The Ocean Merges into the Drop: Unearthing the Ground Rules for the Social Construction of Pupil Diversity

Abstract

Working as a teacher and an educational psychologist in England and in Iceland for a number of years, I slowly realised that I had to abandon much of what I had learned during my training in psychology and research methodology. The social world of school children was simply far more complex and uncharted for the known theories and methods to suffice. I had to function at a different level to that of a traditional scientist or a clinical psychologist if only to be accepted by the children I worked with let alone gain answers to the type of questions I had been asking for some time (Marinósson, 1998): Why are so many children and youths disaffected by school since the purpose of education is ostensibly to serve their needs? How do children who find their life in school difficult perceive the school and other people there? How do the adults at school understand these pupils and their work? What shapes their reactions in the school context?

Citation

Marinósson, G.L. (2007), "The Ocean Merges into the Drop: Unearthing the Ground Rules for the Social Construction of Pupil Diversity", Walford, G. (Ed.) Methodological Developments in Ethnography (Studies in Educational Ethnography, Vol. 12), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 185-206. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1529-210X(06)12011-2