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Successful Teachers in Schoolsin Challenging Circumstances
August 2004
A joint research project betweenLancashire LEA andSt. Martin’s College, Lancaster
 
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CONTENTS
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY2. BACKGROUND, PURPOSE, PROCEDURE3. LITERATURE REVIEW4. METHODOLOGY5. FINDINGS, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS7. REFERENCES8. APPENDICES
AcknowledgementsLancashire LEA and St. Martin’s College team wish to thank the participatingschools, the heads and the teachers who gave of their time so generously and theirviews so openly, and so making this research possible.
 
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Successful Teachers in Challenging Circumstances: A Joint Research Projectbetween Lancashire LEA and St. Martin’s CollegeExecutive SummaryMethod
12 Secondary schools within Lancashire LEA (see appendix i) were chosen as beingschools that were in particularly challenging circumstances according to a range ofsocio-economic and demographic criteria, including exam results, ethnic mix andfree school meals.The Head of each school identified 2 teachers as being particularly ‘successful’within that school. Each of the 3 was interviewed individually by a member of theresearch team who used a semi-structured format (see appendix ii). Interviewtranscripts were analysed using cluster analysis related to the literature aroundTeacher Effectiveness. The main research questions were:a) What is the manifestation of a ‘successful teacher’ in these schools?b) What are teachers’ views about what constitutes ‘challenging circumstances’?
Results
Analysis of the interview data revealed 4 main, but interrelated, categories. Thesewere:
1. Relationships between teachers and students2. Pedagogy3. Leadership and whole school ethos4. Challenging circumstances1. Relationships
The central issue to arise was the necessity of constructing positive relationshipswith students based upon a recognition of students’ and teachers’ essential humanity – their person-hood. The personal and professional qualities that teachers exhibitedtowards students, the calibre and honesty of relationships between them, theirimages of teaching, their motives, passion, and ‘moral purposes’, were all crucial to‘success’. These qualities were manifested in valuing pupils and getting to knowthem for who they were in and out of school and by creating climates in theclassroom based upon trust, mutual respect and rapport.
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