but it is difficult to determine what data are actually summarized in the report. for example, for 2017-18 the state reports that 9% of teachers (full-time equivalents) were teaching out-of-field, but it reports data for all teachers of records and not just teachers of core subjects as defined in essa. the state does generate an annual report of out-of-field teaching by subject (e.g., ramsay, 2018) and these data also seem inconsistent with the present results because of the way the data are aggregated. for example, ramsay reports outof-field rates for math in grades 6-8 separately from grades 9-12, and almost all calculations exclude data from charter schools where the out-of-field teaching rates are the highest. limitations this study is limited to the state of texas and may not reflect what is occurring in other states. for example, texas implemented “districts of innovation” that allows principals to assign teachers to teach any classes, regardless of certification. other states may not permit principals such discretion to mis-assign teachers. in addition, states have different standards and requirements for certification and for the qualifications for teaching courses (national association of state directors of teacher education and certification, 2018). this study is also limited by the quality of the data collected by the state. for example, 10% of the classes taught to students in grades 7-12 in texas public schools have no corresponding teacher record. if the state data were of higher quality and these records were 18 not missing, our results might have been different. however, given the almost 15 million class records included in this study, the patterns of results are likely to be robust despite the loss of 1.5 million records. conclusion under nclb, all teachers were required to be highly qualified – certified to teach the classes they taught. essa eliminated this important requirement and gave states freedom to define teacher qualifications as they chose. as a result of this legislative freedom, the percentage of classes taught out-of-field in texas has increased dramatically. the assignment of teachers to out-of-field classes is worse for black, male, and older teachers compared to white, female, and younger teachers, respectively, and worse for teachers working in charter schools and rural schools compared to suburban schools. the increase in teacher mis-assignment has also dramatically and negatively impacted the rate at which students take out-of-field classes, and the distribution of out-of-field classes is not equitable. black students, male students, student attending charter or rural schools, and student receiving special education services are disproportionately taking classes that are taught out-of-field. the rate of out-of-field teaching has increased dramatically since essa became law. given the negative impact that out-of-field teaching is known to have on student academic achievement and on academic achievement gaps (chaney, 1995; clotfelter et al., 2010; dee & cohodes, 2008; goldhaber & brewer, 2000; ingersoll et al., forthcoming; raudenbush et al., 1999; riordan, 2009), we conclude that essa is negatively impacting student academic achievement growth and likely increasing student achievement gaps. essa, and texas’ districts of innovation, are making it so many children in texas are not receiving a “fair, equitable, and high-quality education” (essa, sec. 1001) and not receiving “equal educational services or opportunities” (texas education code, sec 1.002). author’s note 1. we used the same methodology for in-field and out-field determination as used by the state (ramsay, 2018). as the state does, only valid, non-expired teaching certificates were considered. certificates that were 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(2014). the relationship between school organizational characteristics and reliance on out-of-field teachers in mathematics and science: cross-national evidence from talis 2008. asia pacific journal of education researcher, 23(3), 482–497. research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 june 2021 volume: 3 issue: 1 pp.19-41 factors that influence school choice: a look at parents’ and school leaders’ perceptions nereyda cantu1, daniella g. varela*1, don jones1 & linda challoo1 * corresponding author e-mail: daniella.varela@tamuk.edu 1. texas a&m university-kingsville, kingsville, texas, usa. article info received : feb. 20, 2021 revised : april 30, 2021 accepted: may 21, 2021 how to cite cantu, n., varela, d.g., jones, d. and challoo, l. (2021). factors that influence school choice: a look at parents’ and school leaders’ perceptions. research in educational policy and management, 3(1), 19-41. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2021.2 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract school choice is a growing movement, and public school districts are faced with the challenge of preventing declines in student enrollment. in response, school districts must work to retain enrolled students and at the same time, attract new students. this qualitative study focused on developing an understanding of the factors that influence parents’ decisions to enroll their child(ren) in a chosen school, that is, a school which differs from that assigned to the student, also known as school choice. this case study examined data from the perspectives and experiences of parents and public school district leaders. results suggest that school leaders need to ensure they build good relationships with parents and keep a positive school culture where customer service is valued and held to the highest standards. in essence, school leaders must maintain strong partnerships with their families to attract and retain student enrollment. the results from this study equip school leaders with valuable information for strategic planning to address declines in student enrollment. keywords school choice; enrollment; school district policy. 10.46303/repam.2021.2 https://repamjournal.org/ https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2021.2 20 introduction the national center for education statistics (2020) reported that in 2016, 31% of all students enrolled in the k-12 education system were either enrolled in a charter or private school, or homeschooled. open enrollment, also known as school choice, is the practice of allowing students to transfer across district boundaries (mikulecky, 2013). declining enrollment has affected many public school districts in the last decade. the decline can be attributed to the increase in availability of public charter schools and open enrollment across many districts. school choice was once a privilege afforded to select families, but is now available to many in 47 states across the nation. according to gross, heyward & jochim (2019), ten percent of all students enrolled in k-12 education attend charter schools rather than public schools. with school choice now more easily accessible to all, not just those with the right amount of resources and/or financial availability, inter-district transfers are also on the rise. the resulting instability of student enrollment numbers in public schools has a great impact on any public school district. in texas, the decrease in student enrollment means less government funding for the school district, which affects financial allocations to the district. school choice practices in texas have created competition in the school system. in texas, where intra-district and inter-district open enrollment is voluntary, nearly one in two students open enroll in schools outside of their assigned neighborhoods (powell & laczko-kerr, 2017). declining enrollment in public schools is cause for concern and leads to difficult decisions, including the possibility of consolidating schools and/or reductions in force as a result of financial impacts. as in the state of texas, funding for public schools is determined on a per student basis, enrollment declines equate to a loss of revenue (dunn, 2018). this qualitative study aimed at identifying the factors that influence parents’ decision to enroll their child(ren) in chosen school, rather than the school to which they are assigned. data were collected and analyzed from parents, school principals, and district leaders at two public school districts which have experienced a decline in enrollment in south texas. the results from this study provide valuable insight for school districts in recruiting and retaining students. the results also equip school leaders with information necessary to generate solutions to help combat the problem. conceptual framework banning and bryner (2001) discuss campus ecology as a framework focused on the dynamic relationship between students and the campus environment. the conceptual framework for this study focused on the approaches to school culture, instruction, and parents’ and school leaders’ perception of open enrollment. strange and banning (2015) introduced a model with key components that are included in all human environments. the model explores the following four components: 1. the physical environment (design and layout) 21 2. the aggregate component (collective characteristics of the people who are in the environment) 3. the organizational environment (purpose and goals) 4. the constructed environment (culture of the setting) research questions the following research questions served as a guide for this qualitative case study: rq1. what factors influence parents’ decision to enroll their child(ren) in a particular public school or in a charter school outside their designated school boundaries? 1.1. how does the covid-19 pandemic influence parents to practice their right to school choice? rq2. what factors do school leaders perceive to be the reasons parents/guardians open enroll in schools outside their assigned school district or designated school? rq3. what is the impact of school choice on public school districts? rq4. what can public school districts do to help retain and/or increase their student enrollment? 4.1. how will providing the instructional option of 100% remote learning and 100% faceto-face instruction to students affect district’s enrollment? literature review public education is a collective enterprise promising a better life for all citizens and instilling public and social values that benefit the community as a whole (robertson & riel, 2019). the growing popularity of the school choice movement demonstrates that successful education policy is measured by the success of the individual student (robertson & riel, 2019). open enrollment empowers parents and improves traditional public schools through competition (hoxby, 2003), creating equity among students of all socio-economic levels, providing lower income students access to high quality education (harris and larsen, 2015), and helps improve student and parent satisfaction by allowing families to find the schools that best fit the student’s educational needs (wolf & egalite, 2016). hence, local public schools and districts are feeling the pressure to retain and increase their enrollment. while there are benefits to open enrollment, there are also negative aspects. where proponents of school choice believe equity to be a result, palmer and witanapatirana (2020) contend that equitable learning is only achieved in equitable learning environments. school choice instead creates larger gaps. harris and larsen (2015) note that open enrollment affects low-income schools more so than other more affluent schools because it perpetuates racial and economic disparities that already exist. to that end lavery and carlson (2015) concluded educational background, race, and socioeconomic history, the very same consequences of school transfer, to be contributing factors to the transfer decision. open enrollment has also been criticized for the financial impact on schools. when a student open enrolls outside of the 22 school district, the overall budget is impacted and therefore resulting in a loss of revenue for the district. dunn (2018) suggested this results in fewer services or decreased quality of school programs and therefore a decline in student enrollment. research demonstrates that human beings are strongly influenced by their own environment (strange & banning, 2015). parents choose schools for various reasons including safety measures, academic achievements, principal’s leadership, school culture, extra-curricular opportunities, and/or the school district’s history. rollefson (2015) conducted a study that identified 14 influential parent considerations in their selection of schools: caring teachers, caring principals, competent teachers, competent principals, student safety, safety and security, student friendships, a friendly student body, quality of core curriculum, increased opportunities compared to neighboring districts, preparation for college, available technologies, low frequency of bullying, and quality of facilities. the parent considerations go hand in hand with strange & banning’s (2015) environmental model. their model explores four environments that play an important part in the influence of selecting a school. strange & banning’s (2015) model (physical environment, aggregate environment, organizational environment, and socially constructed environment) can be applied to inter-district and intra-district transfers as they compete for student enrollment. based on strange and banning’s (2015) model, the physical environment is the location in which learning takes place and plays a vital role in a school’s ability to provide a sense of belonging for all students. studies have shown that the physical environment such as the facility itself, the classroom setup, affects student performance (uline & tschannen-moran, 2008; bullock, 2007). similarly, mcgufffey’s (1982) found that not only that there is a relationship between the physical condition of the school building and facilities and academic achievement, but also connected to attitude and behavior. jankens, store & nothstine (2019) found that physical location and perceived safety of the school and/or district are also influential in student enrollment decisions. the aggregate environment is based on the understanding that environments are passed on through the people and the characteristics of the people who inhabit the environment (strange & banning, 2015). therefore, the relationships and experiences that families create within their school community are important deciding factors for parents when choosing the school for their child(ren). parents seek schools where the composition of the students resembles the background of the student (koedl, betts, rice, & zau, 2009). the people who are part of the school-the student body, the administrators, the instructional staff-together give the school its identity (epstein, 2010). district size is a contributing factor to the organizational environment of a school (strange & banning, 2015). harris & larsen (2015) suggest that extracurricular activities are as important as academic quality to some parents. the school’s efficiency and morale are also part of the school’s organizational environment. conversely, the socially constructed environment focuses on the collective views and experiences (strange & banning, 2015). unlike the other 23 three environments, the socially constructed environment focuses on perception and individual experiences. rollefson (2015) studied the factors that influenced enrollment decisions and found that parents sought caring teachers, student safety and security, caring principals, friendships, schools with less bullying cases, and an overall positive culture from their school. school culture plays a vital role in the students’ ability to obtain higher levels of academic achievement (fisher, frey,& pumpian, 2012). methodology this study sought to develop an understanding of the factors that influence parents’ decisions to enroll their child(ren) in a chosen school, that is, a school which differs from that assigned to the student, also known as school choice. the research used a qualitative research method. qualitative researchers seek to understand participants in their natural environment, to understand the setting as a potential data source, and in understanding the meaning of why things happen; how people understand the world through their experiences. case studies report a case description and case themes and conclude with the lessons learned from the case being studied (creswell, 2014). population and sample for this case study, a purposive sampling method was used as it sought specific participants who assisted the researchers in answering the research questions. in a case study, strategically selecting participants with direct experience and knowledge of the situation is imperative (creswell, 2014). thus, for this study, purposive sampling was used. a total number of sixteen participants were included in this study. the multiple perspectives represented included eight parent participants, four principals, and four district leaders. parents were selected based on the criteria of participating in open enrollment. the school principals selected for this study lead campuses in districts which have experienced either a steady decline in student enrollment or an increase in student enrollment over the last two years as a result of school choice. additionally, two district-level administrators from each district were included. holding true to purposive sampling, the 4 district-level administrator participants selected play a crucial role in the districts’ decision making and enrollment procedures, and work closely with other district employees to increase student enrollment. these participants were chosen based on their knowledge of the public school system, their experiences with recruiting students, and experience in developing initiatives to reduce decline in student enrollment. the research setting for this study was two neighboring public school districts in south texas. there is little racial diversity with the population of both districts, with over 96% hispanic population. both districts service students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. data collection and analysis the main tool in a qualitative research study is the researcher who engages in critical tasks such as making observations, note taking, and interviewing or taking to people/participants. for this 24 research study, the researchers used semi-structured interviews to collect data. the interviews were conducted utilizing open-ended questions and were audio recorded and transcribed. researchers emailed district superintendents to request permission to conduct the research and make contact with district leaders. upon approval from superintendent, participants were solicited and provided with a research letter outlining the study, and an informed consent letter. after consenting to participation, the researchers and participant established a date and time to conduct the interview. the researchers recruited parent participants using social a media advertisement which announced the study and the criteria for participation. parents who met the criteria and expressed interest in participating were provided with a research letter outlining the study and an informed consent letter. after consenting to participation, the researchers and participant established a date and time to conduct the interview. parent participants were selected upon verification that they practice school choice and open enrollment for their child(ren). semi-structured interviews were conducted in single sessions of 30-60 minutes via zoom video conference. the audio recordings were transcribed following each interview, the analyzed for emergent themes. the coding process assists the researcher sort ideas and data into categories to help to see patterns that eventually turn into themes or findings (creswell, 2014). during the semi-structured interviews, parent participants described their reasons for selecting the school for their child(ren). school leader participants described what they perceived to be important for parents when making such decision. the descriptions from the participants were used to construct the research setting descriptions. all participants were assigned a participant type and number to protect their identity. some descriptive data were renamed with district a and district b to further protect the identity of the participants and the districts selected. according to creswell and creswell (2018), qualitative data analysis takes place in two layers: the basic first layer and the second more advanced layer which in a case study involves a detailed description of the setting or individuals, followed by the identification of themes. although the researchers originally planned to engage in activities observation at each studied school district setting, due to the covid-19 pandemic, observations at a district-wide community event were not possible. neither district was conducting any public school-wide events, therefore, the researchers made observations of their social media communication with their communities. document analysis was also used as a source of data following the transcription of the qualitative interviews. for this case study, public records and physical evidence such as policy manuals, social media postings, newspapers, flyers, and data from the semi-structured interviews were examined for triangulation. triangulating enables the research to establish strong credibility (creswell & creswell, 2018). the covid-19 pandemic provided the researchers with the unusual circumstance of a school year unlike any other. both school districts began the school year offering their students a 100% remote learning environment. all students and teachers worked from home. central 25 office administration also worked from home and only reported to the physical work environment on an as-needed basis. trustworthiness when conducting any type of human research, trustworthiness is imperative (mertens & wilson, 2012), the researchers used audio recordings from the interviews, field notes, and observations. triangulation was accomplished using member checks, a process which asks participants to validate the final data for accuracy (creswell, 2014). all electronic data collected was secured on a password-protected computer and field notes were maintained in a secured file storage system. further, confidentiality, anonymity, and the protection of all participants remained of utmost importance before, during and after conducting the study. results after a thorough and repeated analysis of the data, eight overarching themes emerged to address the central research questions. the eight themes were based on strange and banning’s (2015) educational environments: physical environment themes: theme 1: importance of safety including covid-19 safety protocols theme 2: importance of well-maintained building and facilities aggregate environment themes: theme 1: importance of customer service theme 2: the school culture creates a sense of belonging organizational environment themes: theme1: importance of providing opportunities and options for students theme 2: importance of ensuring the accessibility of district leaders. constructed environment themes: theme 1: recruiting and marketing of the schools/districts attracts open enrollment families. theme 2: importance of word of mouth referrals for open enrollment. rq1. what factors influence parents’ decision to enroll their child(ren) in a particular public school or in a charter school outside their designated school boundaries? physical environment themes according to strange & banning (2015), the physical environment refers to the design and layout of the environment and the physical conditions of the environment. the participants shared that the safety and the condition of the buildings play a big influence on their decision. some of the characteristics that seemed to be more appealing to the students and the families were the safety measures in place at the school, sports facilities, newly installed tracks in district a, how up-to-date the buildings are, and the conditions of the buildings. 26 theme 1: importance of safety all participants stated student safety as a top priority. both parents and school leaders affirmed that the safety measures were influential in their decision to enroll in the particular school. school safety is an important issue for school leaders in district a and in district b. all school leader participants pride themselves on keeping their schools safe. they are aware of the importance safety is to parents, as district leader 1 stated, “parents will always be concerned about the safety of their children, and now with the pandemic even more so.” most parent participants listed safety as a key factor and were content with the safety protocols in place at their child’s school. some safety protocols stated by parents included door entry access and fencing. parent 6 stated, “to me, it makes me feel safer sending her there to school, knowing that not anyone can just enter the building and they have cameras and they have to ring the doorbell before they walk in.” parent 5 stated, “safety is my number one reason when it has to do with the actual physical environment.” parent 1 went on to say: i love the fact that, you know, they have the buzzers, you have to buzz them at the door and before they let you in, they see you and you have to have an id or they document all your information. you can't just walk in there. so that is what i really like, the system that they have in place. school leaders listed they have recently improved their security measures due to school shooting incidents in the united states in the last few years. while they state all the schools they have their children enrolled in are fenced up and they are content with the physical layout of the school, they differ in their entry access. some schools have a doorbell that they must ring prior to being allowed in and some schools have intercom systems that allows them to screen all visitors prior to entering building. parent 3 stated, “when it comes to my children, i definitely opt to put them in a place where parents have to ring the doorbell and have to be asked a question before going into the building, and it's not just a random person trying to get in.” nonetheless, no parent mentioned any major concern at their schools with the safety of their child(ren) and stated their children felt safe at school and if concerns were to arise, they were immediately addressed. with the recent covid-19 pandemic, parents are concerned with the safety protocols that schools will have in place upon returning to school for face-to-face instruction, however, all parent participants stated they felt comfortable and trust their child’s school will be equipped with the proper ppe (personal protection equipment) and sanitary measures when the time comes. when interviews were conducted, both school districts were providing 100% remote learning for all students and offering face-to-face instruction for those who do not have internet connectivity at home. research question 1.1 asks, does the covid-19 pandemic influence parents to practice their right to school choice, and results indicated that it does not influence their decision to their choice of school because all districts in the surrounding areas are providing the same options to their students. as stated by parent 7: 27 i would definitely look at the safety plan of the campus, see what measures and protocols there that are in place…there's stress as it is due to covid and then moving them to a completely new environment where they have to make new friends is not something i’m considering. i think it'd be very difficult for them to just cope with all of that. but i would definitely make sure and want to know that there is a very strict safety plan that is being implemented. theme 2: importance of well-maintained building and facilities another theme that parent participants indicated as appealing was having their building and district facilities well-maintained. parent 2 stated, “it is important that the students are in a clean environment.” another parent participant stated she keeps her child in the district because “the district is known to have very nice and clean facilities.” school leader 2 stated: physical environment is very important because like the saying says ‘we dress for success’ same with the district. when you have all the buildings ready to go, they are dressed up, and it is very appealing. the parents can see that the district cares about the school, the students, and it gives them a warm welcome. all school leaders were in agreement that the physical appearance of their school was a representation of who they were as a whole. school leader 2 went on to say that: the physical environment of the school is very important to parents. when they see pictures of students’ work or when they see school goals as they enter the building, i think it gives them a sense of ok, this is what the school is about. parents were all very pleased with their schools’ efforts to keep up with the physical appearance including the inside of their buildings. to most parent participants, the inside of the schools was just as important as the outside. the cleanliness of the hallways, the classrooms, the front office, including the restrooms was very important. all female participants stated the displays on the walls were very appealing. the displays on the walls around the school portrayed a sense of pride for the participants in the study. one parent stated, “i love always walking through the hallways and seeing all the [student] work. it’s really neat to walk in and see all the decorations and student work.” student work displays were a feature of the physical environment that the researcher found to be appealing to parent participants. aggregate environment themes the aggregate environment, as suggested by strange & banning (2015), refers to the role that human characteristics play in forming the environment. it addresses the people that make up the environment. two themes emerged from the aggregate environment. the first theme was the importance of having great customer service at the school. the second was the importance of building relationships with the school personnel such as the teachers, principal, and staff. the final theme in the aggregate environment was the importance of the schools’ culture and transmitting a sense of belonging. 28 theme 1: importance of customer service customer service was one of the highest influential factors for all parent participants. it refers to how well the school optimizes interactions between the parents and students and the school personnel. customer service can ‘make or break’ the school and can influence the future growth of the school. it refers to anything that enhances the experience of the parents or any visitor at the school. it is the school’s ability to make parents feel valued and the ability to solve problems when issues arise or preventing them before they happen. customer service can be described as being genuine, being accountable, being empathetic, being innovative, being trustworthy, being patient, and taking responsibility. all parent participants stated the importance of customer service and the big role it plays in their decision to open enroll their child in a school. parent 1 states “i’m very content with the people that work in the school, the front office is definitely the face of the school.” school leaders understand the important role customer service plays in their schools because they know how critical it is to deliver great customer service. school leader 1 states, “that’s what’s going to drive parents away or keep parents with us” when speaking about customer service. additionally, school leader 3 states “that’s the main thing we have to focus on…customer service.” one way parent participants stated they are content with their school’s customer service is in the welcoming environment their child’s school provides. the first impression is what matters the most to ensure families feel that the school their child is in is the place where they belong, where they are well taken care of. by providing a warm, welcoming environment, parents see and feel the school as a caring place for their child(ren) and look forward to not only enrolling their kids there but also keeping them there. school leader 5 states, “the main thing is that when anyone walks in the building, it’s very inviting and that’s a very important part.” research has shown that when schools and communities provide warm and welcoming environments while keeping their students and families engaged, attendance increases. parents are more likely to select a school where they feel the people in the school care for them and are attentive to their needs. theme 2: the school culture and creating a sense of belonging are important. the second theme that arose in the aggregate environment was school culture and creating a sense of belonging is important to parents of both districts. school culture refers to the set of beliefs and values shared by the teachers and staff members that work at the school. when the school culture creates a sense of belonging, students and parents feel respected and appreciated. school leaders play a crucial role in not only developing the school culture, but also in enhancing it so that both parents and students feel a sense of belonging. district leaders in both districts work hard to ensure students and families feel connected to the people in the district. parent 5 states, “culture is the number one reason for moving my child. it’s the personnel and the culture that is established at the school by the principal and the caliber of teachers that teach at that school.” one way school leaders can enhance school culture is by creating relationships with their families. it is vital for school leaders and staff to get to know their students and their families. school leader 2 states “once parents have those relationships 29 with you, they know what you’re all about. they know where they’re sending their child and the focus of the school.” parent participants agreed on how much school culture influences their decision to enroll in the school of their choice. not only does creating a positive school climate and culture attract students and their families, but it also helps to improve learning opportunities for students because it encourages engagement and in turn increases levels of student achievement and improved attendance. parent 4 agrees that school culture plays a big role when determining what school to place her child in. “culture is very different at every school,” she states when asked about how it influences her. some parent participants listed caring principals as an influential factor, such as parent 5 who mentioned “they’re (principal and assistant principal) always willing to go the extra mile for their school and their teachers.” caring principals not only demonstrate great communication skills with their staff, parents, and students, but also establish trust. when parents feel they can trust their child’s school, they will stay. organizational environment themes according to strange & banning (2105), the organizational environment refers to the structure by which an organization operates and achieves goals. organizations, schools in this case, are rated by how effectively they meet their established objectives and goals. three themes emerged from the data analysis under the organizational environment. the first theme is the importance of providing opportunities and options for students and the second theme is the importance of ensuring the accessibility of district leaders. theme 1: importance of providing opportunities and options for students. a multitude of opportunities are provided by both public school districts. from extra-curricular activities to specialty schools, academies, and early college high schools. district leadership highly encourages students to try the extra-curricular activities and to select from an array of options from elementary to secondary schools. as stated by school leader 4, “part of having a good reputation with extra-curricular activities is showcasing our students. we pride ourselves on having multiple opportunities outside the classrooms for students to thrive socially.” all parent participants commented about the experiences many people from their districts share because they offer so many opportunities to participate in a variety of school activities, clubs, and schools. extra-curricular activities mentioned by parent participants included sports, fine arts programs, band, and clubs such as robotics. parent 7 stated, “extra-curricular activities are very important because the students need to have an outlet.” school leader 4 mentioned her elementary school offered twelve clubs in total. she states, “last year we added the twelfth club called save the earth club at the request of a concerned student on what we were doing to save the earth.” parent 6 reflected on the opportunities to participate in clubs that allows her child to build a sense of belonging. “i do think it is important because it builds her (daughter) social skills and i think it provides them also a break from studying. it helps them build their social 30 skills outside classroom.” both districts pride themselves in the programs they offer to their students. an influential factor common in parent participants when selecting their school of choice was the academic opportunities the district has to offer. academic opportunities included the options the districts provide in elementary, middle and high school. district a provides families with the option of selecting numerous designated campuses such as a technology campus, stem campus, steam campus, fine arts campus, leadership campus, and a bilingual campus. district b provides families with specialty campuses such as leadership and fine arts schools. district leader 1 states the designations offer parents the option to send their child(ren) to the school that will best meet their needs. school leader 4 goes on to say that specialty schools provide students with “opportunities to begin to understand about specific career paths and to find their talents at an early age.” while academics were found to be an influential factor for parent participants, non-academic learning opportunities provided by the districts were equally as important to parents. also recorded to be as important in the secondary grades are the academies provided by both districts. both districts offer early college high schools and academies such as the academy for health and science, the academy for engineering, and the academy for health services. school leader 3 mentions “the academies helps students prepare for college. they provide opportunities because in college the first two years are critical.” parent 3 stated, “the academies actually help them choose the right career path.” parents and school leaders all agree that what attracts parents to the district is the district’s emphasis the whole child and on producing well-rounded individuals. theme 2: importance of ensuring the accessibility of district leaders having easy access to district leaders was found to be important to parents. accessibility to district leaders includes being able to approach the principal, assistant principal, school counselor, central office administration, including the superintendent and the school board members. school leader participants understood the importance of being accessible to parents. although not a big influential factor for the parent participants when choosing a school, they did feel it was important if they had a concern that they could go to them and get an answer. parent 3 stated “it is important for me to have very easy access to our school and district leaders.” parent 7 mentioned, “starting with the principal at the campus, she is always very accessible, especially when issues arise. so i think it’s very important. i’ve never had to had to reach out to the superintendent or school board but i’m sure they would have been readily available as well.” people understand the busy lives of a school leader, therefore, knowing that they will make time to meet with them and address their concern/question speaks volumes about the school and/or district. 31 constructed environment themes strange and banning’s (2015) final environment, is the constructed environment, which refers to the collective perceptions and general impressions communicated through conversations, stories, and symbols observed in the environment. the first theme that emerged from the data analysis relative to this environment is the recruiting and marketing of the schools and how the districts attracts open enrollment families. the second theme is importance of word of mouth referrals for open enrollment. theme 1: recruiting and marketing of the schools/districts attract open enrollment families both public school districts made tremendous efforts to market their school district in order to attract new open enrolled families and to retain their students. both school districts host numerous events in their perspective community to promote their schools. advertising campaigns are specifically created to target and attract open enrollment families. they showcase student accomplishments, highlight special events, and promote all the district has to offer. most parent and school leader participants listed social media as a means of influencing and attracting families. school leaders are working to promote and market their district and school. while each district has a public relations department, school leaders agree that it is a team effort to promote their district. all principals at each campus are responsible to promote their school through all avenues of social media. aside from each district having their own website, each school has their own website as well. the websites keep parents and the entire community informed of current and upcoming events, promotes student and staff accomplishments and provides resources for parents. school leader 3 stated, “especially right now that everyone’s at home with the pandemic, communication to promote the district is mostly done through our website, social media, facebook, instagram.” adding to the importance of marketing strategies is school leader 4 stated, “we have established a new facebook because we wanted to stay connected to our families who are at home with the pandemic and at the same time promote our school by showcasing all the great things still happening.” when parent participants were asked, they too agreed on how influential social media was to families who open enroll. parent 8 stated, “i would constantly see the school showcasing their students on facebook and i was excited to find out more about the school.” theme 2: importance of word of mouth referrals for open enrollment many people who live and work in the two school districts selected play a big role in promoting the school and the district. word of mouth marketing is very influential and plays a big part of social media. word of mouth is very effective because it is a form of marketing spread usually between friends and/or family. family and friends trust each other, therefore this form of marketing is more valuable to the individual. most individuals trust recommendations from their friends and family over advertisements. parents’ testimonials are a powerful means of communication and advertising for the school district (rollefson, 2015). parent 8 stated that a large influence in her enrolling her son at his school is the references she had received from family and friends. another parent participant stated, “it’s very attractive when you hear people 32 that you know talking about the school.” parent 6 agreed on the importance of word of mouth advertising by stating, “everyone kept mentioning the school and the great staff they had and how involved the teachers were with parents and communication.” when people share their experiences, they are recommending or not recommending the school or district on their behalf. it is usually triggered by an event experienced by friends or family and can make a lasting impact. rq2: what factors do school leaders perceive to be the reasons parents/guardians open enroll in schools outside their assigned school district or designated school? most school leaders stated that families who left the district left for relocation purposes. both public school districts service children in low income families with high rates of mobility. the economic instability of parents or guardians causes the increase in mobility and therefore the transferring of students from district to district. changes in family relationships is also a reason why students transfer from districts. school leader 1 stated, “most families leave because they relocate, they move somewhere else.” school leaders agree that when speaking to families who transfer, they are informed it is mostly due to relocation. school leader 8 stated, “sometimes in our area, parents have instability in their jobs and when they lose their job, they will move to wherever they find another job so they have to relocate.” he goes on to say, “when they leave, they had to move due to being removed from their home, couldn't pay the rent, or they lived with relatives.” school leaders believe parents seek the qualities in the schools that were described by parent participants in research question one. school leader 7 states, “in our district, our kids stay because we have a very loving community. you know, we have great teachers, great staff, and there's a lot of resources for our families because there's great need in our community.” as per the parent interviews, school leaders also found all the qualities listed in the themes that emerged in research question one appealing to parents. school leaders perceived parents open enrolled in their schools because that is where they felt best met their child’s educational needs. when speaking about why families choose their school, school leader 6 stated, “where they’re (the family) comfortable, is where they will stay.” school leader 1 mentioned a recruitment plan that involved providing customer service training for all office staff. she stated, “we are working on a student recruitment plan and one of the recommendations in the plan is to better our customer service by including it in our trainings.” school leader 3 went on to say, “the first impression parents get when they walk in our schools is the lasting impression. i tell my colleagues and co-workers it’s the small things that count, a smile, a simple ‘hello’ in the morning. it goes a long way. if parents are content, then they will stay.” school leader 4 adds, “everyone plays an important part in making our campus great. it’s not just the teachers and the administrators, it’s the students and the parents altogether, you know, everyone plays an important part.” school leaders understand that providing a sense of belonging and offering great customer service, as stated by the parent participants in research question one, is crucial. “it all comes down to customer service, it’s how we treat them and how we make them feel,” school leader 3 stated. “our front office staff and our teachers are 33 aware that we provide customer service and our customers are our students and our parents. i give them the example, if you go to a place and you have excellent customer service, you’re going to want to return, so we must provide the best customer service always” school leader 2 added. rq 3: what is the impact of school choice on public school districts? school choice opportunities improve public school districts by allowing parents to find the schools that best fit their child’s educational needs. by having the ability to attend any school that caters to the child’s needs and learning abilities, every child is given the opportunities to be successful. school leader 5 stated: school choice helps because parents have the opportunity to select schools that focus on specific skills, such as the designated schools or academies. there’s parents that already have a career in mind for their children and our district offers designated schools. moreover, school choice allows for innovation and improvement that may be missing from some schools since it creates a competition amongst neighboring school districts. school leader 4 stated, “i think school choice has helped our public schools because we have had to live up to the challenge, you step up to the plate. we have to step it up and be the elite too because charter schools portray to be elite.” with competition in full effect, public schools work harder to improve their performance, therefore, attempting to increase their enrollment and/or retain their students. school leader participants felt that school choice had more of a positive impact than that of a negative impact when it came to harming the public school system because it kept them abreast of their competition and continuing to strive for educational excellence. if parents are happy, they’re going to continue to choose your school. the parents do have a choice and i can see where some schools might lose kids because the parents have a choice and they can go anywhere they want, but one of the things i tell my teachers is if parents are happy in your classroom, in our school, they’re not going to go anywhere else because they love being in our school,” as stated by school leader 6. school leader 7 stated: school choice is good because parents have the option and our district gets a lot of transfers. where it becomes unfair is when you compare public school vs charter school, then other factors come into play. charter schools don’t have to comply with the same accountability that we have to comply with, both in the instructional side and in the financial side. but we just have to promote all the opportunities we have to offer in our district and i believe we will be ok. rq4. what can public school districts do to help retain and/or increase their student enrollment? to help retain and/or increase student enrollment, school leaders felt the most important factor to consider is to provide the best customer service to all families, create a culture that exemplifies a sense of belonging and strive to provide the best educational opportunities for all children. when asked if providing the instructional option of 100% remote 34 learning and 100% face-to-face instruction to students would show a surge in district enrollment, all parents and school leaders agreed that offering parents the choice of either of the two is the best route because it will allow parents to decide which option is best for their family. school leader 2 stated: it has been difficult for everybody from administration, the principals, the teachers, and the parents as well. we’ve always provided support to the students and to the parents and this year we are providing even more support due to the pandemic. some parents are not ready for in-person classes so we need to continue to offer both or we will lose kids. parents felt the district should continue providing the option, especially if remote learning has worked well with their child(ren). parent 3 stated: i can tell that the school has prepared their teachers well for remote learning versus other school districts. i would choose to continue with remote learning because i trust our district that they’ve been doing an excellent job in preparing their teachers for this transition of virtual learning. i see it with my kids every day. in this time of uncertainty, with the starting of a school year like no other, school leaders understand the need to work together with all stakeholders to ensure students get the best instructional opportunities. “we are diving into a new form of learning. our students are actually being engaged in a type of learning that most adults will never engage in,” stated school leader 4. parent 1 stated feeling content with what the district had done so far, “i am glad the district is offering remote learning and i trust the district will make the best choice for the students and they’re doing excellent but it has been difficult for parents. we have to take it one day at a time.” parent 7 went on to say: i don’t think i would move my child. there’s stress as it is due to covid and then moving them to a completely new environment, another district would be very difficult to cope with. i would definitely make sure and want to know that there is a very strict safety plan that is being implemented not just on paper…making sure they are following all the protocols that should be in place before he physically goes back to school. for now, i think he is safer at home. school leader 4 recognizes the importance of keeping parents informed especially during the pandemic: we recently established a new facebook because we felt we needed to stay connected to our parents and our school community. we know that a lot of families are going through a lot so we wanted to do a positive thing and showcase great things happening in our school even with the pandemic. we wanted to showcase our school with pride and keep our families happy and safe. it will be important for districts to continue to promote their districts and find new and innovative ways to continue to attract new families to the schools while keeping them safe. parent participants felt content with the current protocols in place at their districts. both 35 districts have made numerous efforts to market their schools and their district in order to attract new families through their social media outlets. in the past, both districts have hosted numerous district-wide events to showcase their schools and target all families, however due to the pandemic no events have taken place since march of this year. every decision is crucial for district leaders in these days ahead and staying connected with families and understanding what’s important to parents is imperative for future enrollment. discussion the goal of this study was to develop an understanding of the factors that influence parents’ decisions to enroll their child(ren) in a chosen school, that is, a school which differs from that assigned to the student, also known as school choice. the decline in student enrollment is an educational problem rooted in inequity, thus understanding what factors contribute to the decision toward school choice is critical. eight themes emerged through the analysis of the findings using strange & banning’s (2015) environment model. physical environment themes in support of previous literature, participants indicated that the physical characteristics of a school and its buildings are appealing to them and therefore, an influential factor when determining their school of choice. studies have shown that the physical environment such as the facility itself, the classroom setup, affects student performance. according to participants, the physical environment is an important factor that influences parents and attracts them to a particular school. mcgufffey (1982) found that a link between physical environment and student achievement exists. participants in this study confirmed that the physical location of the school is important as convenience. some parent participants stated the location of the school to be important as it is close to their work or on their way to their work. the proximity of the school to the home is important to some parents, in most cases due to transportation, it is also important to some because it portrays the composition of the students in the school. the geographical importance is not only tied to convenience, but is also tied to school’s surroundings and transmitting a sense of confidence that children are safe. safety was indicated as a top influential factor for parent participants in the research study. school safety is an important issue for many school leaders and parents. both parent participants and school leader participants reported safety was highly important. prior research tells that a safe environment is among parents’ top reasons for choosing a school (bedrick & burke, 2018). this is futher confirmed by the findings of this study. a most recent safety concern facing schools today is due to covid-19. the pandemic has caused fear in many parents and a wave of uncertainty upon school leaders. parent participants indicated their uneasiness and resistance towards face-to-face instruction, however, also indicated they would allow their children to return if and when their schools believed it was safe to do so. trust was indicated to be a big part of parents’ decision to keep 36 their child(ren) at the school they are enrolled in. furthermore, school leaders are working diligently to ensure they are providing all the teachers and staff the necessary resources to provide the same standards of educational excellence to all students. whether the students are at home receiving remote instruction or physically attending school, parents entrust the school with their child’s education and well-being. aggregate environment themes according to strange & banning (2015), the aggregate environment is based on the understanding that environments are passed on through the people and the characteristics of the people who inhabit the environment. the aggregate environment plays a crucial role on children’s learning and the strongest influential factors as described by parents and school leaders, emerged from this environment. hence, the relationships and experiences schools create with their students and their families is critical and highly influential. epstein (2010) found there is great benefit for schools to build relationships with their families. parents seek schools where they feel their children are loved and cared for. the results from this study correlated with epstein’s (2010) study which found that families seek a sense of belonging and seek schools that build partnerships with the families. all participants stated that a caring school community was critical. parents are attracted to schools that value the child and the family, when families and schools work as partners in the education of their children, parents feel content. academics is also a highly influential factor for parents when deciding where to enroll their children. a study conducted by harris & larson (2015) found academics to be the top reason families choose to open enroll their children in the school of their choice. parent participants all agreed but this study found that the overall school culture and ensuring a sense of belonging was more influential. when the school culture promotes a positive and caring climate that supports the learning, the academic standards go hand in hand. parents are greatly influenced to open enroll in a school where they feel the people who they interact with genuinely care for their child. caring principals and caring teachers as highly influential factors when considering open enrolling their child into a school district (rollefson, 2015). parent participants in this study confirmed this data, supporting the theme of building relationships and customer service. 37 organizational environment themes the organizational environment refers to the goals and the overall structure in which the district operates. all schools had set goals and mission statements. factors that contribute to the organizational environment include the school and/or district size. no parent or district leader indicated size as an influential factor for determining enrollment. district a is significantly bigger than district b, however, parents from neither district indicated this to be a factor. the two themes that emerged under this environment were the opportunities and options that the district and the schools offer and having accessibility parents have to district leadership. parent participants were highly influenced by the multitude of opportunities the district of their choice had to offer. opportunities included extra-curricular activities, designated or specialty schools, early college high schools, and academies. parent participants stated that the educational opportunities their district of choice offers is highly influential and were very content with the options the district provides for their child(ren). also noted was that parents felt students are offered multiple options to succeed. rollefson (2015) suggests some parents choose schools based on the school’s academic accomplishments. school leaders were in agreement and continue to look for innovative ways to provide more academic opportunities for their students. this study indicated parents place a high emphasis on the opportunities offered at the school/district. accessibility of parents to the school and district leaders also emerged as an influencing factor. school leader participants also felt the grandness of being accessible to students’ parents. parent participants also felt it was important to have access when a problem or concern should arise to be able to communicate with school leaders and/or district leaders. communication was considered imperative to both parents and school leaders. parents were content knowing the school leaders were always willing to take the time to listen and address any concern/problem they may have. parents know district leaders such as the superintendent and board members were also supportive and were pleased with the level of access to them, although those are leaders they don’t see or speak to frequently. constructed environment themes strange & banning (2015) emphasize the socially constructed environment as equally imperative. general impressions communicated through conversations (word of mouth), shared stories by people within the environment, and social media form the socially constructed environment. parents were attracted to the environment based on he/she perceived it. one way to ensure parents and the community are kept informed of what the district is doing and what they have to offer students is through social media outlets. both parent and school leader participants agreed social media played a big role in informing them of the great things that the district had to offer. communication through social media has become a very powerful marketing tool. it has been used as a platform to help market their schools in an attempt to increase and retain student enrollment. with competition getting tougher with the addition of 38 charter schools, school leaders all agreed they have to ‘sell’ their schools and district to the parents and social media was the perfect outlet. both school districts are very active in their websites including having each school with their own site. additionally, both districts have active facebook, twitter, snapchat, and instagram accounts. communication through word of mouth was stated to also be highly influential for parents in this study. families are greatly influenced by friends, neighbors and family members when choosing schools for their children. whether negative or positive, testimonies of experiences of family and friends are a crucial factor. positive press is a great influential factor for parents when choosing where to enroll their child. parents’ testimonials are a powerful means of communication and advertising for the school district (rollefson, 2015). some parents stated they were influenced by family and/or friends to enroll their children in the school. all district leaders agreed that parents play a crucial role when promoting their schools. although they agree social media plays a key role, they all are aware of the importance of word of mouth and the implications it has on increasing and retaining their student enrollment. limitations it is important to note that the data collected from this study only included information from parents who were practicing school choice. the study did not include the information from parents who enrolled their children in the district/school to which they are appropriately assigned. information from those parents who were aware of open enrollment but decided to keep their children in the school they are zoned to was not collected or examined. additionally, the participants in this study were all represented by hispanic females and males, therefore, the experiences of other ethnicities were not represented. implications although there are studies on declining enrollment in public schools, this qualitative case study adds to the literature on the factors that influence parents’ decision to enroll into a school as a means of handling the current situation districts are experiencing with declining enrollment. by looking at data collected from two neighboring public school districts, this study allows school leaders to understand what is important to parents from their own personal perspective. school leaders are facing declining enrollment and they need to find ways to combat this. their perspective on what parents feel was important is critical to begin to find ways to address the declining enrollment issue. information gained from this study could assist school leaders by helping district administration recruit students by focusing on the factors that influence parents to choose a school. this data would be very valuable to all districts who are experiencing a decline in their enrollment and districts could use the data to address their schools’ needs. strange & banning (2015) consider educational environments as most effective when they provide students and families with a sense of inclusion and safety, with opportunities of engagement and a sense of belonging. school districts who are able to understand the importance of having these as essential conditions in their learning environment will be better 39 equipped to increase their student enrollment and retaining it. through this study we affirm the importance of the physical environment of a school district and the influential role it has on factors that parents consider when selecting the school for their child(ren). addressing issues such as how safe the buildings are, keeping the buildings well-maintained, and ensuring that both the outside and the inside of the buildings are inviting is imperative. the study also exemplifies the importance of the aggregate environment of a school district and should be one of the highest priorities when considering ways to attract and retain students into a school/district. schools/districts must find ways to ensure they meet the needs of all their students through building relationships between students and the school personnel and between the parents and school personnel. the data collected from this study indicated the most influential factor for parents is factors that fall under the aggregate environment, therefore we can see that parents value school culture and having a sense of belonging. it is crucial for school districts to ensure families are able to form relationships with the schools’ staff to ensure students feel connected. in doing so, the parents are content with their choice of school and continue to stay though the years. school districts can also ensure parents and students feel a sense of belonging through the multitude of options and opportunities they provide such as extra-curricular activities, designated campuses, specialty schools, academies, and the numerous academic and nonacademic activities and events. themes that emerged in the organizational environment should also be considered by districts needing to increase enrollment. by addressing the academic development of their students, districts are addressing the organizational environment of their schools as this could also help districts increase and retain their enrollment. parents were attracted to alternative types of learning such as specialized academies, early college high schools, vocational targeted schools, and designated elementary campuses. districts who provide these types of opportunities should capitalize on it, especially if neighboring school districts do not offer them. it is also important to recognize the socially constructed environment if the district is looking for ways to increase enrollment. school districts need to work together with their communities to market their schools and all that the district has to offer. well-planned marketing strategies can help in the recruitment efforts. having recruitment plans and hiring staff to work diligently with the community will also assist in the recruitment efforts. districts who struggle with decreasing enrollment could focus on their recruitment and marketing efforts. it is the responsibility of all district and school leaders to advocate for their districts and ensure the community is aware of all they have to offer. district b mentioned having recently hired seven recruitment strategists. all in all, the school districts must make all efforts necessary to promote their districts to parents and the community. 40 conclusion in this era of school choice, open enrollment, and competition between school districts to increase student enrollment, it is imperative that school district leaders maintain a clear understanding of what exactly parents are looking for when deciding which school district best meets their child’s needs. this case study examined the perceptions of parents and school leaders and sought to understand their experiences through the lens of strange & banning’s environmental model. school administrators will continue to work hard to keep their students and parents content by understanding what parents are looking for when selecting their school and by continuing to look for innovative ways to retain their students while attracting new ones. although this school year presented unprecedented conditions with the covid-19 pandemic, the overall, results from the study concluded parents who have established positive relationships with the school they have open enrolled in, trust the school is making the most informed educational decisions for their child(ren) while keeping them safe. references banning, j.h. & bryner, c.e. 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(2016). pursing innovation: how can educational choice transform k-12 education in the u.s.? in friedman foundation for educational choice: friedman foundation for educational choice. microsoft word 3.kaya-42-72 research in educational policy and management https://repamjournal.org e-issn: 2691-0667 december 2021 volume: 3 issue: 2 pp. 42-72 state, citizens and education in the ottoman empire: civic education curriculum in the early 20th century mehmet melik kaya* * department of social studies education, faculty of education, anadolu university, eskişehir, turkey e-mail: kymelik@gmail.com article info received: october 14, 2021 revised: november 18, 2021 accepted: december 20, 2021 how to cite kaya, m. m. (2021). state, citizens and education in the ottoman empire: civic education curriculum in the early 20th century. research in educational policy and management, 3(2), 42-72. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.2021.6 copyright license this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution 4.0 international license (cc by 4.0). abstract in ottoman empire, reform movements that started in the tanzimat [reorganization] period gained momentum in the 2nd meşrutiyet [constitutional monarchy] era and its aftermath. education, which is a structure that cannot be isolated from the society and related educational institutions, also underwent change and transformation as a result of the reform movements. tedrisat-ı i̇btidaiye kanun-ı muvakkati [primary education transitional law] brought along a series of innovations in education. during this period, an educational approach based on usul-i cedid [new method] was adopted, and thus, education became free and compulsory while education was divided into 3 levels, the duration of which was 6 years. this research was carried out to analyse how the musâhabât-ı ahlâkiyye [conversations on morality] course was reflected in the 1913 ottoman curriculum, and to determine what objectives, themes and values were aimed to be taught to students monthly and weekly during the first, second and third educational periods [devre-i ûla, devre-i mutasavvıta, devre-i aliye respectively] within the scope of this course. in this study designed in qualitative research design, historical research method was preferred. the data of the research were obtained by document analysis technique and literature review. the obtained findings were organized in such a form to serve the purpose of the study and analyzed by content analysis method. keywords citizenship education; ottoman empire; turkey; 1913 primary education curriculum; historical research. 10.46303/repam.2021.6 43 introduction education basically plays a fundamental role in understanding the past of societies and establishing their futures, in addition to being the most important instrument for states to train and transform individuals (mentiş taş, 2004). states wish to create a qualified manpower resource through education and to build a community of citizens around a common ideal. while doing this in line with their own human resources and needs, they also determine their educational philosophies and contents (şahin & kartal, 2013). education is a significant method used to transform the physical, intellectual, mental and emotional structure of individuals into the most appropriate one. in other words, societies organize their educational curricula in order to raise the kind of people they want (akyüz, 2011; chuang & ting, 2021; hirshfield & chachra, 2019; ring-whalen et al., 2018; thurlings et al., 2019). one of the most crucial pillars of educational curricula is educational programs. educational programs are an important tool to organize the desired behaviors that are planned to be acquired by the person receiving the information inside or outside the school (evans & kilinc, 2013; hazar et al, 2021; paek et al, 2021; paul, 2021; satvindar singh et al, 2021; şişman, 2011). the 19th century has been accepted as the beginning of the treatment of education as a public service in the ottoman empire, as in many modernizing states. european-style education had begun to be seen as a means of progress, economic development, influencing the society and keeping society together. about determining its educational policies in this period, the ottoman empire had given priority to ensuring political unity, increasing social welfare and raising loyal people to the state. for this reason, the ottoman empire tried to expand the modern schools in order to shape the cultural and moral aspects of its citizens and also tried to push citizens’ scientific level closer to europe (uyanık, 2006). in such an atmosphere of discussion brought out by the 1908 revolution, different opinions emerged on the problems of religion, state and law, and discussions flared up with the increased rush of magazines with the freedom of the press, and it was a common opinion that the way to prevent the collapse of the state was through education policies (berkes, 1979). emrullah efendi, who was one of the pioneers of the reformist education policies in this period, started to work as the minister of education for the first time in 1909 (sakaoğlu, 1985). according to the “theory of heaven tree” coined by emrullah efendi, inspired by the mythological tree of heaven, whose roots are above, branches and fruits below, innovation and regulation in education should start from the university, not from primary education. according to emrullah efendi first of all, higher science centers must primarily be active. for this reason, seven-grade high schools should have been established in order to replace the existing usual high schools, and the university should have been set to the most advanced level. as the number of those who were educated there increases, the people would also be enlightened (akyüz, 2011; sakaoğlu, 1985). 44 in this period, tedrisat-ı i̇ptidaiye kanun muvakkati [primary education provisional law], which is the most important roadmap of education policies, came into force and eliminated many problems in education, especially the financing problem. again, the primary education curriculum, which will appear for the first time as a draft program in 1911, took its final form in 1913 and became the first general primary education curriculum that came into force throughout the country. with this educational program, primary education was divided into three parts as devre-i ûla [first grade], devre-i mutevasıta [middle grade] and devre-i aliye [high grade), each of which was 2 years, and was extended to 6 years (2+2+2) in total. also in this period, secondary schools were included in primary education within the scope of education policies, some attempts were done for the education of girls and french became the language of education (hayta ve ünal 2003). emrullah efendi, who was under the influence of the french education system, aimed to draw a teaching policy that would instill happiness to the nation by adding courses such as religious knowledge, geography, country history, musahabat-ı ahlakiyye ve malumat-ı vataniye [conversations on morality, and civic knowledge] to the primary education program (sakaoğlu, 1985, 1993). the sole purpose of the education policies in the last period of the ottoman empire was to create a common sense of loyalty through education. in order to build a new form of citizenship with curricula and school lessons, the civics lesson began to take place as an independent course in the curriculum in this period. the ottoman state gave importance to education in its last period and realized the importance of creating a common sense of belonging through education. a citizenship education course began to take place in the curriculum as an independent course in this period in order to create a new sense of citizenship with curricula and school programs. there was no class distinction like the caste system in the ottoman empire. however, the society was evaluated as muslim and non-muslim, and religion became the most important determinant of citizenship. in other words, citizenship gained meaning in the ottoman country with a religious difference rather than a class difference (anık, 2012). on the other hand, the ottoman state was a country where the rules of islamic and customary law were applied. therefore, although the people were not under a constitutional guarantee, some of their rights were preserved within the scope of the laws applied in the ottoman country (pamuk, 2005). in the ottoman country, the concept of citizenship based on rights in the modern sense began to emerge in the last period of the state when the state was on the verge of collapse. this situation is not only dependent on internal developments, but also shaped in parallel with the development of human rights in the world. the ottoman empire aimed to keep the non-muslim subjects within the body of the state with some regulations in the periods when it implemented this understanding of citizenship based on rights. one of the arrangements made for this purpose was the abolition of the confiscation procedure, which dealt a great blow to private property. with the confiscation method, the property of the people in the ottoman country could be confiscated. this was a 45 violation of an important citizenship right. during the reign of mahmut ii, this practice was abolished and it was aimed to prevent foreign merchants from leaving the ottoman country (akyılmaz, 2008). in the following years, it was desired to establish an ottoman citizenship with the tanzimat [reorganization] (1839) and islahat [reform] (1856) edicts. the concept of ‘everyone’ used at the beginning of the articles, especially in the tanzimat edict, is an effort to keep all ottoman subjects together. with the tanzimat edict, the sultan accepted the power of law, except for his own power, and this edict was accepted as the first stage of the transition to constitutionalism. therefore, it is extremely significant in terms of the evolution of the ottoman state from a subject to a citizen; because, the development of citizenship shows parallelism with democratization movements (aktel, 1998; kilinc, 2015). the effect of the idea of ottomanism could be seen in the tanzimat edict. within the framework of the idea of ottomanism, an attempt was made to create an ottoman upper identity without discrimination of religion, language or race (uçar, 2018). when the rights granted by the tanzimat could not prevent the separation of minorities, the ottoman state published the islahat (reform) edict and tried to keep the minorities under its rule by giving some new rights to the minorities. with the islahat edict, it was tried to bring equal rights to muslims and non-muslims. after these edicts were published, they received reactions from the muslim community. the muslim people reacted to these edicts by saying that “we cannot even call the gavur [infidel] as gavur” (gümüş, 2008). despite the tanzimat and islahat edicts, the ottoman empire had lost the majority of its non-muslim subjects at the end of the 19th century. on the other hand, the consulates opened by the russians in the regions they did not lose were giving the state a significant headache. again, a nationality problem arose due to the developments in this period. those who took the passports of foreign states could easily travel in the ottoman country and benefit from the privileges granted to foreigners (temizer, 2013). the ottoman state had enacted the 1869 nationality law to solve this problem. another important feature of this law is that it is the first citizenship law in the ottoman state. according to this law, which was modeled after the french penal code, there were two main ways to be considered an ottoman citizen. the first was to be of age, and the second was to have resided in the ottoman country for five years. in short, this law broke the ottoman affiliation from a religious bond (serbestoğlu, 2011). when the published edicts and laws could not prevent the disintegration of the ottoman empire, kanun-i esasi [the first ottoman constitution] was put into effect in 1876, and the rights of the people were guaranteed by the kanun-i esasi for the first time. for the first time, the constitutional government was accepted and the people became part of the government, albeit partially (birecikli, 2008). intellectuals, called the yeni osmanlılar [new ottomans], played the biggest role in this development. because, parallel to the developments in europe, these intellectuals demanded some modern political rights such as the freedom to vote, be elected and freedom of expression in the ottoman country (akşin, 1980). however, this process of innovation and evolution from subjects to citizens, which was interrupted by sultan abdulhamid 46 ii’s suspension of the kanun-i esasi in 1878, and after a period of nearly thirty years, with the activities of the jön türkler [young turks] and the members of the committee of union and progress, the second entry into force of the kanun-i esasi in 1908 and the proclamation of the constitutional administration started again, and the ottoman country turned into a community of citizens whose rights are guaranteed by the kanun-i esasi (türkkan, 2018). having restored meşrutiyet [constitutional monarchy] in 1908, then suppressing the 31 march revolt (april 13, 1909), which first emerged against the new regime, and then dethroning abdulhamid ii and putting the kanun-i esasi into effect, in addition to having difficulties from time to time against the opposition, the unionists eventually dominated the government alone with the babiali raid on january 23, 1913. it is no coincidence that the 1913 curriculum was put into effect in the same year, in parallel with this development. in other words, in this way, in order to establish a new understanding in many fields, especially to create a new identity, education was also used. thus, when this new program is examined, it is understood that an important mission has been assigned to the program, and it is aimed to raise moral, conscious, respectful citizens of national values and obedient to the sultan and statesmen (maarif vekaleti, 1913). the 1913 ottoman curriculum is important in that it is the first general-comprehensive program in turkish history of education. in addition, citizenship education, which was tried to be given together with history and geography courses until the last periods of the selçuk and ottoman empires, was included in this program for the first time as an independent course (üstel, 2016). therefore, this program has a special importance with its contribution to the evolution of the society from the subjects to the citizens in the process from the ottoman empire to the republic (kaya, 2020). therefore, in this study, the content of the musahhabât-ı ahlâkiyye [conversations on morality and civics] course in the 1913 curriculum in the transition process from a subject to a citizen in the ottoman state and its effect on citizenship are discussed. method research model in this study, historical research method, one of the qualitative research designs, was used (büyüköztürk et al., 2017. the historical research method is used to examine events and phenomena that have occurred in the past, or to investigate and analyze the relationship of a particular problem with the past or present. this research method allows to examine the combinations of social factors that cause social change by leading to a certain result and to create theory by reaching general conceptualizations (kaptan, 1991). the data of this research, in which the historical research method was employed, were obtained by using the document analysis technique. document analysis is a technique in which all kinds of written materials containing information about the subject studied are examined and analyzed. these written 47 materials that make up the documents can be various such as diaries, letters, official documents of the states (balcı, 2006; yıldırım & şimşek, 2016). data collection the data were obtained by the document analysis technique in this study employing the historical research method. document review has advantages in terms of quality, low cost, sample size, long-term analysis, lack of reactivity, individuality and originality (balcı, 2006; yıldırım & şimşek, 2016). relevant data were obtained from the ministry of national education ferit ragıp tuncor archive and documentation library. the obtained data were first transcribed from ottoman turkish to modern turkish, and after the transcription process was done, it was checked by those who are experts in ottoman turkish. after the control of the translations was ensured, the data were classified into related subjects and themes. data analysis in this study, the findings obtained by the document analysis technique were analyzed by the content analysis method. in content analysis, it is tried to reach the concepts and relations that can explain the obtained data. the themes belonging to the concepts are determined after the conceptualization of the data. content analysis consists of four stages: coding the data, finding the themes, organizing the codes and themes, defining and interpreting the findings (yıldırım & şimşek, 2016). in this direction, in this study, the data of the 1913 curriculum was translated from ottoman turkish to modern turkish and understood. the findings obtained after the translation process were coded according to the objectives thought to belong. then, the themes belonged the coded data were determined. these codes are grouped under five main themes: national and spiritual consciousness, moral values, rights and responsibilities, environmental and health awareness, government and state bodies. at the last stage, the coding and contents under the themes were given in the tables, discussed and interpreted. findings this section gives the findings related to the research. research findings were divided into themes by content analysis method. these themes are national and spiritual consciousness, moral values, rights and responsibilities, environmental and health awareness, government and state bodies. table 1 shows the objectives, themes and values that are aimed to be taught weekly and monthly according to grade levels in the musâhabât-ı ahlâkiyye [conversations on morality] course taught in the 1913 curriculum of the ottoman primary education. with the 1913 curriculum, primary education was extended to six years in total by dividing it into three levels, each of which consists of 2 years. these levels are devre-i ûla, devrei mutevasıta and devre-i aliye. devre-i ûla covers the age range of 7-8 and the first and second grades, which are the first two years of primary education. devre-i mutavassıta covers the age 48 range of 9-10 and the middle level of primary education; that is, the third and fourth grades. devre-i âliye covers the age range of 11-12 and the fifth and sixth grades, which are the last level of primary education. table 1. objectives, themes and values of devre-i ûla [first level of the primary school] 1st and 2nd grades in the 1913 curriculum of musâhabât-ı ahlâkiyye [conversations on morality] course period month week objective theme code 1st grade of devrei ûla 1 1 loving mother and father. national and spiritual consciousness family 1 1 loving brothers and fellow countrymen national and spiritual consciousness family 1 2 we must obey our sultan and our elders national and spiritual consciousness obedience to the sultan, obedience to the elders 1 2 we must respect our elderly relatives national and spiritual consciousness respect for elders 1 3 we should not fight with our friends moral values human relations 1 3 we should not slander others. moral values honesty 1 4 we should not play with naughty children moral values human relations 1 4 we should avoid dangerous games. environmental and health awareness health 2 1 attention to duty rights and responsibilities sense of duty 2 2 nobody likes lazy kids rights and responsibilities diligence 2 2 working is a definition rights and responsibilities diligence 2 3 employee wins rights and responsibilities diligence 2 3 your friends should not touch their notebooks and pens rights and responsibilities respect for property 2 4 diligent boy rights and responsibilities diligence 2 4 laziness rights and responsibilities diligence 3 1 do not leave today’s work for tomorrow rights and responsibilities diligence 49 3 1 should help the needy moral values benevolence 3 2 do not eat much environmental and health awareness health 3 2 do not drink water while sweaty environmental and health awareness health 3 3 to be honest moral values honesty 3 3 do not touch someone else’s property rights and responsibilities respect for property 3 4 revision revision revision 4 1 people need each other national and spiritual consciousness solidarity 4 1 returning something found on the way to its owner rights and responsibilities respect for property 4 2 should help the poor moral values benevolence 4. 2 not be arrogant moral values humility 4 2 not to waste rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 4 3 not to speak ill of others moral values do not gossip 4 3 not hold grudges moral values compassion 4 3 revenge moral values compassion 4 4 not to harm flowers and trees environmental and health awareness doğayı koruma 4 4 not harming animals or birds environmental and health awareness love of animals 4 4 we should help each other moral values benevolence 5 1 do not misbehave moral values human relations 5 1 we should love animals, birds environmental and health awareness love of animals 5 1 we should love flowers, trees environmental and health awareness nature conservation 5 2 get fresh air environmental and health awareness health 5 2 we must love our country national and spiritual consciousness patriotism 50 5 3 we must protect the flag, the ancestors and the relics of our ancestors national and spiritual consciousness commitment to national and cultural values 5 3 we must abide by our traditions national and spiritual consciousness commitment to national and cultural values 5 4 we should be happy with what we have moral values not being greedy 5 4 treason and truth moral values honesty 6 1 lying moral values honesty 6 1 economics and trade rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 6 2 jealousy moral values jealousy 6 2 alcoholic and no smoking environmental and health awareness health 6 3 be ashamed national and spiritual consciousness religious consciousness 6 3 it is hard but it is not too late rights and responsibilities diligence 6 4 revision revision revision 7 1 some legends and blacksmith’s advice rights and responsibilities diligence 7 2 ant and cicada two travelers spider and silkworm rights and responsibilities diligence 7 3 sparrow with rabbit fables fables 7 4 goat and foxlamb and wolffox and stork fables fables 8 1 the frog and the firefly the crow and the fox fables fables 8 2 two goats, fisherman, rabbit and tortoise fables fables 8 3 some historical anecdotes fables fables 8 4 biography of country elders and children national and spiritual consciousness national heroes 9 1 general revision general revision general revision 2nd grade of devrei ûla 1 1 family benefits national and spiritual consciousness family 1 2 the downsides of orphanhood moral values benevolence 51 1 3 respect for elders and love for younger national and spiritual consciousness family 1 4 love everyone national and spiritual consciousness solidarity 2 1 the good and the bad of the nanny and the maids responsibilities to them national and spiritual consciousness family 2 2 obedience and love to our sultan and elders national and spiritual consciousness obedience to the sultan, obedience to the elders 2 3 importance of health environmental and health awareness health 2 4 activity fables fables 3 1 the importance of science rights and responsibilities diligence 3 2 school rights and responsibilities diligence 3 3 study for lessons rights and responsibilities diligence 3 4 revision revision revision 4 1 duty responsibility rights and responsibilities sense of duty 4 2 love and help to friends moral values tolerance 4 3 homeland and foreign countries national and spiritual consciousness patriotism 4 4 homeland benefits national and spiritual consciousness patriotism 5 1 respect for the flag national and spiritual consciousness patriotism 5 2 heirlooms: mosques, madrasas, fountains, tombs, bridges, soup kitchens, caravanserais, schools, roads national and spiritual consciousness commitment to national and cultural values 5 3 respect for our home, our field and our couple animal environmental and health awareness natural conversation 5 4 love and sacrifice for the country national and spiritual consciousness patriotism 6 1 the importance of military service rights and responsibilities sense of duty 52 6 2 tax rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 6 3 obedience to the law rights and responsibilities sense of duty 6 4 revision revision revision 7 1 kindness and fineness moral values tolerance 7 2 waste and savings rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 7 2 lying moral values honesty 7 3 truth moral values honesty 7 4 respect for the dignity of another not seeing other people’s faults rights and responsibilities respect for human rights 8 1 courage and anger moral values to be brave 8 2 service of animals to humansnot to torture animals environmental and health awareness love of animals 8 3 good and evil moral values beneficence 8 4 peace of mind remorse moral values conscientious responsibility as can be seen in table 1, the first two-year period (devre-i ûlâ) of the program in the form of 2+2+2 years is for the 7-8 age group. in addition, it is seen that the program is planned over nine months and the topics that will be covered weekly are specified. in the program, the hours of the relevant course are planned as three hours a week in the first year and two hours in the second year of devre-i ûlâ. tablo 2. objectives, themes and values of devre-i mutevasıta 1st and 2nd grades in the 1913 curriculum of musâhabât-ı ahlâkiyye [conversations on morality] course period month week objective theme code 9 4 general revision general revision general revision 1st grade of devre-i mutevasıta 1 1 religious duties national and spiritual consciousness religious consciousness 1 2 health and cleanliness environmental and health awareness health 1 3 simple dressing environmental and health awareness personal care 1 3 healthy eating environmental and health awareness health 1 4 simplicity environmental and health awareness personal care 53 1 4 training environmental and health awareness health 2 1 saving – not to borrow rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 2 2 jealousy moral values jealousy 2 2 greed moral values not being greedy 2 3 diligence rights and responsibilities diligence 2 3 sincerity moral values human relations 2 4 truth moral values honesty 3 1 fix flaws moral values self-criticism 3 1 pride moral values humility 3 2 be brave and calm moral values selfconfidence 3 3 anger and patience moral values tolerance 3 4 revision revision revision 4 1 entrepreneurship rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 4 2 confidence moral values selfconfidence 4 2 living regularly environmental and health awareness personal care 4 3 do one’s duty properly rights and responsibilities sense of duty 4 3 health environmental and health awareness health 4 4 freedom rights and responsibilities freedom 5 1 family happiness national and spiritual consciousness family 5 2 the love of the elders for the little ones respect of the younger for the elders national and spiritual consciousness family 5 3 consider the family’s interests national and spiritual consciousness family 5 4 love the country national and spiritual consciousness patriotism 6 1 to tax rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 54 6 2 sanctity of the military rights and responsibilities sense of duty 6 3 farmer, blacksmith, sailor, etc. respect and love for the arts national and spiritual consciousness respect for the connoisseur of the arts 6 4 revision revision revision 7 1 people’s responsibilities rights and responsibilities respect for human rights 7 1 aid and solidarity national and spiritual consciousness respect for human rights 7 2 respect for people’s property, life, honor, freedom and religion rights and responsibilities respect for human rights 7 3 insult, slander, humiliation, mocking and stealing are bad moral values honesty 7 4 being faithful to contracts and promises moral values honesty 8 1 compassion and help towards people moral values benevolence 8 1 be merciful to the poor, the needy, the sick, and the survivors moral values compassion 8 2 sacrifice moral values devotion 8 2 abide by etiquette moral values human relations 8 3 be kind to animals environmental and health awareness love of animals 8 4 loving and protecting livestock environmental and health awareness love of animals 9 4 general revision general revision general revision 2nd grade of devre-i mutevasıta 1 1 information about homeland and civilization national and spiritual consciousness patriotism 1 2 government services: courts, gendarmes, soldiers, schools, roads, municipalities rights and responsibilities awareness of citizenship rights 1 3 government expenses – taxes rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 1 4 taxes are debt – someone who does not pay their taxes is like someone who understates their debt rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 55 2 1 roads are everyone’s property. roads should not be damaged rights and responsibilities awareness of citizenship rights 2 2 not harming the forests environmental and health awareness nature conservation 2 3 not to disturb roads, streams, fountains environmental and health awareness nature conservation 2 4 respect for common areas rights and responsibilities respect for property 3 1 laws government and state bodies laws 3 2 law makers government and state bodies laws 3 3 deputies and notables government and state bodies election 3 4 election, participation in the election is a duty government and state bodies election 4 1 revision revision revision 4 2 types of government government and state bodies government 4 3 view of government government and state bodies government 4 4 benefit of constitutionalism government and state bodies form of government 5 1 obedience to the law government and state bodies laws 5 2 obedience to the police, gendarmerie, village guards and all officers national and spiritual consciousness loyalty to the state 5 3 witnessing is a duty rights and responsibilities sense of duty 5 4 not helping thieves, murderers and murderers national and spiritual consciousness loyalty to the state 6 1 how does the government deliver justice? government and state bodies laws 56 6 2 how to make a complaint? government and state bodies laws 6 3 magistrates’ courts, civil and criminal courts government and state bodies courts 6 4 revision revision revision 7 1 imprisonment and fine government and state bodies laws 7 2 courts of first instance, appeal and appeal government and state bodies courts 7 3 municipalities – obedience to the rules of municipalities government and state bodies belediye 7 4 cleaning with the municipality moral values benevolence 8 1 use of parks and gardens environmental and health awareness doğayı koruma 8 2 military service and honor rights and responsibilities sense of duty 8 3 ottoman country service to the country respect for the flag national and spiritual consciousness patriotism 8 4 devotion to the country national and spiritual consciousness patriotism as can be seen in table 2, devre-i mutevasıta (the second two-year period of primary school) of the program in the form of 2+2+2 years is for the 9-10 age group. in addition, it is seen that the program is planned over nine months and what topics will be covered weekly are specified. it is seen in the program that the hours of the relevant course are planned as one hour per week. table 3. objectives, themes and values of devre-i aliye 1st and 2nd grades in the 1913 curriculum of musâhabât-ı ahlâkiyye [conversations on morality] course period month week objective theme code 9 4 general revision general revision general revision 1st grade of devrei aliye 1 1 a clear conscienceremorse moral values conscientious responsibility 1 2 task job description rights and responsibilities sense of duty 57 1 3 duties to family, self, civilization, religion, humanity rights and responsibilities sense of duty 1 4 our duties to ourselves rights and responsibilities sense of duty 1 4 health rights and responsibilities sense of duty 2 1 good manners moral values selfregulation 2 2 learn science rights and responsibilities diligence 2 3 patience and common sense moral values patience 2 4 bravery national and spiritual consciousness patriotism 3 1 take care of your own body environmental and health awareness personal care 3 2 humility and dignity moral values humbleness 3 3 arrogance and pride moral values humbleness 3 4 revision revision revision 4 1 diligence rights and responsibilities diligence 4 2 savings economics rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 4 3 generosity avoiding debt rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 4 4 entrepreneurship rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 5 1 working not to be a burden to the country rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 5 2 children’s duties to the family the family’s duties to the children national and spiritual consciousness family 5 3 duties of family members towards each other national and spiritual consciousness family 5 4 the importance of marriage national and spiritual consciousness family 6 1 duties to civilization and homeland obedience to the law rights and responsibilities sense of duty 6 2 military police rights and responsibilities sense of duty 6 2 honor the flag national and spiritual consciousness patriotism 58 6 3 devotion to the country national and spiritual consciousness patriotism 6 3 right to vote rights and responsibilities sense of duty 6 4 revision revision revision 7 1 duties to humanity rights and responsibilities respect for human rights 7 2 belittlement, humiliation, disparagement moral values honesty 7 3 respect for another’s religion and sect rights and responsibilities respect for human rights 7 4 not to interfere with another's property rights and responsibilities respect for property 8 1 obedience to words and contracts moral values honesty 8 2 be kind to people moral values compassion 8 2 helpfulness moral values benevolence 8 3 kindness towards muslims and non-muslims rights and responsibilities respect for human rights 8 4. our religious duties national and spiritual consciousness religious consciousness 9 4 general revision general revision general revision 2nd grade of devrei aliye 1 1 government and the need for government government and state bodies government 1 2 government and the need for government government and state bodies government 1 3 government tasks: security and justice, defense government and state bodies form of government 1 4 functioning of government government and state bodies form of government 2 1 constitutionalism government and state bodies form of government 2 2 benefits of constitutionalism government and state bodies form of government 2 3 defenders of constitutionalism government and state bodies form of government 59 2 4 civil rights freedom freedom to write rights and responsibilities awareness of citizenship rights 3 1 civil rights social rights right to work rights and responsibilities awareness of citizenship rights 3 2 civic duties; aid and solidarity rights and responsibilities solidarity 3 3 love the homeland respect the flag national and spiritual consciousness patriotism 3 4 revision revision revision 4 1 respect for religious and national institutions national and spiritual consciousness commitment to national and cultural values 4 2 respect for headquarters, school and military service rights and responsibilities sense of duty 4 3 tax rights and responsibilities economic consciousness 4 4 kanun-i esasi (the first ottoman constitution) government and state bodies laws 5 1 legislature, executive and judiciary government and state bodies laws 5 2 knowledge of the legislature, executive and judiciary government and state bodies laws 5 3 country resistance election parliamentary election government and state bodies election 5 3 how laws are made government and state bodies laws 5 4 parliament of the people and ayan (privileged person) government and state bodies council 6 1 government organization; village, town, county, province government and state bodies local governments 6 2 government offices government and state bodies local governments 6 3 municipality duties of the municipality government and state bodies municipality 60 6 3 municipality election government and state bodies election 6 4 duties of the people towards the municipality government and state bodies municipality 7 1 revision revision revision 7 2 courts government and state bodies courts 7 3 complaints and inquiries government and state bodies courts 7 4 types of courts government and state bodies courts 8 1. law courts government and state bodies courts 8 2 obligation to go to court government and state bodies courts 8 3 police, gendarmes, village guards, the importance of duty rights and responsibilities sense of duty 8 4 headmen, imams, teachers, the importance of duty rights and responsibilities sense of duty 9 4 general revision general revision general revision as can be seen in table 3, devre-i aliye (the last two-year period) of the program in the form of 2+2+2 years is for the 11-12 age group. in addition, it is seen that the program is planned over nine months and what topics will be covered weekly are specified. it is seen in the program that the hours of the relevant course are planned as one hour per week. when tables 1, 2 and 3 are examined, it is seen that unit revisions and general revisions are also included at certain intervals in the program. accordingly, for devre-i ûla first and second grades, and devre-i mutavassıta and devre-i aliye first grades, unit revisions were set in the fourth week of the third month, the last week of the sixth month, and the ninth month. the first week of the fourth month and the last week of the sixth month in the second year of the devrei mutavassıta level; the fourth week of the third month, the first week of the seventh month, and the ninth month are reserved for general revision in the second class of the devre-i aliye level. although the teaching of values through inculcation is dominant in the program in general, especially in the first year of devre-i ûlâ, it was enriched with fables such as “ant and cicada”, “two travelers”, “spider and silkworm”, “rabbit and sparrow”, “goat and fox”, “lamb and wolf”, “fox and stork”, “frog and firefly”, “crow and fox”, “two goats”, and “rabbit and 61 tortoise”. the spread of these fables over a two-month period shows that this method is considered important in the education of children of this age. table 4. themes and codes in the 1913 curriculum of musâhabât-ı ahlâkiye [conversations on morality and civics] themes f government and state bodies 37 moral values 49 environmental and health awareness 25 rights and responsibilities 78 national and spiritual consciousness 42 total 231 table 4 displays that rights and responsibilities in the citizenship education course are discussed intensively with 78 times. the theme of moral values was the second most discussed topic with 49 times. the theme of national and spiritual consciousness was discussed 42 times, and the theme of government and state bodies 37 times. the least mentioned theme in the course was the theme of environmental and health awareness with 25 sub-codes. some of the values that are aimed to be taught to students in the musahabât-ı ahlâkiyye [conversations on morality] curriculum are the theme of “government and state bodies” and are shown in table 5 with their codes. table 5. codes and statistics of government and state bodies theme codes f municipality 3 government 4 laws 10 courts 7 council 1 election 4 local governments 2 form of government 6 total 37 when table 5 is examined, it is seen that the theme of laws is the most coded subject with 10 times. the other topics covered most in the program were courts 7 times, form of government 6 times, and election 4 times. in addition, the municipality included in the program 3 times, the council 1, and local governments 2 times. the reason why the concepts of law, government, court and election were intensively covered in the 1913 curriculum stems from the desire to establish a new order and citizenship bond; because, in this period, both meşrutiyet was accepted and the kanun-i esasi was put into effect. therefore, it is important to teach these 62 new and foreign concepts. again, by trying to eliminate injustices with the regulations in the courts, it is aimed to keep the society together in peace and tranquility, and to keep muslim and non-muslim subjects together. since the ottoman empire wished to create a law-abiding citizen community from an early age, this subject was heavily covered in the program. the enactment of the kanun-i esasi and the securing of the rights of the people with this kanun-i esasi revealed the importance of obedience to the law. the reason why administration and state organs are included in the program is undoubtedly due to the transition to a new regime, the constitutional monarchy. in this framework, the program included subjects such as the sultan and the duties and powers of new institutions such as the meclis-i ayan [senate] and the meclis-i mebusan [assembly of representatives], how the elections would be held, various courts, administrative structures and officials. some of the values that are aimed to be taught to students in the musahabât-ı ahlâkiyye curriculum are shown in table 6 with the theme of “environmental and health awareness”. table 6. codes and statistics of environmental and health awareness theme codes f nature conservation 6 love of animals 5 personal care 4 health 10 total 25 as can be seen in table 6, the subject of health is mostly covered with 10 times in the theme of environmental and health awareness. since the ottomans planned to raise a model citizen in this period, issues related to environmental and health awareness were also included in the program. personal care is also included in the health theme; and the other issues included in this context were those such as not gluttony, that is, healthy eating, good and clean clothing, attention to body and house cleanliness, not drinking water when sweaty, avoiding harmful habits such as alcohol and cigarettes, breathing fresh air. although individual and public health and environmental cleanliness and order are among the issues that should be given importance for every nation, the conditions of the current period should probably have an effect on including them in the program. as a matter of fact, the food and shelter problems experienced with the large masses of immigrants from the places lost in the balkan wars increased epidemics such as cholera, malaria, typhoid and plague, and caused the issue of health and the environment to gain even more importance. on the other hand, it is known that laws and regulations were made in parallel with the program in many health-related issues such as cholera epidemics caused by the bursting sewers due to the lack of infrastructure, the smell of barns intertwined with living spaces, and rabies caused by stray dogs, the dirt of horse carriages 63 and donkey trains scattered on the roads, the cleaning of the streets, the garbage and rubble thrown around, the unhealthy and open food sold on the streets. one of the issues that ottoman administrators focused on was the protection of the environment and surrounding structures. in particular, the importance of protecting roads, bridges and fountains was tried to be taught to children. it is seen that the love of animals is also covered 5 times in the program. it could be thought that the state tried to teach to protect and love animals from an early age, due to the fact that the main livelihoods of the ottoman society were agriculture and animal husbandry, and with the influence of beliefs and values that can be expressed as “love the creature because of the creator” and “who does not show mercy to animals, he shall not show mercy to people”. at the same time, the use of some animals in transportation and field works and the behaviors towards them were discussed in detail in the program, and these issues were included in the program under the headings of refraining from cruelty to farm animals and other animals. in fact, it is also known that a legal regulation has been made in order not to torture the riding animals by loading more than they can carry. in the program, environmental issues such as keeping the parks and gardens clean, not plucking the flowers, not damaging the trees and forests were also emphasized. these issues aim not only to protect the environment, but also to teach respect for the rights of others, as these places are open to public use. to sum up, it is aimed to create an awareness of health and the environment in children and to make these issues a habit from an early age. some of the values that are aimed to be taught to students in the musahabât-ı ahlâkiyye [conversations on morality] curriculum are shown in table 7 with the theme of “moral values”. table 7. codes and statistics of moral values theme codes f not being greedy 2 humility 2 to be brave 1 do not gossip 1 honesty 11 devotion 1 tolerance 3 human relations 5 beneficence 1 jealousy 2 compassion 4 self-regulation 1 self-confidence 2 self-criticism 1 patience 1 humbleness 2 conscientious responsibility 2 benevolence 7 total 49 64 according to table 7, the most discussed subject with 11 times was the concept of honesty. the ottoman state was an islamic state. therefore, the concept of truth, which is one of the important requirements of the religion of islam, has been given a high priority. in addition, since concepts such as truthfulness, honesty and not lying have an important place in turkish customs, they have been emphasized in the program. the fact that these concepts are among the main features sought in human relations made it necessary to focus on them. some other concepts covered in the program are benevolence 7 times, compassion 4 times and tolerance 3 times. the main reason why the topics of benevolence and compassion are included in the program is again based on beliefs and traditions, but in recent times, many people have been lost in wars, their children have been left orphaned and the society has taken care of them. it is also possible to evaluate the establishment of orphanages established for the shelter of orphans and some other charitable institutions within the framework of this goal. on the other hand, the concepts of tolerance and respect for different religions were also included in the program in order to ensure the coexistence of different ethnic and religious identities and to keep the ottoman state together. although a policy of tolerance towards non-muslim people has been implemented since the establishment of the ottoman state, the aim in the following periods was to strengthen the sense of citizenship and to prevent nationalist rebellions, as mentioned above. this aim is also reflected in the program under the title of tolerance. some of the values that are aimed to be taught to students in the musahabât-ı ahlâkiyye [conversations on morality] curriculum are shown in table 8 with the theme of “national and spiritual consciousness”. table 8. codes and statistics of national and spiritual consciousness theme codes f family 11 respect for elders 1 solidarity 4 loyalty to the state 2 religious consciousness 3 commitment to national and cultural values 4 national heroes 1 obedience to the sultan, obedience to the elders 2 respect for the connoisseur of the arts 1 patriotism 13 total 42 65 as can be seen in table 8, patriotism is the most discussed topic in the program with 13 times. in other words, it was aimed to keep the subjects together by creating unity and solidarity within the framework of the concept of homeland in order to eliminate the negative effects of the intense land losses experienced before the 1913 curriculum on the society and to prevent the separatist ideas brought by the french revolution. another important topic covered in the program is the concept of family with 11 times. since the ottomans had a traditional family structure, in addition to the nuclear family members such as mother, father, sister, grandfather, grandmother, individuals such as lala [educator and trainer of a child], nanny and maid were counted as family and the behavior of children towards them was discussed in the program. other topics covered most under this theme were solidarity, commitment to national and cultural values, 4 times each. the feelings of solidarity and benevolence were added to the program in order to strengthen national unity and solidarity and to prevent the collapse of the state. the development of turkish identity and turkism thought, which began to be prominently featured towards the end of the balkan wars, is in parallel with these concepts in the program. it is seen that the sadness of the recently lost lands and the hope of getting them back were also reflected in the textbooks of the period. the values that are aimed to be taught to students in the musâhahabât-ı ahlakiye [conversations on morality] curriculum are shown in table 9 with the theme of “rights and responsibilities” and their codes. table 9. codes and statistics of rights and responsibilities theme codes f diligence 15 economic consciousness 14 sense of duty 18 legal consciousness 15 respect for human rights 6 respect for property 5 freedom 1 awareness of citizenship rights 4 total 78 as can be seen in table 9, “rights and responsibilities” is the most frequently used theme in the program with 78 codes. the most discussed topic in the program was the sense of duty with 18 times; because, the state wished to raise individuals with a high sense of responsibility from an early age. other topics that are covered intensively in the program are diligence 15 times and economic consciousness 14 times. undoubtedly, the loss of land, the deterioration of the tımar [land allocation] system, the migration from the village to the city as a result of the celali revolts [economic and social 66 revolts in the ottomans], the capitulations turning the ottoman country into an open market, developments such as the declaration of the bankruptcy of the state with the muharrem decree in 1881 and the establishment of the düyûn-ı umûmiyye [general debts], caused the state to lose its economic independence over time, and such developments put heavy burdens on the people. therefore, the development of economic awareness and the promotion of work became a vital issue for the state. the concept of property had been one of the problematic issues in the ottoman empire. since the state is the owner of most of the lands, it did not want anyone who could gain power by acquiring property other than itself. for this reason, it had implemented the confiscation procedure. however, mahmud ii, who wanted to increase the loyalty of foreign merchants who were trying to escape from the recent internal turmoil, abolished the confiscation procedure and allowed private property. on the other hand, since minorities besides muslims were given the opportunity to acquire property, their rights and laws were always on the agenda in order to keep the subjects together and to increase the loyalty of foreigners to the state. the proclamation of the kanun-i esasi also guaranteed these rights. therefore, teaching these topics and concepts was one of the important priorities of the 1913 curriculum. discussion in the relevant literature, there is no study focused specifically on the civic education curriculum in ottoman schools. considering that it is the first regular and systematic citizenship education program in education planning from past to present, it has been determined that there is a gap in the literature related to this civics education of musâhabât-ı ahlâkiyye [conversations on morality]. it is thought that this study would fill an important gap in the literature by shedding some light on the history of citizenship education in turkey. in this study, the 1913 musâhabâtı ahlâkiyye course, which emerged in the process of the turkish society evolving from being a subject to a citizen, was investigated with the method of content analysis. one of the studies conducted on this topic was done by budak and budak (2014) on programs from the ottoman empire to the republic. in this research, the weekly course schedules of the programs from the ottoman empire to the republic were given, but the content of the programs was not mentioned. yet, in the current study, the content of the 1913 curriculum was discussed in detail with the content analysis method. one of the studies on the 1913 curriculum is the research conducted by benzer (2004) on mother tongue education programs in turkey. benzer researched the place of mother tongue in the 1913 curriculum, included mother tongue features, comparisons and criticisms, but did not make any determinations regarding citizenship education. in the present study, the citizenship education program was examined with the content analysis method. keskin’s (2010) research on curriculum from the second meşrutiyet [the 2nd constitutional monarchy, 1908] to the present is one of the important studies. keskin stated that the aim of the 1913 curriculum, which was published during the second meşrutiyet period, was to make children comprehend the ideology of the committee of union and progress. in this 67 study, the weekly course schedule of the 1913 curriculum was given and the topics in the program were dealt with in a superficial way. in the current study, the entire content of the musâhabât-ı ahlakiyye course in the 1913 curriculum was investigated with the content analysis method. one of the studies in the field of citizenship education is citizenship in the second meşrutiyet period, which belongs to a study by yaşar (2018). in his study, yaşar examined a different dimension such as the content of the textbooks in the second meşrutiyet period, their association with the programs of the period in which they were published, and their references, instead of the perception of citizenship in the textbooks or the reflections of the citizenship perception in the official ideology. in the present study, the 1913 citizenship educational program was discussed as a whole, not the textbooks. conclusion and recommendations citizenship education, which has an important place in the turkish education system, was taught in history and geography courses until the 1913 curriculum. in the 1913 curriculum, these courses were combined under the names of musâhabât-ı ahlâkiyye [conversations on morality] and malumât-ı vataniyye [civics], and a citizen was tried to be educated within the framework of the ottoman upper identity in line with the ideology of the period. the course musâhabât-ı ahlâkiyye means conversations about ethics, religion, history and civilization in today’s turkish. in this period, the ottoman empire tried to create a common citizen identity by focusing on values education in order to avoid the collapse process it was in. in this respect, the aforementioned course and its content are extremely crucial. with the malumât-ı vataniyyes, the ottoman empire aimed to raise both loyal citizens and citizens who were equipped with some national and universal moral values, who were aware of the structure of the state, economy, health and environment. citizenship education, which was included in the program under the name of musâhabât-ı ahlakiyye in 1913-1914, appeared as a course for the first time in the ottoman country with the tedrisât-ı i̇btidâiyye kanûn-ı muvakkati [primary education temporary law]. in 1913, the citizenship education program was written as a single text without including its aims. the aims of the program were given implicitly only in the content part. although there was no section stating the philosophy of the program, a didactic style seems to be dominant throughout the program. both the introduction and the content of the program did not mention what methods the course would be taught with. values and skills in the program were discussed in the content part of the program. it is understood that the program was written with the aim of explaining, giving information, enlightening and learning a moral lesson with its intense text content. in addition, in the program, the units were supported with stories, poems and fables and the topics were tried to be made more concrete. for example, while the topic of work and diligence is being told, the story of the ant and the grasshopper has been tried to make the topic more concrete and memorable. in this respect, it is considered positive to include such stories in the program in terms of increasing the memorability of what has been learned. 68 in the 1913 ottoman primary school curriculum, it was stated which topics at which grade level would be covered by the musahhabât-ı ahlakiyye course. the topics covered in the first stage of devre-i ûla are composed of basic subjects such as respect for elders, love, honesty, what the family is and its importance, being helpful, love of nature, love of homeland and flag. with these subjects and concepts, it is aimed that the child learns about his family, environment and some national moral values. fables are given wide coverage. in the second stage of devre-i ûla, it is seen that the topics and concepts that are intended to be taught are handled in a slightly wider framework. it can be deduced that the expanding environmental approach model has been adopted in line with the understanding of the near-far, from the known to the unknown. while in the first grade, nuclear family members such as mother and father were mentioned, in the second grade, these concepts were expanded a little more and other household members such as lala [educator and trainer of a child], nanny and maid were included in the family. in addition to citizen responsibilities such as military service and paying taxes, topics related to the foreign state have been added to the program of the second stage of devre-i ûla. while the concepts and subjects such as religious knowledge, health, dressing and entrepreneurship were discussed in the first grade level of devre-i mutavassıta, concepts and topics such as the ottoman homeland, courts, security forces, government, laws and local administrations were added to the program at the second grade level. in addition, the duties and authorities of the mentioned institutions and organizations, who had the authority to make laws and what the duties of the government were explained. it is noteworthy that the concept of election and, accordingly, the right of the citizen to vote was added to the program in the first grade level of devre-i âliye. in the second grade level, it is seen that the forms of government (republic, constitutional monarchy and sultanate) were also included in the program. other important topics included in the program are freedom of expression, citizenship rights, the kanun-i esasi, legislative, executive, judiciary, etc. the reason why these topics were added to the curriculum in this period was the enactment of the kanun-i esasi for the second time after a long interruption and the declaration of the constitutional monarchy. in other words, this situation is considered as an innovation brought by the constitutional monarchy regime. in the 1913 curriculum, it was seen that citizenship education is value-oriented. in the program, the concept of family was given a high priority and the importance of the family, respect and obedience to the elders, the position of the woman and the duties and responsibilities of all individuals in the family were stated. especially since the ottoman empire has an extended family structure, parental love is one of the values that are desired to be instilled in children at a young age. at the same time, when it is accepted that the family is the smallest building block of the society and a small prototype of the state, it has been considered important for the sustainability of the society that the values and feelings instilled in the family, such as belonging, solidarity, love and respect, are reflected to the homeland, creating a strong civic loyalty and acting with the awareness of their rights and responsibilities towards both the state and each 69 other. by stating at the very beginning of the program that “we must obey our sultan and our elders”, it was emphasized that there was almost a similarity between the family and the state. an important value added to the program during this period and wanted to be taught to children as a sacred duty is patriotism. the main purpose of this program, which came into effect especially at a time when the ottoman state was on the verge of disintegration, is to create a new unity around the ottoman identity. one of the key values in the program is the concept of obedience. teaching this concept, especially starting from the family, was seen as a critical stage for obedience to the sultan and statesmen in the following years. as a result, in this period when the transition from subject to citizen was experienced, it was aimed to raise an ottoman citizen in all aspects with the musahhabât-ı ahlakiyye. the program aimed to raise individuals who love their homeland and nation, appreciate their ancestors and the works left by them, are respectful, helpful, honest, have environmental and economic awareness, love nature and animals, and respect human rights. consequently, it was noticed that the field of citizenship education was neglected from the tanzimat to the republic era. considering that citizenship education programs are an area where social studies educators need to do more research, it is thus recommended to increase studies in this area. one of the reasons why the study of citizenship education programs in the ottoman period was neglected is that very few of the social studies educators knew ottoman turkish. the lack of knowledge of the ottoman written language, which allows us to recognize our cultural heritage, hinders the work to be done in this field. therefore, it is recommended that ottoman turkish courses be included in the programs at the undergraduate or graduate level in social studies education, and it is recommended to be offered as an elective course. considering the ottoman period citizenship education program and the republican period programs in a comparative way should be encouraged as it will shed light on the historical development of social studies education. what kind of changes are experienced periodically in 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(2016). sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri. ankara: seçkin yayıncılık. research in educational policy and management repamjournal.org open access journal 2019, 1(1): 55-74 research paper the relationship of personality traits with english speaking anxiety: a study on turkish university students haldun vural * * phd, independent researcher, konya, turkey. e-mail: bildirler@gmail.com article info received: 18.12.2019 revised: 21.12.2019 accepted: 21.12.2019 how to cite vural, h. (2019). the relationship of personality traits with english speaking anxiety: a study on turkish university students. research in educational policy and management, 1(1), 55-74. abstract speaking in front of people is challenging even in one’s own language. since personality and speaking anxiety are interrelated, students’ personality types are important to find out the reasons for their anxiety. the aim of the current study is to determine the personality traits of the participants; to investigate their foreign language speaking anxiety levels; and to find out whether students’ personality traits significantly predict their foreign language speaking anxiety. according to the results, extraversion, openness and conscientiousness significantly and negatively but neuroticism and agreeableness significantly and positively predict foreign language speaking anxiety. the majority have agreeableness which predicts foreign language speaking anxiety positively; this may explain why people cannot speak english in our country. keywords foreign language speaking; university students; personality traits; anxiety; english language teaching; turkey. introduction according to a study conducted in turkey the participants rated themselves as medium talkative (alishah, 2014). english speaking is observed as an anxiety provoking factor by turkish university students (öztürk and gürbüz, 2014), and this anxiety may provoke lack of willingness to speak. and although language learning anxiety is not a personality trait, it is accepted as a situational specific anxiety (horwitz, 2001; macintyre and gardner, 1991). learners without any anxiety may experience anxiety while learning a foreign language; accordingly, foreign language anxiety is different from other anxiety types and it may have negative influences on language learning (horwitz, 2001). 56 therefore, it can be asserted that personality and speaking anxiety are interrelated. since speaking awakens more anxiety than other language skills and is negatively affected by anxiety (macintyre and gardner, 1994; horwitz, 2001; öztürk and gürbüz, 2014), flsa (foreign language speaking anxiety) may have some importance in foreign language learning (fll) process. anxiety in speaking skill can be suggested as one of the most common problems in fll, because there is a negative correlation between anxiety and performance (macintyre, 1995). according to macintyre (1995), there is a negative correlation between anxiety and performance, and anxiety damages the performance of learners in reading and learning tasks, listening comprehension, speaking and repetition. but, there are others factors that affect the anxiety of speakers; these factors are the personality traits of individuals, because anxiety is closely related to personality traits (macintyre and charos, 1996; apple, 2011; horwitz, 2001; macintyre and gardner, 1991). individual differences in personalities may affect the level of anxiety in foreign language speaking of learners together with their level of english, because cognitive and non-cognitive personal varieties affect the development of knowledge (furnham and chamorro-premuzic, 2004; rammstedt, lechner, and danner, 2018). therefore, personality may be asserted as an important factor to understand the reasons of flsa together with academic success because affect has important influence on speaking a foreign language (furnham and chamorropremuzic, 2004; o’connor and paunonen, 2007). as a result, it seems important to investigate why some students are not eager to speak english and feel speaking anxiety. the factors related to the personality traits of learners may determine and affect the flsa and so, influence their communication abilities and competence in english negatively or positively. for that reason, it seems that there exists a need for an investigation to understand the influence of personality traits on foreign language speaking anxiety in turkey. hence, the current study aims at finding answer to the following research questions: 1. what are the personal traits’ scores of the participants? 2. is there a significant difference between the means of foreign language speaking anxiety scores of elt and ell students? 3. do elt students’ personality traits and foreign language speaking self-efficacy scores significantly predict their foreign language speaking anxiety? 4. do ell students’ personality traits and foreign language speaking self-efficacy scores significantly predict their foreign language speaking anxiety? review of literature background of personality in scientific studies of traits (macintyre and charos, 1996; apple, 2011; horwitz, 2001; macintyre and gardner, 1991), it has been determined that the individuals use trait descriptors 57 the relationship of personality traits with english speaking anxiety in their natural languages and they can be clustered together according to the similarities in their inclinations, so there are generalizations in personality. at the beginning, ancient humours were used to describe the personalities of the people, but with scientific development, personality traits began to use words, i.e. adjectives explain the personalities of individuals. five dimensions of personality first occurred in 1960s and the investigations on the big five became intense during 1980s and 1990s. the big five is accepted as a comprehensive personality traits model and individual differences among normal people can be organized as five orthogonal or independent dimensions; these are extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness (john et al., 1991). studies suggest that cognitive and non-cognitive personal varieties affect the development of knowledge (furnham and chamorro-premuzic, 2004). personality traits are among these non-cognitive individual differences and some studies show that in comparison with cognitive ability, big five personality traits predict academic success more (furnham and chamorro-premuzic, 2004; o’connor and paunonen, 2007). traces of personality traits can be found on fll about affective and non-linguistic dimensions in history. many psychology researchers such as eysenck and eysenck (1985), and costa and mccrae (1992) noted the strong relation between affect and neuroticism and extraversion. also some other researchers such as watson and clark (1992) noted that affective factors like self-esteem and confidence had relationships to some extent with openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. extroversion is seen as having a weak relationship with foreign language speaking anxiety. this is because extroverted learners can be more active and more engaged in tasks during classes and as a consequence, their choice may decrease their flsa. so, extroversion can be asserted to be directly connected with flsa. however, neurotic learners are not eager to take part in activities and tasks in classes and emotional states like nervousness and anxiousness of learners constitute the neuroticism. therefore, if learners have lower neuroticism, they may have lower speaking anxiety in the classes. according to the investigations, extraversion has relations with affect and personality (yik et al., 2002), with strongest learning goal orientation (payne et al., 2007), with motivation of engagement to improve oneself better (komarraju and karau, 2005; chamorro-premuzic, 2016), with english learning (homayouni, 2011), with foreign language speaking anxiety (macintyre and charos, 1996; apple, 2011), with being too talkative (curşeu, ilies, vîrgă, maricuţoiu and sava, 2018) and with openness (kashiwagi, 2002). besides, students are moderately extraverted in turkey (alishah, 2015) and extravert participants and extroverted teachers are found more active in language classes. in another study, agreeableness is the first and openness is the second personality traits among university students in turkey (yanardöner, 2010). openness personality trait was detected to have the highest ratio among other traits in some investigations. and learning english (homayouni, 2011) and speaking in english (macintyre and charos, 1996; apple, 2011) were positively correlated with openness. it has also significant 58 correlations with different features of communicative competence (verhoeven and vermeer’s, 2002). besides, openness has significant relations with classroom performance and gpa (rothstein et al., 1994), strong learning goal orientation (payne et al., 2007) and even with academic achievement (laidra et al., 2007). it was also found out that formation ability was positively correlated with openness (king et al., 1996) and openness was correlated positively with agreeableness but negatively with neuroticism (rubinstein, 2005) as it was in the current study. also conscientiousness has positive significant relations with academic achievement and academic success (furnham and chamorro-premuzic, 2004; o’connor and paunonen, 2007), with gpa, with individual score (laidra et al., 2007) and with grades as well (chamorro-premuzic and furnham, 2003). in related investigations conscientiousness has relations with motivation of achievement and feeling towards learning (komarraju and karau, 2005), with different features of communicative competence (verhoeven and vermeer’s, 2002) and neuroticism (rubinstein, 2005). in other studies, agreeableness has relations with formative capabilities (king et al., 1996), with conscientiousness, openness and neuroticism (rubinstein, 2005), with english learning (homayouni, 2011). and there are relations between neuroticism and affect and personality (yik et al., 2002), with self-esteem (marlar and joubert, 2002) and with both agreeableness and conscientiousness (rubinstein, 2005), with many negative items and personality problems of people (digman, 1990). background of foreign language speaking anxiety it can be suggested that anxiety has not only psychological but also physiological aspects and since learning a foreign language involves both interpersonal and social effort, the importance of affective factors should be taken into consideration in fll (horwitz, 2000). learners can experience any kind of anxiety during their foreign language classes without any discrimination of age, level, gender or nationality. anxiety is an important and crucial factor in all learning types. for that reason, anxiety is complicated, multidimensional and crucial for fll as well, since there are many affective variables in fll process. it is not an objective but subjective feeling of stress and dread which occurs especially during second or foreign language learning process such as listening, studying, writing and speaking (macintyre and gardner, 1993). according to macintyre (1995), there is a negative correlation between anxiety and performance and anxiety damages the performance of learners in reading and learning tasks, listening comprehension, speaking and repetition. according to foreign language anxiety studies, language learning anxiety is not a personality trait but classified as a situational specific anxiety (horwitz, 2001; macintyre and gardner, 1991). another important point here is that normally those learners who do not experience anxiety may feel anxious when they learn a foreign language; so this reality 59 the relationship of personality traits with english speaking anxiety differentiates foreign language anxiety from other anxiety types (horwitz, 2001). this reality may indicate the menacing and debilitating influences of anxiety on language learning. the huge research on foreign language anxiety indicates that speaking and other oral activities in fll provoke more anxiety than listening, reading and writing, and is the most questionable one. many researches and authorities have agreed upon the fact that anxiety has negative effects on speaking and these negative effects are crucial and anxiety in foreign language may influence learners’ achievement (macintyre and gardner, 1994; horwitz, 2001; öztürk and gürbüz, 2014). accordingly, to investigate the issue further, this study aims to examine the relationships between the personality traits and foreign language speaking anxiety and how these personality traits predict students’ flsa and to find out the important personality factors that may affect students’ flsa. the differences in personality, the level of flsa of the students and relations among these two factors between english language teaching and english language and literature departments are taken into consideration. therefore, the factors related to personality traits and foreign language speaking anxiety, how these factors are measured with turkish students and the relations between students’ foreign language speaking anxiety and their personalities are the subjects of this investigation. methodology the current study has the features of quantitative research design which has comparative and correlational characters in nature. it is also a descriptive study since it describes what exists and may show new facts and meaning beyond what is supposed to exist. in this study, correlation between personality traits and flsa was also investigated. the sample for the current study convenience sampling was applied because the participants were chosen according to their existence at the time of application of questionnaires in accordance with their convenience of accessibility and proximity. in this study, 923 4th year students of english language teaching departments and 922 4th year students of english language and literature departments from 31 different universities in turkey, totally over 2000 students, participated in the study and the data were analyzed with spss 22.0. the current research was conducted without any intervention; data were collected at one time and the participants were measured once during spring semester of 2015, from february till july. all questions in all questionnaires should have been answered fully. therefore, cases with any missing responses were accepted as false participants and were eliminated. after the removal of missing responses, final n-size was 1845. 60 instruments in order to collect data, two instruments were used in this study: the big five inventory and foreign language classroom anxiety scale. the big five inventory the big five inventory is a questionnaire consisting of 44 short-phrase items and it assesses personality traits (john et al., 1991). for the current study, cronbach‘s alpha coefficient was found .62 for extraversion; .69 for openness; .62 for neuroticism; .61 for agreeableness and .68 for conscientiousness, with an average of .65. therefore, it may be suggested that the questionnaire items used in the current study have a fairly good internal consistency. foreign language classroom anxiety scale foreign language classroom anxiety scale developed by horwitz et al. (1986) is a standard instrument for investigators to find out the level and degree of foreign language anxiety occurring in foreign language classrooms. flcas consists of 33 items on 5 points likert scale. for the current study, cronbach‘s alpha coefficient for 33 items was found to be .92. for flcas. therefore, it may be suggested that the questionnaire items used in the current study have a real good internal consistency. data analysis interval scales were used in the current study based on two questionnaires with 5 categories of likert scale ranging from 1 (strong disagreement) to 5 (strong agreement) and 2, 3 and 4 representing intermediate judgments. the data were analyzed using the statistic package for social sciences (spss) through descriptive (means, percentages and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (regression); so identified features of the data in the study were described. the independent sample t-test was employed to compare the means of two independent groups; these were foreign language speaking anxiety scores of elt and ell groups. a multiple regression model was used to test the effects of independent variables on dependent variable and to determine how independent variables affect the dependent variable. in the current study, there is one dependent variable; foreign language speaking anxiety. and five personality traits are the independent variables of the study. moreover, multiple regression analysis was used to determine which independent variables predicted the dependent variable best; that is to say, which of the five personality traits predicted the foreign language speaking anxiety best. results analysis of the research question 1 what are the personal traits’ scores of the participants? the answers of the students to the big five inventory were analyzed through descriptive statistics in order to find out the personality traits of the participants. 61 the relationship of personality traits with english speaking anxiety table 1 consists of the minimums, maximums, means and standard deviations of personality traits of the elt department participants. table 1. descriptive statistics of personality traits of elt department participants n minimum maximum mean std. deviation agreeableness 923 1.56 5.00 3.69 .55 openness 923 1.90 5.00 3.69 .54 conscientiousness 923 1.67 5.00 3.52 .58 extraversion 923 1.10 5.00 3.32 .63 neuroticism 923 1.00 4.88 2.84 .64 total 923 and table 2 consists of the minimums, maximums, means and standard deviations of personality traits of the ell department participants. table 2. descriptive statistics of personality traits of ell department participants n minimum maximum mean std. deviation agreeableness 922 1.89 4.89 3.54 .56 openness 922 1.30 4.90 3.47 .60 conscientiousness 922 1.56 5.00 3.33 .60 extraversion 922 1.40 5.00 3.17 .57 neuroticism 922 1.00 5.00 2.96 .59 total 922 according to results, all five personality traits were detected in different portions in both groups and the highest proportion of personality traits of participants is agreeableness; then openness and conscientiousness come. in the 4th place extraversion exists. and the smallest proportion of personality traits is neuroticism for the participants. analysis of the research question 2 is there a significant difference between the means of foreign language speaking anxiety scores of elt and ell students? the answers of the students to the flcas were analyzed through descriptive statistics in order to find out the level of foreign language speaking anxiety of the participants. besides, another analysis was done through inferential statistics by using independent samples t-test. an independent samples t-test was conducted to compare the two means (elt-ell) and determine if there were differences between elt and ell groups in terms of flsa. table 3 consists of the mean scores of flsa and their significance rates of elt-ell students. 62 table 3. foreign language speaking anxiety t-test results of elt-ell groups n mean std. deviation t p elt 923 2.60 .66 9.73 .000 ell 922 2.89 .62 analysis of the participants’ answers reveals that the average speaking anxiety mean score of elt group is lower than ell group. in other words, ell students seem slightly anxious in foreign language speaking than elt students. according to the results of the t-tests, there is a significant difference (t=9.73, p<.05) between elt and ell with respect to above variable. analysis of the research question 3 do elt students’ personality traits scores significantly predict their foreign language speaking anxiety? multiple linear regression analysis was applied to predict flsa from personality traits and to find out to what extent personality traits affect flsa and to explore their relations. another aim of employing multiple regression analysis is to have a precise predictive model to reveal the relationship between several independent variables (personality traits) and a dependent variable (flsa). here, the aim is to discover how the value of flsa is changed while each of the personality traits is varied with flsa when the other variables are remained fixed; and to discover which of the personality traits are related to flsa and the pattern of these relationships for elt group. the results can be seen on table 4 below: table 4. summary of multiple linear regression analysis with personality traits as predictors of flsa for elt students (n=923) predictors b seb  t p agreeableness .076 .036 .063 2.127 .000*** openness -.073 .037 -.059 -1.979 .048* conscientiousness -.022 .035 -.019 -.622 .534 extraversion -.192 .033 -.183 -5.813 .000*** neuroticism .258 .030 .249 8.462 .000*** r = .620 r2 = .384 f (6. 909) = 94.43 p = 000*** *p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001 this model is significant. the results of multiple regression analysis show that agreeableness, openness, extraversion and neuroticism explain approximately 38% of the total variance in flsa for elt students (f (6.909) = 94.43 p = .000; r = .620 r2 = .384). the most significant predictors of flsa for elt students are neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and 63 the relationship of personality traits with english speaking anxiety openness respectively, so neuroticism (beta = .249, t(909) = 8.462, p < . 001), extraversion (beta = -.183, t(909) = -5.813, p < . 001), agreeableness (beta = .063, t(909) = 2.127, p < . 001) and openness (beta = -.059, t(909) = -1.979, p < . 05) significantly predict flsa in elt group. among the variables, extraversion (beta = -.183, p < . 001) and openness (beta = -.059, p < . 05) have negatively significant and neuroticism (beta = .249, p < . 001) and agreeableness (beta = .063, p<.001) have positively significant relations with flsa. however, conscientiousness (beta = .019, p > . 05) is not a significant predictor of flsa for elt students. while the most anxious personality traits are neuroticism and agreeableness, the least anxious ones are extraversion and openness. analysis of the research question 4 do ell students’ personality traits scores significantly predict their foreign language speaking anxiety? again multiple linear regression analysis is applied for ell group as well. the results can be seen on table 5 below: table 5. summary of multiple linear regression analysis with personality traits as predictors of flsa for ell students (n=922) predictors b seb  t p agreeableness .082 .036 .075 2.295 .022* openness -.043 .035 -.042 -1.244 .214 conscientiousness -.097 .036 -.094 -2.704 .007** extraversion -.223 .034 -.207 -6.488 .000*** neuroticism .230 .032 .221 7.143 .000*** r = .516 r2 = .267 f (6. 896) = 54.26 p = 000*** *p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001 this model is significant. the results of multiple regression analysis show that agreeableness, openness, extraversion and neuroticism explain approximately 27% of the total variance in flsa for ell students (f (6.896) = 54.26 p = .000; r = .516 r2 = .267). the most significant predictors of flsa for ell students are neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness respectively, so neuroticism (beta = .221, t(896) = 7.143, p < . 001), extraversion (beta = -.207, t(896) = 6.488, p < . 001), conscientiousness (beta = -.094, t(896) = 2.704, p < . 01) and agreeableness (beta = .075, t(896) = 2.295, p < . 05) significantly predict flsa in ell group. among the variables extraversion (beta = -.207, p < . 001) and conscientiousness (beta = -.094, p < . 01) have negatively significant and neuroticism (beta = .221, p < . 001) and agreeableness (beta = .075, p < . 05) have positively significant relations with flsa. however, openness (beta = -.042, p > . 05) is not a significant predictor of flsa for ell students. among 64 the personality traits while the most anxious ones are neuroticism and agreeableness, the least anxious pts are extraversion and conscientiousness. to sum up, the majority of the participants have agreeableness and the participants with neuroticism are in minority. there are significant differences between the mean scores of elt and ell students’ personality traits and their flsa scores. also significant relationships between the scores of flsa and the scores of personality traits of the participants are detected. according the results, high extraversion means low flsa and high neuroticism means high flsa. these results can be asserted as same for both elt and ell groups. discussion in this section, findings and their interpretations with respect to the relevant literature will be discussed. there are four major issues investigated in this study. these are detailed below. personality traits the first issue is about the personality traits of the participants. both groups have all personality traits in them and it is possible to distinguish all personality traits and the sequence of the personality traits is same for both elt and ell groups. the highest construct of personality traits for both groups is agreeableness; whereas, the others are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion and neuroticism respectively. in both groups, agreeableness has the highest score. this finding is in accordance with the result of another study in turkey where agreeableness is found to be the first personality trait among university students as well (yanardöner, 2010). however, among turkish adults, extraversion, openness and conscientiousness personality traits are higher than neuroticism and agreeableness. this can be explained by adaptation of individuals; university environment is less competitive and students are friendlier and so, agreeableness can be accepted naturally. however, when people begin to work, competition becomes a reality and people may become more preserved in contrast to university environment. therefore, it can be asserted that students with agreeableness may become extravert in their workplaces. the finding of the current study is accordance with the above-mentioned finding since the participants’ average age is 22.8 and agreeableness has the highest proportion among all personality traits. next highest score is openness. this finding is also in accordance with yanardöner’s (2010) study where openness is the second personality trait among university students in turkey. one possible reason as to why openness is the second highest construct may be the fact that participants can build the most suitable personal relations in their environments. in psychological research, openness is closely related to affective factors like confidence, selfesteem and experience (watson and clark, 1992). while people who care about others’ welfare are assessed positively in western cultures, personal relationships are hierarchical and this hierarchy starts with the language used in turkish families. first intimate relations occur in families but as children grow up, they are presented to a network of human relations including 65 the relationship of personality traits with english speaking anxiety in-group and out-of-group activities. in-group, relations are related to individuals themselves through membership of a group like family, work or school; if there are no joint activities, those people are considered as out-of-group. the fact that the participants are all fourth-year elt-ell students, i.e. seniors, means that they are the eldest in their departments. so, they know their environment well and they are halfway through their professional lives. this might prove that they have high self-confidence and marked openness items accordingly. the dimension conscientiousness stands in the middle among five personality dimensions for both elt and ell groups. conscientiousness is correlated negatively with neuroticism (rubinstein, 2005). the next dimension for both elt and ell groups is extroversion. this finding of the current study is in accordance with previous studies where it is found out that extravert participants start conversations, introduce new topics, make restatements and build longer sentences while introverts ask questions in classroom. and the lowest score for both elt and ell groups is neuroticism whose characteristics are assumed as vulnerability, self-consciousness, depression, impulsiveness, angry hostility and anxiety (barrick and mount, 1991). these are the negative factors affecting foreign language speaking, and it is seen in the current study that both elt and ell groups have neuroticism trait at the least. however, the results show that this is the smallest dimension of personality traits for both elt and ell groups. this can be a positive stimulant and a good thing for both elt and ell groups to have least neuroticism, since many negative items and personality problems of people are reflected in neuroticism (digman, 1990). the levels and differences the second issue investigated in the current study is about the levels and differences between the means of foreign language speaking anxiety scores of elt and ell students. the ttest result reveals that there is a significant difference (t=9.73, p < .05) between elt and ell with respect to their foreign language speaking anxiety scores. this finding shows that flsa mean score of elt group (m = 2.60) is lower than flsa mean score of ell group (m = 2.89). in other words, ell students are more anxious in foreign language speaking than elt students. this result is in accordance with another investigation on turkish students where the participants observe english speaking as an anxiety provoking factor (öztürk and gürbüz, 2014). analysis to predict flsa from personality traits of elt students for the third issue multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to predict flsa from personality traits and to find out to what extent this prediction exists. besides, how each personality trait is varied with flsa, which personality traits are related to flsa and what the pattern of their relationships were also investigated. the results in table 4 demonstrate that this model of multiple regression analysis is significant and the variables explain approximately 38% of the total variance in flsa for elt 66 students. among the five personality traits, extraversion (β= -.183) and openness (β= -.059) negatively, and neuroticism (β= .249) and agreeableness (β= .063) positively predict the flsa of elt group. here, it should also be noted that extraversion is the least anxious trait, and neuroticism is the most anxious trait for elt group. on the other hand, conscientiousness personality trait does not significantly predict flsa. analysis to predict flsa from personality traits of ell students for the fourth issue again multiple linear regression analysis is conducted to predict flsa from personality traits and to find out to what extent this prediction exists. besides, how each personality trait is varied with flsa, which personality traits are related to flsa and what the pattern of their relationships are also investigated. the results in table 5 demonstrate that this model of multiple regression analysis is significant and the variables explain approximately 27% of the total variance in flsa for ell students. among the five personality traits, extraversion (β= -.207) and conscientiousness (β= .094) negatively, and neuroticism (β= .221) and agreeableness (β= .075) positively predict the flsa of ell group. here, it should also be noted that extraversion is the least anxious trait and neuroticism is the most anxious trait for ell group. on the other hand, openness personality trait does not significantly predict flsa. regarding the issues in 3rd and 4th research questions, it is determined that four of the five personality traits significantly predict flsa for both elt and ell groups. however, conscientiousness for elt group and openness for ell group do not predict flsa significantly, although they have negative relations with flsa. this means that all five personality traits can predict flsa to some extent. in both groups, neuroticism and agreeableness have positive relations with flsa. extraversion is the only personality trait for both groups as the highest predictor of flsa which has a negative relation with it as well. openness in elt group and conscientiousness in ell group are the second personality traits with negative relations with flsa. this means the more extravert, open to new experiences and conscientious the participants are, the less anxious they are in speaking english. similarly, the more neurotic and agreeable the participants are, the more anxiety they feel. accordingly, except neuroticism and agreeableness, the other three personality traits affect flsa negatively. for all participants, extraversion and neuroticism attract more attention. extraversion is the first personality trait which has a negative relation with flsa, although it is the fourth personality trait according to mean scores of all pts. this means that extravert participants are not in majority but they are the least anxious foreign language speakers. thus, the more extravert people are, the less anxious they are in speaking a foreign language. and neuroticism is the fifth and the last personality trait according to mean scores of all pts. this means that neurotic participants are in minority but they are the most anxious foreign language speakers. besides together with agreeableness, neuroticism is one of the two personality traits which have 67 the relationship of personality traits with english speaking anxiety a positive relation with flsa; this means the more neurotic a person is, the more anxious s/he is in speaking a foreign language. this finding on extraversion and neuroticism is in accordance with some researchers in psychology that extraversion and neuroticism are closely related to each other (eysenck and eysenck, 1985). also according to an investigation of yik et al. (2002), extraversion and neuroticism have the biggest correlation between affect and personality. the current study found out that extravert students are the least anxious english speakers. this indicates that turkish university students high in extraversion can cope with foreign language speaking anxiety better than the students low in extraversion or students with other personality traits; they are the least anxious group while they speak in english. in other words, the participants who look for stimulation and excitement prefer large gatherings and groups and who are likely to be optimistic and cheerful can fight against foreign language speaking anxiety and speak english better than their peers with other personality traits. this finding of the current study is in accordance with another study where the strongest learning goal orientation is recorded for students with high extraversion (payne et al., 2007). this may also indicate that students with high extraversion level may be better capable of reducing their anxiety level, encouraging themselves and stabilizing their emotions. besides, they are more eager to cooperate and empathize with others in their english learning process and ask questions during language classes. again, this result is in accordance with another investigation suggesting that extraversion explains motivation of engagement to improve oneself better (komarraju and karau, 2005). even in language classes of extroverted teachers, students participate to lessons more and they highly interact with their peers. for that reason, it can be asserted that extroversion is positively correlated with english learning (homayouni, 2011). besides, extraversion has a negative relation with flsa and extroverted learners are the least anxious foreign language speakers maybe because they engage activities and tasks in language classes and so, this engagement decreases english speaking anxiety. this result also aligns with the results of macintyre and charos (1996) and apple (2011) where foreign language speaking anxiety is directly affected by extraversion. for the current study, among all pts, extraversion is the most significant predictor of flsa and a positive contributor against anxiety. besides, it was found out that the majority of the students were moderately extraverted in turkey (alishah, 2015). besides, the majority of the extravert participants in the current study feel social and they are enthusiastic in their lives. however, the talkative ones may be assertive as well. again, the majority of the participants are not reserved, quiet and shy. this finding also agrees with eysenck and eysenck (1985) that extravert language learners are faster, more willing because of their ineffective memory and functional processing. but, although it is believed that extraversion directly and negatively affects flsa (macintyre and charos, 1996), apple (2011) suggests that extraversion affects flsa indirectly depending on various social situations. 68 openness is the second personality trait which has a negative relation with flsa for elt group while it is conscientiousness for ell group in the current study. participants with openness are less anxious foreign language speakers after extravert ones. this result is in accordance with kashiwagi’s (2002) result that openness is correlated with extraversion. the factor openness is closely related to affective factors like confidence, self-esteem and experience (watson and clark, 1992). openness personality trait was detected to have the highest ratio among other traits in some investigations. and learning english (homayouni, 2011) and speaking in english (macintyre and charos, 1996; apple, 2011) were positively correlated with openness. it has also significant correlations with different features of communicative competence (verhoeven and vermeer’s, 2002). besides, openness has significant relations with classroom performance and gpa (rothstein et al., 1994), strong learning goal orientation (payne et al., 2007) and even with academic achievement (laidra et al., 2007). when all these findings about openness are taken into consideration, it can be seen that the result of the current study aligns with these findings. the participants with high openness are less anxious about foreign language speaking after extraverts. it was also found out that formation ability was positively correlated with openness (king et al., 1996) and openness was correlated positively with agreeableness but negatively with neuroticism (rubinstein, 2005) as it was in the current study. in the current study, openness significantly predicts flsa and this result means that turkish university students are open to new ideas, new original values and have desire to discover both their inner and outer worlds. therefore, high openness may have important influence on foreign language speaking because it has relations with self-esteem and confidence (watson and clark, 1992) and with different features of communicative competence (verhoeven and vermeer’s, 2002). since openness has positive contribution to motivation of engagement and it is negatively related to negative feeling towards learning (komarraju and karau, 2005), it may have high significant correlation with flsa. this finding of the current study is in accordance with another study’s finding that openness is correlated positively with english learning (homayouni, 2011). however, conscientiousness is the second personality trait which has a negative relation with flsa for ell group while it is openness for elt group in the current study. from this result, it can be inferred that students with high conscientiousness who are organized and disciplined are employing good study habits and more ready to learn and so, they have better results in english. this result also aligns with the finding of apple (2011) that conscientiousness has strong indirect impact on foreign language speaking. it is also correlated positively with agreeableness but negatively with neuroticism (rubinstein, 2005) as it is in the current study. according to these results, turkish university students who are generally self-disciplined, well-organized and reliable in their lives tend to be less anxious than those who are generally negligent, undependable and disorganized. this finding is in accordance with the description of conscientiousness as socially control of oneself which promote target and duty directed 69 the relationship of personality traits with english speaking anxiety attitude. and also it is in accordance with the results of some other investigations that conscientiousness has positive significant relations with academic achievement and success (furnham and chamorro-premuzic, 2004; o’connor and paunonen, 2007), with gpa, with individual score (laidra et al., 2007) and with grades as well (chamorro-premuzic and furnham, 2003). the high significant correlation with flsa can be explained by the fact that conscientiousness has positive contribution to motivation of achievement and achievement striving (barrick, mount and li, 2013) and it is negatively related to negative feeling towards learning (komarraju and karau, 2005) and that it has significant correlations with different features of communicative competence (verhoeven and vermeer’s, 2002). agreeableness is the personality trait which has a positive relation with flsa together with neuroticism in the current study, although it is the first personality trait according to mean scores of all pts. this result means that turkish university students take other people into consideration and they are humanitarian, ready to help, altruistic and philanthropic. similarly, they trust people and cooperate with others. this result is in accordance with the fact that confidence, self-esteem and experience are closely related to agreeableness (watson and clark, 1992). agreeableness can be accepted as the most anxious personality trait after neuroticism. this may be because agreeableness is negatively correlated with formative capabilities (king et al., 1996) and it is correlated positively with conscientiousness and openness but negatively with neuroticism (rubinstein, 2005). therefore, it can be suggested that students with high agreeableness trait are the most anxious english speakers after neurotic students. the current study agrees with another study’s finding that agreeableness is positively correlated with english learning (homayouni, 2011). and neuroticism is the second personality trait which has a positive relation with flsa and it is the fifth personality trait according to mean scores of all pts. neurotic participants are in minority but they are the most anxious foreign language speakers. according to these results, most of the turkish university students with neuroticism feel nervous tension and bad temper and this finding can be a factor that affects their speaking english negatively. this finding on neurotic students is in accordance with the idea that neuroticism has relation with illogical and affective behaviours and low self-respect (eysenck and eysenck, 1975) and is negatively correlated with self-esteem (marlar and joubert, 2002) and with both agreeableness and conscientiousness (rubinstein, 2005) as it is in the current study. besides, the majority in the current study can worry and be upset easily but do not get nervous easily. this finding is in accordance with previous findings that neuroticism reveals the biggest correlation between affect and personality (yik et al., 2002). and the numbers of neurotic participants who are emotionally stable and who lose temper easily are in minority. however, although many neurotic students feel stress and cannot handle it well, they still are not depressed. moreover, most of the neurotic students feel anxiety and cannot be calm in difficult situations. all of these findings agree with vulnerability, self-consciousness, depression, impulsiveness, angry hostility 70 and anxiety characteristics of neuroticism (barrick and mount, 1991). moreover, these findings on neuroticism are in accordance with the majority of previous findings that many negative items and personality problems of people are reflected in neuroticism (digman, 1990). neurotic participants are in minority in current study; however, the level of their neuroticism is significantly high. from this point of view, the current study on neuroticism agrees with an investigation in korea where high neuroticism is detected. yoon et al. (2002) suggest that korean participants have more tendencies toward modesty and think that they could do less than their peers could; thus, the same can be suggested for turkish participants as well. conclusion overall results showed that both elt and ell groups have all types of personality and it is possible to distinguish all personality traits, but no personality trait prevails the others in each group, and all personality traits are in equal proportion in each group and between groups. both elt and ell groups have the same sequence of the personality traits but the ratios are lower in ell group; all variables are higher in elt group except neuroticism than they are in ell group. for both groups agreeableness is the highest construct of personality traits, whereas the other personality traits are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion and neuroticism respectively. this can be accepted as a positive indicator since less neuroticism is directly related to lower flsa. in addition, neuroticism is closely related to negative sides of human personality and therefore, neuroticism may result in poor efl success. the analysis showed that the mean scores of foreign language speaking anxiety of elt and ell students are significantly different. elt students seem to have less flsa than ell students. this finding indicates that elt students are less anxious about speaking english than ell students. as for elt group, extraversion and openness predicted the flsa in a negative way but neuroticism and agreeableness predicted the flsa in a positive way. this also means for elt group that extraversion is the least anxious trait while neuroticism is the most anxious one. on the other hand, flsa has not been predicted significantly by conscientiousness personality trait. regarding the above-mentioned variables, there are significant relations among anxiety in speaking a foreign language and personality traits. so it can be suggested that participants open to new experiences and the extravert ones feel less anxiety in speaking english. however, neurotic and agreeable participants are the most anxious speakers. and as for ell group extraversion and conscientiousness predicted the flsa negatively but neuroticism and agreeableness predicted the flsa positively. according to these findings, it can be suggested that extraverted and conscientious students have the least anxiety in speaking english while neurotic and agreeable students have the highest anxiety in english speaking in ell group. on the other hand, openness personality trait did not predict flsa significantly. regarding the above-mentioned variables, there are significant relations among anxiety in speaking a foreign language and personality traits. so, it can be suggested that extravert and 71 the relationship of personality traits with english speaking anxiety conscientious participants have low anxiety levels but neurotic and agreeable participants have high anxiety in speaking english. this also means that except neuroticism and agreeableness, the other two personality traits, extraversion and conscientiousness affect flsa negatively. and among the personality traits, agreeableness takes attention since it has a positive relation with flsa together with neuroticism; and according to this finding, agreeable people seem to be anxious about speaking english together with neurotic ones. besides, according to the mean scores of the pts, most of the participants have agreeableness personality trait and agreeableness has a positive relation with speaking english. this result can be generalized and so, the majority of turkish people have agreeableness and agreeableness has a positive significant relation with flsa. therefore, this finding may explain why turkish people cannot speak english. note this article uses the data from author’s phd thesis (vural, 2017). references alishah, r. a. 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