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From learner to teacher agency (WSP 2021)
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Context: Group discussion of a proficient, initiative-taking, rebellious young learner, and more generally, learners venturing beyond class rules (e.g. using phones in class despite a no-phone school rule)
Legend: TE & PST1, 2, 3...
Transcript 1
Course discussion 1
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TE: Again, I see it as an act of being creative, you know… pushing the limits of the system. I
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suppose all of us, citizens, should be doing that all the time. We do that, I suppose, with
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regard to the government – we try to keep them in check… because we want the system to
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function better, right? I do believe that if a system is strong, [it] can do with any kind of
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challenge, so it’s our responsibility as citizens to continue to challenge the systems… to help
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them improve. So, if there’s a system in place, I would always welcome people who
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challenge it.
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PST1: If you pressure something too much, you’ll break it. […] There’s a difference between
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non-conformism and creativity. Those two things are not synonymous.
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TE: They don’t have to be.
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PST1: Just in this context… this is more non-conformism to me.
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TE: Yeah, but again… what can you [possibly] do to this system… There is this no-phone
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policy, OK? A student is challenging it. Can it crush the policy? I don’t think it can do anything
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to the policy, but it’s a statement. It questions the […] system. […]
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PST1 [scoffing]: Does education need this kind of challenge?
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TE: Of course! It’s a sign of life: you’re not a robot, doing whatever the system tells you. You
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question the system, you push the limits, you say that you don’t agree with the system.
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PST4: It’s a sign that students are bored!
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TE: And it should be possible [to push the limits in the classroom].
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PST1: What do we [teachers] do with it [such contributions]?
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Transcript 2
Course discussion 2
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TE: If you care about the system enough, then you’d genuinely welcome criticism so as to
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improve it, wouldn’t you?
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PST2: Yeah, of course!
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TE: Imagine you have a [commercial] company. You know your company is not perfect,
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you want to improve it, you welcome all kinds of feedback, including feedback by doing…
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by people pushing their limits. […] That’s wonderfully constructive, isn’t it?
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PST2: It depends on what the criticism is like. [Silence] If a person tells me and gives good
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argumentation about why the system is wrong, that’s really good. That’s good criticism.
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But if a person talks on their phone in the class, I don’t think that’s good criticism.
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TE: Why not?
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PST2: What kind of criticism is that? [Unclear]
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TE: That’s a message. That they might have different needs, they might need something else.
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Isn’t that a reason enough for you to dig deeper to find out what the issue is? They might
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have had a family emergency – you don’t know! We don’t know the background to their
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behaviour.
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PST3: Then, you go out of the door [to take/make the phone call].
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[Overlapping voices of multiple students]
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TE: Not if you’re upset, [Student’s name]. Not if you have this mad emergency… no, you don’t.
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Sometimes, in exceptional circumstances, we behave in weird ways. And that’s fine. We can’t
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know everyone’s background to be able to judge.
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