The effects of cooperative learning arrangements on the social skills of pupils identified as having

362 Pages·2011·10.58 MB·English

The effects of cooperative learning arrangements on the social skills of
pupils identified as having severe learning difficulties, who attend special
primary schools

Submitted by Maria Eleni Socratous to the University of Exeter
as a thesis for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in Education
in June, 2014

This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright
material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper
acknowledgement.

I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been
identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for
the award of a degree by this or any other University.

Signature: …………………………………………………………..

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Abstract
Cooperation among children in classrooms forms the basis of many
interventions designed to improve, among others, pupils’ social relations in
schools. Therefore, nowadays cooperative learning (CL) is used as a very
popular teaching approach in mainstream settings. However, research and
literature regarding CL focus mostly on pupils who attend mainstream settings.
Research and literature are missing, or at best are very limited, as regards the
use of CL with pupils identified as having severe learning difficulties (SLD), who
attend special schools. This study aims to suggest ways for addressing this gap
by investigating the effects of CL arrangements on the social skills of pupils with
SLD, who attend special schools.
This thesis is based on a multiple case study research design. It took place in
two different special classes, one in England and the other in Cyprus, and was
separated in two different phases. Phase one was an ethnographic study
exploring the teaching approaches that were utilised in each class for promoting
the social skills of the pupils, how the notion of social skills was perceived in the
two settings and how group activities were implemented. For this phase
qualitative methods were used, collecting data through semi structured
interviews of the professionals’ views on cooperative learning, teaching
approaches and about the notion of social skills. Naturalistic observations
during the everyday classroom practices were also conducted. Based on the
findings of phase one, some initial propositions regarding CL arrangements for
children identified as having SLD were developed.
Phase two aimed at exploring these initial propositions in both classes, in England
and Cyprus, in order to investigate what happens when they are implemented with
regard to the social skills of the pupils. The initial propositions were opened to
amendments. By following an action research approach, the propositions were
continuously evolved and re-developed on the basis of data interpretations along
with discussions with the teachers. By planning, acting, observing, reflecting and
then planning again, the effects of these propositions on the social skills of the
children were investigated in both classes. In this phase, qualitative methods were
used as well, collecting data through naturalistic observations during the
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implementation of CL activities, and through semi structured interviews of the
teachers’ views regarding these activities.
The findings of this study suggest that CL arrangements for pupils identified as
having SLD who attend special schools can be beneficial for the promotion of their
social skills. CL arrangements in the two special classrooms promoted not merely
pupils' communication skills that enabled them to express their opinions and
choices on issues concerning their learning experiences, but those social skills that
created a sense of interdependence among them. Although, current literature and
research in the field of SLD mainly suggest ways for practitioners to promote the
social skills of the pupils on an adult-pupil basis, the current study takes a step
forward. It suggests that CL arrangements in special settings can encourage pupils
to promote their social skills by communicating, assisting and expressing their
opinions and choices to their peers, in addition to their communication with adults.

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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my supervisors Dr. Hazel Lawson and Dr. Shirley Larkin for
their thoughtful and patient supervision and for the inspiring discussions that we
had over the course of this project. Without their valuable help this study would
not have been completed. I would also like to thank the Graduate School of
Education of the University of Exeter for sponsoring this project. Special thanks
to the participants of this project who generously shared their time and
experiences for the purposes of this study.
I am also grateful to the people who saw me through this thesis; to all those
friends who provided support, talked things over, read and offered comments.
Special thanks are due to Despo, Maria and Georgina for listening to the
difficulties that I experienced throughout my PhD (and not only).
Last but not least I would like to thank my parents, George and Myrofora, whose
unconditional love and encouragement made this project possible.

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Abbreviations
AAC Alternative and Augmentative Communication
BERA British Educational Research Association
BILD British Institute of Learning Disabilities
CL Cooperative Learning
DCSF Department for Children, Schools and Families
DfE Department for Education
DfEE Department for Education and Employment
DfES Department for Education and Skills
PMLD Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties
QCA Qualification and Curriculum Authority
SEN Special Educational Needs
SLD Severe Learning Difficulties
UN United Nations
UNCRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
WHO World Health Organisation

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List of contents
Abstract ........................................................................................................ 2
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................... 4
Abbreviations .............................................................................................. 5
List of figures ............................................................................................... 14
List of tables ................................................................................................ 15
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 16
1.2 Personal rationale .................................................................................. 16
1.3 Clarification of the basic terms used in the study .................................. 18
a) Pupils identified as having SLD ............................................................... 18
b) Cooperative learning ............................................................................... 20
c) Social skills .............................................................................................. 21
1.4 Research rationale ................................................................................ 22
1.5 Purposes and outline of the study ......................................................... 23
CHAPTER 2: Literature review
2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 27
2.2 Exploring the notion of social skills ....................................................... 28
2.2.1 Social skills and social competence .................................................. 29
2.2.2 Classification of social skills .............................................................. 31
2.3 Social Skills for children identified as having SLD ................................ 33
2.3.1 Social Skills for children with SLD and their dimensions ................... 33
2.3.2 Social competence ............................................................................ 37
2.3.3 A working definition of social skills and social competence
for this study ................................................................................................ 38
2.4 The education of children identified as having SLD .............................. 39
2.4.1 Curriculum and pedagogies for children identified as having SLD ..... 39
a) National Curriculum for all? .................................................................... 40
b) Need for a special pedagogy? ................................................................ 41
2.4.2 Teaching approaches for children with SLD aiming in developing
their social skills .......................................................................................... 42
a) Basic patterns and features of the teaching approaches ........................ 43
b) Child-centred approach versus adult-centred approach ......................... 47
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c) Concerns of generalisability ................................................................... 48
d) Social skills programmes ....................................................................... 48
e) Peers as partners ................................................................................... 49
f) Assessment of adults’ performances ....................................................... 50
2.4.3 Conclusions of teaching approaches for children with SLD that
promote their social skills ............................................................................ 51
a) Common features and gaps in the literature ........................................... 51
b) Social skills in general versus social skills in particular for pupils with
SLD: Associations and differentiation ......................................................... 52
c) Cooperative learning as a teaching approach for children with
SLD is missing ........................................................................................... 54
2.5 Cooperative learning ............................................................................ 55
2.5.1 A brief history .................................................................................... 55
2.5.2 Defining CL and its core features ..................................................... 56
2.5.3 The theoretical frameworks of CL ..................................................... 61
a) The behavioural approach ..................................................................... 61
b) The social constructivist approach ......................................................... 64
2.5.4 Models of CL ..................................................................................... 66
a) Kagan's structural model ........................................................................ 66
b)The student team learning (STL) model .................................................. 67
c) The learning together model .................................................................. 68
d) Jigsawing ............................................................................................... 69
2.5.5 Research on CL in the UK ................................................................ 70
2.5.6 The Social Pedagogic Research into Group work (SPRinG)
project ........................................................................................................ 73
2.6 Initial propositions for CL arrangements for children with SLD ........... 76
2.7 Conclusions ......................................................................................... 78
CHAPTER 3: The Philosophical and Methodological Rationale of the
Research
3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 80
3.2 Philosophical foundations .................................................................... 80
3.2.1 My personal stance ........................................................................... 81
3.2.2 The ontological and epistemological foundations of the study .......... 83
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3.3 Aims and research questions of the study ......................................... 88
3.3.1 Aims of phase one .......................................................................... 88
3.3.2 Research questions of phase one .................................................. 88
3.3.3 Aims of phase two .......................................................................... 88
3.3.4 Research questions of phase two .................................................. 89
3.4 Methodological principles .................................................................. 89
3.4.1 The methodological approach of ethnography for phase one ........ 91
3.4.2 Challenges of ethnography ............................................................ 93
3.4.3 My personal sense of ethnography ................................................ 97
3.5 The methodological approach of action research for phase two ....... 98
3.6 Data collection methods ................................................................... 103
3.6.1 Observations ................................................................................. 105
3.6.2 Semi-structured interviews ............................................................ 108
a) Interviewing the practitioners ............................................................. 110
b) Eliciting the pupils' views ................................................................... 111
3.6.3 Documentation .............................................................................. 113
3.7 Participants ...................................................................................... 113
a) Phase one ......................................................................................... 113
b) Phase two .......................................................................................... 115
c) Differences and similarities between the two settings ........................ 115
3.8 The time frame of the study ............................................................. 116
3.9 Procedures for ascertaining the quality of the study ........................ 117
a) Construct validity ............................................................................... 117
b) Dependability and confirmabilty ........................................................ 119
c) Transferability .................................................................................... 120
3.10 Ethical considerations .................................................................... 121
a) Ethical considerations of the parents' consent and
pupils' assent.......................................................................................... 122
b) Ethical considerations for practitioners' participation ......................... 123
c) Ethical considerations for phase two .................................................. 124
3.11 Summary ........................................................................................ 125
Chapter 4: Phase One Data Collection and Analysis and Findings
4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 126
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4.2 Data collection procedures ............................................................... 126
4.2.1 Pilot study ...................................................................................... 126
4.2.2 Piloting Observations ..................................................................... 126
4.2.3 Piloting Interviews .......................................................................... 127
4.3 Data collection procedures of phase one .......................................... 129
4.3.1 Observations .................................................................................. 129
4.3.2 Interviews ....................................................................................... 132
4.4 Analysis procedures of phase one .................................................... 134
4.5 Findings ............................................................................................. 143
4.5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................... 143
4.5.2 Schools' aims and purposes ........................................................... 147
4.5.3 Social skills ..................................................................................... 148
4.5.3.1 Staff perceptions about social skills: Ability to communicate,
interact and comply with classroom rules ............................................... 149
4.5.3.2 Staff perceptions of social skills: Desire and enjoyment
to communicate and using good manners .............................................. 149
4.5.3.3 Self-dependence and self-care versus communication,
interaction and pupils expressing their opinions ..................................... 150
4.5.3.4 Communicating and interacting with adults and peers /
Peer relations: random or consistent? .................................................... 153
4.5.3.5 Within and outside school context: Generalisability
of their social skills ................................................................................. 158
4.5.3.6 Revision of the working definition for social skills ...................... 159
4.5.4. Teaching approaches for social skills .......................................... 160
4.5.4.1 Behavioural approach ................................................................ 160
4.5.4.2 Communicative approach/ pupils expressing
their opinions ......................................................................................... 162
4.5.4.3 Constructivist approaches ........................................................ 164
a) Actual concepts ................................................................................. 164
b) Imaginary scenarios .......................................................................... 165
4.5.4.4 Concrete approaches ................................................................ 166
4.5.4.5 Learning in routines within the natural context approach .......... 167
4.5.4.6 Cognitive, motor and social Skills: Different skills
same approaches .................................................................................. 167
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4.5.5 CL in the two classes ................................................................... 168
4.5.5.1 Practitioners' notions towards CL activities ............................... 169
4.5.5.2 Rationale for using CL activities ................................................ 170
4.5.5.3 Implementation of CL activities ................................................. 172
a) Types of group activities ................................................................... 172
b) Focus on each child's AAC devices and
individual learning objectives ................................................................ 175
c) Adults' prompts and instructions for interaction ................................ 176
d) Pupils making choices ...................................................................... 178
4.5.5.4 Challenges of CL activities ....................................................... 178
a) Equal opportunities and participation ............................................... 179
b) Personal characteristics and health difficulties of each child ........... 179
c) Peer interactions .............................................................................. 180
4.5.6 Initial proposals for a CL model for the pupil participants
for promoting their social skills ............................................................. 180
a) Ideology of the CL model ................................................................. 181
b) Types of CL activities ....................................................................... 182
c) Co-ordination of five dimensions ...................................................... 183
d) Basic Characteristics ........................................................................ 183
Chapter 5: Phase Two, Data Collection and Analysis Procedures
and Findings
5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................... 185
5.2 Data collection and analysis procedures of phase two ................... 185
5.2.1 Preparation for the data collection and analysis procedures ....... 185
5.2.2 The data collection and analysis procedures used for the
observations, based on the three steps of the action research cycle.....187
5.3 The rounds of the action research process in the
Cyprus setting ....................................................................................... 192
a) First round ......................................................................................... 195
b) Second round .....................................................................................196
c) Third round ........................................................................................ 198
d) Fourth Round .................................................................................... 200
e) Fifth round ......................................................................................... 201
f) Sixth round ........................................................................................ 203
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