Annual Report 2007, Gent

Organization and general functioning of sessions

This year, 27 proposals were presented, 25 of which were papers and 2 were symposiums. 4 papers were re-directed to other networks, due to their inadequacy to the objectives of Network 19 - Ethnography.

Papers and symposiums were organized in 7 sessions:

• The role of ethnography: the impact of fieldwork and findings.
• Visual ethnography and educational practices.
• New challenges for ethnography: emerging models and dilemmas.
• New challenges for ethnography: research subjects participation and voice.
• Cultures of Performativity and creativity: schools and the educational value.
• Symposium: From researcher problems and positioning through analysis to representation: An ethnographic narrative?.
• Symposium: Combining Methodologies to Study Learning in the Life Course: Insights from the Learning Lives Project.

The content of the papers gave information and allowed the discussion of different research contexts, participants, methodologies and issues:

Research Context:

School
Pre-school
Elementary school
catholic secondary college
university
mobile schools
caravans and car park
school for teenage mothers
undergraduate writing course
on-line Museum
Full Day Care Centre
Outdoor kindergarten

Participants:

School communities
Teachers
students
Learning teachers
Graduate student
Gypsy's and gypsy families
Children Adults

Methodology:

Observation:
participant and direct
Writer-in-residence
Visual ethnography (video filming)
Participant interviews
Deep interviews
Questionnaires
Conversation and documentary analysis
Photos
Text analysis
Dialogic data Discourse analysis and on-line discussions
Narratology
Participation methods
Biographical stories
life, story and life course
Focus group discussion
action-research and photovoice?

Main Issues:

Contributions of ethnography.
The role of critical ethnography relationship between theory and critical ethnography in the field of education.
The impact of fieldwork.
Methodological challenges.
Contested qualities of educational research.
Production and distribution of research results.
The researcher as constructor of narratives.
The influence of both researcher and participants.
The researcher and the co-construction.
The value of education.
Education epistemology, reproduction and neoliberalism.
The relationship between schooling and social class.
Schooling offer and expectations.
The role of the projects aiming at the preservation of the memory.
Minority, culture and education.
The nature of student identity Performativity

In spite of the fact that Network 19 took place in an area not close to the Conference main building (Coupure), the attendance was fairly good: between 15 to 51 participants; furthermore, there was an excellent participation in the sessions dedicated to both symposiums. In all sessions debate and discussion had high interest and quality.

From the 23 expected participants 21 attended. One of the participants justified his absence.

Network had the participation of researchers from several European countries, namely France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Norway and United Kingdom, as well as from Australia.

Although ECER recommended that participants should provide the audience with an abstract and other documents, part of the Network participants did not do so. Network considers that this recommendation to proponents has to be reinforced, aiming at a higher quality of all participations.

Besides the thematic sessions, Network organized a session for Network Meeting and another one for Research Group Meeting within the scope of the 7^th Framework Programme "Participation and Democracy".
This research group is composed of researchers who have been participating in Network 19 over the last years. All the Partner Directors are based in universities or colleges situated in Austria (Innsbruck), Denmark (Copenhagen), England (Milton Keynes), Italy (Turin), Portugal (Porto), Scotland (Strathclyde University, Glasgow), Spain (Cadiz) and Sweden, (Borås-Göteburg). These joint initiatives account for the involvement of the group in the network and for the broadening of contacts, which go beyond the ECER context.

Network decisions concerning recommendations from Convenors meeting

• Links between pre and main conference: Following the recommendations and the appeal of the Postgraduate Network for a stronger connection between the pre-conference and the conference, Network 19 decided to cooperate with the Postgraduate Network. Therefore, in a proper moment during the pre-conference, a convenor from Network 19 will explain to the young participants the main interests of the network. The Postgraduate Network link-person is already aware of this decision.  

• More roundtables and joint-sessions: Regarding the proposal that the different Networks should organize more roundtables and joint-sessions, Network 19 considers this decision to be premature, given that the papers and themes are still unknown.  

• European sessions Regarding recommendations which point out that sessions should be European and not only United Kingdom, Network considered that next year panels will have to be European.  

• Proposals rejection If a proposal does not have the proper presentation, not addressing all the categories, convenors can ask for clarification.
  
  
• Blind review Regarding this matter, it was considered that proposals should not be analysed according to a blind review.