Issue Four (2018)
After a one-year break, Hillary Place Papers is back!
This issue covers a range of topics that reflect the breadth of activity in the educational research community. The authors represent different universities but they are all united by their passion for study and scholarship. Their areas of interest are various but all have demonstrated a willingness to share work with the wider academic community. Working through the process of writing a paper, submitting for review and responding to feedback is an important educational process that helps to develop the skills of the researcher.
For this issue, the editorial team, all of them post-graduate students, worked alongside more experienced, university faculty reviewers in order to develop their own reviewing skills. The result of this process has been a marked enhancement of the editors’ reviewing. The editors wish to commend faculty reviewers for their contribution to this journal and to the educational research community as whole. Future issues are planned offering further opportunities for involvement either as an author, reviewer or member of the editorial team. Keep an eye on the website for updates and do take the opportunity to get involved; it’s a worthy and rewarding process!
The first paper in this edition by Stewart Gray makes the case for teachers and researchers conducting research projects in which their own practices are the subject of study. Two research methodologies are discussed that offer teachers and researchers a structured way of sharing their insights with the wider research and professional community. In a similar vein, Aimee Quickfall draws on her own research experience to consider the issues of ethics and data validity in ‘insider’ research, and questions the need for the demarcation of researcher-participant relationships. In the context of developing countries, Taiwo Frances Gbadegesin’s paper considers ways in which a theoretical framework embracing meaning-making, social construction of childhood experiences and democratic perspectives can be used to understand the socio-cultural dimensions of children’s capacity for building a sustainable future. The study draws on the analyses of data collected through interviews and observations from early childhood care and education teachers and children in Nigeria. Malgorzata Szabla and Stefan Vollmer review a five-day course on Key Concepts and Methods in Ethnography, Language and Communication at King’s College London attended by PhD students and early career researchers from around the world. The aim of the course was to help participants to navigate the twin perils of over-and under-interpreting discourse data by introducing a range of key perspectives and tools used to study language and communication ethnographically, in a wide range of settings such as education, workplace, and health. The final paper by Nada Zal AlWadaani reviews The Power of Play: Learning What Comes Naturally by David Elkind. The book aims to articulate the importance of play in children’s development as an essential element of healthy growth. Elkind focuses on a shift in methods of rearing children, noting that the tendency towards academic learning, technological games and the overprotection of children is prohibiting and affecting children’s normal growth. The editorial team offer their sincere thanks to the contributing authors and reviewers and invite further contributions from the educational research community.
Individual articles:
‘Insiderness’ in my Pilot Study Research (Aimee Quickfall)
The Benefits of Self-research in Education A Teacher-researcher’s Experiences (Stewart Gray)
Building children_s capacity (Taiwo Gbadegesin)
Key Concepts and Methods in Ethnography Language and Communication - a review(Szabla and Vollmer)
The power of play (Nada Zal AlWadaani)
Complete Issue:
April 2018