Untitled - Leicester Research Archive - University of Leicester

307 Pages·2017·3.19 MB·English

The Outsider’s Story

Thesis submitted for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
at the University of Leicester

by

Kyffin Thomas John Jones MA

School of Education
University of Leicester

2017
The Outsider’s Story
Kyffin Thomas John Jones
Abstract

This thesis presents perspectives upon how inclusion is experienced from the
point of view of the individual. It seeks to compliment contemporary discourse
by interpreting the concept as a fundamental human activity. In this way
acting as a counterpoint to narrower interpretations which are often
characterised by a deficit discourse or exclusionary sentiment. The research
is therefore underpinned by an emancipatory drive aligned to elements of
critical pedagogy. The implication of this for practice is the acknowledgement
that inclusion does not just apply to those children who stand out, who are
labelled in some way, not an obvious minority or indeed marginalised, but to
all children in the institutional space. In this study the concept of the Outsider
is used as a motif for what is both universal and subjective. Such a literary
device recognises the important subjective factors that underpin the
existential nature of inclusion. The study views narrative and the stories
people tell of their lives as a rich source of data. Ten individuals who are new
to the teaching profession participated in the study and it is their stories that
form the basis of the subsequent interpretation and analysis. The research
was aligned to an interpretative paradigm seeking ideographic insight. The
data generated was analysed both textually and aurally through a careful
iterative and inductive process of analysis. The themes of the findings
suggested the nature of inclusion to be underpinned by subjective and
dynamic processes. Such processes linked to the notions of familiarity,
application and adaptation that are used by the individual to facilitate aspects
of their inclusion in dynamic and creative ways.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the participants, the Outsiders
who trusted me with their stories.

I also wish to thank my supervisors who supported me on my own journey into
the world of doctoral research. I am grateful for their encouragement, direction
and academic knowledge.

To my colleagues and friends who have provided support in myriad ways you
have my wholehearted appreciation and thanks.

To Bryce and my family, thank-you and love always.

Dedication
I dedicate this piece of work to my father who was a passionate artist and a
true Outsider in the most wonderful sense. He has remained steadfastly in my
thoughts every step of the way.

William John Jones
23rd May 1940 - 11th October 2014
Table of Contents
PART A
Chapter One: Introduction ................................................................................ 1

1.01 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1
1.02 Background and rationale ................................................................................ 3
1.03 Research context of this PhD study ................................................................. 7
1.04 Intellectual process of inquiry .......................................................................... 8
1.05 Epistemological beliefs .................................................................................. 11
1.06 Problem statements ....................................................................................... 15
1.07 The research question ................................................................................... 18
1.08 The Outsider as storyteller ............................................................................. 18
1.09 A subjective story ........................................................................................... 20
1.10 Subjectivity and thematic framework ............................................................. 22
1.11 The position of the Author .............................................................................. 23
1.12 Purposive statements and thematic framework ............................................. 30
1.13 Summary and organisation of the thesis ....................................................... 33

Figure 1.01 The conceptualising process .............................................. 14
Figure 1.02 Themes of purposive statements ....................................... 31
Figure 1.03 The thematic framework ..................................................... 33

Chapter Two: Review of the Literature ........................................................... 35

2.01 Introduction: themes and structure of the chapter ......................................... 35
2.02 Part A: Key themes and concepts ................................................................. 35
2.03 The Outsider as protagonist .......................................................................... 42
2.04 The nature of inclusion .................................................................................. 50
2.05 Historical background .................................................................................... 52
2.06 The process of enculturation ......................................................................... 75
2.07 Agency and the individual .............................................................................. 89
2.08 The nature of Narrative .................................................................................. 94
2.09 The conceptual framework ............................................................................ 95
2.10 Part B: Theoretical perspectives, understanding and progressing ................ 97
2.11 Critical theory ................................................................................................. 98
2.12 Action research ............................................................................................ 102

Figure 2.01 The thematic framework ................................................... 37
Figure 2.02 The conceptual framework ............................................... 96
Figure 2.03 The intellectual approach ............................................... 103
Table 2.01 Excerpts from 2001 SEN Code of Practice ........................ 57
Chapter Three: Methodology and Research Design .................................... 107

3.01 Introduction .................................................................................................. 107
3.02 Philosophy, ontology and epistemology ..................................................... 107
3.03 The nature of narrative ................................................................................ 111
3.04 The research interview ................................................................................ 119
3.05 Limitations and weaknesses ........................................................................ 122
3.06 Sample, participants and selection strategy ................................................ 125
3.07 Finding participants ...................................................................................... 127
3.08 The interview questions ............................................................................... 131
3.09 The Pilot interview ....................................................................................... 133
3.10 Research process and data analysis ........................................................... 135
3.11 The perspective of the individual – sub themes .......................................... 141
3.12 The perspective of the school – sub themes ............................................... 142
3.13 The telling of a story – sub themes .............................................................. 143
3.14 Validity and reliability ................................................................................... 146
3.15 Research ethics ........................................................................................... 146
3.16 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 148

Figure 3.01 The subjective – objective dimension .............................. 109
Figure 3.02 Narrowing the sample .................................................... 128
Figure 3.03 The participants ............................................................... 131
Figure 3.04 Checklist of possible questions ....................................... 132
Figure 3.05 The analytic hierarchy ..................................................... 136
Figure 3.06 The iterative identification of sub-themes ....................... 139
Figure 3.07 The perspective of the individual ..................................... 142
Figure 3.08 The perspective of the school ......................................... 143
Figure 3.09 The telling of a story ........................................................ 145

PART B
Chapter Four: Research Findings and Discussion ....................................... 149

4.01 Introduction .................................................................................................. 149
4.02 The participants .......................................................................................... 152
4.03 Part one: The perspective of the individual .................................................. 154
4.04 Outsider status and emotional inclusion ..................................................... 156
4.05 Family and community ................................................................................. 188
4.06 Legacy factors ............................................................................................. 192
4.07 Process of enculturation .............................................................................. 200
4.08 Part two: The perspective of the school ....................................................... 204
4.09 Peers ........................................................................................................... 206
4.10 Staff ............................................................................................................. 212
4.11 Systems and environment ........................................................................... 218
4.12 Part three: the telling of the story ................................................................. 222

Figure 4.01 The conceptual framework & holistic milieu ..................... 151
Figure 4.02 Key indices ....................................................................... 153
Figure 4.03 Participant profiles ............................................................ 153
Figure 4.04 The perspective of the individual ..................................... 155
Figure 4.05 Outsider / Insider .............................................................. 162
Figure 4.06 The perspective of the school .......................................... 206
Figure 4.07 The telling of a story ......................................................... 223

Chapter Five: Summary, Implications and Conclusions ............................... 228

5.01 Introduction .................................................................................................. 228
5.02 Justifications and limitations of research design .......................................... 229
5.03 Summary of findings .................................................................................... 231
5.04 An individual journey .................................................................................... 231
5.05 Crossing a border ........................................................................................ 232
5.06 Familiarity .................................................................................................... 233
5.07 Adaptation .................................................................................................... 234
5.08 Application ................................................................................................... 235
5.09 The school ................................................................................................... 236
5.10 The story ...................................................................................................... 238
5.11 Reflections on the research question and theoretical contribution .............. 238
5.12 Implications, recommendations and the future ............................................ 242

Figure 5.01 A model of the subjective nature of inclusion ................... 241

Appendices ................................................................................................... 246

Appendix 1: Interview questions .......................................................................... 247
Appendix 2: Researcher field notes ..................................................................... 248
Appendix 3: Analysis examples with theme identification ................................... 249
Appendix 4: Copy of consent form ....................................................................... 250
Appendix 5: Model of communication .................................................................. 253

Bibliography .................................................................................................. 254
PART A: CHAPTER ONE: Introduction
1.01 Introduction
In this section I will give the reader my personal rationale for choosing this
particular study and why I feel it to be important, present key aspects of my
research and signpost how I am going to conceptualise them in order to frame
the study. I will be clear about the research context and how I define the
concepts that underpin this study including how key themes are constructed
and are to be interpreted. In relation to the context I will identify the problem
statements that arise and the distinct research question that provides focus.

This is a study concerned with the nature of inclusion and it seeks to
contribute to the debates appertaining to the concept. It values inclusion as a
shared human experience and recognises that as with all human endeavours,
these experiences can shape how we interact with others and how we see
ourselves. For this study inclusion is viewed as an event that is integral to the
human condition and experienced by all (Sartre, 1948; Camus and
Laredo,1981; Magrini, 2012; Weyemburgh, 2008; Sæverot, 2011). It is also
recognised that it is a term that has increasingly come to be applied to the
experiences of pupils and young people in the context of their schooling and
within the institution of the school. This application is however commonly seen
or perceived as applying to only some young people through the filter of
difference or marginalisation (Booth and Ainscow, 1998; Dyson and Millward,
2000; Wolfendale, 2000; O’Brien, 2001; Ainscow et al., 2006; Hodkinson and
Vickerman, 2009; Warnock and Norwich, 2010; Polat 2011; Cobigo et al.,
2012; Sharma et al, 2012; Hodkinson, 2015). As such there is an
emancipatory sentiment to this study that seeks to seek a more nuanced
interpretation (Freire, 1997; Always, 1995; Crotty, 1998; Anyon, 2009; Giroux,
2011). This research recognises equally that humans can make sense of lived
events or experiences through the stories they construct about them. This
study is focused upon the unique stories of ten participants each new to the
teaching profession and it is their subjectivity that is being investigated and
interpreted. Such stories told internally as they frame them for themselves and
externally as they are presented to an audience of others. In recognition of
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this there will be a discussion of the nature of narrative and storytelling both
as an important feature of human existence (Sartre, 1948; Camus and
Laredo,1981; Magrini, 2012) and as the chosen method of research for this
study.

This research is clearly focused on this educational milieu, recognising that
whilst inclusion is a universal human endeavour this specific study will view
the concept through the specific lens of education. Such a focus will aim to
develop an understanding of the particular subjective processes that underpin
the nature of inclusion from the perspective of the individual (Hoebel, 1972;
Woolfolk et al., 2008; Kottak, 2010; Berk, 2012). In recognition of this
perspective, this study will adopt an interpretative perspective (Dewey, 1938;
Burrell and Morgan, 1979; Barkley, 2005; Bhattacherjee, 2012). To explore
this particular context the research will collect data as narratives from ten
adults who as new members of the teaching profession are returning back to
the school environment for a second time but with a new focus. In this regard
they have experienced the school experience of inclusion into the same
educational context but at different times in their lives and with renewed
perspectives. This focus on those who have returned to the educational
context is important as they have both the knowledge of what they have
become and can reflect upon their childhood experiences with a degree of
reflexivity and subjectivity (Czarniawska-Joerges, 2004; Holloway and
Valentine, 2005). In recognition of this subjectivity the thesis claims only to
answer questions about the nature of inclusion for the participants not the
nature of inclusion in a wider or more general sense. In schools and settings,
inclusion is often seen in terms of practice or commitment (Allan, 2010; Slee,
2011; Cobigo et al., 2012, Tomlinson, 2012), and whilst these are valid and
important considerations this research hopes to contribute to the field by
better understanding the emotional process of change and transformation that
inclusion suggests for all pupils. To this end the research question signposts
the nature and focus of the study.

The Outsider’s Story. What is the subjective nature of the inclusion
journey for the individual?
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1.02 Background and rationale
In this section I outline my rationale for the concept of the Outsider and why it
is a relevant motif for a study of inclusion. My undergraduate dissertation was
titled, ‘The Theme of the Outsider in Modern European Literature’. This was a
piece of research that focused on the literary technique of employing a
character deemed to be emotionally outside the perceived social norms in
order to give a critique of society and its social mores, behaviours and
expectations (Sartre, 1948; Camus and Laredo,1981; Magrini, 2012). Key to
this study was the fact that for these protagonists their outsider status was
used to provide comment and critique of a social process or event and to
illuminate aspects of the human condition. Paradoxically, despite such
outsider status the reader recognises the plight of the Outsider who is in many
regards a proxy for all of us and a truer and more honest representation of
human existence. In this existential sense, the Outsider is employed to
provide an insightful commentary upon the arbitrary and complex nature of
human interaction and social intercourse and the richness, depth and even
absurd nature of human society (Scheutz, 1944; Hoebel, 1974; McCulloch,
2012). It recognises that human existence is characterised by innumerable
events and experiences that have to be navigated, piloted and steered and
are integral to human existence (Le Bon, 1996; Freud, 1922; Grusec and
Hastings, 2006; Stoda, 2007; Crosnoe, 2011). As such, the universal
phenomenon of inclusion is one that every Outsider will have to negotiate at
some time. What is common in the motif of the Outsider also is that the
narrative arc of their depiction does not have a classic beginning, middle and
end but is characterised by a more urgent sense of continual emotional
struggle, effort or journey that again highlights the pressures that underpin our
common humanity (Sartre, 1948; Hoebel, 1958; Camus and Laredo,1981;
Boylu, 2003; Magrini, 2012). In this regard and by this definition we are all
Outsiders in a subjective and individual sense. The idea that the Outsider is a
more honest representation of the human condition and that an understanding
of the Outsider’s perspective and insight can resonate with all of us is a
powerful one (Biesta, 2009).

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