Rapley, Eve ORCID: 0000-0002-7672-6129 (2019) Neglected spaces. Exploring connections between physical settings and pedagogic enablement and constraint of HE teachers in an FE college. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Comparative Studies, 6 (1-3). pp. 5-16. ISSN 2059-4976

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Abstract

This paper presents a summary of selected findings from a Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT) study exploring higher education (HE) teacher pedagogic practice en- actments of six College Based Higher Education (CBHE) teacher participants in a UK FE land-based college. A CGT approach was used as it is advocated as being a useful approach to adopt when exploring a neglected and under-theorised area, such as post- compulsory education pedagogic practice. Following a ‘hunch’ regarding the potential influence of an FE environment upon CBHE teacher HE pedagogic practice enact- ment, the CGT methodology was informed by Schatzki’s anti-dualist social philoso- phy of the site ontology. The site ontology contends people, places and material ob- jects all contribute to how pedagogic practices are enacted. Rather than considering material artefacts to be merely background objects and college buildings simply being inert containers where teaching takes place, a site ontology considers material, non- human artefacts and human practices as a whole, rather than from one or other side of the structure versus agency divide. As such, a site has ‘powers of determination’ re- garding how individuals are able to enact their practice and develop their identity within a specific site. The study was situated within the constructivist/interpretivist paradigm using a qualitative, ethnographic methodology ‘to understand phenomena in context-specific settings’ (Hoepfl 1997, 47). Multiple empirical teaching observations and interview data from animal, equine and veterinary nursing CBHE teachers indicat- ed how the physical, symbolic and material, non-human spaces and artefacts of the FE context did impact upon HE classroom pedagogic practice enactment, by prefiguring and constraining their HE pedagogic practice. Participants reported how the FE con- text and taken for granted existing conditions at the site limited their extent to which they were able to enact their HE practices and develop HE teacher identities. This pa- per highlights some of the challenges of offering HE within an FE college, and invites FE college leaders to consider the impact of the FE context upon HE teachers’ HE pedagogic practice enactment and HE teacher identity.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sociomateriality; practice theory; FE
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Educational Development Unit
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	18 Feb 2021 17:39
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/30642

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