ES2020N: Agencies Of Education: Assessment B Word Count: 2019

Natasha Agostini Student ID: 0827843

Summative Study:
- A comparative study of two contrasting agencies of education. - It will include the seeking out and handling, and analysis of relevant information, including information supplied by the agencies themselves. - You will present data to compare and contrast your selected agencies, analyse this in relation to political, socio-cultural, economic and ethical factors involved.

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ES2020N: Agencies Of Education: Assessment B Word Count:

Natasha Agostini Student ID: 0827843

The purpose of this research was to compare and contrast two agencies of education. The research problem being investigated is how two agencies of education can be compared and contrasted. For the purpose of this research project and throughout this report I have defined an agency of education as an organisation that provides a particular service. I selected two secondary schools from two different London boroughs as my agencies to compare and contrast that I believed fit into this definition for the purpose of this research project: St Georges Roman Catholic School London borough of Westminster. St Thomas More Catholic School London borough of Haringey. Both agencies were looked at as individual case studies and investigated using qualitative research. To enable me to compare and contrast my selected agencies of education I would then focus on these two case studies and research into what each agency is like based on the particular areas I wanted to compare them against. Appendix 1a identifies particular areas where there were likely to be similarities or differences between the two agencies. Each area was linked to one of these five factors: ethical, cultural, political, social or economic that was involved in making a distinction between the two agencies. Alongside doing this I created a research framework that identified and connected these areas to the possible aspects I would need to look at to enable me to compare and contrast my two agencies of education. From my research framework I was able to devise two main questions that would then guide my research and assist in my comparison. (See Appendix 1a) How the locations of these two agencies affect the aims, teaching and learning approaches used and their learning? And What possible factors might affect the performance of these two agencies? From these two main questions a further 11 sub questions were established drawing my research project towards four main aspects: Aims, Curriculum, Demographics of agency population and Pedagogy teaching methods /assessment methods. The sub questions or researchable questions Bell (2010, pp.41) grouped the five factors under these aspects that I then explored in more depth via specific data collection methods. Within this report I will be presenting a study of my findings outlining my chosen methods the limitations and barriers I came across while carrying out my comparative research on the two agencies of education that I selected in my formative outline (see Appendix 1a): I will also provide a statement of my results and then go on to summarise to a conclusion. Methods & Limitations: Throughout this research project I planned to use three out of the four main methods of research: interview; observation and document. My rationale for selecting these methods was based around which method/s would be best suited to my research and which would be the most appropriate method in practice. (Denscombe, 2010, pp.154) In selecting three methods I hoped to be able to look at my two case studies from a variety of perspectives as a way of assisting in comparing and contrasting
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ES2020N: Agencies Of Education: Assessment B Word Count:

Natasha Agostini Student ID: 0827843

them as each of the methods selected would view my research questions from different angles. Here I will go through each of these three methods detailing my why I had selected them and the limitations I came across while trying to establish the evidence I required and the actual methods I proceeded with. Interviews: - The purpose around me wanting to conduct an interview was based on the insight I could have obtained from the individual I was going to interview on their experiences and attitudes in relation to my two selected agencies. Using this method I had hoped to interview the head teacher of St Thomas More School who had prior to taking up that post was the previous long standing head teacher for St Georges school. With the head teacher having had involvements at both of my selected agencies I had planned to conduct one audio recorded semi-structured interview with him. I had chosen a semi structured interview because I had focused on only needing to interview one person and believed that this particular interview method would be best suited as the questions I had in mind were based around the two main questions listed in the framework table under pedagogy teaching methods/assessment methods. (See Appendix 1 in Appendix 1a) Being able to pose these questions to the current head teacher at St Thomas More and the previous head teacher from St Georges in one interview I saw as a massive time saver and hoped to gain a first-hand opinion from a person who had experienced both agencies pedagogy. I also hoped that through this interview I would be able to identify the pedagogical similarities or differences between my two selected agencies. May (2001, pp.123) states that they provide a greater structure for compatibility I had decided on recording the interview because this would allow me the opportunity to re-visit the interview to ensure the accuracy in what I might have documented in this report. However, having only selected one participant for this interview proved as a limitation and unfortunately despite several attempts to arrange this interview due to un-foreseen issues coming up at St. Thomas More School my interview was rescheduled on a number of occasions with the last available date given to conduct it being after the submission of this report. Observations: - Having only scheduled one interview with one interviewee, observations appeared to be the next viable research method to use to investigate into the agencies pedagogy and assist me in collecting data. I had opted on completing three participant observations in three different lessons within each school. I managed to complete all three observations, however only being successful in one school and as they were all with the same class for the same lesson (a year 11 revision class) there was not much differentiation between the methods used throughout the lesson I only produced one observation form. I saw participant observations as a method of choice as it provided me with an opportunity to become involved in each schools day-to-day activity. Through these observations I had hoped to gain direct evidence of the pedagogy used in each agency from a direct first hand prospective by observing what actually happens within these school classrooms. (See Appendix 1b) Although I was able to gain access to one agency, my comparison fell short there as I was unable to gain access to the second agency of education. In using this method
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ES2020N: Agencies Of Education: Assessment B Word Count:

Natasha Agostini Student ID: 0827843

of research access then became my new limitation in obtaining my required information. I was unable to gain access to St Georges Catholic School to carry out these observations frustratingly with no appropriate reason provided and with hope being given with the information that my details had been passed onto the relevant person and that they would get in contact with me in due time. Unfortunately this never happened. Documents: - For the majority of my researchable questions listed in my framework table the research approach I believed to be best suited was data collection of documentary sources, a lot of my focus was based around what Duffy (1998: 29-38 citied in Bells 2010, pp.125) called the problem orientated approach which allowed me to use the questions already created in my framework. Using this method I had hoped to obtain information on the individual agencies based on three of the aspects: Aims; Curriculum and Demographics of agency population however having searched on national government websites and the agencies home websites I found that information on the ethnicity and class was only available borough wide and not for individual schools due to data protection. From prior knowledge of Office Standards in Education (OFSTED) reports I had intended to retrieve this information from their public site as their reports on schools usually provided a break down of the different ethnicities attending each institution. Unfortunately for my two selected agencies the available reports online did not contain any such breakdown. Through document searches I was able to retrieve some information on the agencies performance in relation to the aspect of aims and curriculum. I had found that my biggest issue/limitation when trying to search for documents locally was school websites not being up-to-date and the lack of findings for individual agencies due to data protection issues which undoubtedly was an error on my part as I did not consider it as being a possible issue based on my research not requiring individuals personal details. (See attached documents from websites listed in Bibliography) This is what was found out with respect to who attends the agencies. Each agency has a characteristics breakdown based on gender, eligibility for free school meals and English as a first or second language. As you can see from figure 1 there is no information for the ethnical make up but the believed figures for English as a first language or not indicates that there are possibly a number of different ethnic origins attending both agencies. Figure 1 clearly shows that St Thomas More based in the borough of Haringey has a larger student body, although a percentage of this is also made up from the agencies attached sixth form. Both agencies also have a higher number of boys attending compared to girls. In figure 2 I have presented the breakdown into who attends based on age. Figure 3 illustrates the year on year comparison between both schools from 20072010 in relation to students achieving a level 2 threshold at for five or more GCSEs at grade A*- -C.

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ES2020N: Agencies Of Education: Assessment B Word Count:

550 450 350 250 150 50 -50 Boys Girls eligible for free school meals First First language language believed beleived to be to be English other than English 523 462 363 378 317 233 215 253 255 344

Natasha Agostini Student ID: 0827843

School Chracteristics St Thomas More School Chracteristics St George's

Figure 1

19yrs 18yrs 17yrs 16yrs 15yrs 14yrs 13yrs 12yrs 11yrs 0

Figure 2

0 0 0 0 0 26 60 60 114 126 115 126 120 100 50 100 121 150 200 154 170 Age of pupils at: St George's Age of pupils at: St Thomas More

144

59% 60% 50% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2007

Figure 3

51%

33% 21%

36% 30% 31% 5+A*-C (AND EQUIVALENT) Including English and Maths GCSE's St Thomas More 5+A*-C (AND EQUIVALENT) Including English and Maths GCSE's St George's

2008

2009

2010

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ES2020N: Agencies Of Education: Assessment B Word Count:

Natasha Agostini Student ID: 0827843

Being able to construct comparative research allows for researchers to view and interpret what they see as an outsider looking in a different way that in theory then becomes useful, however to fully be able to understand what goes on in the inside has a lot to do with the length of time the research is running for. This as a first time research project for myself I found comparing two agencies of education a difficult task. Selecting two individual education establishments in the form of secondary schools as my chosen agencies proved to be very problematic. When writing my formative outline I did not consider the many limitations that I actually encountered. I also never planned my full research before selecting the agencies which would have proved to be very helpful as a lot of the limitations I faced would have been noted from earlier on. From the research I conducted my initial questions which I was using to compare and contrast my two agencies with are unable to be proven or answered. As a whole I would have been better off looking at education within particular boroughs than with individual schools from within these boroughs. The access to information on individual schools is limited. There are many different websites with ready to access statistics; unfortunately they all present the same information just in a different way. The information available borough wide is more suited for comparison when it comes to focusing on demographics of agency population.

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ES2020N: Agencies Of Education: Assessment B Word Count:

Natasha Agostini Student ID: 0827843

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bell, J. (2010 - 5th edition) Doing Your Research Project: A guide for first-time researchers in education, health and social science, Buckingham: Open University Press. Denscombe, M. (2010 4th edition) The Good Research Guide, Buckingham: Open University Press May, T. (2001- 3rd edition) Social Research: Issues, methods and process, Buckingham: Open University Press

Department for Education Available at: http://www.education.gov.uk & http://edubase.gov.uk/ [Accessed 19 May /2011] St Georges Catholic School Available at: http://www.stgeorgesrc.org/ [Accessed 19 May /2011] Haringey Council Available at: http://www.haringey.gov.uk/ [Accessed 19 May /2011] St Thomas More Catholic School Specialist Sports College Available at: http://www.stthomasmoreschool.org.uk/ [Accessed 19 May /2011] UK National Statistic Available at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/ [Accessed 19 May /2011] Westminster Council Available at: http://www.westminster.gov.uk/ [Accessed 19 May /2011]

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ES2020N: Agencies Of Education: Assessment B Word Count:

Natasha Agostini Student ID: 0827843

Appendix 1a

Formative Outline:
An outline of the problem in relation to two agencies of education you wish to investigate.

This should include:

A brief description of the agencies Your reasons for selecting them An explanation of the problem A critical discussion of your enquiry methods.

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ES2020N: Agencies Of Education: Assessment B Word Count:

Natasha Agostini Student ID: 0827843

Agency: an organization or government department providing a particular service. The Oxford Dictionary (2006) The definition above for agency is quite vast; however it clearly links organizations with providing a service. With a definition this broad the service provided becomes just as vague leading to various different types of organisations depending on the service. In this circumstance the service I will be focusing on is Education. Under this service there are a number of different organisations such as UCAS, Connexions, Graduate Teacher Trainer Registry (GTTR) etc that provide services related to education; there are also individual institutions which provide particular education services such as schools, nurserys and colleges etc. Within this piece I will be presenting a formative outline of my assessment task. I will state the research problem set and present my chosen agencies with the reasons for my selection. I will then go on to provide an explanation into the chosen aspects I will be looking into and the research and enquiry methods I will be using. The Task/Problem: The overall research task set is: to compare and contrast two agencies of education. The main identified problem is: how can two agencies of education be compared and contrasted. Throughout this research project I will be looking these five factors: Ethical Cultural Political Economic Social Focusing on these will allow me to establish the similarities and differences and make a distinction between my two selected cases. Selected Agencies: For this research I have chosen to focus on individual institutions as my agencies of education and have chosen to look at two different Catholic secondary schools from two different inner-city London boroughs. They are: 1. St. Thomas More Catholic School - This school is based in Wood Green which comes under the borough of Haringey. The school is a mixed comprehensive school that provides education to boys and girls aged from 11 to 19; it is one of the twelve secondary educational institutions that provide a service to the borough and it is the only Catholic secondary school within the borough. The school has a specialist status in Sports and also provides a Sixth Form service. 2. St. Georges Roman Catholic School - This school is based in
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ES2020N: Agencies Of Education: Assessment B Word Count:

Natasha Agostini Student ID: 0827843

Maida Vale and comes under the borough of Westminster. This school is also a mixed comprehensive and provides education to both boys and girls between the ages of 11-16. It is one of ten secondary institutions that provide educational services within Westminster and as with the school in Haringey is also the only Catholic secondary school within the borough. This school is a designated Business and Humanities Specialist College. I have chosen these two schools because both these agencies come under my selected definition noted above. They are both seen as organisations that provide a service. They are also both guided by the governments educational department on the type of service they provide. My selection of agency was also guided by their was also based on the aspects in which I would be looking into for each case as both cases are fairly similar in they are both Catholic secondary educational institutions; my chosen theory is led most of the factors listed above. Justification for selection/ Aspects: Denscombe (2010, pp.56-57) states that cases for a case study are not randomly selected. In this situation my choice was based on their geographical location. This is mainly from the two main questions I will be looking into: 1. How the location of these two agencies affect the aims, teaching and learning approaches used and their learning outcomes. And 2. What possible factors might affect the performance of these two agencies? While researching these two cases I will be looking at four main aspects, they are: Aims Curriculum Demographics of agency population Pedagogy Teaching methods/assessment methods The rationale behind my aspects selection is based on the sub-questions that have developed from the two main questions posed. The aspects that I have selected link to all five factors. A connection between the aspects is also identified when reviewing the and following enquiries into the sub questions.
See Appendix 1 for full break down.

Research methods: Within this research project I will be looking at using three main research methods as part of my investigations these are: Documents Government publications/ internet/ websites
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ES2020N: Agencies Of Education: Assessment B Word Count:

Natasha Agostini Student ID: 0827843

The accessibility to documentary sources is by far the easiest method of enquiry for any research project. Not only that this is a cost effective method and usually comes from a source that can be checked by others. (Denscombe, 2010) Observations With this method I get to retrieve the data first hand. Interviews One-to-one I specified one-to-one interviews as I feel it would be easier to arrange as I would only need to identify an individual person with the knowledge required also my analysis only then needs to break down one persons ideas as opposed to if I held a group interview of a focus group.

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ES2020N: Agencies Of Education: Assessment B Word Count:

Natasha Agostini Student ID: 0827843

Appendix 1b

Observation Form
Name & dept. of teacher: Miss H English Teacher Date: 26/04/2011 Name & dept. of observer: Miss Agostini - Student Venue: St Thomas More

Course/level of students: Year 11/KS4 Type of session: English GCSE Revision

No. of students Length of Observation: Double lesson (1hr 40mins)

I conducted a number of observations of this year 11 group and the methods used by Miss H were the same throughout, her approaches were different in she would sometimes conduct the lesson in the computer rooms to enable the students access to online revision materials. This observation was conduction in a year 11 English revision lesson. The students who attend this lesson are being pulled out from another non-core subject as they received GCSE Mock results in English at D grade or below. The students from this lesson have three double lessons of English per week plus there normal timetabled English lesson as well as having to attend compulsory Saturday English revision. With these observations I am hoping to answer the following questions: What the different teaching methods are. How behaviour managed?

Observation of Teaching Methods/Assessment Methods Planning and start of session At the start of the lesson Miss H informs the class of year 11s to settle quickly and informs them of the importance of the revision sessions. Miss H informs the students that there is a lot of work to be covered in this short session so a fast start would assist in them getting more covered. Already on each desk is a tub with spare pens; rulers; highlighters etc. Miss H uses a pre-organised seating plan that the students are aware of already and sit in accordance with it. Methods and approaches Each student is presented with a handout of what todays lesson is going to cover. Today they are working on revision techniques for poems from different cultures as they are currently working on exam skills for their GCSE English Language and

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ES2020N: Agencies Of Education: Assessment B Word Count:

Natasha Agostini Student ID: 0827843

Literature exams coming up. The over head projector is displaying the days learning objective, and is also used to display the handout issued. In the occurrence of the students getting restless and over talkative Miss H reiterates the importance of these revision sessions and also informs the students that if they are not willing to participate then the lesson might as well come to an end now as her time would have just been wasted. This seems to calm them and they are once again refocused. General This year 11 group are quite a willing group and appear to want to get better results in their GCSE English. Miss H was able to fulfil her learning objective. Miss H managed to keep them focused throughout and when a few of them strayed off was able to bring them back with little disruption and in some instances with the support of other students within taking part in the lesson.

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