Engaging the Learner's Voice? Catechetics and Oral Involvement in Reform Strategy Lessons

This case study is set within the context of a national reform strategy that strongly espouses oral involvement of learners through "catechetic" interactions, i.e. the use of question-and-answer as a means of teaching, and its inverse, the students' use of question-and-answer with their teacher and their peers in order to enhance their learning, and other oral contributions. Fourteen lessons spanning learners aged 4-15 years were observed and analysed with respect to the extent and quality of such interactions. Attention was paid to observing the catechetics of each lesson. The incidence and nature of students' oral contributions and interactions could be described as "the learner's voice" within lessons. Data on these lessons, coupled with data gathered from surrounding structured conversations with teachers and pupils, indicates that the espousal by teachers of some key tenets of the reform strategy is not as yet being significantly enacted in their practice. Also, implicit altered expectations of their role within lessons have not been communicated effectively to most students. The authoritarian model adopted by the reform strategy is suggested as a key factor. (Contains 1 table.) [For complete proceedings, see ED496851.]