Challenging Common Sense: Uncovering Assumptions in Social Research

1. 21stCiCea Conference 2019, Prague. Europe at a Crossroads:Rights, Values and Identity Citizenship education and engagement in society: problems and possibilities (Or, suppositions, surprises and suggestions)Ian Davies, University of York, UK.

2. Davies, I., Evans, M., Fulop, M., Kiwan, D., Peterson, A.., Sim, J. B-Y. Youth Activism, engagement and the development of new civic learning spaces (Leverhulme International Network) Chong, E., Sant, E., Davies, I. (in preparation). Civic education guidelines in Hong Kong 1985-2012: striving for normative stability in turbulent social and political contexts. Brown, E., SzczepekReed, B., Ross, A., Davies, I., Bengsch, B. (in press) Constructing Europe and the European Union through Education: contrasts and congruence within and between Germany and England. Journal of Educational Media, Memory and Society. SzczepekReed, B. B., Said , F., Davies, I., & Bengsch, G. (2019). Arabic Complementary Schools in England: language and fundamental British values. Language, Culture & Curriculum. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2019.1569674 Sant, E., & Davies, I. (2018). Promoting participation at a time of social and political turmoil: the impact of children’s and young people’s city councils in Spain. Cambridge Journal of Education, 48(3), 371-387. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2017.1337719 Kyriacou, C., Szczepek Reed, B. B., Said, F., & Davies, I. (2017). British Muslim university students’ perceptions of Prevent and its impact on their sense of identity. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 12(2), 97-110. https://doi.org/10.1177/1746197916688918 Sant, E., Davies, I., & Santisteban, A. (2016). Citizenship and identity: the self image of secondary school students in England and Catalonia. British Journal of Educational Studies, 64(2), 235-260. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2015.1070789 Davies, I., & Sant, E. (2014). Perceptions of students and teachers in England about how social media are used (and how they could be used) in schools and elsewhere. In B. Loader, A. Vromen, & M. Xenos (Eds.), The Networked Young Citizen: social media, political participation and civic engagement (pp. 131-157). Routledge.

3. 1. Before we do research we make ‘common sense’ assumptions about what we will find. When we present research findings, these are often regarded as ‘common sense’ statements. 2. Cumulative research and careful critique are necessary to challenge those ‘common sense’ assumptions. There are 3 sections to this presentation: Background. I highlight in general terms the nature of so-called common sense and emphasise the need to challenge it Completed projects. I provide brief snapshots of recent research I have been involved with to highlight what has been surprising to me. I outline my challenge to my own ‘common sense’ and to the ‘common sense’ of others. Current work. I summarize some arguments that are emerging from one ongoing project and raise questions in an attempt to go beyond the presentation of the seemingly ‘obvious’. Overview

4. Section 1Background – the need to challenge/explore ‘common sense’

5. Gage, N. L. (1991). The Obviousness of Social and Educational Research Results. Educational Researcher, 20(1), pp. 10-16. (Includes a discussion of a review of The American Soldier). Better educated men showed more psycho-neurotic symptoms. (The mental instability of the intellectual) 2. Men from rural backgrounds were in better spirits than soldiers from cities. (They are more accustomed to hardships.) 3. Southern soldiers were able to stand the climate in the South Sea Islands. (Southerners are more accustomed to hot weather.) 4. White privates were more eager to become non-coms than Black soldiers. [Deprived of opportunity, the lack of ambition among Black soldiers was [quite understandable]. 5. Southern Black soldiers preferred Southern to Northern white officers [Southerners were more experienced in talking with Black soldiers]. 6. During the war, men were more eager to be returned to the States than they were after the Germans surrendered [Danger of getting killed]. (Lazarsfeld(1949) pp. 379-380)

6. Lazarsfeld (1949) asked, "Why, since they are so • obvious, is so much money given to establish • such findings?" • But all these statements are the direct opposite of what was actually found. • Poorly educated soldiers were more neurotic than those with high levels of education; • Southerners showed no greater ability than Northerners to adjust to a tropical climate; • Black soldiers were more eager for promotion than whites, and so on.... • If we had mentioned the actual results of the investigation first, the reader would have labelled these "obvious" also. • Obviously, something is wrong with the entire argument of obviousness. (p. 380)

7. Here is an illustration from my own work of the need to go beyond ‘common sense’ My most significant research finding is that history teachers are interested in the past ……

8. What I really mean is that history teachers often • make 2 types of argument to assert their • commitment to citizenship education and we assume • that they are also making a third argument (whereas they are not) • History teachers argue that: • Academically, history and citizenship are (to quote Heater) “virtually identical subjects”. They may refer implicitly to Seeley’s view that “history is the root, politics is the fruit” • Practically, in the interests of securing status and resources, the history teacher must be seen in the forefront of initiatives to help young people understand society • But they don’t argue: • Pedagogically, in their history classrooms, contemporary issues are given explicit consideration with opportunities for conceptual development regarding justice, power, authority, diversity and that there are opportunities for engagement and reflection on that engagement

9. “Individuals do not just react to or perform in the world; they possess minds and these minds contain images, schemes, pictures, frames, languages, ideas, and the like…. Many early representations are extremely powerful and prove very difficult to change. . . If one wants to educate for genuine understanding, then, it is important to identify these early representations, appreciate their power, and confront them directly and repeatedly.” Howard Gardner

10. Section 2 Case studies Suppositions and surprises: the need for research

11. Case studies Policy - Guidelines for civic education (Hong Kong 1985, 1996, 2012) Community – involving young people (city councils in Spain) Community – language learning and Fundamental British Values (Arabic schools in England) Resources for education – textbooks about Europe in England and Germany Resources for education – social media and citizenship education

12. Project 1 POLICY Policies for civic education. The example of Hong Kong’s guidelines Colonialism (1985): Neglect by Britain (pre 1985); attempts to continue colonial hegemony (1985); Democracy (1996): assertion of a limited form of democracy by the Hong Kongese before 1997; Nationalism (2012): Chinese nationalist domination (which is resisted but later on practised in the form of school-based curricular initiatives) in 2012. ‘Common sense’ assumption: the guidelines will reflect the very different approaches to citizenship in Hong Kong during this period.

13. Table 1

14. Domains We identified seven different domains of citizenship: individual, family, school, neighbourhood/district, Hong Kong, China, and the world (see Table 2). Broadly, over the three guidelines the emphasis on most things stays the same. The main difference is the emphasis on Hong Kong and China. In the 1985 Guidelines, Hong Kong as a context of citizenship is emphasized. In the 1996 Guidelines the emphasis is placed on Hong Kong and China but also in the world community. After the resumption of Chinese sovereignty, in the 2012 Guidelines the emphasis is clearly on China.

15. Table 2. Domains of citizenship: codes emerged from data and weighted codes within the category.

16. Purpose Much remains the same. There is a general shift away from skills and towards values. There is a change from a participatory citizenship (1996), understood in relation to specific criteria (having a knowledge of facts, gaining certain skills, and self-reflecting in ways that will enable students to become participatory citizens) to participation as part of what are perceived as national qualities. Participation becomes less of a thing that is simply to be done, and more an aspect of a particular identity.

17. Table 3 Purposes of citizenship

18. Pedagogies In contrast with those who would expect an increasing influence of Confucianism in the educational design (see, e.g. Bai, 2011), class discussions, controversial issues and simulations are identified as key educational practices across the three guidelines. Overall, there is an avoidance of what could have been regarded by readers as controversial. Stable continuity seems more in evidence than radical change.

19. PROJECT 2 COMMUNITY Promoting participation at a time of social and political turmoil: what is the impact of children’s and young people’s city councils? We examined youth councils in one city in Spain as spaces of citizenship education. We analyse whether their involvement in a council influences students’ views on politics and their anticipated future participation. ‘Common sense’ assumption – opportunities to engage will be welcomed by students; engagement will promote a constructive view of the political process and strengthen their determination to take part.

20. Mixed methods approach: • Quantitative methods, to identify any differences before/after their participation in the youth city council: • Students’ views towards formal politics • Students’ expected political participation • Qualitative methods, to examine students’, teachers’ and youth council managers’ interpretations of the students’ experience during participation in the youth city council • Data • 112 students out of 1148 participants in the youth council (questionnaire from full sample and 12 interviewed) • 6 teachers out of 70 participants in the youth council (interview data) • 2 youth council managers (interview data)

21. Analyse whether students become more sceptical or more content with the dominant political order through their participation in a city youth council. Table II. Students’ political views

22. Students’ trust in the political order decreases: • Sometimes you steal 30 euros and you go straightaway to prison and then you steal 30 millions of euros and nothing happens… They act as if you have done nothing! And I feel that people are distrustful because it is so unfair that this sort of things happen… • Focus Group. Year 6.

23. Students’ scepticism grows: • There were some of them (politicians) who were there [in the presentation of students’ ideas to the City Mayor and the City Council]… like they did not care! They didn’t pay attention to it… And it was long… And the Mayor was there and was quite… And he seemed to be listening but without having the interest of doing anything… And some children asked him whether our opinion was important and he said ‘yes’ but he was not convincing… • Focus Group. Year 6

24. Analyse whether students are more likely participate politically (or not to participate) before and after their participation in the council

25. The results of this study suggest that students who participate in youth city councils might become more sceptical about politicians and political institutions. • There is a possibility that all young people in Spain became more sceptical whether or not they participated in the youth council (Pares, 2014). • We argue that perhaps participation in the youth council together with the context contributed to the diminution of students’ levels of political trust and to the increase of cynicism (Corsi, 2002).

26. The Youth council did not seem to influence students’ intentions regarding future participation. • We want to be particularly cautious about this: • We understand participation as an extremely complex behaviour that may not be predictable. • Our questions did not include all those political activities that exist or might exist in the future.

27. Our results suggest that youth councils do not contribute to students’ perceptions of themselves as political subjects within existing formally established contexts • Our participants seem to understand the youth council as a performance in which they play the role of the citizen. This may mean: • Councils are not spaces where young people have their voices heard in ways that shape policy. • But perhaps the councils might be empowering young people by giving them a space where they can play the game of power and learn its rules (Raby, 2012).

28. PROJECT 3 COMMUNITY Heritage schools Most formal heritage language education occurs in complementary, community-led schools. The current UK government is keen to promote enterprising, community-based schools. It simultaneously promotes Fundamental British Values (FBV) House of Lords (2018) Education Scotland (2018) – FBV can cause offence and play into the hands of those who seek to assert that there is an inherent conflict between being British and being Muslim Arabic speaking communities and their schools are at the centre of tensions around radicalisation (Khan 2014). The Casey Review (2016) mentions ‘cultural and religious practices (…) that (…) run contrary to British values’ (p. 5). ‘Common sense’ assumption: there will some evidence to indicate tensions around radicalization.

29. Methods • Data were collected from three Arabic schools across England, one located in London, one in a large city in the North of England and one in a large city in the North West of England • Data • three interviews with head teachers (one per school), • six interviews with Arabic teachers (three at L, two at NWE, one at NE), • one interview with a religious studies teacher (NWE), • three student focus groups (one per school) • three video recordings of Arabic lessons (one per school).

30. All three schools recruited teachers from a variety of Ethnic/national backgrounds: ‘We are not a Yemeni school, we are not an Iraqi school, we are not a Syrian school, we are an Arabic school’(Head teacher, NWE, 11.02.2017). All schools tried to insist on either teaching qualifications or teaching experience in UK schools, and one school provided staff development in house. Classes were mixed gender and ethnically diverse. All head teachers explicitly specified diversity in their staff and pupil intake as a valued characteristic of their schools: ‘In here you see a lot of people, different people, different religion, and different culture’ (Arabic teacher 1, NWE, 11.02.2017). Teaching materials were imported from abroad, but none of the participating schools followed a foreign national curriculum.

31. Preferences for inclusive critical thinking and action ‘In communicating with people who have main language of Arabic we are making friends and we are better people in society.’ (Student 1, NE, 26.03.2017) ‘I think people who speak Arabic can bring something new to the society because they can bring more knowledge and different ways of doing things’ (Student 1, NWE, 11.02.2017) ‘Learning more than one language is - you find the kids tend to do better academically and also sort of socially as well, and I think you know they have a wider perspective and outlook on life as well in their interests and hobbies. And (…) they will find similarities and more tolerance. So learning about any language and cultures you know it only enhances what we call (…) inclusive society. The only way we can do that is if we understand each other basically.’ (Headteacher, NE, 26.03.2017)

32. Interviewer: ‘What would you say it is that you are promoting?’ Headteacher: ‘Tolerance, respect, valuing other people. If a child says something that is unacceptable and we think that he heard it either on the telly (…) or from family we try to explain that's not accurate and that's not a reflection of your culture or your religion (…) We cannot be the parents. We only have four hours. Within these four hours, what we give the child is a different approach and they can make that judgment themselves. (…) We try to say look, we are human beings, with different religion, different approach to life but we do value each other and we have to (…) support each other. (…) We … teach them … about tolerance, about supporting the other, about looking after your family, and mercy, love, care you know, a lot of Islamic values. They are the same, they are international values’ (Headteacher, NWE, 11.02.2017). Student: ‘When you respect people, they respect you. So, if you act kindly, like I said, other people act kindly to you’ (Student 2, NWE, 11.02.2017).

33. Strong, positive commitment to diverse communities. Arabic language education is part of a commitment to multilingualism. Preferences for professional forms of education with the promotion of active methods, critical thinking and the ambition to achieve high standards. Carefulchoice of learning resources with a preference to avoid use of foreign national curricula. There are differences between mainstream foreign language learning (such as the teaching of French in a mainstream secondary school) and this sample of complementary schools: class sizes, resources, teachers’ formal qualifications and the use of mixed age groups. But in many ways the sample classrooms were remarkably similar to what could be expected in any mainstream language classroom.

34. We looked at four English textbooks and nine German textbooks and compared the way Europe was covered. ‘Common sense’ assumption: there would be some common ground in how Europe was presented in textbooks in England and Germany. 30,000 reads in a few days of a summary of the article in ‘The Conversation’. 41 comments – many of those comments are not appropriate for public presentation given their virulent anti-German perspective. “Clearly complied (sic) by dedicated Europhiled(sic) individuals without any reference to recent history. More likely they have no real knowledge and lack practical experience only academic indoctrination” “We are now experiencing the THIRD time in just over a century that Germany tries to dominate Europe. I am glad that British education materials speak truth to power”. PROJECT 4 RESOURCESEurope textbooks

35. Content The books from Germany deal with Europe in much greater detail and with more of a positive angle than those published in England. Both sets of textbooks place a major focus on the political system of the EU but German books also include economic and cultural dimensions. A number of German textbooks had separate chapters or sections on the political system of the EU and Europe as a cultural entity. Unlike the English books, some German materials also presented clear anticipated loyalties to Europe.

36. Educational activities The range of activities in the German books is far wider than those provided in the English books. The German books build on a sense of European identity by providing opportunities for varied student interaction including more work than the English books on advocacy, representation and informed and responsible action. The English books use brief individual reading exercises to consider the pros and cons of European membership. One book for example provides a list of “benefits and costs of EU membership” and then asks students to “design slides or charts to summarise the benefits and costs of EU membership”.

37. This echoes the political context in England, where the debate about Europe is not one concerned with dynamic engagement but one associated with an equally balanced weighing up of pros and cons of membership. The educational activities that are available to teachers and students in our sample of textbooks tends to reflect national narratives (and in England that narrative ignores the views of young people).

38. PROJECT 5 RESOURCES • ‘Common sense’ assumptions: • Social media are developing a new form of citizenship and there are huge opportunities for new forms of democratic inclusive participatory citizenship education. • Access to the web is a right (Johnson & Johnson (2004); • Engagement by young people with new media connects them to democratic politics • Increases in youth voter turnout during the 2008 US Presidential elections attributed to online campaigning • ‘New’ technology has huge educational potential (Ofsted); children’s learning could “hugely improve” through use of technology (Berry 2011).

40. But – an alternative ‘common sense’ • Technology may strengthen dictators as • much as democrats (Morozov, 2011); • There are complex questions about who uses ‘new’ technology, why and for what purpose (Sayed Hanafy, 2011); • The educational potential of technology (and the internet in particular) are questioned (Carr 2011); • Gove: “technology gives us the potential to generate yet more data in order to know how our schools, how our teachers and how our whole system is performing” (2011) • Zuckerberg, Facebook, privacy, commercialism and the new Cold War?

41. Research questions How do young people perceive their personal use of w2 supporting enhanced citizenship participation and engagement? In what ways w2 effectively used in school-based citizenship education programmes to support active citizenship? Sample 3 schools in England (2 northern, 1 southern; 2 state mixed, 1 independent girls) Questionnaire survey (n=247) and focus group interviews (n=4 x 4) of students aged 13-14 Semi structured interviews of 3 teachers

42. Interviewer: Why do you think young people use social networks? 3G2.Usually… It’s just to… like… I don’t know… Contact friends… And just you know talk to friends… But usually… It’s like… Social networking are used for that… Just friends… Interviewer:To communicate with your friends, do you mean? 3G2.Yeah… Interviewer. Do you think it can be used for any other goal? 3B1.Mm… I suppose you can make friends… Probably it’s not advised to… If you aren’t in touch with them… Yeah… I think that yeah… it’s mostly like talking to friends and…

43. Most students suggest that the use of W2 • can enhance citizenship engagement, • knowledge and participation. • But many have reservations: • as they enter school they ‘power down’ • the content of W2 cannot be verified; • it is harmfully addictive; • the same value can be achieved face to face; • it merely helps those who are already engaged; • there are gaps in specific knowledge (only 41% are aware that social networks can be used to participate by means of online polls).

44. Generally, we found limited use by • teachers (although all acknowledge its • role in information transfer) • Low usage is explained by the perceived need to: • preserve professional independence; • maintain barriers between private and professional lives • And, their reluctance to use social media is connected with uncertainty about their expertise. • All teachers feel that W2 will be used more in the future. There is no sense of either a new democratic citizenship or a new authoritarianism.

45. Section 3 Current work What are the suppositions, suggestions and questions relating to current work on activism and education? The questions will help place the suppositions and suggestions in context and shape the development of research

46. Key pedagogical developments in civic education: assumptions from the literature Real life and relevant political questions Varied ways of knowing and active involvement in the learning process Enquiry-based learning. Decision-making, public issue investigation, ethical thinking, peace-building and conflict management. Collaboration and deliberative discussion. Varied learning approaches and practices that are equitable and responsive to learner diversity Safetyand well-being, and self-reflection.

47. Key questions for civic educators Is there a continuing culture of ‘transmission’ oriented teaching and learning related to civic engagement learning? Are there fragmented theoretical policy constructs? Are there limits to critique and a privileging of particular learning goals? How responsive are students’ learning experiences of civic learning responsive to their identity affiliations and socio/economic circumstances? Are educators suitably prepared to effectively address the complexities of teaching and learning for democratic engagement?

48. When/at what stage is it appropriate for young people to be introduced to understandings of civic engagement learning? ‘ What is the challenge of change in highly hierarchical schooling contexts? What support is provided for teachers exploring civic/community issues of controversy? How do different contexts and forms of democracy shape distinctive curricular and pedagogical preferences for particular kinds of citizenship and democratic practice? What is the purpose of education for engagement?

49. Conclusions It is almost impossible to avoid having assumptions (perhaps they would be better termed ‘hypotheses’). It is vital to be critical of the literature so as to consider the possibilities of what might be relevant generally or in specific contexts We must not fail to value what is known and what is morally or politically preferable.

50. Conclusions Sandel argues for a commitment to public deliberation. “To achieve a just society we have to reason together about the meaning of the good life and to create a public culture hospitable to the disagreements that will inevitably arise.”