Research
Ben is an experienced and well published educational researcher. Findings from his research inform the evidence-based approach he takes to his teaching and consultancy. Below are some recent examples of Ben’s peer reviewed research, chapters and discussion papers.
Witt, M., Knight, B. & Booth, T. (2024)
Personality-sensitive pedagogies: A study of small group interactive behaviours among 9- to 10-year-olds
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The learning and social development benefits associated with pupils collaborating in small groups have been well documented over recent decades; however, research exploring personality as a mediating factor in small group learning is sparse. In this study we identified pupils who self-reported low levels of extraversion and/or high levels of neuroticism (tendency to worry) as personality traits and observed them working in small group collaborative learning situations. Using mixed methods social network analysis as a way of understanding group interactions, we combined a degree centrality measure and a novel concept of ‘provocatory participation’ with a qualitative analysis of group interactions. Data integration facilitated in-depth interpretations of relationships between personality and pupil interactions. Findings suggest that low levels of extraversion and/or high levels of neuroticism can be, but are not always, associated with lower levels of participation and that a range of other factors, notably the personality traits of all pupils in a small group, affect participation. These findings are used to suggest ways that teachers could employ more personality-sensitive pedagogies, particularly with respect to small group activities.
Carter, J., Pillay, P., Podpadec, T., Gina, J., Khumalo, N., Knight, B., Matthews, P., Mthethwa, L., & Vickers‐Hulse, K. (2024)
It's like a compass which I use to find direction’: Findings and learning from an evaluation of an App designed to support the teaching of reading comprehension in rural and township schools in South Africa
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South Africa has low literacy levels and teachers face multiple challenges in their endeavours to elevate levels of literacy. This is especially prevalent in rural and township schools where teachers face the additional challenges of isolation, limited resources and access to professional development. This article reports on the findings and learning from a preliminary research study which piloted a handheld mobile phone App. This collaborative project, between a university in KwaZulu-Natal and one in England, aimed to support in-service and preservice teachers in rural and township settings to use the App to assess and match books to learners' (aged 9–12) stage of reading development in order to facilitate their independent reading and provide teachers with a range of strategies for teaching comprehension that could supplement other professional development available. In-service teachers (n = 120) and preservice teachers (n = 93) took part in this mixed-methods study. The main finding from the study was that whilst participants were positive about the App, many did not access the App independently. This article discusses the broader issues, including participants' foundational knowledge and literacy research participation considerations, that may have underpinned this finding in this collaborative Global North and South research.
Knight, B. & Harrison, N. (2024)
Teaching and learning as complex phenomena: Implications for policy and teacher professional identity.
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Widespread support exists for the view that teaching is a complex task (Schulman, 2004), that learning is a complex, dynamic phenomenon and that classrooms are ‘complex systems’ (Hardman, 2010). Systems behaving in complex, emergent ways cannot be successfully ‘managed’ by rigid, scripted practices but demand flexibility, responsiveness and in situ judgement. However, these dispositions appear only fleetingly, if at all, on professional standards rubrics and statutory descriptors of effective teaching. Discretionary judgement is implied but rarely emphasised. Drawing on the first author's doctoral study of ‘emergent learning’ in a primary school classroom, we demonstrate the importance of pre- and in-service teachers developing expert in-the-moment professional judgement to navigate the emergent and complex nature of classroom learning and argue that professional judgement should enjoy a more prominent, less tacit, position in pre-service initial teacher education (ITE) and in-service Continuing Professional Development (CPD). This chapter briefly describes and presents findings from the doctoral research which focused on how learning emerges bottom-up through classroom interactions, discusses the implications of this for teachers and concludes by setting an agenda for future research into teachers' experiences of agency and autonomy.
Knight, B. (2023)
Exploring the complex, emergent choreography of classroom teaching and learning. Presented at Applying Education in a Complex World, Toronto, Canada.
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Classroom learning is a complex, emergent phenomenon. Classroom teaching is a complex, dynamic activity. Together, learning and teaching occupy a complex, non-linear and relational space which is often oversimplified and misunderstood. This paper draws on my recent research on classrooms as complex systems (Knight, 2022), presenting mixed methods social network analysis (SNA) findings about the complex nature of group learning and its implications for teaching, teachers and teacher development. I present one of four case study ‘Learning Narratives’ which integrates video observation, pupil self-report, interview and field data to depict a range of complex dynamics at work in a short episode of collaborative classroom group work involving 8 and 9 year old learners. Findings show, among other things, that learning emerges from some surprising sources (including pupil conflict) and that learners can become ‘salient’ to the outcomes of group work for various reasons (including personality, knowledge and social status). Combining insights from this study and my recent book (Knight, 2023), the paper makes the case for the centrality of judgement in the act of teaching. If learning is complex, emergent, often tacit and inherently unpredictable, teaching can only succeed where it is flexible and responsive, and where teachers develop comfort with uncertainty and sensitivity to teachable moments.
Carter, J., Knight, B. & Vickers-Hulse, K. (2023)
Difference as an essential teacher in a Them-Us international context: Pre-service teachers’ reflections on a university township teaching project
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This article explores data from a group of British pre-service teachers (PST) following a teaching programme in South Africa. Their reflections are analysed in relation to assertions that such intercultural programmes do little to change hegemonic beliefs about the ‘other’. Analysis of questionnaire and interview data suggests that whilst these assertions have some validity, the issues are complex and nuanced. Findings indicate apparent shifts from object-based to relational views of the ‘other’, though these shifts were not always complete or fully developed. Sitting with uncertainty and discomfort prompted PSTs’ critical reflections demonstrating the interactive and dialogic nature of intercultural understanding and provided the pre-requisites for personal and professional development. We conclude that when appropriately orientated, teaching placements in the global South can encourage critical, relational pedagogies, intercultural understanding and a dialectical relationship with difference which can translate into positive shifts in PST beliefs and practice.
Knight, B. (2022)
Complex adaptive system behaviours in small group interaction: A year 4 classroom case study of learning as ‘emergence’.
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Depictions of classroom teaching and learning in politics, policy and media tend to be over simplified and mechanistic. Insights from research on classroom learning draw largely on the ‘what works’ paradigm, which presents learning as directly caused by teaching. ‘What works’ approaches dominate education discourse, despite their failure to capture the complex, interactive dynamics and ‘messy’ topography of classrooms. This study sought to generate novel insights about small group and classroom learning by acknowledging, rather than ignoring, their complexity.
Using complexity thinking (a heuristic drawn from complexity theory) as a conceptual frame, this thesis presents findings from original classroom-based research exploring the emergence of learning in small group activity. Mixed method data, including social network analysis, pupil self-reporting, interviews and observation, were collected during one week in a year four classroom of a UK primary school. Data integration revealed interesting and otherwise tacit insights about antecedents of group and individual learning. Findings suggest that learning has emergent qualities and that individuals exert influence on collective learning due to emergent system dynamics, including social status, personality and knowledge states. Contributions to knowledge include insights about the interplay of top-down and bottom-up organising principles in small group and classroom systems. The thesis also evaluated the usefulness of complexity thinking as an analytical frame for understanding group learning, with mixed conclusions.
The study has the potential to offer novel contemporary interpretations of classroom teaching and learning from a systems perspective.
Witt, M., Lewis, F. & Knight, B. (2022)
I wasn't worried because I wasn't being judged’: The development of pre-service teacher professional capital, pedagogical instinct and discretionary judgement during an overseas teaching placement
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Assertions that experiences of teaching abroad encourage professional growth for pre-service teachers (PSTs) are discussed, with reference to reflections from 20 PSTs from a British university after a volunteer teaching placement in South Africa (SA). PSTs compare their overseas and domestic placement experiences. Data reveals that capacity for decisional judgement, willingness to follow professional instincts and take risks are influenced by perceived levels of professional scrutiny. Teacher expertise is discussed through the conceptual lens of professional capital. We conclude that decisional judgement and the skills to think on one's feet, are more likely to flourish under non-judgmental conditions.
Knight, B. (2022)
The classroom as a complex adaptive system (CAS): Credible framing, useful metaphor or mis-designation?
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This paper discusses the legitimacy of framing school classrooms as complex adaptive systems (CASs) with the aim of advancing discourse about the extent to which systems within education can be usefully designated as complex. Perspectives differ on criteria for applying a complexity framing to human systems, a consequence of the lack of any single definition of complexity theory, or agreement on the framing of CAS in human networks. However, the literature on complexity and education appears to both open (ajar) and close the door on descriptions and theoretical treatment of classrooms as CASs, and as a site for complexity-sensitive empirical research. The paper begins by presenting an overview of complexity discourse with respect to education, articulates conceptual framings for CAS and classrooms then moves on to advance the principal arguments in opposition to a conception of classrooms as CASs. Arguments from those in the field who are receptive, albeit tentatively, to applying a CAS lens to classroom systems are then explained. The paper concludes that whilst these arguments have merit, the legitimacy or otherwise of framing classrooms as CASs hinges to some extent on how classrooms and CASs themselves are framed. Finally, a primer is presented for an empirical complexity-sensitive classroom study undertaken in July 2020, findings from which will be published later this year.
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Complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory is offering new perspectives on the nature of learning in school classrooms. In CAS such as social networks, city traffic systems and insect colonies, innovation, and change are occasioned through non-linear, bottom-up emergence rather than linear, top-down control. There is a growing body of evidence and discourse suggesting that learning in school classrooms, particularly in the early years and primary phases, has non-linear, emergent qualities and that teachers, school leaders, and educational researchers can gain valuable insights about the nature of interactive group learning by analyzing classrooms through a CAS lens. This chapter discusses the usefulness of a CAS framing for conceptualizing learning in primary school classrooms. It will explore key arguments, discuss relevant objections and draw on my own research to make the case for a measured application of CAS theory to primary classroom teaching and learning, explaining how it can support the development of innovative pedagogies.