From unearthing values to building educational foundations : how the values of Education Swanage were influential in founding The Swanage School
Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The Purbeck Review of Schools, initiated by Dorset County Council in 2008, resulted in\nthe closure of the middle school in Swanage, leaving the town bereft of secondary\neducation by July 2013. A community-led group, Education Swanage, founded a new\nschool in the town, which opened in September 2013 as a free school, with a humanscale\nethos. Although there was controversy about free schools at the time, there is no\nresearch to date about how personal values influence the founding of such a school.\nThis research answers the question how did values influence the founding of The\nSwanage School?\nThis inductive research was informed by literature on the conceptualization of ‘values’\nand the ‘sacred’ and delimited by theoretical insights from practical theology, living\ntheory and human-scale education. The action research strategy, set within a paradigm\nof praxis, addressed how values influenced action in founding the school. Semistructured\ninterviews, an online survey and a validation group were used to discover\nhow values influenced practice.\nThe data revealed a variety of interpretations of the term ‘values’, which were most\ncommonly alluded to as being central in guiding and informing everyday interaction in\nthe world and relating to how humans respond to others whilst also being a reflection of\npersonal identity. The research identified areas of practice where the interplay of\nintrinsic and extrinsic values was influential when operating in contradiction and\ncongruence to affect change. Analysis of the findings enabled conclusions and\npropositions to be developed, which focused on how values influenced the process of\nmoving from contradiction to congruence in order to enact change.\nValues were a significant influence in the founding of The Swanage School. When\nvalues were contradicted they acted as standards of judgement and formed the basis of\nconversations which led to problems being solved and decisions being made. Concepts\nfrom the wider literature and the field of practical theology provided insight into how\nvalues can be defined and how their influence on action can be interpreted as an\nencounter with the sacred. The conclusion of this study and its contribution to\nknowledge is the explanation of how values influenced the founding of The Swanage\nSchool in the form of a living educational theory.
Author: Helen M. O’Connor
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2217319439