Learning about the social contexts which children and young people associate with their strengths: Applying a situated form of strength-based assessment to educational psychology practice

Bozic, N. M. (2020) Learning about the social contexts which children and young people associate with their strengths: Applying a situated form of strength-based assessment to educational psychology practice. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This thesis research explores how we might learn more about the social contexts which children and young people associate with their strengths. It was carried out as a three phase action research project, by the author in his role as an educational psychologist working in schools. In the first phase a method of assessment was trialled, with a sample of eight children and young people. Using this method, participants were able to identify social contexts which they associated with specific strengths. In the second phase, three detailed case studies were carried out in which representations of identified strength-based contexts were developed, drawing on concepts from situated/ situative learning theory and critical realism, in combination with the meanings expressed by school staff and children and young people. Using these representations, it was possible to understand strengths from a situated point of view in which they were characterised as forms of participation afforded within distinct educational practices. One of the advantages of this approach was that it highlighted aspects of practice which allowed forms of strength-related participation to happen. In the final phase, these representations were presented back to school staff in the form of illustrations/ boundary objects which allowed further discussion about practices and potential actions that might stem from this contextualised assessment. Three overall contributions of this work are: (1) it shows the possibility of taking a situated view of strengths-based assessment – a field which usually takes a more individualising position; (2) it draws attention to the conceptual compatibility and synergy that can occur when ideas from situated learning and critical realism are used together; (3) it offers an alternative vision of the practice of educational psychology, in which assessment is weighted towards the identification (and thereby extension) of positive practices, rather than the continued scrutiny of an individual’s problems.