FROM UNEARTHING VALUES TO BUILDING EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS: HOW THE VALUES OF EDUCATION SWANAGE WERE INFLUENTIAL IN FOUNDING THE SWANAGE SCHOOL
Abstract of Professional Doctorate
Helen O' Connor
The Purbeck Review of Schools, initiated by Dorset County Council in 2008, resulted in
the closure of the middle school in Swanage, leaving the town bereft of secondary
education by July 2013. A community-led group, Education Swanage, founded a new
school in the town, which opened in September 2013 as a free school, with a humanscale
ethos. Although there was controversy about free schools at the time, there is no
research to date about how personal values influence the founding of such a school.
This research answers the question how did values influence the founding of The
Swanage School?
This inductive research was informed by literature on the conceptualization of 'values'
and the 'sacred' and delimited by theoretical insights from practical theology, living
theory and human-scale education. The action research strategy, set within a paradigm
of praxis, addressed how values influenced action in founding the school. Semistructured
interviews, an online survey and a validation group were used to discover
how values influenced practice.
The data revealed a variety of interpretations of the term 'values', which were most
commonly alluded to as being central in guiding and informing everyday interaction in
the world and relating to how humans respond to others whilst also being a reflection of
personal identity. The research identified areas of practice where the interplay of
intrinsic and extrinsic values was influential when operating in contradiction and
congruence to affect change. Analysis of the findings enabled conclusions and
propositions to be developed, which focused on how values influenced the process of
moving from contradiction to congruence in order to enact change.
Values were a significant influence in the founding of The Swanage School. When
values were contradicted they acted as standards of judgement and formed the basis of
conversations which led to problems being solved and decisions being made. Concepts
from the wider literature and the field of practical theology provided insight into how
values can be defined and how their influence on action can be interpreted as an
encounter with the sacred. The conclusion of this study and its contribution to
knowledge is the explanation of how values influenced the founding of The Swanage
School in the form of a living educational theory.
Key words: Values, sacred, influence, contradiction, intrinsic, extrinsic
CONTENTS
You can download Helen O' Connor's Thesis for her Professional Doctorate in Practical Theology, in PDF format from here:
The full list of contents
Appendix One - Email Correspondence with Ruard Ganzevoort
Appendix Two - Paper One
Appendix Three - Paper Two
Appendix Four - Paper Three
Appendix Five - Timeline of Education Swanage
Appendix Six - Forecast Distribution of 11-16 Population in Purbeck
Appendix Seven - Ethical Consent Letter
Appendix Eight - Semi-Structured Interview Questions
Appendix Nine - Online Survey Questions
Appendix Ten - Validation Group Prezi. This a CD and in the hard copy submitted to Anglia Ruskin University
Appendix Eleven - The ES Rainbow
Appendix Twelve - Email Correspondence with ES Validation Group
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