RECOMENDACIONES SOBRE LA ESTADIFICACION DEL CANCER

There have been shifts in the notions of childhood in recent years. In the early 1900s, Swedish reformer, Ellen Kay, argues that the twentieth century should be the ‘century of the child’ (Prout, 2003, p.11). Children became seen as “a point of intervention and an investment in the future” (Prout, 2003, p.11). A number of commentators have noted how education became more concerned with economic advancement in Ireland since the 1960s (O’Brien, 2012; Gleeson, 2009; O’Sullivan, 2009 – see section 4.3). In analysing the literature on children’s role in society, Kjorholt identifies the concept of the ‘competent child’, which is “a paradigm shift, replacing earlier concepts of children as vulnerable, dependent and in need of care” (2005, p.152). She cautions that public policy regarding children must be examined “in accordance with the social practices that are constructed and the social and moral space within which these practices are constructed” (2005, p.164). Kjorholt et al.

140 expand upon this point by stating that market-orientated discourses can construct young people as consumers (2005, p.175). This doctoral research aims to understand primary school pupils’ perspectives on assessment. In so doing, it is cognisant of the impact of assessment policy and practices on pupils’ conceptions of themselves as learners. This dissertation also examines the context in which assessment policy is developed. Wider societal influences – both national and international – impact on policy formation at a macro-level. At a micro-level, the level of the classroom, the policies are implemented through the relational dimension of the teacher-pupil relationship as well as the peer relationships within the particular class.

Morrow and Martin state that “the methods that we use, the research populations and subjects that we study, and crucially the interpretation of the data collected, are all influenced by the view of children that we take” (1996, p.99). James et al. (1998) offer four approaches to child study: i) the socially constructed child; ii) the tribal child; iii) the minority group child; iv) the social structural child.

i) The socially constructed child: Social constructionists argue that childhood does not exist in a finite form, an approach based in hermeneutics. Children inhabit a world of meaning created by themselves and through their interactions with adults. In this perspective, childhood is not formed by natural and social forces (p.26-28).

ii) The tribal child: This approach has a commitment to children’s social worlds as real places and is based in ethnography. In this perspective, the child’s world is unfamiliar and needs to be revealed through research (p.28-30).

iii) The minority group child: Based on the politicisation of childhood, this approach assigns children as a minority group. It is based in an indictment of the

141 social structure and an accompanying ideology which deprives some people of freedom (p.30-31).

iv) The social structural child: This viewpoint holds that children are a feature of all social worlds and is based in a pragmatic approach. Childhood is instanced as a social phenomenon (p.32-33).

This doctoral study utilises the social structural child approach. Childhood is seen being influenced by social institutions, such as the school. Analysts in this category are interested in “the experience of childhood...often in terms of its interrelationships with other categories in the society” (James et al., 1998, p.207). This is of particular relevance to this doctoral study as it seeks to examine the impact of the national literacy and numeracy strategy, and its methods of assessment, on the pupils. James et al. argue that childhood has moved “to the forefront of personal, political and academic agendas” (1998, p.5). They highlight the rise of childhood agency in areas affecting their lives as children, and they see an interesting dichotomy underlying it. At the same time as there is a dynamic towards autonomous children, there are also social practices emphasising children’s separateness and difference. This is demonstrated in the rise in surveillance and social regulation of children (James et al., 1998, p.7). Craig argues that the view of childhood in research has changed from only having rights to protection from harm to also having rights of autonomous action and social and political participation (2003, p.39).

This doctoral study supports children’s rights to autonomous action and participation by including them as participants through the focus group interviews. The NCCA stated in their submission to the draft literacy and numeracy plan that the

142 voices of learners are “conspicuously and somewhat ironically absent from the document” (2010, p.14). This dissertation includes children as participants via the focus group interviews. James et al.’s (1998) assertion about the social regulation of childhood is similar to a Foucauldian perspective. Foucault (1975) argues that the examination is a disciplinary technique that creates a particular type of person through the process of comparison and normalisation (section 1.2.1.2). The types of assessments used and the purposes to which they are put have a profound impact on children’s self identities in their formative years. The development of a variety of pathologies of childhood is reviewed in Chapter 2 (section 2.5.4). Labels such as slow learner, ADHD and learning disability can mask underlying problems with the educational system and create the disability as teachers and other pupils react as if it were a constant presence (McDermott, 2001). This dissertation is concerned with the impact of assessment procedures on primary school pupils and seeks to ascertain the views of some children on this matter. Any form of research with children involves ethical decisions as children can be seen as vulnerable members of society. This issue will be explored in the next section, as well as a number of other ethical concerns and some limitations of the doctoral project.