Where Do You Stand to Get a Good View of Pedagogy?

This article gives an account of the development of a research perspective in pedagogy and information and communication technologies (ICT) in the context of visual education and the digital arts. The process shows the movement from realism to relativism; from a seemingly clear cut approach of observation and categorisation; through a critique of models of information literacy; to the restructuring of a project to investigate the interaction between teachers' knowledge of their pedagogical practices and their knowledge of ICT. It raises questions about the role that research can play in providing a view of pedagogy, both current and potential.

As teacher educators in the UK with a commitment to the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in teaching and learning, we live and work in interesting times. The cultural and political contexts of education and schooling raise challenges to many practices and beliefs. ICT has a cultural, economic, and educational impact in society that is reflected in the priority given to its development in education policy. These developments are taking place within a debate about what should be taught in schools and how it should be taught by teachers. These discussions are also part of a wider concern about what it means to be educated within our society at this time. There is the potential for ICT to be the catalyst for significant change in pedagogy, yet the picture painted and the policies proposed are not yet reflected in the experience of many classroom teachers. What role can research play in providing a view of pedagogy, both current and potential? How can knowledge and understanding of pedagogy w ith ICT be constructed by teachers, researchers, and policymakers to promote effective teacher education in this field?

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the discussion of ways of knowing in the research process for both teachers and researchers. The discussion will consider a question that has underpinned a research and development project focusing on teachers' pedagogy with ICT in the media arts (Access: The Brighton Media Arts Project). The initial inquiry focused particularly on the understanding of literacy within the contexts of both the media arts and the general use of ICT in education. The influences of culture, subject knowledge, and pedagogy on the development of classroom practice was identified and presented within a framework that differentiated between mere practice and good practice.

After further research and reflection, however, it was acknowledged that this framework did not reflect the complexity of the interaction of these themes in developing pedagogy. Additionally, this framework did not enable the production of a satisfactory description of teachers' experience in trying to meet the many requirements placed upon them in the use of ICT in their work. The research paradigm needed to encompass two approaches: an interpretivist approach to the teachers' experience and action, and a critical theory approach to the constraints and contradictions of the requirements placed upon teachers by political and structural systems.

THE INITIAL RESEARCH ENQUIRY

What is the interaction between teachers' knowledge of pedagogy and their knowledge of ICT in teaching and learning? This line of inquiry arose out of a desire to understand how the knowledge that underpins teachers' pedagogical practices interacts with the knowledge that they bring to their uses of ICT in learning environments. The nature and complexity of describing teacher knowledge and how teachers come to know is recognised (Shulman, 1986; Eraut, 1994), particularly in a national context in which teacher knowledge is increasingly defined and prescribed. The effective use of ICT in classrooms is, however, linked to teachers' theories, beliefs, and understandings of the knowledge domain, as well as access to, and competence with, resources (Watson, 1993). It is this range of theories and beliefs that fuel action in the classroom. Models of teacher education for continuing staff development should acknowledge and challenge these theories and beliefs in supporting the development of pedagogy. Teacher develo pment in ICT should be grounded in issues of learning and teaching, rather than sets of techniques related to specific hardware and software.

The Development of Ideas in the Brighton Media Arts Project

Phase One. The project set out to examine the notion of visual literacy in primary school children and the ways in which this could be developed in the digital arts. Its aims included the design and dissemination of curriculum materials that teachers could adopt and adapt to support their pedagogy (Loveless, 1997). The children's use of image manipulation tools to develop their ideas in the digital medium reflected Street's ideological model of literacy that is embedded in cultural practices, rather than an autonomous model in which sets of skills or competencies are developed separately from the situations in which they are used. (Street, 1993).

Teachers responded to the work produced by the children in such project settings both positively and with anxiety. They celebrated the children's achievement, yet expressed concern about their own lack of ability to continue such work in the daily classroom context without the support of an artist in residence. Teachers described generation gaps in their understanding of the ways in which children received and constructed meaning in contemporary media culture. They expressed lack of subject knowledge in the visual arts and the use of computers. Also, they perceived a lack of experience and understanding in their pedagogy which contrasted with the representation of knowledge of the practising artist working with the children.

The three themes of culture, subject knowledge, and pedagogy were developed beyond the notion of visual literacy, and applied to the broader considerations of information literacy in teaching and learning. The debate about what it means to be literate in the Information Age is still developing. Street's models of literacy are useful in differentiating between a skills or competence model of information literacy (Neiderhauser, 1996) and a critical model in which there is an awareness of ICT in the wider cultural impact: the multiple representations of knowledge and the challenges to pedagogy (Loveless & Longman, 1998). These themes of culture, subject knowledge, and pedagogy could provide a conceptual framework to pull together a model for good practice, a model in which teachers' theories and beliefs are examined in terms of their broad educational values and empirical evidence about the effectiveness of practice in children's learning (Alexander, 1996).

Phase One reflected a view of research in which the factors that influenced pedagogy in a particular context could be observed, described, and presented to teachers to support their practice. During the course of the project, it became clear that this approach to research and dissemination was unsatisfactory in two ways: providing accessible exemplars of practice for teachers, and describing their experience of coming to know how to develop teaching and learning with ICT.

Phase Two. In designing the second phase, it was felt that the focus should shift to the teachers' experience of developing subject knowledge, ICT capability, classroom practice, and critical awareness of the context of their work. The teachers would be supported by a practising artist and a researcher over an academic year. This shift in emphasis to the learning experiences of the teachers entailed a revisiting of three aspects of the project:

* The different cultures impinging upon the teacher in the classroom.

* The understanding of pedagogy in terms of interaction and transformation.

* The description of the research in order to provide means to describe teachers' experiences as well as the wider contexts in which they were working.

REVISITING CULTURE IN THE CLASSROOM: TECTONIC PLATES?

A classroom teacher is influenced by a number of cultures that differ in their origin, demands, and impact. The images of the purposes and progression of ICT in the wider society are reinforced by the priority given to ICT in education policy, both national and local. These contrast, however, with other education policies that describe the curriculum to be delivered, the nature of subject knowledge required of teachers, and the teaching strategies prescribed for the raising of standards. The requirements that teachers have to implement within a school setting that may have limited ICT resources inappropriate for the range of teaching strategies recommended, often contrast unfavourably with those resources found in some of the pupils' homes. The potential for ICT to enhance, extend, and change the role of the teacher can be perceived as an exciting opportunity or a confidence-crushing threat for personal and professional development. Amongst these contrasting cultures within the national and local educational systems, there is the teacher's own sense of professional purpose, competence, values, relationships, and emotions.

A teacher's experience with these different, and often contradictory demands for innovation and change can therefore be difficult and confusing. The model of the development of pedagogy is not one with the teacher located at the centre of a number of outside influences, calmly reflecting upon the way forward for effective action. It resembles more the hot spots of the meeting of tectonic plates, jarring and grinding against each other, creating mountain ranges and sliding faults.

Perceptions of the Culture of ICT

The debates about the impact of ICT on our culture are well rehearsed. Our society recognises the impact of ICT in the economic, educational, social, and personal lives of its members. Much use is made of terms such as "The Information Society" and "Virtual Culture." The definition of these terms is not always clear, and the images and expectations that they evoke are problematic. They are addressed in debates about: new literacies, in which we learn to read the screen as well as page (Snyder, 1997); new relationships, in which we learn to establish and negotiate different interactions and identities with others over time and space (Doheny-Farina, 1996); and new visions of the post-industrial society, in which we learn to adapt to new working patterns and demands on labour in our society (Gill, 1996). Anxieties are also expressed about the ways in which ICT can be used for controlling information, surveillance, marketing, invading privacy, and models of intelligence (Forester & Morrison, 1990).

Virtual Culture is, however, also celebrated as providing opportunities for communication and collaboration between communities and previously marginalised groups (Jones, 1997). It is also celebrated for blurring the boundaries of communities and individual identities (Spender, 1995; Turkle, 1996), and providing new representations of knowledge, from mathematical relationships to visualising the dark side of the moon (Mitchell, 1994). The "Information Age" can be perceived and presented as good, desirable, inevitable, and embodied in our children (Sanger, Willson, Davies, & Whitaker, 1997; Papert, 1994).

Policy for ICT in Education: Investing in Human Capital in the Age of Knowledge

Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the Labour Government of the UK, expressed his three priorities for action--education, education, and education. Excellence in Schools, the consultation document on new education legislation, highlighted concerns about standards in literacy and numeracy, modernising the comprehensive principle, the training and status of teachers, and the partnerships between schools and wider communities.(DfEE, 1997a)

A significant initiative within these proposals was the National Grid for Learning, connecting learners to a physical network, a resource network, and a human network (DfEE, 1997b). Partnerships of public and private institutions provided services and training to link all schools, colleges, universities, libraries, adult learning institutions, museums, and galleries. The initial focus of this network was the development of teachers and the ways in which they can contribute and have access, not only to the Internet, but also to a Virtual Teachers' Centre. The Centre would provide curriculum materials, specialist resources, and opportunities for collaboration between teachers and learners.

The training of teachers has also come into the spotlight. Newly qualified teachers are required to demonstrate their standards of competence in the use of ICT in their classroom practice and in their professional preparation and presentation. Experienced, practising teachers will be trained to use ICT, using money raised in the People's Lottery. The Teacher Training Agency (TTA) commissions educational research in pedagogy and ICT. Also, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTa) sets up and evaluates a range of projects to identify good practices for wider dissemination. These reports and developments for legislation reflect a political push for access to information and learning for all citizens. It seems to be assumed and uncontested that the first will lead to the second.

Policy for Teaching and Learning in Schools

Against the backdrop of open access and flexible learning spaces is a contradictory rhetoric and policy about the nature of knowledge and pedagogy. The National Curriculum and Assessment framework in England and Wales presents a model of clear subject boundaries and content that can be assessed objectively in order to provide indicators of school effectiveness and performance. Detailed guidelines for the teaching of literacy and numeracy are provided for primary schools.

The nature of teacher knowledge is addressed in current UK policy in the definitions of standards of subject knowledge and teaching strategies. There is a detailed model of a Teacher Training Curriculum and Standards, both in subjects--English, Mathematics, Science, and ICT--and in general professional practice (TTA, 1998). This, however, has been recently questioned by a report that describes how effective teachers of numeracy were distinguished from other teachers. They were distinguished not by the level of previous subject qualifications, but by a particular set of beliefs and understandings, both about the pupils' learning as well as the subject itself (Askew, Brown, Rhodes, Johnson, & Wiliam, 1997).

Teachers' Experiences of Their Role and Purpose

Teachers' perceptions and experience about their purpose and practice in the turbulent times of educational reform need to be considered. There has been a number of key studies that focus on primary teachers' personal and professional experience whilst coping with multiple innovations and change in their interpretation of autonomy and professionalism (Nias, 1989; Bell, 1995; Webb & Vulliamy, 1996). Indeed, Andy Hargreaves (1995) argues,

While policy rhetoric stresses knowledge and technique as central to good teaching, I draw attention to the importance of purpose, passion and desire. Seeing teacher development in this light, I argue, highlights the central place of moral, political, and emotional issues in the field. (p. 9)

Key factors that motivate teachers to enter and stay in the profession are related not so much to concerns about standards and subject knowledge, but more to their attitudes and beliefs about values, relationships, notions of childhood, and the role of teachers in making a contribution to the wider society.

Revisiting Pedagogy: Interaction and Transformation

Pedagogy is often described as the science of the art of teaching, and it is addressed in initial teacher education as the development of specific teaching strategies and skills. It can, however, be described as a cultural practice (Giroux, 1997) and defined as the transformation of consciousness that takes place in the intersection of three agencies--the teacher, the learner, and the knowledge that they, together, produce (Lusted, 1986, in Lather, 1990, p15). ICT could be considered to be a fourth agency, acting as a catalyst for the interaction among teacher, learner, and knowledge (Loveless, 1995). Such a view does, however, highlight contradictions and tensions between the pedagogical practices required of teachers in current educational policy and the changes in practice made possible by the use of ICT.

TEACHING IN THE INFORMATION AGE

What's new? There are interesting and challenging claims made for the potential of ICT in teaching and learning. The purpose and role of the teacher can be clarified and refined in the context of using ICT (Scrimshaw, 1997a). Integrated Learning Systems, whilst reflecting a behaviourist model of learning, have been demonstrated to provide opportunities for teachers to develop their use of diagnostic tools and change their practice (Underwood, Cavendish, & Lawson, 1997). Scrimshaw (1997b) notes that the National Grid for Learning has the potential to change the relationships between teachers and learners, parents, and other teachers, as well as provide access to a wider range of human and material sources of information. The contexts in which teachers practise may also be changed by the use of ICT, both in terms of place and time. Teachers may become portfolio workers in which they play a role in many contexts--home schooling, electronic conferencing, and managing flexible learning spaces. (Davis, 1997; Kenny, 1997; Meisalo, 1996).

What's not new? ICT can enhance existing pedagogy, from providing opportunities to developing composition in writing to developing graphing skills (McFarlane, 1997). In the digital arts project, a range of teaching strategies was observed in interactions between teachers and children engaged in digital arts activities--including technician and facilitator; questioner and consultant; publisher and promoter; and collaborator and networker (Loveless, 1997). The presence of the ICT resources and applications, in and of themselves, are not sufficient to promote or challenge understanding. Moreover, effective capability with ICT depends not on techniques, but on the context in which the experience is embedded. Indeed, innovative teachers use ICT in innovative ways (Watson, 1993).

Tensions. There is a long research tradition in the UK that is focusing on teaching skills and classroom management to promote higher order interactions between learners and teachers (Galton 1987; Alexander, Woodhead, & Rose, 1992; Wragg, 1993). The current focus includes interactive whole-class teaching, which is more teacher-centred and directed. These developments, whilst providing the opportunity to look afresh at fitness for purpose, contrast with the picture of flexible learning associated with a constructivist approach to the use of ICT.

Revisiting a Framework for Research

The design of the first phase of the project had been an attempt to represent pedagogy in an autonomous model of techniques and strategies that was not embedded in the cultural context in which values and tensions were made explicit. The position of the researchers looking for a good view of pedagogy also had to change. It had to change from the observation and interpretation of an outsider, to a more constructivist stance of engagement with learners' experience and the provision of scaffolding to support the development of action and meaning. In short, the research question changed from, "How does ICT support the development of visual literacy?" to, "What is the interaction between teachers' knowledge of pedagogy and their knowledge of ICT in teaching and learning?"

Although the methodology used is similar--a qualitative, interpretive approach employing ethnographic techniques, the lens through which the data is seen and interpreted has changed. The cultural, political, emotional, and moral experience of the teacher engaging with teaching and learning in the digital arts is admitted, and the roles played by the artist and researcher are acknowledged and explored in the process. The tensions and contradictions in the cultures that influence classroom practice are made explicit, and the political structures are recognised. The models of knowledge that underpin the current policies determining the form of teacher education, do not take into account the contexts in which teachers are being asked to bring about these changes, nor the contradictions in those demands. The implications of the research for designing and implementing teacher training and continuing professional development are acknowledged.

The research paradigm of the project is shifting, from realism to relativism--acknowledging the complex ways in which both teachers and researchers construct and interpret the situations in which they are working. The image of the teacher constructing pedagogy from the tectonic grinding of different cultures was developed from Rorty's (1991) discussion of the impact of acculturation, which can be transcended when "our culture contains splits which supply toeholds for new initiatives." (p. 13) These tensions throw up the unfamiliar ideas which can lead to the making of alternative practice.

ICT is not a neutral tool for learning, but a cultural artefact in the experience of children and teachers. In the field of the digital arts, it is still in the early stages, much like photography when the processes for capturing images were first invented and used to mimic already familiar forms, such as painting. We are still exploring and developing the unique characteristics of ICT that enable learners to make and communicate meaning in new modes of expression. It is through the context of researching the potential for alternative practice in the digital arts that we have found ourselves exploring parallels in the potential for alternative practices in the use of ICT in teaching.

As researchers and artists looking for a place to stand to get a good view of pedagogy, we have to think carefully and cautiously about our own research practice and the underlying values that drive us to be engaged in these areas. John Smith's (1997) words have been useful in focusing on research as a practical and moral act:

To.....think,....in terms of the images of a world made as opposed to found, has very serious implications for inquiry. If nothing else, such thinking places, front and center, our moral responsibility for the worlds we construct. Our judgements about inquiry....must be framed by free and open dialogue and a sense of human solidarity (Smith, 1997, p27).

Acknowledgements

Thanks are given to Jayne Hobin, Carol McDonnell, and Terry Taylor, the artists who have worked in the projects.

Note

The Access: Brighton Media Arts Project is funded by the Arts Council of England, the University of Brighton, South East Arts, and Lighthouse, the Brighton Media Centre.

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