Aug 25, 2017 - was conceived, and the objectives of the study. ..... emphasis on assessment that reflects governmental obsessions with measurable ...... selective mutism, like anxiety and I'm like it's just like the same sort of thing, it's just...the ...
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MA in Geography Education, Institute of Education
Broadening horizons: Using a GeoCapabilities approach to support students with a social difference
Don MacKeen
25 August 2017
Word count: 18,676
This dissertation may be made available to the general public for borrowing, photocopying or consultation without the prior consent of the author
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Contents
Acknowledgements
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Abstract
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1. Introduction
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1.1 Background
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1.2 Aims & Objectives
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1.3 Context
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1.3.1 Transitions course
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1.3.2 Asperger syndrome
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1.4 Conclusion
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2. Literature review
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2.1 Asperger syndrome (AS)
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This section will look at the current understanding of AS.
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2.1.1 What is it?
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2.1.2 How it affect individuals and what are their outcomes
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a.
Models of disability
2.1.3 Educational approaches 2.2 GeoCapabilities
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2.2.1 Why teach geography?
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2.2.2 Capabilities
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2.2.3 Debates within geography education
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a. Geography’s origins
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b. The development of school geography
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2.2.4 Educational debates a. Powerful Knowledge 2.2.5 Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) 2.3 Conclusion 3. Methods 3.1 Methodology 3.1.1 Philosophies and theories underlying different types of research
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a. Triangulation
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b. Discourse Analysis
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c. Grounded theory
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d. Analysis
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3.1.2 Methods and techniques
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a. A Note about Case Study
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b. Sampling
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c. Questionnaires
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d. Interviews
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e. Using Video observation
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f. Using Logbooks
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3.2 Limits of methodologies used
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3.3 Ethical considerations
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3.4 Conclusion
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4. Results
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4.1 Overview of the results
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4.2 Self doubt
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4.3 Asperger syndrome: Seeing the world in a unique way
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4.4 Understanding the world through geography
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4.5 Conclusions
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5. Discussion
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5.1 Introduction
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5.2 Interpreting student perceptions
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5.3 Why teach geography to students with AS?
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a. Self deprecating/Difficulties articulating/Excusing others
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b. Reflective/Self Aware
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c. Geography as gateway for discussions
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5.4 Is a knowledge based curriculum more helpful to students dealing with a social difference?
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5.5 Can a GeoCapabilities approach deliver the sort of education that individuals with AS need in order to thrive? a. A note on spatial justice and disability
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5.6 Implications for both Additional Support Needs and geography education 86 5.7 Conclusion 6. Conclusion
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6.1 Suggestions for further research and evaluation
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6.2 Concluding remarks
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References
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Appendix A: Ethics form
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Appendix C: Questionnaire and results
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Appendix D: Interview excerpts
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Appendix E: Video observation
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Appendix F: Typical Transitions timetable
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Appendix G: Dissertation proposal form
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List of Tables Table 1 Discourse analysis of student statements
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Table 2 List of students
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Table 3 Overview of results
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List of Figures Figure 1 The autistic spectrum
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Figure 2 Question 1, 1st round
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Figure 3 Question 1, 2nd round
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Figure 4 Question 2, 1st round
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Figure 5 Question 2, 2nd round
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Figure 6 Question 4, 1st round
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Figure 7 Question 4, 2nd round
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Figure 8 Question 5, 1st round
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Figure 9 Question 5, 2nd round
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Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to thank the Transitions students who helped with this research.
I would like to thank my tutor David Lambert for his support, insight and guidance for this research. I would also like to thank Mary Fargher for her advice and support throughout this Masters.
Thanks also to Professor Brian Boyd who was very generous with his time and helped me a great deal in understanding Curriculum for Excellence.
Thanks to the Transitions team: Jacqui George, Louise Shambrook and Patricia Beattie. My wife, Jackie McMaster, helped start the Transitions gardening project from which the geography classes grew. She also helped go over the many drafts of this dissertation.
Finally, special thanks to my father, Dr. D. L. MacKeen, whose interest and advice has been invaluable.
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Abstract
This case study research analysed the use of a GeoCapabilities approach for a group of students with Asperger syndrome (AS). AS is a different way of perceiving the world and traditional educational approaches are not always successful for these individuals. Teachers need to be aware of the different ways that these individuals think and feel and respond accordingly. Educational approaches for students with Additional Support Needs (ASN) tend to emphasise social skills training, however the researcher (an adult with AS as well as a teacher) has attempted to use geography to aid the students’ social development. Michael Young’s social realist concept of “powerful knowledge” is proposed as an alternative to standard ASN practice. Through a process of triangulation, the researcher has aimed to allow the students’ views to be at the forefront. The research has shown that these innovative thinkers often feel marginalised and struggle with self-doubt, however their unique way of considering and solving problems means that they bring valuable, creative contributions to geography. They are also deeply concerned about the plight of oppressed people and the planet, and geography, using a GeoCapabilities approach, is an excellent vehicle for these students to gain a deeper understanding of issues that concern them. Finally, it is proposed that this research continues and is extended to include academic specialists from geography, geography education and ASN.
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1. Introduction
This chapter aims to show how the research was inspired, the context in which it was conceived, and the objectives of the study.
1.1 Background I have taught young people with Asperger syndrome on the Transitions course at City of Glasgow College since 2003. I started teaching despite not having enjoyed education much when I was younger; I really only enjoyed two years of High School and various moments in the remainder of education. As an adult I came to realise that one of the reasons why I didn’t enjoy school was because I had Asperger syndrome (AS), part of the “autistic spectrum” of social and communication “disorders” (Baron-Cohen 2008). Attwood (undated) defines it as a way of thinking and perceiving the world “differently to other people” and goes on to remark that it is an “important and valuable characteristic of our species throughout evolution.”
I went into teaching as it furthered my own studies into Asperger syndrome, having just completed a PgDip in Autism from Strathclyde University. However, as my previous work experience was a variety of office jobs, it was challenging to make the adjustment to teaching. I was able to draw on my own experiences of
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education, considering what I had enjoyed and what I hadn’t, and what I felt worked and what didn’t. Most of my experience in school was negative; aside from 2 years of high school (in which I had classes that suited me and genuine friendships), my memories of school were a mixture of feelings of unease, dread, boredom and confusion. My earliest memories of school were that I had something better to do and feeling “trapped”. I was also often socially isolated, so the entire school experience was one that created a great deal of anxiety for me. Personal accounts from individuals with AS mirror this experience (Wiley 2014, Sainsbury 2009).
Therefore, it can be seen as somewhat ironic that I became involved in teaching, however education has always been very important for me, although much of the learning I have valued has been more “informal”. I have always been concerned with the nature of formal education and felt that less conventional approaches could be valuable for many students, in order that they develop their own abilities to gain knowledge.
For the students I have worked with on the Transitions course, the standard teaching approaches have rarely worked. A minority of Transitions students did enjoy school, although many of them had difficulties with social interaction. But few of the students on the course had developed academic skills that matched their intellectual capacities. This gap between intellectual capacity and performance is noted in the literature about AS (Fast 2004: 151).
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1.2 Aims & Objectives Geography can be argued to be valuable for all students, but for students with a social difference like AS, the need to make sense of the world, see the world in new ways and believe that they can change it is vitally important. Attwood (1997), Madriaga & Goodley (2009), and Barnhill (2007) point out that people with AS struggle to succeed in education, employment and/or relationships. AS is a lifelong neurological condition that can lead to anxiety, depression or other mental health issues, and yet if the individuals affected can learn ways of understanding themselves and others they are more likely to find ways to cope with their challenges. Furthermore, individuals with AS are not simply “disabled” but have abilities due to their intellectualising tendencies. Fitzgerald (2000a, 2000b) and Gillberg (2002: 128-134) have suggested that figures from history such as Einstein, Wittgenstein and Lenin had AS and Asperger himself (Landeweerd 2011: 209) noted that at its best, this “autistic” way of thinking was at the root of the best scientific thinking. The study of geography can therefore be on the one hand a way for these students to gain a better understanding of themselves, others and how they fit into the world and on the other hand a gateway into knowledge that can lead to further educational studies.
Furthermore, Attwood (1997, undated) has noted that people with AS tend to have strongly developed senses of social justice, yet lack the intuitive ability to see
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things from other people’s points of view. I plan to examine if a knowledge based subject like Geography can provide this group of students with the means to better understand themselves and their world. The GeoCapabilities approach of Lambert, Sole & Tani (2015) will provide a framework to assess this.
While there is a great deal of literature on the experiences of people with AS there is less looking at what sort of educational experience this group of students’ value (Darker, Strnadová & Cumming 2016, Brooks 2014: 14). By listening to these students, I want their voices to inform the study and provide the basis for evaluating how meaningful the study of geography is to them, and in what ways my teaching can be improved to deliver a valuable educational experience in the future.
In order to discover more about the value of geography to these students, the following research questions will be considered:
1. Why teach geography to students with AS? ● What sort of education do students with AS find meaningful and why? ● How do the students feel about the subject? ● Is it possible to identify positive outcomes from the student’s learning of geography?
2. Is a knowledge based curriculum more helpful to students dealing with a social difference?
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● Are there improvements to student’s social understanding? ● How do students feel about their AS and does a knowledge based subject allow them to develop a more mature understanding of themselves?
3. Can a GeoCapabilities approach deliver the sort of education that individuals with AS need in order to thrive? ● Does a combination of a values based curriculum with a knowledge based subject give students the grounding they need in order to make sense of their world? ● Do students value the opportunity to take some control of their learning?
1.3 Context 1.3.1 Transitions course The Transitions course at City of Glasgow College was specifically designed for students with AS (aged 16-19) and began in 1999. The result of work done by the National Autistic Society, the Scottish Society for Autism, academics, and parents and carers of individuals with AS, the Transitions course was created to meet the needs of a group of young people who often have poor educational outcomes (Chamak & Bonniau 2016, Gillberg 2002: 95-99, Howlin 2000). Unlike other teaching approaches, such as the TEACCH model (TEACCH Undated) which emphasises a highly structured approach, the Senior Lecturer (SL) Jacqui George based the course on her prior work with young people and people with ASD. The course was designed so that students could adapt to real life situations and
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develop their own strategies. It embeds social skills training in a “hidden curriculum”, using Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) units in order to reengage these (often school-phobic) students with formal education.
The course currently has approximately 40 students per year, with classes of ten (due to rise to 12 next session because of requirements from the Scottish Funding Council). Students stay in the same group throughout the year in order to reduce anxieties about change, as well as for convenience of timetabling. Students attend for 17.5 hours per week and have a variety of classes, including Geography (see attached sample timetable, Appendix F) and 3 hours of timetabled guidance.
1.3.2 Asperger syndrome AS is part of the “autistic spectrum of disorders” (McPartland, Klin & Volkmar 2014, Attwood 1997, Wing 1981). Individuals with this condition, or “different way of thinking and perceiving” as Attwood [undated] sees it, have difficulties in 3 areas, termed the “Triad of Impairments” (Wing 1997): 1. Social interaction: interaction can appear odd, rude or aloof. The individual may appear uninterested in others or excessively awkward. 2. Communication: conversation can be one-sided and focussed on the individual's areas of interest; the individual may speak in monologues and not engage in what others are talking about. 3. “Imagination” (Sainsbury (2009) points out that this term is misleading, as it implies creative thinking - “flexibility of thought” is a better descriptor): the
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individual may focus intensely on one area of interest, or display repetitive behaviours.
1.4 Conclusion This study aims to discover whether geography can be meaningful to students with a social difference like AS, and whether the GeoCapabilities approach can address the challenges these students face. The next chapter will consider the literature that has influenced the study.
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2. Literature review This chapter reviews the existing literature on AS and GeoCapabilities and put the study in a wider context.
2.1 Asperger syndrome (AS) This section will look at the current understanding of AS.
2.1.1 What is it? AS is part of the “autistic spectrum” (Wing 1997) of social/communication disorders. The term “autism” comes from the study of schizophrenia (Crespi 2010) and was originally used to describe extreme social withdrawal in schizophrenic patients. It was first used in its current form by Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger in the 1940s (Baron-Cohen 2008: 27, 32). Both wrote case studies about individuals with autism, Kanner in the USA and Asperger in Nazi-occupied Austria. Kanner’s study became more well-known due to Asperger publishing in German as English became the language of the sciences.
Figure 1 The autistic spectrum (from Baron-Cohen 2008: 33)
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In both Kanner and Asperger’s work, they identified a range of individuals who displayed odd, often eccentric characteristics, including repetitive behaviours and intense focus.
Wolff (1996) poses the interesting notion that in 1926 a Soviet researcher, Ssucharewa, wrote about individuals who closely resemble Asperger’s cases. Ssucharewa adds an important aspect to the way people with AS think, noting an oversensitivity coupled with an undersensitivity to emotional and physical feelings.
The study of autism was further developed by Lorna Wing and her colleague Judith Gould in the 1970s. They identified that autism was not, as was previously thought, a form of schizophrenia; as a consequence of their work (Wing & Gould 1979), the Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia changed its title to the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (Schopler, Rutter & Chess 1979).
Wing (1981) increased our understanding of the autistic spectrum when she introduced the category of Asperger syndrome. She explained her reasons for creating the label:
“...the term is helpful when explaining the problems of children and adults who have autistic features, but who talk grammatically and who are not socially aloof. Such people are perplexing to parents, teachers and work
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supervisors, who often cannot believe in a diagnosis of autism, which they equate with muteness and total social withdrawal. The use of a diagnostic term and reference to Asperger's clinical descriptions help to convince the people concerned that there is a real problem involving subtle, but important, intellectual impairments, and needing careful management and education.”
2.1.2 How it affect individuals and what are their outcomes AS is often described as “mild autism” (Dillon 2007), however this description is misleading (Great Ormond Street Hospital 2011). Gillberg (2002: 22) estimates the prevalence as AS to be about 3-4 in 1000, with a higher proportion of males to females (around 3-6 to every female, however he recognises that the different presentation of girls with AS may mean they are missed in diagnosis). AS can often be debilitating precisely because the individual affected appears, on the surface, to be “normal”, i.e., there is no obvious intellectual impairment and indeed they are often gifted in certain areas; yet the same individual can present as being eccentric, socially inappropriate or inept, insensitive to others, and unable or unwilling to adapt to a social group.
There are a number of psychological theories that attempt to explain the particular ways that people with AS think and behave (Baron-Cohen 2008). Weak central coherence, developed by the researcher Uta Frith, suggest that the difficulties are in terms of not being able to see the big picture, but instead, focusing on details.
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Executive dysfunction refers to the way that the frontal lobes organise activity and thought for normal (or “neurotypical”) people. In AS this function is said to be diminished and the result is that when given a task such as remembering a list of instructions, people with AS struggle to retain the information. Theory of mind suggests that normally developing children gain an understanding that other people have their own thoughts and feelings by about the age of 5; in AS this is said to be lacking, leaving the person with AS struggling to “read” other people’s emotional states.
Attwood (1997) describes how individuals with AS can often have difficulties in work and personal relationships due to their social and communication differences. Sainsbury (2009) notes that people with AS often do not recognise social hierarchy and quotes Asperger: “They treat everyone as an equal as a matter of course.” People with AS who have shown promise in their chosen careers can fail to advance because they do not know how or are uninterested in “networking”. They can struggle with relationships because they find it difficult to read their partner's intentions and can fail to respond suitably to meet their emotional needs.
AS can lead people to spend inordinate amounts of time trying to understand the nuances of social interaction. As this may be approached in the same way that the individual would try to understand a scientific problem, the results may range from some success to bafflement; but in any case, the process is exhausting; and changes in circumstance, such as the retirement of an understanding boss at work,
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may result in regression.
a. Models of disability Gleeson (1999: 188-19) describes how the “medical model” of disability views the source of the impairment in the disabled person and their lack of “normality”. In contrast to the medical model, the “social model” (Gleeson 1999: 19-24) holds that disability is the result of a social world that is “constructed by and in the interests of non-impaired people.” While the “social model” of disability is generally held to be the standard used today, as Gleeson (1999: 18-19) (writing specifically about physical disability) notes the medical model still influences “official definitions” such as that used by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and “there is little contemporary support for the idea that social difference is a straightforward product of physical difference” although the social model is broadly accepted in the social sciences. Allan (2007) points out that despite the language of inclusion in education “a deficit or medical model, continues to dominate policies and, inevitably, classroom practice.”
Gleeson surveys the various “social models” (1999: 19-24):
● Structuralist: the problem for the disabled person is society, and the human agency of the disabled person is denied. ● Humanism: popular with governments and activists, this approach reduces “dehumanising language” in hopes that “social unequals” will achieve
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equality; therefore instead of disabled person, person with disabilities is used. ● Idealism: influenced by the sociologist Erving Goffman and his work on stigma, this view posits that a change in attitude will change the conditions for disabled people. ● Normalisation: rooted in Wolfensberger’s notion of “social role valorisation”, this approach emphasises changing societal attitudes by giving disabled people “roles”, in terms of family, education or employment. The problem is not the institutions but the way the institutions view the disabled person.
In contrast to the social model, Gleeson (1999: 24-27) outlines the various historical-materialist approaches developed from the work of Marx and Engels. Instead of taking social relations and institutions as fixed, the historical-materialist approach asserts that “disability is both a socially and historically relative identity that is produced by society” (1999: 25). In this view disability is a form of “oppression” in which the “mode of production” (in our case, capitalism) “[structures] the social understanding and experience of impairment” (1999: 25) affecting how disabled people live and work.
2.1.3 Educational approaches Attwood (2000), Kunce (2003) and Howlin (2003) describe the difficulties individuals with AS have in finding supportive and effective educational approaches and recommend strategies that meet the particular needs of these students. In
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Scotland, Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) recommends a strategy of inclusion for students with Additional Support Needs (ASN), however this is not always possible or in the best interests of the young person (Lyndsay, Proulx, Scott et al 2014)..
From personal accounts of people with AS (Willey 1997, Sainsbury 2009), a picture emerges of people with an intellectual approach to problem-solving who are nevertheless hampered by their different approach to social interaction and the resultant difficulties. The standard classroom, particularly in secondary school, creates anxiety (Sciutto, Richwine, Mentrikoski & Niedzwiecki 2012) which can lead to misunderstandings with teachers and/or peers resulting in lower achievement and often withdrawal from the environment.
Educational approaches that help to transition students into mainstream settings can often be effective (Lawrence 2010), helping students to prepare for situations and settings that they are likely to encounter in school or Further Education (FE)/Higher Education (HE). These approaches utilise regular guidance, and often involve social skills training, with varying degrees of success; Barnhill (2014) notes that certain students report dissatisfaction with social skills training, with one respondent stating that “they did not want to ‘hear the same old stuff’”.
Sciutto et al (2012) highlight a series of teacher qualities that students with AS find helpful, including teachers who recognise the existence of AS, are tolerant and/or encouraging of differences, can adapt their teaching style and show AS students
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respect. They also note the strategies that students with AS appreciate: bringing students’ interest into the teaching and learning, offering a safe and predictable environment, allowing for personal choices as opposed to insistence on conformity, and using positive reinforcement instead of punishment. These qualities and strategies tie into the AS profile that Attwood (1997) has emphasised: students with strong feelings regarding social justice, especially in terms of how they feel they are treated by those in authority, as well as anxious reactions in unfamiliar or unpredictable environments. The dialogic approach of Freire (2000), which emphasises listening to the student, allowing them to tell their story and encouraging action following reflection, is a productive pedagogical strategy for those working with these students, creating a dialectical process of action and reflection that encourages action and reflection at a higher level.
2.2 GeoCapabilities This section will examine the GeoCapabilities approach of Lambert, Solem & Tani (2015) and how it fits into wider debates within geography education. It will consider the educational and philosophical ideas that influenced the GeoCapabilities approach and how it is relevant to the education of students with AS.
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2.2.1 Why teach geography? What is the purpose of education? Are students to be trained for jobs which may not exist when they finish their studies, or are they to become “responsible citizens”, or independent thinkers or something else? Debates about the purpose of education are nothing new, but have become more urgent with the introduction of national curricula, which will be dealt with in more detail in Section 2.2.5 below.
Attempts at creating national curricula, such as Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), have grown from the various crises of capital that has seen drops in educational attainment, particularly for working class children (Sosu & Ellis 2014), alongside stagnating economic prospects and environmental concerns (Priestley 2002, Bramwall & White 2000). The need for students to be able to navigate the 21st century has driven governments to respond in terms of what education should be and how it should function, and teachers need to carefully consider these responses.
While we can question the motives and conclusions of governments and the resulting national curricula, it is important that we attempt to answer some of the concerns regarding why students are not achieving and what they should be learning.
Geography provides a knowledge based subject, with a vocabulary (e.g., rivers, mountains, cities, continents) and a grammar of concepts (e.g., space, place,
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scale) that allow us to understand the vocabulary (Lambert 2004). Geography provides students with an “holistic” way of looking at the world that refuses to separate the physical from the human, allowing them to ask why that building in that location, and what impacts will it have on the people and the environment (Lambert 2004). As Jackson (2006) states it “enables a unique way of seeing the world”, providing students with the means to understand “complex problems” and consider the “inter-connections at a variety of scales.” For students who struggle to understand the day to day challenges of social interaction, like those with AS, this is knowledge that is not only potentially enriching but vitally important for their development as independent, confident individuals operating within a society.
2.2.2 Capabilities GeoCapabilities is influenced by the Capabilities approach (CA) developed by the welfare economist Amartya Sen and the philosopher Martha Nussbaum (Gaspar 1997). Sen developed CA to counter the utilitarian view of welfare economics, which reduces human life to “incomes, choices and feelings”, arguing for the recognition of human agency , while Nussbaum took this further by drawing from the Aristotelian concept of the “good life”, arguing for the human need to develop “powers” that can be developed and drawn upon (Gaspar 1997).
For people to be able to develop their capabilities, they must be able to meet needs and wants, both basic (access to clean drinking water) and more advanced (literacy skills). In combination, these “functionings” form the basis for developing
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capabilities. CA seeks to move beyond a utilitarian model of life towards “human empowerment” (Lambert et al 2015, emphasis in text).
2.2.3 Debates within geography education It is useful to now turn, briefly, to debates within geography education in order to understand the value of GeoCapabilities, particularly in terms of the education of students with AS. a. Geography’s origins In order to understand what geography is today we need to look at its past, in order to avoid “re-inventing the wheel” (Cresswell 2013: 15). Certain consistent themes emerge from this study, such as the tension between the physical and the human, concerns over the “serious” and scientific nature of the discipline, and the purposes of studying it (i.e., retaining collections of facts or developing conceptual understanding).
The Greek philosophers and historians are seen as the earliest geographers (Cresswell 2013: 16-23), providing us with the earliest written accounts. They saw their field of study as the ecumene (“inhabited world”) and Cresswell (2013: 19) sees this as a good definition of the discipline. Concepts which are familiar to us can be seen in these geographies: kenon (void) relating to space, choros (“space in the process of becoming”) relating to regions and topos (“achieved place”) relating to place (Cresswell 2013: 19).
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Tensions between the importance of understanding the mathematics of space versus the value of understanding other people can be seen in the concerns of early geographers such as Strabo (considered the “first” geographer, as his are the first complete written accounts) who suffered the “tiresome” aspects of measurement in order to understand how it affected human interactions (Cresswell 2013: 22) and Ptolomy, who focussed on creating a general understanding of the world, working out the size of the earth, creating grid systems of longitude and latitude and locating places on maps (Cresswell 2013: 23). These tensions have continued and fuel debates as to the nature of geography and its value as an educational subject.
There is a dialectical relationship within these tensions. Writing in the early 1800s, the philosopher Hegel (2017) decried the supposed dichotomy between Truth and Falsehood, arguing instead that differing schools of thought were “necessary moments” within a progressive unfolding of Truth.
b. The development of school geography Geography as a school subject has its origins in general education which developed in the 1600/1700s (Walford 2001a) (in Scotland it developed particularly as a means to propagate the new Protestantism of John Knox, being formalised into law in the Education Act of 1633).
While at first considered a minor subject compared to the study of Latin or the Bible, it gained importance, particularly in the British context, with the rise of
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imperialism. The 1870 Elementary Education Act (and in Scotland the 1872 Education (Scotland) Act) brought about a government commitment to universal elementary education, spurred on by a desire to further the successes that the UK had made in terms of commerce and manufacture. For Mackinder and Fairgreave, geography was a means of developing patriotism in the young (Marsden 1997). The “good cause” of the Empire was, from this perspective, that of a superior civilisation bringing light to a savage world and points to the current notion of global citizenship (Walford 2001a: 53).
As elementary education spread in the UK, the government sent inspectors into classrooms to observe the practice, and many decried what they saw as a joyless rote-based education - in terms of geography, this came to be known as “capes and bays”, involving endless repetition of placenames (Walford 2001a: 55). Walford (2001a: 54) points out that, in fact, the “capes and bays” style of rote was short-lived and limited in geographical scope (Walford 2001b), and in fact the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) had hired James Scott Keltie to make a comparative study of geography teaching that took him to Canada, France, Germany and the USA, as well as looking at schools throughout the UK. He found good practice particularly in Germany and Scotland, and was also impressed by what was going on in elementary schools in England, however in the English secondary schools he found cause for concern, where there was little use of maps and other teaching tools (Walford 2001a: 59-62).
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The anarchist geographer Kropotkin was one of many who were impressed with Keltie’s influential report, particularly in the use of practical tools (or “appliances” as Keltie termed them) (Walford 2001a: 62). Kropotkin was troubled by the emphasis on “classical” education in Russian schools, which emphasised the study of “dead languages” and the histories of Greece and Rome, which were supposed to instill a “humanitarian character” (Kropotkin 1978). He saw geography education as having three important tasks: to instill an interest in the “natural sciences”; to teach that we are all “brethren”; and the third, which he felt was the most important was to “dissipating the prejudices in which we are reared with regard to the so-called 'lower races'”. He went on to criticise the “civilising” project of Europeans, delivered with bayonets and massacres, and argues that when people are taught from a young age to see those different from them as “savages”, it could hardly be otherwise.
The “civilised mentality” which Kropotkin identified continued to run as a thread through the development of geographical ideas. The “public intellectual” and extensive traveller Humboldt (a student of the philosopher and lecturer in physical geography Kant) helped to develop geographical thinking, with his emphasis on both theory (measurement, the importance of regions, maps) and practice (fieldwork). With his notion of the “isothermal zodiac” (the idea that civilisations moved from east to west along 40 degrees north latitude) he also helped to inspire the idea of “manifest destiny”, the white supremacist notion that white Christians should spread across what became the USA (Cresswell 2013: 38-40), which led to
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what was arguably a genocide against the indigenous peoples (Sagall 2013: 111157).
This inspired an environmental determinism that influenced Darwin, among others (Cresswell 2013: 48). The physical world explained the condition of humanity, for as Europeans saw it the people they conquered were less industrious. As Darwin put it, the hot and humid tropical climates produced a “lazy and indolent” people who, on the one hand did not want to work, but (oddly), could be “coerced” into slavery (Cresswell 2013: 48).
The determinist argument is thought to have fallen out of favour, yet as Cresswell (21013: 51) points out, it has returned in Jared Diamond’s popular book Guns, Germs and Steel, which removes the argument of racial superiority but retains the environmental argument that Europeans were “destined to succeed” due to “environmental factors”.
The “good cause” of imperialism helped school geography develop in the UK, with proponents like Mackinder (who had been influenced by Keltie’s exhibition). As the subject developed, a strong regional geography took hold, with the influence of the subject extending beyond the schools and leading the public to get involved in large scale surveying exercises (Walford 2001b). However, critics of regionalism became worried that geography was becoming less than “scientific”, and a crisis of confidence ensued - when the Geography department was cancelled at Harvard in
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1948 (Cresswell 2013: 79), it was clear that the focus on the “particular” had gone too far.
There was a swing in the 1960s to more “general” concerns - overarching principles that could describe processes and practices more universally (Cresswell 2013: 81). Geography was to become “spatial science”, with “people attracted to retail centres as iron-filings were to magnets” and the subject transformed “into a quantitative and model based paradise” (Walford 200b). Models explained the function of cities and human interaction. This came at a time of change in the thinking of education, with rote memorisation going out of fashion and interactive activities becoming more popular, and textbooks for primary schools promoting the new spatial science (Walford 2001b).
Challenges to this new orthodoxy were inevitable, as humanists and Marxists pointed out that the human being was erased in the spatial science approach (Cresswell 2013: 103-105). These challenges filtered through to schools by the 1980s, along with calls for national curricula (which will be dealt with in Section 2.2.5).
The current picture of school geography is one that at its best has taken elements of regional and spatial geographies and concerns with human and environmental issues. At its worst, it has become a jumble of issues and concerns with an emphasis on assessment that reflects governmental obsessions with measurable
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data. Some academics are concerned that “good causes” have come to dominate the subject - where once the cause was “patriotism”, now it is “climate change”. For Standish (2009: 40) “global citizenship” comes from an “authoritarian impulse” of indoctrination. However, Lambert & Morgan (2009) counter that he “fails to engage adequately with advances in geographical thought”, particularly the challenges to the discipline after the “scientific revolution” of the 60s and 70s. Furthermore they point out that he does not address what the purpose of teaching geography is, and question whether any subject could ever be simply an end in itself.
This brings us to wider questions about teaching and the role of GeoCapabilities in developing a curriculum that is knowledge based and rooted in social justice.
2.2.4 Educational debates The wider educational debates will be examined here, particularly in respect to GeoCapabilities.
Young & Muller (2010) provide a means to think about recent educational debates. The propose three future “educational scenarios” which mirror the ongoing debates within education, particularly in the UK. In these scenarios, the question of knowledge and how it is treated in the curriculum is at the forefront.
Future 1 (F1) is the standard view of a “traditional” classroom approach of Hirsch, in which the teacher is the unquestioned source of knowledge and the students receptive vessels. The boundaries of subject knowledge are given and fixed, and
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the everyday knowledge of the student is inconsequential. They label this situation as “undersocialised”. In contrast, Future 2 (F2) is more familiar to the stereotype of today’s classroom, representing the constructivist view which Fox (2001) sees as the dominant model in the “Anglo-Saxon” (presumably English-speaking) world. This “child-centred” approach is one in which the students “constructs” their understanding of the world and gains knowledge with the teacher in the role of a “facilitator”. Young & Muller (2010) characterise this as “oversocialised”. The boundaries of knowledge are no longer fixed or clear and the everyday knowledge of the child is predominate, in a Vygotskian model.
As a corrective, Future 3 (F3) is proposed. In this social realist model, subject boundaries are not fixed but the work of specialist “knowledge communities” such as geographers - are recognised, and most importantly the “epistemic right” (following Bernstein) of all children is recognised. The “knowledge of the powerful” that Young (1971) identified saw unequal outcomes for working class students in the structure of the educational system, as it was geared to the needs of elites; the New Sociology of Education (NSOE) failed to recognise that as structural inequality is inbuilt in capitalism, restructuring education would never be enough. If students from working class backgrounds, or students with disabilities such as AS were denied their right to what Young & Muller (2010) term “powerful knowledge” they would remain disadvantaged.
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a. Powerful Knowledge Lambert et al (2015) have used CA to propose an F3 approach to geography in GeoCapabilities. GeoCapabilities encourages teacher agency, asking teachers to consider the “role of education in affording people with intellectual, moral and existential capabilities for lifelong learning, economic and social agency in citizenship and the pursuit of personal well-being”, outlining aims that have similarities with CfE (see Section 2.2.5 below).
Human empowerment is the goal of GeoCapabilities, achieved via “powerful disciplinary knowledge” (PDK). National curricula such as CfE are “blunt and often fail to take account of the nuances of context” so teachers need to use their agency to act as “curriculum leaders” in a process of “curriculum making” (Lambert et al 2015). In order to further teacher agency, GeoCapabilities encourages practical development of these ideas. The GeoCapabilities website is an ongoing example of this: http://www.geocapabilities.org/.
It is useful to finally turn to the Scottish curriculum context.
2.2.5 Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Scotland’s national curriculum CfE was formed, like others internationally, at a time of rising concerns regarding citizenship, the economy and the environment (Priestley & Biesta 2013: 3, Yates & Young 2010). It can also be seen in the
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Scottish context as an assertion of national identity (Humes 2013: 14). As Humes (2013: 14) points out, Scotland retained its particular educational system after the Act of Union 1707 (as well as its own church and legal system). Humes goes on to point out that a narrative (or perhaps “myth”) of Scottish education has been perpetuated, that of a democratic and egalitarian system, where the “good society” is brought about by public institutions.
CfE has been praised by the OECD (2015), however they have warned against the “excessive paperwork” and “tick-box approach” that is currently the case in Scottish education. On the surface it utilises a constructivist philosophy of education, but for some critics it is a “mastery curriculum dressed up in the language of a process model” (Priestley & Humes 2010). In common with other national curricula, CfE stresses skills over knowledge and is framed around “4 capacities”: successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. It encourages teacher agency and development of teaching and learning with the students (Priestley, Biesta & Robinson 2013, Priestley & Biesta 2013: 3). This offers teachers latitude and GeoCapabilities fits in well with this, particularly in terms of teacher agency (“curriculum making”).
Professor Brian Boyd of Strathclyde University was part of the review group set up the Labour/Liberal administration of the early 2000s. It produced a report (Curriculum Review Group 2004). In an interview, he explained how the group had been set up to do a comprehensive review of Scottish education, with previous
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reviews focusing on certain aspects (e.g., 5-14 education). The group had been set up in the “normal way”, which Humes (2013: 16) labels as the “traditional patronage model”, although in this case, unusually, it was headed by a civil servant. The group was set up following a survey of the teaching profession by Professor Pamela Munn of the University of Edinburgh. The survey had found that while “nobody really thought the system was in crisis”, many thought the system should be changed: less direction, more “professional autonomy within guidelines”, and that the curriculum was “overcrowded”, with “far too many individual bits, whether you call them subjects or whether you call them disciplines.” Another problem was transition from primary to secondary, and from secondary to college. The remit had not been to set up a new curriculum but instead to “be an aspirational document”. It was “never regarded as being revolutionary” because as no one thought the system was broken, it didn’t need to be fixed. It was however an attempt to “take the best of what was there” and “introduce concepts” such as depth, personalisation and choice “which had never been there”. Professor Boyd had “naively” thought that educators would be asked to help implement the curriculum but was told that civil servants would be in charge.
He agrees with many critics of CfE such as Priestley and Humes:
“In a sense they’re right, because I mean if you’re really serious about doing something radical with the curriculum then you need to go back to first principles, but this was never an attempt to do that. This was an attempt to
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say, look things are going quite well actually here, we don’t need to change anything that’s absolutely radical...there wasn’t a lot of time spent on educational theory per se.”
He goes on to note that the original document “springs very much from a Vygotskian, constructivist view of education.” He had wanted to encourage crosscurricular learning, and felt that it could enhance, not diminish, student’s understanding of subject boundaries (e.g., projects combining history and geography could make clear the points where the disciplines cross over and where they are clearly different). His intention was not to blur boundaries of knowledge.
He also states (personal communication, 21 August 2017) that “the report needs to be read for what it is...and the implementation needs to be investigated as to how departed from the original purpose.”
2.3 Conclusion This chapter has summarised what AS is and how it affects individuals, particularly in terms of their education. It has then looked at the GeoCapabilities approach to teaching geography, considering it in a wider context of debates within geography education and education more generally, particularly in terms of CfE.
The next chapter will outline the methodologies to be employed in this study.
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3. Methods “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.” - Marx (2002)
In this chapter, the methodology and study design are considered and discussed as are ethical considerations
3.1 Methodology
In considering the methodology of a study, it is important to ask why particular methods are used as opposed to others, and the role of the researcher in this work.
3.1.1 Philosophies and theories underlying different types of research Denscombe (2014) posits that research can be split into two distinct paradigms: positivist and interpretivist. The positivist paradigm takes the world as given and understandable through data and statistics, and approach that fits in well with the natural sciences. The interpretivist paradigm, in contrast, views the world as subjective and open to interpretation by different actors, drawing its information from “texts and images” (Denscombe 2014: 21).
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Postman (1984) questioned the use of the term “social science” and suggested that this interpretivist approach should be seen as a form of “story-telling” that looks at “human practices”, as opposed to science which looks at “natural processes”. In another paper he argued for the transformative possibilities of language (2013); instead of taking the view that the “word is not the thing”, the opposite approach is used (e.g., “the word is the thing”), and “problems” can be viewed as potential “solutions”. With this approach, researchers can tell the stories of others with a view to create change.
Of particular concern for this research is the role of the researcher who is working with a population that is labelled as “disabled” - Martin (2015) discusses the possibilities of research being “participatory” or “emancipatory” for research subjects, and further poses the possibility that the subjects “gain” something of value from the research. If education research is to meaningful, then there should be value to the students and in the case of disability research it should be hoped that the research points towards positive solutions to problems. Disability rights activists (Charlton 2000) have promoted the idea of “nothing about us without us” in other words, instead of being the recipients of paternalistic “missionary work”, people with disabilities should be actively involved in the services meant to aid them. It follows that if this is research for change it is necessarily political and this needs to be explicit.
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I am aware that I need to be reflective in my practice as a teacher with AS working with students with AS, (Patton 2002: 64-6; 299-301). What does it mean for a lecturer with AS to study a group of students with AS? Or an American in Scotland? To what extent are my own biases, politics, ideology informing the views that I have of the information I have collected? I am also aware that there are several potential pitfalls; namely, that I am too close to the group of students I am studying, that I may have too much power over them and that I may be guilty of seeing what I want to see. In order to provide some degree of detachment and corroboration, I have chosen to employ a mixed methodology, and to be very careful to ensure my data is adequately triangulated.
a. Triangulation Triangulation is a term that comes from land surveying (Mertens & Hesse-Biber 2012, Patton 1999), where a location is measured from more than one point to create greater accuracy, and it has been borrowed by the social sciences to label mixed methods research that attempts to combine qualitative and quantitative methods in order to arrive at greater validity of findings. Cresswell (2009: 213-214) suggests that it can also aid in offsetting potential weaknesses or strengths inherent in either the quantitative or the qualitative approaches.
While triangulation is usually associated with a mixed method approach in which the quantitative dominates the qualitative methods, Denzin (2012) and Fielding (2012) are critical of this. Denzin (2012: 82) sees triangulation not as a “a tool or a strategy of validation but an alternative to validation” which can be used to create
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an “interpretive structure” like a “quilt” (Denzin 2012: 85) and refutes the need for any quantitative aspects at all. Similarly, Fielding (2012: 125) states that it can create a “prismatic understanding” to “promote analytic diversity” and “extend the scope and depth of understanding” (2012: 128). This echoes Cresswell’s (2007:3940) view that “we conduct qualitative research because a problem or issue needs to be explored”, and that it needs to be explored to (among other things) “hear silenced voices” and to gain “a complex, detailed understanding of the issue” (emphasis in text). For Fielding (2012: 126) the purpose of using a mixed methods approach is “that some combinations can illuminate some kinds of research questions in some empirical cases better than can mono methods” (emphasis in text).
I will be using different techniques in this research in order to paint a more detailed picture of this case study. By bringing in information from a variety of sources, I aim to corroborate the themes that emerge from the variety of data I have collected and create a fuller picture of the student experience, using questionnaires, interviews and video to allow the student voices to emerge.
b. Discourse Analysis Discourse Analysis (DA) refers to a variety of analytical approaches that look at language and seeks to find underlying patterns, particularly those that show the influence of powerful forces (Willig 2013: 341, Bennett 1996: 163-168). Bennett (1996: 162-163) sees DA a “method of deconstruction” (a “critical, emancipatory methodology”) that seeks to discover contradictions and point out the influence on
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power relations on texts. It has grown out of work by Wittgenstein, Marx, Althusser, Derrida and Foucault (Willig 2013, Van Dijk 1993: 251).
Defining DA “succinctly” is difficult (Taylor 2103: 1-2) and the variety of approaches resist clearly defined methods. What unites the various methods is the belief that language can reveal how power and dominance influences the way people express themselves, and that this can reveal how they think about themselves and their world. For people with AS, who often find it difficult to articulate what we mean and how we feel about ourselves, events and our role in events, DA offers an opportunity to uncover meaning beneath the surface.
The Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) developed by Fairclough comes from the critical realist position and aims to analyse what language can tell us about the “workings of contemporary capitalist societies” (Fairclough 2010: 1) and how power and inequality are perpetuated, with the focus of CDA being political (Van Dijk 1993).
Narrative Analysis (NA) is a form of DA that looks specifically at the stories that people construct about their world (Esin, Fathi & Squire 2013). NA allows researchers to look at an interview in terms of the power relations inherent in a research process, interactions within the stories themselves, how audience perception shapes the stories and how historical and institutional contexts influence narratives (Esin et al 2013). Esin et al (2013) use the example of an
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interview of an Iranian woman in the USA conducted by an Iranian research to show how important it is to know who is listening to the participant, and how their own knowledge of the experience of the participant adds (or subtracts) from the analysis.
For this study, I will be considering the interviews (and the video to a lesser extent) through DA in which I will be looking for common themes that relate to the research questions and consider how the experience of students with AS is impacted by power relations, both institutional (i.e., college) and societal:
Table 1 Discourse analysis of student statements Student statements regarding: Education
AS
about the student
about others
about the student
about others
+
+
+
+
-
-
-
-
Geography
The Future
about the student
about others
about the student
about others
+
+
+
+
-
-
-
-
(NB + = positive statements, - = negative statements).
c. Grounded theory Grounded theory (GT) refers to the interpretative method of discovering themes after conducting research. Instead of beginning with an abstract theory and trying to prove or disprove it, GT involves conducting “empirical research and gradually
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[building] up general theories that emerge from the data” (Denscombe 2014: 107) The idea is not to let the data speak for itself but to analyse it and constantly compare and check concepts and theories based on new data. Denscombe (2014: 107) likens it to a detective following “leads”.
d. Analysis An integrated approach, as described by Floersch et al (2010) became the method used to analyse the interviews. Broad themes were used in the structure of the interviews, NA was used to identify what sort of negative or positive views were expressed by students in terms of the themes, and GT was used to discover themes that the students expressed, in order to discover what they found meaningful in the discussions. The interviews were coded, and the codes then used to identify themes. From this analytic memos were written in order to develop the themes. For the video analysis, transcription was carried out using the software MAXQDA.
It was important that the students were interviewed singly and in quiet rooms in order to reduce any possible anxieties about the process. Two participants seemed to have difficulties in expressing themselves and all participants had moments of difficulty in articulating fully what they were trying to say.
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3.1.2 Methods and techniques
This section will look at the methods used in gathering and analysing data.
a. A Note about Case Study This study is a case study of one group of Transitions students, Transitions 4 (T4). Paton (2002: 297) notes that case studies aim to capture the “complexity” of a particular “case”, and further notes that within every single case there are further complexities; so for instance, in the case of T4 there are 10 individual students, each with their own compelling stories.
Denscombe (2014: 54) states that a case “needs to be a fairly self-contained entity” and “to have fairly distinct boundaries” (emphasis in text). For Einsenhardt (cited in Denscombe 2014: 55) the case study is “a research strategy which focuses on understanding the dynamics present within single settings.” Case studies are not open-ended or changeable; they provide a “snapshot” of a particular time and place. They are a focus on the particular, not the general and do not lend themselves to statements that generalise to the population at large. Roberts (1996: 136) points out that this research needs to “relate the particularity of the case to the generality of the content.” They are useful as a “starting point in research” (Denscombe 2014: 61, emphasis in text) and as Yin says (cited in
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Denscombe: 61) the “goal will be to expand and generalize theories (analytic generalization) and not to enumerate frequencies (statistical generalization).”
b. Sampling Patton (2002: 45-6) stresses the importance of “purposeful sampling” and notes that qualitative research lends itself to studying small samples “in depth” (emphasis in text). A homogenous sample has been used for this study. Patton (2002: 235-6) states the purpose of the homogeneous sample is to “describe some particular subgroup in depth”. In this case one group from the Transitions course, Transitions 4 (T4), was chosen.
This group was chosen partly for their relative maturity (as I felt that they would be able to take this research seriously but not be overwhelmed) and because they were first year students and therefore were somewhat less likely to be easily influenced by me than second year students; importantly, we had more to learn from one another. In addition, this group impressed the lecturers as unique and inspiring, for their positive and supportive way of working with one another and allowing for each other’s particular personalities.
The group members are listed in the table below:
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Table 2 List of students Names anonymised; NB: * = student took the opportunity to choose their own pseudonym Riley* Doug Charlie Jack Danny Harris Max James Geralt of Rivia* Philip
c. Questionnaires At the start of the study I gave students a short 2 page questionnaire (attached in Appendix B). The questionnaire was piloted with two other Transitions groups, and the only change the students felt necessary was with an initial question about gender (“Are you Male/Female?”) - some students added an “other” category and this was adjusted in the final version.
Denscombe (2014: 167) states that questionnaires are most “productive” when the information sought is straightforward with standardized answers. He also points out that the purpose of the questionnaire is to discover opinions, not change them (2014: 166). Parfitt (2013: 79-80) notes the difficulty with respondent’s tendency to
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please, which this study attempts to adjust for by the use of interviews and video evidence from the classroom.
The questionnaire was designed to elicit the attitudes and opinions of the students towards education, geography and how hopeful they are (or are not) regarding the future. A few questions sought similar information using different methods as “check questions” in order to see how consistent the respondent’s answers were (Denscombe 2014: 176). As an extra check, the same questionnaire was given to the students at the end of the study as well. I have often witnessed Transitions students filling in surveys (e.g., City of Glasgow College regularly surveys students about the college experience) in a spirit of dismissive randomness, making patterns, not looking at the answers they are giving and generally not taking it seriously, so I wanted to see if the answers I was getting were consistent.
d. Interviews I felt that interviews were an important way to discover student attitudes and opinions. I wanted to discover the student’s perceptions of the following areas:
● Education ● Asperger syndrome ● Geography ● The Future
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The semi-structured interview schedule and an example transcript are included in Appendix D.
I have conducted interviews previously, for a self-published book about activism in Glasgow and a documentary comparing urban gardening in Glasgow and Detroit. I have conducted regular guidance interviews with Transitions student since I have taught on the course, and find that by creating a calm atmosphere, allowing the interviewee time to speak and think, a great deal can be uncovered that otherwise would be difficult to elicit.
People with AS often complain about not being heard or understood, or indeed being misunderstood (Soraya 2015). Those of us with AS often communicate in unconventional, tangential or less-than-straightforward ways, particularly if under stress, and this can obviously be open to misinterpretation. Therefore, I felt it was important that students be given the chance to express themselves, and this required that they felt comfortable (therefore, 1:1 interviews, not in a group setting) and that they were given enough time to speak without being under the pressure of having to do too much talking and thinking for too long (as this could be exhausting and stressful for some students). While Seidman (2006: 41) recommends not interviewing your own students, owing to the power relationship and influence a teacher inevitably has over students, in the case of students with AS not having a relationship with them could lead to an awkward situation where they “clam up”.
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However, the relationship I have with the students does present the drawback that they would want to give me the answers they think I want, so in order to check for this, the senior lecturer looked through the transcribed interviews (with the students’ names anonymised) and choose 3 to re-interview.
The prolific American interviewer Studs Terkel (Chalmers 2007) felt that the important things for interviewers to do were to listen and “when you are interviewing a person, that person must count.” For Seidman, (2006: 94) the interviewer must have “genuine interest in other people.” For the purpose of this study, a semi-structured interview was used, focusing, similar to the questionnaire, on the student’s experience of education, their knowledge of and attitudes toward geography, and their feelings about the future. In addition, the students were asked about AS and how it affects them.
In order to do justice to the student responses, I took the attitude that I needed to transcribe as carefully as possible, including hesitation sounds, filled pauses and yes/no sounds (e.g., “um”, “ah”, “mmm hmm”), and to capture the rhythm of the individual’s speech, making sure to go over the audio several times to reduce the possibility of typing what I thought the respondent said.
I am aware that the particular thought and speech patterns of people with AS are easily misinterpreted by those unfamiliar with this social difference, and can filter
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what is heard through the listener’s own biases and ignorance. My aim was to allow the student’s voice to be “heard” by presenting it as accurately as possible.
e. Using Video observation The use of moving pictures for the purposes of research goes back to 1890s and is now part of a “broader and rapidly proliferating field of ‘visual studies’” (Harris 2016: 16), although Luff & Heath (2012) feel that it is “under-utilised in the social sciences as a means of gathering data concerning everyday social interaction”. Harris (2016: 19) states that “video’s strength is its ability to provide multiple layers of data about subjects and their environments at the same time” and Knoblauch & Schnettler (2012) note that “[o]ne of its most outstanding properties consists in the unprecedented access it provides to the minutiae of social interactions in real time.”
As the purpose of this study is to shed some light on how students with AS value geographical knowledge, it is useful to actually see what is going on inside the classroom. It is important to put the classroom experience of this particular group of students in a context of a particular time and place in order to assess the other information that has been collected, and ask whether the answers and issues raised in questionnaires and interviews is reflected in what is going on in the classroom.
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Obviously, certain technical and ethical considerations must be dealt with in the specific context of using video. Ethical considerations will be dealt with below in Section 3.3.
In terms of technical considerations, placement of the video camera is important. “Roving” cameras, often used in documentaries, may miss the “action”, as important interactions may be occurring off-camera. Fixed-cameras can provide a solution and Luff & Heath (2012) see the mid-shot as conventional solution to the problem of framing. The camera is stationary and “has an open angle that typically captures the activities of two to three people.” In my case, the camera was placed at the back of the classroom, on a tripod, such that most of the students, the SmartBoard and myself were visible (students who did not want to be on camera had the choice to sit outside of the frame).
Qualitative studies lend themselves to asking questions about the meanings that people create about the world they live in. In attempting to discover the meanings students with AS create about their world, video observation can help when used in conjunction with other methods. As Knoblauch & Schnettler (2012) point out “actions and interactions are not only to be observed – rather, actions are guided by meanings any observer must try to account for, not only in principle but in each instance.”
Extended extracts from the video observation are included in Appendix E.
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f. Using Logbooks In order to derive another check 3 students were asked to maintain log books on the course Moodle. They were asked initial questions about what we had been covering in class, if they felt they had gained knowledge and if the course was changing the way they viewed the world.
Bolger, David & Raefelli (2003) see a major benefit of keeping diaries is “that they permit the examination of reported events and experiences in their natural, spontaneous context, providing information complementary to that obtainable by more traditional designs.” Unfortunately, due to the problem of motivation that is a hallmark of AS (Kutscher, Attwood & Wolff 2005: 121, Stewart Undated), the response rate was too low for the information to be useable.
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3.2 Limits of methodologies used
As this research can only present a “portrait” and it is one that I have created, therefore it is necessarily subjective and can only give a snapshot of a particular group of students at a particular time and place in their lives.
3.3 Ethical considerations
Denscombe (2014: 306-308) points out that ethics are fundamental to good research and that the “ends do not justify the means”. He lists the four basic “codes of ethics” for researchers: the research should ● “[protect] the interests of the participants; ● [ensure] that participation is voluntary and based on informed consent; ● [avoid] deception and operates with scientific integrity; ● [comply] with the laws of the land.”
Barnes (cited in Wilton 2000) defines ethical considerations as those “that arise when we try to decide between one course of action and another not in terms of expediency or efficiency, but by reference to standards of what is morally right or wrong.”
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In the case of this study, it was important to recognise the gullibility of students with AS, who can often be over-loyal and too trusting of people they respect. As Wilton (2000) notes:
“When socially marginalized groups are directly or indirectly involved in research, one's political commitment demands an explicit sensitivity to issues of representation and the potential impact of the research process on the people involved.”
In order to be aware of how students felt about this research, it was supervised by the SL and student’s views were monitored in regular, timetabled guidance sessions.
3.4 Conclusion This chapter has outlined the methodologies I have employed in undertaking and analysing this study. A grounded theory, case study approach using triangulation has been employed to gain an understanding of the students’ perspectives on education, AS and geography. The methods employed have allowed me to carry out the aims of the study. It is hoped that from the analysis of the data the student’s views can be understood and this information can contribute to improvements in geographical education for marginalised students.
The next chapter presents the results.
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4. Results The findings of the research are presented in this chapter. The findings have been analysed with the research questions in mind. Analysis of the questionnaires, interviews and video will be presented.
4.1 Overview of the results Ten Transitions students took part in questionnaires and interviews. One class was also videotaped. From this data themes emerged which are summarised in Table 3 below:
Table 3 Overview of the results Theme Self doubt
Description ● Difficulties articulating themselves: the students were often hesitant, their speech sometimes halting. ● The students were often selfdeprecating and critical of their own abilities ● Excusing others: the students often spoke as if they were responsible for the negative behaviours of others ● “Outcasts”: strangers in their own land
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Table 3 Overview of the results Theme
Description
Asperger syndrome: Seeing the world in a unique way
● The students have a unique way of looking at the world and are aware of this ● They described feelings of compassion and deep concern for the plight of others ● They saw possibilities for turning negatives into positives ● They saw solutions for people and the planet coming from collective action
Understanding the world through geography
● The students felt that geography was a meaningful way for them to make sense of the world and gain new insights. ● Many described human geography as being the most interesting and enlightening aspect of the course. ● Gaining new knowledge (and qualifications) were important for the students. They were excited by new possibilities and could see the point in developing their intellectual capacities.
4.2 Self doubt Given the nature of AS it is perhaps not surprising that expressions of self-doubt were prominent, particularly in the interviews. As noted above in Section 2.1.2, people with AS often struggle to be understood by others and can experience distress at their inability to connect with others.
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These students were often self-deprecating, doubting their own abilities and questioning themselves and their actions. Many individuals with AS develop a process of regular self-reflection, which at its best can lead to a heightened selfawareness, but at its worst can reduce the individual's confidence and self-esteem. Lacking the ability to use knowledge to inform this process can hold back a person's development. Charlie expressed the dilemma he had experienced in school:
Charlie: But I think I later found out I'm - I think I'm actually Asperger syndrome. You know. Um, I guess you know I mean you know you feel uh...you kind of feel like a bit left out everywhere. You know, you have that um, that problem where you're trying to say something but you know you can't really and uh when you try and do work you - I dunno - like I dunno you giving something like "Do this Charlie" and then you know you look at the work and then all of a sudden you're staring at it for like - I dunno - like an hour and so you're like "Um...um - what's going on here?" [Laughs] You know? "What's going on?" But you know I mean I had a, I used to have to get like a scribe, is I think, I think that's how you pronounce it - I dunno. You know I used to do that so they would have to read and I'm like "Ah! Right ok I got that." You know.
Like others in the group, he had a dialectic way of thinking, in this case finding the positives (personal growth) from past negative experiences:
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I dunno, I mean I'm slightly improving uh recently you know. I, I've improved a lot. Uh in this college but I kinda, I kinda regret uh- you know I wish I had improved most of my uh my days at school. But then again you know - if it was, but if it wasn't you know I wouldn't be who I am right now, you know?
The feeling of being a “stranger in their own land” was a common one for these students, as it is for people with AS generally (Sainsbury 2009). Max spoke of his difficulties to connect with others in primary and secondary school:
Max: At the time I never knew I had autism so I thought I was sort of like the ugly duckling out of everyone there. I was treated like an outcast, never fit in well with the others, cos obviously my autism just made me feel different around them. Secondary school was basically the same just with hormones!
Many of the students struggled to express what they knew, and some students who participated well in classroom discussions showed difficulties in clearly expressing their geographical knowledge. Teachers who are not familiar with the particular profile of people with AS might mistake this for a lack of ability or commitment, and it is important to be aware of how difficult it is for these students to answer questions when they feel “put on the spot”.
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4.3 Asperger syndrome: Seeing the world in a unique way The Transitions students have a unique way of looking at the world, making sense of things and imagining possibilities for change. They were aware of how different they are from others. While some expressed regrets about their differences, many saw the benefits, particularly since being on a course with other AS students:
Max: ...until I came to this college with my friends I never thought that there were other people like me. I honestly thought that I was unique. And while that - and that put me into isolation cos it's not good being - obviously I didn't know there were other people like I said but into my knowledge I felt like I was the only person who could understand what I was going through and to know that knowledge it didn't feel right. Having friends like Riley and the others there and sort of like you, cos you know exactly what I've been through - you're autistic like me - it feels absolutely brilliant because I can share in what I know with you guys.
For many, previous experiences of education had been negative. The students were often self-deprecating and tended to downplay their experiences and excuse the behaviour of others:
Riley: Primary school was, it was - I wouldn't say it was disastrous but I'd say it was, it was pretty - it was a pretty challenging experience for the first six years because I didn't feel like I got the support I needed, despite the
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fact that the school said they had the support.
Jack: The first years that I went to school, well like the first year that I went to school, I was ok with it but I hated it. And then the second year of school I just refused to go in and after that like I'd go to see a tutor like every week I think it was and then when I was about 13 I had to go to this thing called the support centre which was just for people who for whatever reason didn't go to school but who had didn’t behavioural problems if that makes sense.
Geralt of Rivia: It's like, just like some teachers who didn't really know what I had so they couldn't really do anything to help. And just generally unhelpful people.
For many, school was a stressful period of their lives, from exams to the behaviours of students and teachers:
Danny: ...I was pretty much used to seeing all the teachers erupting like volcanoes at students who were going all crazy and that. Don: How did you feel about that? Danny: Well, it did kind of annoy me cos they were a disruption - disrupting all the lessons we were having but - but I got used to it. Thankfully that never happened to me. Thank god for that!
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Aside from the difficulties with social interaction and communication, many people with AS also have difficulties with processing information and this can be an added source of anxiety. In addition, students with AS can find their unique way of looking at things can bring an unwanted focus on them, as Riley describes:
Riley: ...I did have an interest in the sciences at first but as time went on and we were taking more and more notes, I realised that I couldn't really like keep track of it and some of it was just a bit disorientating for me and I definitely I think - I wasn't too keen on History myself for a bit and then I remember getting uncomfortable around politics for quite a bit and Moddies [Modern Studies] cos it's, it's quite an icky subject, especially if you're not really aware of the world at that time. Particularly in your first and second year - you just don't feel aware of the world and being in a subject where you need to be aware of the world isn't comfortable if that makes sense. Don: So was it like - depressing or controversial stuff? Riley: Yeah controversial was kind of got to me cos I was like - I really wanted to speak out but then I found out that sometimes what I could say could be a bit - offhand I suppose. Don: Right. Riley: Like it could've just caused a whole debate and just dragged everything off track. Don: Ok.
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Riley: And that would just kind of disrupt me and I'm like ‘god what have I done?’
Teachers who work with students on the autistic spectrum should be aware that with these students “what you see is not what you get”; therefore it is important to “check in” and find a quiet time and place to ask how controversial discussions are making these students feel (and it may take time to build up the relationship of trust necessary for these students to express themselves honestly).
While there is a stereotype of people with AS “lacking empathy” (Brewer & Murphy 2016), this is not the case with the Transitions students. Indeed, many felt connections with other oppressed and marginalised people because of their AS:
Riley: I think it's- it's -it's a gift really. It makes me see the world in a unique way that a lot of people wouldn't. It kind of, it does - it widens your perspective, when you realise that other people think differently from you and it, it kind of broadens your opinions of the world. Cos obviously there's the - obviously there's more neurotypical people out there than there are with autism and Aspergers. And you do feel like a sort of - I don't know...I don't know, it's like this sort of ...like a broadened sense of compassion.
The strength of feeling regarding the position of the oppressed can be seen from Max. Here he uses his emerging geographical knowledge to make sense of
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divisions between rich and poor, powerful and powerless. While holding out hope for positive change, he identifies the enormity of the problems:
Max: I know that - well this should be obvious but I know that there are obviously people who - who are either better off or worse than me, to people starving in poorer places like Africa, Somalia - other places like that. Or people who live in rich places like maybe uh here in Glasgow or America, anywhere else. To be honest - in all honesty I feel like, you know the whole 1% of people who are much better off than others, I feel like that's total bullshit to be honest. I feel like people should - riches and monetary issues should be solved equally. People should at least have a chance at a second chance in life. The people in Somalia and Africa, they didn't get that. They were born poor. Some of us were born rich or in a families who could provide with us. They didn't. It's entirely unfair. And with - and unfortunately I don't really feel like we're gonna get far without that. Cooperation is entirely necessary to the survival of the humanity, of the human race. But with people like Donald Trump as President, I really don't feel like that dream is gonna come true any time soon. Especially with uh racial groups like the KKK who all hate Black people ehm You really have to hope that someday, someone's gonna lay down their guns, their knives, whatever and say hey man we've been fighting a long
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time, why can't we just make up for this, show each other what we could do together that we couldn't alone. Just total bullshit the way this world is.
The students displayed a mature understanding of both the “barriers” AS presents and the possibilities that it affords them:
Philip: Cos it does hold up barriers as you know yourself. But then sometimes I think about it there's some of the most smartest people in the world that have it and that always makes me feel a bit better. [inaudible] thinking about that like Bill Gates for example, people said maybe Albert Einstein had it and stuff and uh it does hold barriers but I just try and get through it and you know try and not make a big fuss cos there's people worse.
Here Riley looks at turning the disadvantages of AS into advantages in dialectical terms:
Riley: I feel, it's, it's one of those things if you bring it back down to the base thing of Aspergers we tend - it is a common factor that a lot of us tend to say things that can affect other people really badly but you can change that around...And you can say things that might - not influence people but might you know make them - I don't know what the word is, I don't want to say re-
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think but you can, you can take a disadvantage and turn it into an advantage if you can learn how.
Many of the students recognised the importance of working with others to solve problems and were deeply concerned with the plight of the disadvantaged. From examining the position of people who were suffering the effects of poverty, climate change and war, the students saw collective action as the means to bring about change:
Max: But I really want to try my best to help the human race even how flawed we are with uh our history of war, violence, hatred amongst each other. I want there to be equalisation among us. I don't want it to be like equalisation without free will - without free will, we're nothing. We'd be like just robots.
Max identified the dialectic nature of change, recognised that “something good” may come from something bad:
Max: But we'd basically be living in a bland world. Stagnant of change. That is not good. Change, not matter how bad or good it is must occur. Nothing happens without change. Sure, we have Donald Trump as our President and that's bad but something good may happen out of this, something bad may happen out of this but we have to accept that. We have to accept that
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as humanity and move on knowing we could either mistake this or rectify this. It's just - it just depends on how interpret this.
He explained, in an inventive way, how geography can be a means of better understanding problems and imagining solutions:
Don: You think - do you think something like geography could help people figure these things out? Max: I believe something like geography could help this out yes because with the lay of the land sure someone like a foreign - maybe a Native American to Spain could be learning the place around - that person if he learned or he or she learned the lay of the land, got to know the locals, all that, sure one person may not really like they could do much but that one person could change the future forever. Look at Donald Trump, no one thought he was gonna win the election and he did!
Riley considered information gained from our classes and how it had “broadened horizons” for her, and made her think of the need for collective solutions:
Riley: I think when we were talking about climate change and stuff like that and like talking about how we could like help out with that. And talking about what we could do as people rather than you know as a society because I think that's the one thing we tend to think about. We tend to think singular
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rather than plural because we're all stuck in our own wee world and getting us to realise that it's not just us that need to do things. We need to do things as a collective. It certainly broadened horizons that way. I always knew well not always but for quite a while I've known that we need to things as a collective rather than as singular because otherwise nothing's gonna get done. Cos one person can't change the fate of 7 billion people.
4.4 Understanding the world through geography It emerged, particularly from the questionnaires, that gaining new knowledge and gaining qualifications were important for these students; furthermore, all the students identified geography as being (to varying degrees) useful and interesting and no students identified geography as useless or boring (see Appendix C for detailed results).
The concerns for social justice that was important to many of the students meant that their view of geography closely mirrored that of Kropotkin (see Chapter 2), particularly in terms of concerns for “Others” and the understanding we are all part of a human family.
Many of the students found the GeoCapabilities approach I used preferable to what they had learned in school:
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Riley: I didn't really have a love of it in high school cos I think it was just one of those, cos it felt necessary instead of you know you can do this for the fun of it. And this time around it still feels necessary but it's there for the fun of it as well because it's not just geography it's helping us understand the world through geography.
I wanted to go beyond simply delivering the standard presentation of the subject that comes across in Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) materials and textbooks, and encourage the students to think about concepts more critically. In the case of work we did on developed and developing countries, I had the group consider the arguments of Hans Rosling (2013) that the developed versus developing dichotomy is outdated and the picture is actually more complex:
Doug: I've heard about the suggestion that how we view, how we view countries as developed or developing may be, may be either wrong or at least outdated and that, that there are different levels of how countries developed in the...like development and under-development cos like uh, even countries we may see as under-developed do have advantages like Brazil, like that - Brazil or Mexico and some parts of Europe...uh...And Africa, certain parts of Africa I suppose.
It should be remembered that these are not just people with AS but young people who share many of the concerns of their peers. Having grown up in the shadow of
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the US driven War on Drugs, questions over drug legalisation come up in class quite often. As geography is a subject that crosses boundaries (e.g., the physical and the human, the general and the particular) it creates interesting opportunities for teachers who recognise the unique way people with AS view the world and solve problems. A discussion on global trade led to the following exchange on drugs:
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Riley:
And there’s there’s just agricultural products in Portugal which I find [trails off].
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Don:
Yeah. So you’ve still got what more high tech when you get into Spain but um
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Portugal maybe a little less so.
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Riley:
Don’t they have the lowest crime rates in Europe I think?
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Don:
In Portugal?
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Riley:
Didn’t they legalise like every drug.
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Don:
They did and that seems to have worked
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For them. Because they used to have a much bigger problem.
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Geralt:
I think legalising is better than just like outlawing it
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Charlie:
Yeah.
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Geralt:
The actual drug dealers can do stuff to it to make it more harmful than it actually is.
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Don:
The other problem with it, I mean you know you have arguments on both sides. Like if you look at the
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experience of Prohibition in America. Right? Prior to Prohibition you didn’t have
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the sort of organised crime, Al Capone type of thing.
Many of the students were surprised about how aspects of human geography had a bearing on the subject, as this had not been as prominent in earlier geographies they had studied. Jack for instance noted:
I guess mostly about like how the environment actually affects where people live. Cos I never really thought about it before I just thought like well it's colder here people will be less likely to move there but I didn't really think
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about it properly, it's not like you're going to find like a big city on top of a mountain because it wouldn't work, something like that. You- when you live somewhere you don't think well why - why is Glasgow here? You don't really think about that, you're just like oh this is Glasgow, it's always been here. Because you know it always has been here to you, you don't know why it's here or who built or the reasons they built it here. But in geography you can take a step back a bit, it's next to a river, and it's on a hill and it's easy for fishing and stuff but you don't really think about that because stuff like that doesn't matter anymore. I guess the thing that surprised me the most was geography isn't just about like the environment and it's more about how humans relate to the environment, I never really got that with other geography. It was always about rocks and plants and animals and stuff like that and the weather. I mean that's interesting but it doesn't really tell me anything about society or anything like that but this year I feel like geography has actually taught me things about how humans work. Which is a lot more interesting in my eyes anyway.
Like most students with AS, this group was concerned about what will happen in the future, and not only how they would be affected but others as well, particularly people who were oppressed. I was interested to see if they felt that geography could be useful for them in trying to understand the world:
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Don: And how do you feel about the future? Jack: [Long pause] I don't know how to answer it cos there's so much about the future, one that I don't know and two that there's so many things to feel about the future. Like, how do I feel - like the future of like where society is going, I'm not quite sure about that. I think a lot of stuff nowadays that people are afraid of for the future are either just fear-mongering or just I feel like it just isn't going the way people think it's going. I think there's lot of - like hype about ah we're just going into World War III and all that. I feel like it's a bit, people are just afraid and they're not really seeing what - they don't really understand why other people do things and all that. And they think that people's motives probably are different than they actually are. Don: Do you think -see just what you're saying about that, do you think if people could understand some, some of the basic things that you learned from geography would that be helpful for them in terms of trying to, to figure this stuff out more realistically? Jack: Yeah I think so. Because if you don't know stuff about where people live, why they live there and like eh the way things are built up like you don't really understand why different people are in different situations. Like, is it's hard to understand why there's lots of like crime and violence in like eh places like just outside the city but if you think about it there's not really a way to do anything if you're outside the city so everybodies just bored they're just gonna commit crime cos there's nothing else to do really.
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Like many in the group, he was positive about the possibilities for change:
Don: Do you think you can change things for the better? Jack: I think we all can really. Like I don't know if I can make lots of things better, like I don't know if I can change the way - I can't really change the way other people think except from by telling them the truth. But I feel like if I'm a good person and try and help other people to be good people then eventually they can do it, it's just like a chain reaction but not everyone is gonna be a good person cos it's just not in their nature. But I feel like everyone can make a change.
4.5 Conclusions The findings showed that the students struggled with many aspects of AS, particularly their social differences. While creative and thoughtful, the students could be hesitant and doubted their own abilities.
Geography offered an opportunity for the students to not only gain PDK, but to develop their social understanding through consideration of others, not only their fellow classmates but 7 billion other people on this planet.
They had considered many of the concepts we had worked on carefully and with maturity, coming to conclusions that encouraged them to imagine solutions. Their
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unique take on the world meant that they often showed great compassion for the plight of oppressed people, and it is encouraging that they did not become overwhelmed by the state of the world.
Geographical knowledge became a useful framework for the students to make sense of their world. They were able to draw on facts and concepts and draw intelligent conclusions that helped to “broaden their horizons”.
The following chapter will discuss the results.
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5. Discussion 5.1 Introduction This chapter discusses the findings presented in Chapter 4 and draws conclusions.
5.2 Interpreting student perceptions This study aimed to assess student perceptions regarding the following areas: ● Education ● Asperger syndrome ● Geography ● The Future
It was important to be aware of the unique perspectives that people with AS have, their social difference and the meanings they ascribe to their world. It is clear from the findings that these are young people who think deeply about the world they live in, are concerned with the injustices that they perceive and wish to find solutions. This is a group of young people who are struggling to make sense of a world that is in the midst of several crises. Gleeson (1999: 25) proposes viewing disability as a product of a capitalist society that determines the place of the disabled person. For these young people, their place is one of marginalisation, where their particular talents for focused, analytical thinking is devalued - and yet, if Attwood (undated) is correct in seeing AS as an important part of our species “throughout evolution”, this
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devaluing may be more costly to our species as a whole. Einstein (1946), who is now considered to have had AS, wrote in an earlier crisis that a “new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.”
In the sections that follow, I will consider the four areas outlined above in terms of the 3 research questions that informed this study.
5.3 Why teach geography to students with AS? ● What sort of education do students with AS find meaningful and why? ● How do the students feel about the subject? ● Is it possible to identify positive outcomes from the student’s learning of geography? A theme that emerged from this study was that these are young people who want to be treated as adults. They are reflective, self-aware and approach their work in a mature fashion. Yet their experience of education has often been one in which they are not taken seriously, where they are, as in the case of Jack, placed in unsuitable provisions because they cannot “fit in” with the mainstream setting.
a. Self deprecating/Difficulties articulating/Excusing others The students often see themselves as the problem. They view themselves as strangers in this world. They have experienced the world as adults treated as children - leading to stress, frustration and anger. They struggle to express
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themselves, to be understood, to be heard. They talk themselves down, excuse the behaviours of others (“I did something the other didn’t like”). The PDK of geography creates opportunities for students with AS to realise that their unique way of looking at the world is valuable. The position of being an “outcast” means that they have a sensitivity towards the plight of those without power, and their inventive way of thinking can be encouraged to help them imagine different possibilities for the future.
The students are concerned with the state of the world, and have questions that they are struggling with, but often their concerns or views are dismissed. Riley remembered feeling like her point of view could take discussions on a path that made her feel uncomfortable. People with AS are not socially intuitive and therefore are not as bound by the “groupthink” of normals; this can lead to situations in which the unique way people with AS have of seeing the world comes into conflict with more conventional views. People with AS often approach problems by going to “first principles” and this can be a challenge for mainstream teachers: if one student continues to ask “but why?”, the class may be stuck and unable to move forward. On the other hand, by not finding a way to engage with these students, everyone loses out from gaining a deeper understanding. As Gray and Attwood (1999) have pointed out, echoing Einstein, “new ways of thinking often lead to discoveries that consequently discard their outdated predecessors.”
Teachers working with these students should be “fluent in Aspergerese” (Gray &
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Attwood 1999), using “conversation free of hidden meaning or agenda” and based on the understanding that people with AS are truth-seekers.
b. Reflective/Self Aware They go over their experiences, making meaning of them. They are aware of how they come across to others, how they are viewed, what their difficulties are, though they often downplay their abilities. They take geographical knowledge and consider it, making mature observations.
c. Geography as gateway for discussions Geography provides the students with a way to “map” their place, to test ideas, to debate, to discuss. As geography has clear boundaries, it opens the way to abstract discussions. Using a GeoCapabilities approach means that I could allow the students to use their agency, to help guide discussions that were grounded in PDK. Discussions on global trade could usefully segue into discussions regarding drugs and drug legalisation. This gives the students the opportunity to develop the 4 capacities of CfE, particularly in terms of citizenship, by discussing issues that have importance for them and their futures, within a knowledge-based framework.
Through their analytical way of thinking, they struggle to make meaning of the world, and to “map” their place in it. They are well aware of how they think differently from others, and many have come to excuse others for failing to
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understand them. The students often sell themselves short, and in conversation can be hesitant, going back over what they’ve said, trying to refine and articulate their ideas, which they criticise and apologise for, in a dialectic process of trying to understand themselves, their own thoughts, and other people.
5.4 Is a knowledge based curriculum more helpful to students dealing with a social difference? ● Are there improvements to student’s social understanding? ● How do students feel about their AS and does a knowledge based subject allow them to develop a more mature understanding of themselves?
The Transitions students have struggled with an educational system that does not see their difference as a resource, but as a “deficit” (Allan 2007). This has coloured their view of education, which is often negative, despite the strong drive (on the part of these students) to uncovering truths. When students with AS decide to leave school in favour of college, they are often happy to leave behind the regimented, conventional thinking that they found in the mainstream setting. They enjoy being treated as adults, however challenging that can be.
However, specialist educational settings for these students (whether in schools or colleges) tend to emphasise a social skills training model, in which students focus on their supposed “social deficit”. Groupwork is emphasised, as it is identified that
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this is the major weakness for the students. In the Scottish context, it is also seen by educational institutions as important that these students develop the “4 capacities” and again, the emphasis on “improving social skills” is seen as paramount.
It is clear from the students that they appreciate the access to knowledge that a subject like geography delivers. Through the GeoCapabilities approach, the students were able to move discussions and activities towards their concerns. They could begin to relate the work on climate change or global trade to the issues of migration (e.g., Syria) or the international drug trade. They were confident to interpret what they discovered, using their excellent analytical abilities to draw mature conclusions. Geography’s boundaries are clear yet flexible, allowing for discoveries across disciplines, making it “the subject” for CfE (Geography Excellence Group 2010).
I was aware of the importance of creating a comfortable place for the students. Riley described how upsetting she found discussions in Modern Studies, as she was afraid her unique take on things would be mis-interpreted or could take the group down tangents she was not comfortable with. Teachers working with AS students need to be aware of the risks these students take when they join in group discussions, and therefore must be prepared to intervene when necessary. Lines of communication must be kept open, and regular guidance sessions employed to “check in” with the students post-discussions, in order to determine whether they
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felt uncomfortable with any of the subject-matter.
5.5 Can a GeoCapabilities approach deliver the sort of education that individuals with AS need in order to thrive?
● Does a combination of a values based curriculum with a knowledge based subject give students the grounding they need in order to make sense of their world? ● Do students value the opportunity to take some control of their learning?
Hans Asperger noted how the people he studied were naturally egalitarian: “they treat everyone as equals” (Sainsbury 2009). The concerns which the Transitions students have towards others came through in the questionnaires, interviews and the video observation. While the students can sometimes struggle with individual relationships and seeing another person’s point of view, nonetheless, when thinking in a more abstract and general way about humanity, they are deeply concerned with social justice. They are outraged at the state of the world and see collective actions as the solution for problems now and in the future. Their strongly held values about fairness, equity and tackling oppression motivated them to understand the world through geography.
They actively took into consideration points discussed in class, participated in
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discussions, developing points raised, drawing conclusions, exploring tangents, and examining different views. Through the GeoCapabilities approach, they were able to gain a better understanding of why things happen. They could explain a chain of events, study the paths of container ships as they avoided piracy off the coast of Somalia and travel past the Arabian peninsula, through the Mediterranean Sea as they brought Chinese goods to European ports and then ask and discover:
● Who benefitted from the trade? ● What were the conditions of the workers making the goods? ● What has happened to the incomes of the people who want to buy the goods?
We were able to use the course structure as a framework to build our discussions on. The students were not directing the class, as in Young & Muller’s (2010) “oversocialised” F2 classroom, but they were taking some control of their learning. In Young & Muller’s (2010) F3 classroom, the specialist knowledge of PDK is the basis of learning. The boundaries of geography allowed the discussion to be grounded in PDK and the students were able to gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter because of that PDK. These students have an “epistemic right” to PDK.
Everyone has a “place” in GeoCapabilities: the values of the students and the teacher can meet in an inclusive classroom that allows us all to “take on the world”
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(Massey 2014). The relationships between the local and the global, the “connectedness and interdependence” (Massey 2014) becomes clearer through geography because it “insists that we go beyond [these connections] to analyse the content of that interdependence” (emphasis in text).
a. A note on spatial justice and disability “We construct our multiscalar geographies, or they are constructed for us by more powerful others.” Soja (2010: 19)
The Transitions students noted their position as “outcasts”, with a unique perception of the world. They navigate their way through a world that is challenging and often unforgiving, and lacking the means for them to be understood. AS is a “hidden disability” (Roud 2013), leaving the person with the invidious position of:
“managing information about his failing. To display or not to display; to tell or not to tell; to let on or not to let on; to lie or not to lie; and in each case, to whom, how, when, and where.” (Goffman 1991: 42)
Space is imposed upon the disabled, they are ”provided services” instead of active participants in making their place - and the services provided further serve to maintain the position of being disabled and removed from the decision making processes. A wheelchair user who cannot access toilets remains bound to their home or has to consider either publicly soiling themselves or catheterisation (Morrison 2017). For someone with a hidden disability, the position is arguably
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more difficult because the problems can be ignored; indeed, the individual may not want to ask for help, finding it humiliating. Glasgow’s initiative to become an “autism friendly city” (Glasgow City Council 2017) may be a step in the right direction for those with ASD, but it remains to be seen whether or not this will be another “top-down” exercise, like much of educational inclusion (Allan 2010). The “service” is provided to the disabled person; the disabled person is not allowed to create the solution. As Massey (1994: 149) points out it is important to recognise who has “power in relation to the flows and the movement” in space and time, which she refers to as the “power geometry of time-space” (emphasis in text). She goes on to state that while some are “more in charge of it than others...some are effectively imprisoned by it.”
The PDK of geography is a means to enlighten, to understand, to see the spatial and understand its importance in our day to day life. Soja (2010: 21) and Harvey (1991: 358) have argued for coalitions of the marginalised to challenge spatial injustice. Massey (1994: 212-244) also makes this point, yet helpfully reminds us that both Soja and Harvey have blindspots when it comes to recognising and understanding the importance of feminism and spatial justice. The value of geography is that it can force us to realise the importance of what we are ignoring in our analysis. The work of social justice and geography is ongoing, and voices such as the Transitions students, who also recognise the need for collective action, can only serve to enrich this process of understanding gained through knowledge.
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5.6 Implications for both Additional Support Needs and geography education
Additional Support Needs (ASN) education is rooted in the idea that the ASN student needs “interventions” so that they can access education. But these interventions often take the form of a “one size fits all” approach that meets the needs of the educational institution first and foremost. In Scotland inclusion is built into CfE; a former head of HMIe stated that “inclusion is not easy, but it’s not optional” (Pirie, Head & Brna 2005). However, in practice inclusion is often a case of “problem” students being “managed” (Armstrong, Armstrong & Spandagou 2011) and in the case of students on the autistic spectrum they are placed in inappropriate settings and expected to adapt (Lyndsay, Proulx, Scott et al 2014).
Educators and educational institutions need to move beyond “feel-good rhetoric that no one could be opposed to” such as inclusion, that means “everything and nothing at the same time”. The epistemic right of students with ASN must be recognised as important. As Michael Young has pointed out, just because it is more difficult to teach some students, it does not follow that we give up (Young 2013) - he likens it to a doctor who gives up when the first cure doesn’t work.
There is another important point, directly related to students with AS. While the standard view of disability is one of “deficit”, it is clear that people with AS have particular talents that they can bring to a classroom. Their naturally analytical,
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critical way of thinking as well as their strongly held views on social justice mean that they can be a resource for any classroom. With the proper pedagogical approach - getting to know the student, using a low arousal approach, checking in with regular guidance - these students could help drive forward the work done in the classroom, taking the group forward to “think the ‘unthinkable’ and ‘the yet to be thought’” (Biddulph, Lambert & Balderstone 2015: 16). (It should go without saying, however, that teachers would need to be careful not to exploit these particular AS talents, and ensure that the student is not feeling overwhelmed by the attention or the work.)
5.7 Conclusion The students found the GeoCapabilities approach to be engaging and it was possible to have wide-ranging classroom discussions with them on subjects that concerned and interested them.
The geography classes became a vehicle for the ASN work that is the ultimate aim of the Transitions course. Using PDK, it was possible to have the students consider their connections to others in a way that was both abstract and concrete.
The next chapter will summarise conclusions.
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6. Conclusion “World and human beings do not exist apart from each other, they exist in constant interaction.” Freire (2000: 50)
The tensions that have existed within the study of geography - the particular versus the general, the physical versus the human, the “regional” versus the “scientific” are echoed in the tensions that exist within education. While it may appear that a pendulum is swinging back and forth between different approaches, perhaps it makes more sense to view these changes dialectically. In the Preface to the Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel (2017) wrote:
“The more the ordinary mind takes the opposition between true and false to be fixed, the more is it accustomed to expect either to see reason for the one or the other in any explanatory statement agreement or contradiction with a given philosophical system, and only concerning such a system. It does not conceive the diversity of philosophical systems as the progressive evolution of truth; rather, it sees only contradiction in that variety.”
He goes on to suggest that we see in this variety as “the presence of mutually necessary moments.”
Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence promises an inclusive education that is flexible and encouraging of difference, yet the experience of students with AS has
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been one of marginalisation. As with inclusion generally, fine words have translated into less than inspiring action. The particular talents that students with AS can bring to a classroom are an untapped resource, and for that everyone suffers. For teachers to get a clear view of what is going wrong, it is useful to think in an “Aspergerish” way, go back to first principles and ask why isn’t it working? And what is education for?
Michael Young, David Lambert and others have asked these questions and promoted an education that is rooted in knowledge, as opposed to skills and competencies (or capacities). Young (2007) has argued that a “more accessible and economically relevant curriculum” may be denying powerful knowledge to the very disadvantaged students who need it the most. The philosopher Salecl (2003), in discussing contemporary anxiety, states “the anxieties that very much pertain to contemporary society are linked to the new feelings of insecurity on which contemporary capitalism capitalizes itself.” People with AS suffer high levels of anxiety, but without a knowledge based understanding of the world, how can they learn to cope with these feelings? Even more importantly: how can these innovative thinkers imagine solutions to our shared problems without knowledge?
Given the social differences of people with AS, however, they will not be able to communicate their ideas to others unless they gain a better understanding of themselves and their world. A values based curriculum, with the goal of human empowerment, allows the students to see knowledge as more than mere data. The
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GeoCapabilities approach brings the human being into the subject, allowing the student to see “how humans work” (in Jack’s words) through geography.
6.1 Suggestions for further research and evaluation The study shows that there are areas for further research. The Transitions students responded well to the geography course and the use of GeoCapabilities. Due to the short space of time in which this study was conducted, it was difficult to see what sort of progress in social understanding was made for the students; therefore a year long study of new Transitions students would be worthwhile. In particular, incorporating findings from the regular, timetabled guidance sessions and relating those to attitudes shown in geography lessons could reveal to what degree geography and the GeoCapabilities approach has on developing student understanding of themselves and others.
This study could be done in conjunction with geography educators and geographers in higher education, bridging the gap between not only geography education and specialist academic work, but also ASN education. One area for development would be the creation of “curriculum artefacts” (GeoCapabilities undated). These are resources of “special significance” and are the “key” to students developing their own understanding of a lesson. Curriculum artefacts can take the form of an object, a web site, a map, a cartoon or any other source of information. Working in conjunction with academic specialists, curriculum artefacts
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could be developed that reflect the best knowledge from a variety of specialist knowledge communities. It would also allow those specialists, whether in geography, geography education or ASN research, to understand the practical realities of the classroom, with all its potential and limitations.
6.2 Concluding remarks It has been a privilege to work with the T4 students. Their innovative thinking and enthusiasm has convinced me of the potential for students with AS to lead the way in the development of a more democratic, just and valuable education.
This study has also shown the promise of geography to allow students to “think the ‘unthinkable’ and ‘the yet to be thought’” (Biddulph, Lambert & Balderstone 2015: 16). Geography is now firmly part of the Transitions course, and it is hoped that the PDK of geography can empower students with AS to understand the world, and to change it.
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Yates, L., & Young, M. (2010). Globalisation, knowledge and the curriculum. European Journal of Education, 45(1), 4–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-3435.2009.01412.x Young, M. (2013). Powerful Knowledge. Young, M. (2007). What are schools for? Educação & Sociedade, 28(101), 1287–1302. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0101-73302007000400002 Young, M. (Ed.). (1971). Knowledge and control : new directions for the sociology of education. London: Collier-Macmillian. Young, M. (2013). Powerful knowledge: an analytically useful concept or just a sexy sounding term? A response to John Becks Powerful knowledge, esoteric knowledge, curriculum knowledge. Cambridge Journal of Education, 43(2), 195–198. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764x.2013.776356 Young, M. D., & Muller, J. (2015). Curriculum and the specialisation of knowledge (1st ed.). Routledge. Young, M., Lambert, D., Roberts, C., & Roberts, M. (2014). Knowledge and the Future School (1st ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing. Young, M., & Muller, J. (2010). Three Educational Scenarios for the Future: lessons from the sociology of knowledge. European Journal of Education, 45(1), 11–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-3435.2009.01413.x Young, M., & Muller, J. (2013). On the powers of powerful knowledge. Review of Education, 1(3), 229–250. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3017
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Young, M. (2017). The curriculum and the entitlement to knowledge. Cambridge Assessment. Retrieved from http://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/Images/166279-the-curriculumand-the-entitlement-to-knowledge-prof-michael-young.pdf
Appendices
111
Appendix A: Ethics form
112
113
114
Appendix B: Information sheet & Consent form
115
116
Appendix C: Questionnaire and results
117
Transitions Geography survey
What is important to you about college? ☐ gaining new knowledge ☐ finding out things that are relevant to me ☐ learning things that will help me get a job ☐ socialising ☐ discovering what the different possibilities are in terms of education and/or work On a scale of 1 - 5, with 1 being excellent and 5 being poor, how important to you are the following aspects of Geography? 1
2
3
4
Gaining new knowledge Improving academic skills Improving map skills Gaining qualifications Understanding how other people live Understanding how the world works (for instance, climate) Having discussions about complex or controversial issues
Geography is: Useful
Boring
_____:_____:_____:_____:_____:_____:_____:_____
_____:_____:_____:_____:_____:_____:_____:_____
Rank the following 1 - 5 in terms of the importance to you of Geography __ Learning new things
Of no use
Interesting
5
118
__ Developing academic skills __ Finding out about different people/places __ Gaining qualifications __ Improving map skills
Do you think that you can change things for the better? Yes
No
Please explain your answer in the box below (If you answered Yes, why do you think you can change things for the better? If you answered No, why do you think you can’t change things for the better? Please try to be specific):
119
Questionnaire results What is important to you about college?
What is important to you about college? (First round) Gaining new knowledge
15% 26%
15%
finding out things that are relevant to me learning things that will help me get a job socialising
18% discovering different possbilities re education and/or work
26%
Figure 2 Question 1, 1st round
What is important to you about college? (Second round) Gaining new knowledge 20%
22% finding out things that are relevant to me learning things that will help me get a job
20%
17%
22%
Figure 3 Question 1, 2nd round
socialising discovering different possbilities re education and/or work
120
Ranking the importance of different aspects of geography
How important are the following aspects of geography? 12
Number of students
10 8
6 4
Rankings 5th choice
2
4th choice 3rd choice
0
2nd choice 1st choice
Figure 4 Question 2, 1st round
121
How important are the following aspects of geography? 12
Number of students
10 8 6 4
Rankings 5th choice
2 0
4th choice 3rd choice 2nd choice 1st choice
Figure 5 Question 2, 2nd round
122
Is Geography interesting and useful to students?
First round: number of student responses Geography is:
Useful
Of no use 2
3
3
1
Interesting
Boring 4
2
4
Second round: number of student responses Geography is:
Useful
Of no use 2
4
2
2
Interesting
Boring 2
4
3
1
123
Ranking what is important to the students about geography
Rank the order of importance in Geography to you 12
Number of students
10 Ranking
8
5th
6
4th 3rd
4
2nd 1st
2 0 Learning new things
Figure 6 Question 4, 1st round
Developing Finding out about academic skills different people/places
Gaining qualifications
Improving map skills
124
Rank the order of importance in Geography to you 12
Number of students
10 Ranking
8
5th
6
4th 3rd
4
2nd 1st
2 0 Learning new things
Developing Finding out about academic skills different people/places
Figure 7 Question 4, 2nd round
Gaining qualifications
Improving map skills
125
Do the students think they can change things for the better?
Do you think you can change things for the better?
20%
YES NO
80%
Figure 8 Question 5, 1st round
126
Do you think you can change things for the better?
11%
YES NO
89%
Figure 9 Question 5, 2nd round
127
Comment box First round Student
Do you think you can change things for the better (why yes or no?)
A
I think I can stop politics being so corrupt and improve the lives of other people who are disadvantaged
B
I can change things for the better so I can live on without a fuss
C
I suppose if I put my mind to it and contribute to the effort
D E
No comment
F
N/A
G
It's a feeling I have, but I can't really explain it
H
Because that's what I think
I
I just feel that I can
J
I prefer the way things are
Second round Student
Do you think you can change things for the better (why yes or no?)
A
Become more involved and voice my opinion and have an effect on other people's lives
B
Improves my knowledge of the world
C
Buy more Fairtrade products
D E
I cannot imagine a way that I can
F
Because I probably could given the circumstance
G
I could probably think of a new law
H I
I just think I can
J
Cause everyone can set motions of change
128
Appendix D: Interview excerpts
129
The following semi-structured interview questions were used: 1. Talk about what school was like for you. (Prompts: Any difficulties? Subjects you liked? Subjects you didn’t like? What were the other students like?) 2. Can you tell me about what it’s like having Asperger syndrome? (Prompts: Difficulties? Benefits? Do you feel different from others?) 3. What do you know about geography? (Prompts: What do you know about other people, places? Can you use a map? Do you get lost often?) 4. How do you feel about the future? (Prompts: Do you feel hopeful for the future? Do you feel like you have a stake in things? Do you feel like you can have an effect on things?)
130
Example of an interview transcript
Jack* 190517
Don: Can you talk about what school was like for you?
Jack: Uh...terrible slash boring.
Don: Right ok.
Jack: The first years that I went to school, well like the first year that I went to school, I was ok with it but I hated it. And then the second year of school I just refused to go in and after that like I'd go to see a tutor like every week I think it was and then when I was about 13 I had to go to this thing called the support centre which was just for people who for whatever reason didn't go to school but who had didn’t behavioural problems if that makes sense.
Don: Right.
Jack: So I went there and that was ok but like we always got into fights wi' people in class and stuff like that. It wasn't like a good environment just sticking people in the same class to be wi' each other day after day. Especially if you don't like the person.
131
Don: And was there any purpose to it other than -
Jack: The purpose - it - the purpose was to just make us - basically it was just to force us to go to school, it wasn't like "here's how tae help you tae get you get back into mainstream". And after I think it's fifth year they just shove you back into mainstream and hope you'll survive. They don't like tell you anything about how to handle that.
Don: How did that work?
Jack: Well I just came here cos I didn't see a point in going into like a mainstream class.
Don: Right. Ok that makes sense. And were there any subjects that you liked at school?
Jack: I liked uh Modern Studies, I liked Geography in first year but like I didn't like my teacher after that.
Don: Right.
132
Jack: I didn't mind English. Uh there's another class that I can't remember that I liked - the Hospitality I liked.
Don: Ok. Um and subjects that you didn't like?
Jack: Um...I didn't like - I didn't like m- I liked the teacher in Maths but I didn't like Maths as a subject, if that makes sense.
Don: Right. Yeah. Um, and the other students, what were -?
Jack: Suh - most of the other students I got along with, but some - like it was like a constant battle. There's like mah group and then there was another group and like we were like, it was like - we weren't fighting out in the open, we were sort of secretly hating each other.
Don: Right.
Jack: And it just grew, like tension and stuff like that.
Don: Right.
Jack: And sometimes it just bubble over intae like a huge fight in class or something like that.
133
Don: Ok. Um so can you tell me what it's like for you having Asperger syndrome?
Jack: I think it's -I think I'm probably, I guess it's easier for me to deal with than say other people would be but it still affects me. Because I didn't know until I was 15 so I just sort of had tae deal wi' it, it sorta like drove me to this point. Like I've only realised that I had it like for say a couple of years and for the first year and a half like I just denied it, I was like "naw I don't have that, I'm not like that" cos I thought, well if I have that there's something wrong with me. And I was like but that does describe me so I may as well like - cos there was other - like there's other like selective mutism, like anxiety and I'm like it's just like the same sort of thing, it's just...the like stigma that I was...
Don: Right. Ok um do you think there's any benefits to it?
Jack: I guess it makes you more maybe logical might be the bad word, a bad word to describe it but like analytical.
Don: Ok.
Jack: Like, you can see things that other people can't see. But a lot of the time it does hinder you, cos like social situations it's hard to deal with.
134
Don: Right. Um and do you feel, do you feel different from most other people or..?
Jack: I think I do but I don't know how other people feel so I can't really comment I guess.
Don: That's a fair point. Ok, what do you know about geography?
Jack: Uh...I guess what I've been told. But like I can't really describe what I know if that makes sense. Like...uh, I don't know how to describe it. I know that things in the landscape and stuff like that really affect how people choose where they live and stuff. Like rivers - people building cities near rivers, it's not like you're gonna have like trains in mountains cos like they don't work, stuff like that -
Don: Yeah.
Jack: Also I know a lot more than I can really think about -I don't know how to describe exactly what I'm ...
Don: Well, do you feel, do you feel like you know or could you find out about other people, other cultures, other places?
Jack: Uh huh yeah. It's just, I don't know how tae the - just put in like words everything that I know about geography it that makes sense.
135
Don: Yeah, no that's cool. Um, is there anything that we've looked at this year, anything that, that surprised you or anything that stood out or...?
Jack: I guess mostly about like how the environment actually affects where people live. Cos I never really thought about it before I just thought like well it's colder here people will be less likely to move there but I didn't really think about it properly, it's not like you're going to find like a big city on top of a mountain because it wouldn't work, something like that.
Don: Yeah, ok. Um, and how do you feel - do you feel comfortable using a map?
Jack: Yeah. I'm quite good at pointing out things on a map and like knowing where to go. Sometimes I get a bit mixed up between left and right cos it's like a different perspective but that's about it.
Don: Ok, and do you find you ever get lost or...?
Jack: I'm quite good with direction I think. Sometimes I can get quite lost but like I usually know where to - like eventually I'll find somewhere.
Don: Ok. Cool. And how do you feel about the future?
136
Jack: [Long pause] I don't know how to answer it cos there's so much about the future, one that I don't know and two that there's so many things to feel about the future. Like, how do I feel - like the future of like where society is going, I'm not quite sure about that. I think a lot of stuff nowadays that people are afraid of for the future are either just fear-mongering or just I feel like it just isn't going the way people think it's going. I think there's lot of - like hype about ah we're just going into World War III and all that. I feel like it's a bit, people are just afraid and they're not really seeing what - they don't really understand why other people do things and all that. And they think that people's motives probably are different than they actually are.
Don: Right.
Jack: Yeah.
Don: Do you think -see just what you're saying about that, do you think if people could understand some, some of the basic things that you learned from geography would that be helpful for them in terms of trying to, to figure this stuff out m9ore realistically?
Jack: Yeah I think so. Because if you don't know stuff about where people live, why they live there and like eh the way things are built up like you don't really understand why different people are in different situations. Like, is - it's hard to
137
understand why there's lots of like crime and violence in like eh places like just outside the city but if you think about it there's not really a way to do anything if you're outside the city so everybodies just bored they're just gonna commit crime cos there's nothing else to do really.
Don: Right.
Jack: Stuff like that.
Don: Ok. Do you think you can change things for the better?
Jack: I think we all can really. Like I don't know if I can make lots of things better, like I don't know if I can change the way - I can't really change the way other people think except from by telling them the truth. But I feel like if I'm a good person and try and help other people to be good people then eventually they can do it, it's just like a chain reaction but not everyone is gonna be a good person cos it's just not in their nature. But I feel like everyone can make a change.
Don: Ok, that's cool.
138
Appendix E: Video observation
139
Video was taken of a class on global trade. This followed lesson plans from the Royal Geographic Society (RGS) (http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Teaching+resources/Key+Stage+12+resources/Global+trade/Highest+valued+exports.htm). This class focussed on the Highest Value Exports (HVE) of countries. A website with a map of the world showing all HVEs was used; this resource also then showed different continents in more detail.
The class consisted of about half an hour of explanation and discussion, followed by a task. The task involved the students working either on their own, with a partner, or in a group, the choice being theirs. They were each given a region of the world (e.g., Europe, Asia, Africa) and then had to pick at least 4 countries and determine the HVE, what influences of human and physical geography had on making this the HVE and any other pertinent information they could find, using either the computer, an Atlas or in combination.
It is important to note that this is not a typical class, in that everyone (myself included) was aware of the camera. Some students chose to sit outside of the frame, and they tended to remain quiet through the discussion as well. In an ordinary class there are more contributions from more students, however as with any group (AS or not), the more confident people spoke up more.
John McAdam, classroom assistant was also present during the class.
140
A diagram of the class, including what was outside the video frame, is below.
Figure 14: Illustration showing where participants were located Excerpt 1
1
Don:
Ok right so
2
Sorry pal (Don bumping into student as he walks to the front of the room)
3
So pause your viewing screens for a minute
4
So what we’re gonna do is we’re just going to sum up um what we’ve been looking at in terms of global trade, right?
5
And the thing to - that I think is worth thinking about and we’ll come back to it, is how does some. some of the stuff we’re looking at here affect
141
climate change ok? You probably already know the, the obvious answer but, just, just think about it 6
And the other thing to think about with it is - so
7
This is a system - what’s the economic system that we’re talking about with this global trade?
8
[Pause: 2 seconds]
9
It has a name.
10
[Pause: 6 seconds]
11
Jack:
12
[quietly] Well, we’re waiting. [Class laughs]
13
Don:
[Laughing] Well no I’m waiting on you guys, you guys know it. You know what sort of system we live under
14
Jack:
[quietly] Capitalism
15
Charlie:
Everyone’s favourite!
16
Don:
Ok whether you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing that’s just the reality of it and it’s worth keeping in mind that this
142
17
this system of trade, people made this, it’s not - it’s not a force of nature, ok?
18
Right so
19
Riley:
It’s nurture, not nature
20
Don:
Uh, someone’s nurturing it yeah
Excerpt 2
49
Don:
If you think about the developed and the developing world, can you see any patterns?
50
Student:
Mmmm.
51 52
[Pause 4 seconds] Riley:
Most of the developing world’s the one that’s got all the oil
53
and like the gases
54
[Crosstalk]
55 56
Riley:
and stuff [Crosstalk]
143
57
Don:
Ok, right. So in the developing world you’ve got - you’ve got
58
oil. And you’ve got in Africa
59
If you - keep, keep your eye on Africa right when you’re thinking about this
60
Because - what’s
61
You know even if you think about the, the political geography of Africa
62
and all the countries that are there, how did those countries get formed?
63
Those borders - who made those?
64
Riley:
65 66
[singsong] The British well, most of the invaders, well not invaders but colonisers from like Europe?
Don:
Yes. European colonialism, that’s why these countries have these shapes.
67
Right? Uh, you know
68
there’s maybe more to it in some cases
69
But that’s pretty much what we have here and if you notice some of the things
144
70
That we have here - you’ve got oil, you’ve got gold, you’ve got diamonds.
71
These are valuable things. But remember
72
that we have, that we looked at developed and developing countries
73
particularly this part of sub Saharan Africa
74
this is one of the worst places in the world to be a woman for instance
75
you’ve got the highest uh, mortality during childbirth rate
76
lowest access to contraception. Right?
77
So just something to think about, that. Um
78
if we zoom in and we look at here. North America
79
any surprises to you there?
80
Jack:
I mean Canada
81
Don:
Yeah Canada’s motor vehicles and parts
82
Riley:
Yeah I just thought it would be more food based in terms of -
83
Charlie:
Yeah
145
84 85
[Crosstalk] Jack:
86
I, I never thought of Canada as like cars Yeah
87
Geralt:
I always thought of Detroit for that.
88
Charlie:
Yeah I thought it would have been like you know somewhere in America you know.
89
Don:
And you have that - motor vehicle parts in America and you know up in this area
90
which they now call the Rust Belt, because
91
the, the economy isn’t doing as well and it’s not as
92
um
93
it’s not as prosperous as it once was and you know the American car industry
94
isn’t what it was. But it still continues, and it’s still making money. Right?
95
And so Canada bordering America, there’s probably a relationship there that works for people
146
96
An remember also, these three countries here are part of the North American Free Trade Agreement
97
Um, can you remember what Trump said about the North American Free Trade Agreement?
98
Geralt:
It was the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, ever.
99
Don:
And if you look at the standard of living for working people
100
101
In all - it fell for all all of these guys, for the working class in these areas Riley:
they’re all together.
102 103
Because they’re all in agreement with each other, they’re freely trading with each other, so if it affects one, it will affect all of them because
Don:
Yeah
Excerpt 3
166
Don:
Ok so we’re in the developing world and you
147
see we have a range of things 167
from clothing to coffee, sugar bananas, ok.
168
Danny:
[funny voice] Ba-na-nas.
169
Don:
Right. South America.
170
Riley
[unclear]
171
Danny:
Bloody hell
172
173
[Pause]
Don:
Right. Remember we talked about, here we’ve got Suriname and remember we talked about
174
we were looking at cotton and the um the supply chain with cotton and how it travels uh
175
and to make the zippers you gotta mine the bauxite to make aluminum right. Ok
176
Um this is the only part of the EU in South America, French Guyana.
177
Riley:
Yup.
178
Don:
Machinery, transport equipment. Um
148
179
Again, petroleum, copper,
180
[Pause]
181
Who is this big guy?
182
Riley:
That’s Brazil.
183
Don:
Right. Transport equipment.
184
Danny:
Since when did Brazil start making transport stuff and that?
185
Don:
Well there you go. I mean remember that, that guy we looked at um
186
Um Hans Rosling.
187
Students: Yeah
188
Don:
And he doesn’t like that thing developed
189
Well, he’s dead, he died. Developing and developed world because he said that made
190
sense in the 60s but now more countries are more at the middle and so
191
Brazil is a developing country
192
Student:
Yeah
149
193
Don:
it’s still a country that’s doing better say than it would have in the past. Uh
194
so right, soybeans
195
[Pause]
196
Beef, copper. Ok.
197
Uh now our neck of the woods here.
198
Riley:
Ireland and computers really surprised me somehow. I don’t know why.
199
Don:
It surprised me I have to say. But I mean - you know uh I think that they
200
really wanted to move towards a high tech economy.
201
Riley:
Yeah.
202
Don:
Uh manufactured goods for the UK. Again it’s a problem when you stick all four
203
home nations together because it doesn't really give you
204
Riley:
Yeah
205
Don:
as clear a picture.
150
206
But then
207
[Crosstalk]
208
Riley:
[unclear] export whisky and that. More alcoholic -
209
Don:
Food and drink is our number one export and whisky and that sort of luxury product it actually
210
makes up a big part of um [phone ringing]
211
it makes up a big part of the UK’s whole food and drink export
212
Danny:
[unclear]
213
Don:
Uh yeah you notice that lots of machinery, motor vehicles
214 215
[Crosstalk] John:
216
What’s the wee pink wan Don? [Crosstalk]
217
Don:
I’m colour blind so where are we?
218
John:
[walking over to board, pointing] This.
219
Students: Students: Belgium?
151
220
Riley:
Is that Belgium?
221
Don:
That’s Belgium, yeah, right above France.
222
Danny:
Don.
223
224
[Crosstalk]
Danny:
225
But Don, wouldn't the exporters and importers be affect, from the UK be affected by the impending Brexit?
226
Don:
Yeah.
227
Charlie:
Ah here we go again.
228
Don:
Yeah there will be
229 230
[Crosstalk] Don:
Get used to it Blair, cos we’ve just, cos we’ve just-
231
Cos of that election, cos we’ve got a hung parliament
232
Um
233
Danny:
And Theresa May is staying as Prime Minister so god help us all!
234
Charlie:
Uh not again!
152
235
Don:
236
Well she’s going into coalition of some sort with the Democratic Unionist Party but again
237
Danny:
Ah well
238
Don:
within the Tory Party she’s maybe gonna have a rough ride.
239
So, it’s not, wouldn’t put it
240
I , I’m not a gambling person but it’s worth putting on a bet maybe that we have another election
241
in a year.
242
Danny:
Goddam Brexit!
243
Don:
So you’ll hear more about Brexit. But yeah, Brexit will affect this but in the end
244
trading relationships work for both sides so it’s in the interests
245
of Europe to maintain the relationships that they have with Britain that work for them
246
But you know again
247
Somebody will lose, somebody will win.
153
248
Uh ok. Now as we move in the um,
249
this part of Southern Europe here, so we’ve still got metals, metals, products, tobacco here in Macedonia.
250
Riley:
And there’s there’s just agricultural products in Portugal which I find [trails off].
251
Don:
Yeah. So you’ve still got what more high tech when you get into Spain but um
252
Portugal maybe a little less so.
253
Riley:
Don’t they have the lowest crime rates in Europe I think?
254
Don:
In Portugal?
255
Riley:
Didn’t they legalise like every drug.
256
Don:
They did and that seems to have worked
257
For them. Because they used to have a much bigger problem.
258
Geralt:
I think legalising is better than just like outlawing it
259
Charlie:
Yeah.
260
Geralt:
The actual drug dealers can do stuff to it to make it
154
more harmful than it actually is. 261
Don:
The other problem with it, I mean you know you have arguments on both sides. Like if you look at the
262
experience of Prohibition in America. Right? Prior to Prohibition you didn’t have
263
the sort of organised crime, Al Capone type of thing.
264
Riley:
Yeah.
265
Don:
as afterwards. But on the other hand, beforehand, the levels of domestic abuse
266
in America because of alcohol and and particularly within
267
um immigrant communities where people were working really really hard um and
268
had very little time to you know
269
to relax
270
you know
271
I mean it’s, it’s a double edged thing
155
272
Riley:
Yeah.
273
Don:
Um but certainly the War on Drugs is kinda patchy if the idea was to reduce
274
drug use.
156
Appendix F: Typical Transitions timetable
157
CITY OF GLASGOW COLLEGE Faculty of Education and Society TIMETABLE – Transition 2 – Group B – Block 1 9-10
10-11
11 -12
12 - 1
1 -2
2 -3
Monday
Tuesday
Food Prep Christine Mailley
Wednesday
04:027 Self & Work Thursday
Group Meeting & Review
Isobel Wilkie
Louise Shambrook
06:064
04:026
Core Skills 1 Friday
Lunch
Lunch
Geography
Isobel Wilkie
Don MacKeen
04:006
04:006
3 -4
4-5
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Appendix G: Dissertation proposal form
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Dissertation/Report Proposal Form MA Geography Education – Dissertation/Report Pro Forma
Name:
Masters in:
Don MacKeen
Geography Education
Working title: Geography education for students with Asperger syndrome: Using a GeoCapabilities approach to support students with a social deficit
Background/Issues/Rationale:
After discovering that I have Asperger syndrome (AS), I embarked on a course of study at Strathclyde University (PgDip Autism) and subsequently began teaching students with AS on the Transitions course at City of Glasgow College in 2003. Shortly after I began teaching, I was asked to teach Citizenship as the new national Curriculum for Excellence was about to be introduced. I found that the students did not respond well to the standard lesson plans and handouts and felt it would be useful to move out of the classroom in order to make the concept of citizenship meaningful. Through students’ discussions, particularly around the subject of litter, I developed an active citizenship approach of reclaiming council flowerbeds that had been left untended. The students and I turned these areas in vegetable gardens (still in operation today). Through discussions with the students, geographical concepts became more important to what we were doing and this led to my Masters in Geography Education. In the module “Leading the Geography Curriculum” I was introduced to the concept of “powerful knowledge” (Young et al 2013). My research into this concept led me to
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see that Lambert, Solem and Tani’s GeoCapabilities (2015) approach fed directly into what I was doing with students and also with the ethos of the Transitions course, which aims to act as a “stepping stone” for students who are trying to develop their independence while coping with a social deficit that is the result of a neurological condition. The GeoCapabilities approach, with its emphasis on a values based education informed by knowledge, provided a more robust and focused curriculum for students who approach problems intellectually (Attwood 1997) but often receive a softer, social skills approach. Students with AS who struggle with school often leave with few qualifications and lacking the academic discipline needed to develop their (often unique) talents.
While there is a great deal of literature on both geography in the curriculum on the one hand and educational approaches for people with support needs on the other (and some that focuses on both geography and AS – see here: https://scips.worc.ac.uk/subjects-and-disabilities/geography-geography_autism/), there is less focus on the central question that GeoCapabilities starts from: why teach Geography (Geographical Association 2011)? In my case – why teach Geography to students with Asperger syndrome?
The question of what is geography and its relevance to students today becomes the first point to deal with. Cresswell (2013) has shown that debates within geography go back at least to Strabo and that tensions between physical and human geography perhaps characterise the subject more than any definite answers as to whether one should be seen as more important than the other. Further, he shows that the tension between the focus on the particular or the general is a constant debate within geography – is what is important data that can be collected, measured and analysed – or is it the human story? Is it the local or the global, or the relationship between both? Morgan and Lambert (2005) outline how human geographers grappled with the need to make the subject relevant to our era, and how the approach of Harvey, stressing the need to look at how overarching structures – such as capitalism – create the world we live in, while the “humanist” approach focused on the meaning humans attached to their world (with the concept of “place” becoming vitally important in understanding this). They show how this has informed school
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geography, while acknowledging that the subject remains “fragmented and contested”. However, they see geography as “helping students to make sense of the world as it is, [enabling] them to see it in news ways and [allowing them to] gain the confidence to believe they could even change it.” These three possibilities make the case for the importance of the subject to students living in a world beset by crises and debates about crises: climate change, migration and war.
Geography can be argued to be valuable for all students, but for students with a social deficit like AS, the need to make sense of the world, see the world in new ways and believe that they can change it is vitally important. Attwood (1997), Madriaga & Goodley (2009), and Barnhill (2007) point out that people with AS struggle to succeed in education, employment and/or relationships. AS is a lifelong neurological condition that can lead to anxiety, depression or other mental health issues, and yet if the individuals affected can learn ways of understanding themselves and others they are more likely to find ways to cope with their difficulties. Furthermore, individuals with AS are not simply “disabled” but have abilities due to their intellectualising tendencies. Fitzgerald (2000a, 2000b) has suggested that figures from history such as Einstein and Wittgenstein had AS and Asperger himself (Landeweerd 2011: 209) noted that at its best, this “autistic” way of thinking was at the root of the best scientific thinking. The study of geography can therefore be on the one hand a way for these students to gain a better understanding of themselves, others and how they fit into the world and on the other hand a gateway into knowledge that can lead to further educational studies.
Furthermore, Attwood (1997, undated) has noted that people with AS tend to have strongly developed senses of social justice, yet lack the intuitive ability to see things from other people’s points of view. I plan to examine if a knowledge based subject like Geography can provide this group of students with the means to better understand themselves and their world.
While there is a great deal of literature on the experiences of people with AS there is little looking at what sort of educational experience this group of students value. By listening to these students, I want their voice to inform the study and provide the
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basis for evaluating how meaningful the study of geography is to them, and in what ways my teaching can be improved to deliver a valuable educational experience in the future.
Aims/Objectives
The overall aim of the study is to see if geography can help students with AS to cope with and ideally overcome some of their social deficits by providing knowledge based tools to understand the world they live in.
To do this, I will need to critically analyse my practice and question whether I am seeing improvements in their social understanding, and if so, is it because of the study of geography, or other factors.
The key research questions are:
1. Why teach geography to students with AS? 2. Is a knowledge based curriculum more helpful to students dealing with a social deficit? 3. Can a GeoCapabilities approach deliver the sort of education that individuals with AS need in order to thrive?
Within these 3 research questions, the following will be considered through the critical reading that is carried out and my own research that I will administer:
Why teach geography to students with AS? ● What sort of education do students with AS find meaningful and why? ● How do the students feel about the subject? ● Is it possible to identify positive outcomes from the student’s learning of geography?
Is a knowledge based curriculum more helpful to students dealing with a social
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deficit? ● Are there improvements to student’s social understanding? ● How do students feel about their AS and does a knowledge based subject allow them to develop a more mature understanding of themselves?
Can a GeoCapabilities approach deliver the sort of education that individuals with AS need in order to thrive? ● Does a combination of a values based curriculum with a knowledge based subject give students the grounding they need in order to make sense of their world? ● Do students value the opportunity to take some control of their learning (e.g., EBL)?
This will be used to reflect upon the student experience and analysed to provide a fuller picture of the teaching and learning.
Methodology:
I will be working with one group of Transitions students (Transitions 4). These 10 students will be the subject of a case study. I have chosen this group as they are representative of students with AS in that they are intelligent but have difficulties in social interaction that can be described as “mild”; in other words, it is not immediately obvious that they have any difficulties at all (and this is often the problem that they have at school, in that mainstream teachers think they are lazy or obstinate).
The main methods of data collection that I will use are surveys and interviews. I will also conduct a video observation and the students will maintain a log book.
A survey will be given at the start of the research and then again at the end. The survey will tie into my research questions, and I will be looking to see if there are any changes in attitude from the start of the study to the end. The questions will aim to find out student attitudes towards learning and specifically geography.
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Semi-structured interviews will be given to individual students. I have chosen this method as opposed to a focus group, as some students with AS would not feel comfortable expressing their opinions in a group. There is the danger that students will tell me what I want to hear, however, by regularly questioning their answers and requesting concrete examples of what they are saying, I should be able to reduce this issue as much as possible. It may be possible to have my senior lecturer conduct some of the interviews as well, in order to get a better range of responses. I plan to use “member checking”, in other words double checking that I understand the meaning of the responses the students have given me. I will employ Grounded theory to develop themes from the students’ responses. Smith & Sharp (2012) employed Grounded theory to develop themes from interviews with 6 individuals with AS in relation to unusual sensory experiences, as they found it useful due to its “stress on the processes by which individuals construct meaning in relation to their social context”. Planning will be important, as Seidman (2006 p39) points out; “Without a thoughtful structure for their work, they increase the chance of distorting what they learn from their participants...and of imposing their own sense of the world on their participants rather than eliciting theirs.” However, the semi-structured format allows for the interviewee to have some control over the direction of the conversation. Problems can arise if interviewees feel under pressure, however having worked with the students since September, I should be able to create the proper atmosphere to avoid this (i.e., one-to-one interviews in quiet spaces away from the group). Seidman (2006 p41) recommends teachers not interviewing their own students, owing to the power relationship and this will be a drawback as the information I receive may reflect more on the relationship I have with the student than on their
genuine
feelings about the classwork. Therefore, the senior lecturer will follow up a selection of students (e.g. 3 to 4) and further question them on their responses. Individuals with AS are poor at constructing and maintaining lies - as Attwood points out they can be “honest to a fault” (Live Science 2017) and having another teacher dig into their initial responses should help to correct for some possible attempts at trying to give the answer that the students think I want.
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In addition 3 students will be asked to maintain interactive log books. I will set up an online space for them to comment on our class activities and discussions and will engage in a discussion with them to develop a dialogue about the work we are doing.
Finally, at least one activity and/or discussion will be videotaped and the information transcribed. The transcription of the video and the audio interviews will allow me to more carefully assess student interactions and responses, while reflecting critically on my part in the interactions. I have transcribed large amounts of audio interviews for a previous project (MacKeen 2011) and found from that process that a great deal of information comes out that would otherwise be forgotten or missed if it was merely listened to or watched.
Chapter Contents:
1 Introduction ● Background and inspiration for the study (relevance/rationale) ● Aims & Objectives, including research questions ● Context - Transitions course/Asperger syndrome
2 Literature review ● Asperger syndrome (AS) ○ What is it ○ How does it affect individuals and what are their prospects ○ Educational approaches ● GeoCapabilities ○ Why teach geography ○ Debates within geographical education; wider educational debates (including Curriculum for Excellence) ○ Education for change ○ Powerful knowledge ■ Skills/outcomes vs powerful disciplinary knowledge as an “entitlement for all students”
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3 Methods ● ● ● ● ● ●
Philosophies and theories underlying different types of research Questionnaires (design and sampling techniques) Interviews and logbooks (design and sampling techniques Video observation (design and sampling techniques) Limits of methodologies used Ethical consideration
4 Results ● Return to the research questions and analyse/discuss student responses and interactions from questionnaires, interviews, log books and video observation
1. Why teach geography to students with AS? 2. Is a knowledge based curriculum more helpful to students dealing with a social deficit? 3. Can a GeoCapabilities approach deliver the sort of education that individuals with AS need in order to thrive?
5 Discussion & Conclusions ● Conclusion ● Implications for both SEN and geography education ● Suggestions for further research and evaluation
6 Bibliography
7 Appendix Including questionnaires, semi-structured interview template, logbooks, ethics approval form, consent forms etc.
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Indicative bibliography
Armstrong, Derrick, Ann Cheryl Armstrong, and Ilektra Spandagou. "Inclusion: By Choice Or By Chance?". International Journal of Inclusive Education 15.1 (2011): 29-39. Web. 1 Apr. 2017. Attwood, Tony. "About Aspergers". Tonyattwood.com.au. Web. 15 Apr. 2017. Attwood, tony. Asperger’s Syndrome: A Guide For Parents And Professionals. 1st ed. Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1997. Print. Barnhill, G. P. "Outcomes In Adults With Asperger Syndrome". Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities 22.2 (2007): 116-126. Web. Baron-Cohen, Simon et al. "The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ)—Adolescent Version". Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 36.3 (2006): 343350. Web. Baron-Cohen, Simon et al. "The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ): Evidence From Asperger Syndrome/High-Functioning Autism, Males And Females, Scientists And Mathematicians". Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31.1 (2001): 5-17. Print. Cresswell, Tim. Geographic Thought. 1st ed. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013. Print. Fitzgerald, M. "Did Ludwig Wittgenstein Have Asperger's Syndrome?". European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 9.1 (2000): 61-65. Web. Fitzgerald, Michael. "Letters To The Editor Einstein: Brain And Behavior". Journal
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of Autism and Developmental Disorders 30.6 (2000): 620-621. Web. 15 Apr. 2017. Frith, Uta, and Francesca Happe. "Theory Of Mind And Self-Consciousness: What Is It Like To Be Autistic?". Mind and Language 14.1 (1999): 82-89. Web. Geographical Association. "The Geography National Curriculum GA Curriculum Proposals And Rationale". Geographical Association. N.p., 2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2017. Goffman, E., and Erving Goffman. Stigma: Notes On The Management Of Spoiled Identity. United Kingdom: Penguin, 1968., 1970. Print. Lambert, David, and David Balderstone. Learning To Teach Geography In The Secondary School: A Companion To School Experience. 1st ed. London: Routledge, 2000. Print. Lambert, David, Michael Solem, and Sirpa Tani. "Achieving Human Potential Through Geography Education: A Capabilities Approach To Curriculum Making In Schools". Annals of the Association of American Geographers 105.4 (2015): 723-735. Web. Landeweerd, Laurens. "Asperger’s Syndrome, Bipolar Disorder And The Relation Between Mood, Cognition, And Well-Being". Enhancing Human Capacities. Julian Savelescu, RHJ ter Meulen and Guy Kahane. 1st ed. Chichester: WileyBlackwell, 2011. 207-217. Print. Live Science, and Human Nature. "Life's Extremes: Pathological Liar Vs. Straight Shooter". Live Science. N.p., 2017. Web. 1 Apr. 2017.
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MacKeen, Don. Why You're Being Robbed. 1st ed. Glasgow: Lulu Com, 2011. Print. Madriaga, Manuel, and Dan Goodley. "Moving Beyond The Minimum: Socially Just Pedagogies And Asperger’s Syndrome In UK Higher Education". International Journal of Inclusive Education 14.2 (2010): 115-131. Web. Morgan, John, and David Lambert. Teaching Geography 11-19: A Conceptual Approach. 1st ed. Oxon: Routledge, 2005. Print. Roberts, Margaret. "Geographical Enquiry". Teaching Geography 35.1 (2010): 6-9. Print. Roberts, Margaret. "Powerful Knowledge And Geographical Education". The Curriculum Journal 25.2 (2014): 187-209. Web. 1 Apr. 2017. Roberts, Margaret. "The Challenge Of Enquiry-Based Learning". Teaching Geography 38.2 (2013): 50-52. Print. Roberts, Margaret. "What Is “Evidence-Based Practice” In Geography Education?". International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education 19.2 (2010): 91-95. Web. 1 Apr. 2017. Smith, Richard S., and Jonathan Sharp. "Fascination And Isolation: A Grounded Theory Exploration Of Unusual Sensory Experiences In Adults With Asperger Syndrome". Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 43.4 (2012): 891910. Web. Wallace, Carolyn S., and Mark R. Priestley. "Secondary Science Teachers As Curriculum Makers: Mapping And Designing Scotland's New Curriculum For
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Excellence". Journal of Research in Science Teaching 54.3 (2016): 324-349. Web. 3 Apr. 2017. Wing, Lorna. "Asperger's Syndrome: A Clinical Account". Psychological Medicine 11.01 (1981): 115. Web. 1 Apr. 2017. Young, Michael Dunlop, and Johan Muller. Curriculum And The Specialisation Of Knowledge. 1st ed. London: Routledge, 2015. Print. Young, Michael et al. Knowledge And The Future School. 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014. Print. Young, Michael, and Johan Muller. "On The Powers Of Powerful Knowledge". Review of Education 1.3 (2013): 229-250. Web. 1 Apr. 2017. Young, Michael. "Powerful Knowledge: An Analytically Useful Concept Or Just A ‘Sexy Sounding Term’? A Response To John Beck’s ‘Powerful Knowledge, Esoteric Knowledge, Curriculum Knowledge’". Cambridge Journal of Education 43.2 (2013): 195-198. Web. 1 Apr. 2017. Young, Michael. "The Curriculum And The Entitlement To Knowledge". Cambridge Assessment. N.p., 2017. Web. 1 Apr. 2017.
