Discussion : Planning (Unit 2)

Hello,
I have had to change my focus. The deputy head of the school I am doing the MA work in would like me to find out if the special schools inclusive programs are actually achieving any thing, and do the children enjoy them or do they find them stressful. We wanted to get the input of parents and staff of both mainstream and special schools to find out what they have noticed about the inclusion and has it helped their child achieve, etc. Would that pose a problem?

I am currently redoing the autobiography. I am sorry It's late. I have limited accessibility. Thank you.

Jessica, I think the project you are proposing sounds very interesting and focused, and it sits well within the context of the course. Could you provide a brief explanation (certainly no more than say 400 words) of the school needs (task 4 unit 1) and summary of development needs (task 6 unit 1) focusing on just the field of work that you now intend to carry out. At this moment I cannot access what you did previously, but you may be able to use what you have already written in these tasks, but adapt them towards your new focus. I am having problems downloading your autobiography is it is such a large file - I am not sure why you are redoing it? Perhaps you could just send me a typed version of what you are adding/changing.
Good luck!
Pauline

It great to get you feed back, Pauline. I have a question about literature. I have been reading various types of literature; Journals, articles, essays, and so on. Was I to concentrate on one book or one particular item? I am a bit concerned about what I had done. I may be off track after reading other people's discussions.
I am not understanding how to get into smaller group discussions or is that not pretaining to me.

Thanks Jes

Jessica, I am not quite sure what you are asking regarding the literature. I think that you need to read a variety of literature if you want to gain a thorough knowledge. The smaller groups have been set up for the new Jan 09 SpLD cohort only at the moment. The Sept 08 is a relatively small cohort, so it is not so easy to split up - but if you would like to, we could give it a try!
Pauline

Regarding the autobiography. I was trying to record it in a smaller file. I didn't think I spoke too much. Then again, people do tell me I may talk too much. I'll just type another one up instead.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Jes

Hi

I am a bit confused about planning the timescale. I had already planned one but I do not think it's correct now that I have seen the deadlines. Does report writing need to be ready by the 8th May , that is when we hand in Unit 3 ?

 Jacqueline, I am not quite sure what you mean by "Report Writing"?. Unit 3 is the Evidence Section of the Portfolio where you gather all the evidence you have planned to in Unit 2 (which is what you are currently doing) - The instructions for Unit 3 (with the deadine of 8th May) are contained on page 59 - 65 of the handbook. If this is still not clear please get back to me.
Pauline

hello
i am still very confused about unit 2, do we have to submit a literture review and a research proposal... or is the literture review supposed to be a part of the research proposal as stated in the sample format. do we have to make the research proposal as given in the format. sorry for such silly question but i am just too confused

Aliya,
Unit 2 is intended to be the planning section only - so with regards to the Literature Review - you should just be planning/identifying which literature you intend to use to review in the next section of the programmen(ie Unit 3). If you look at page 52 of the handbook it lays out a suggested format for your Unit 2 and asks under bullet point 3 Literature Review, Who are the major writers in this area of education? What has been written already on this research topic? So you would need to just refer to/identify the literature that you intend to use to answer these question according to the area you intend to focus on for your overall enquiry/research. The fact that there is a lot of information in Unit 2 regarding the literature review - is I believe to help you just to PLAN you literature review at this stage. The table format provides a useful framework in which to layout the literature you intend to review (in Unit 3) and then in Unit 3 you will need to critically analyse/evaluate the literature in more of an essay format where a comparison of veiwpoints and authors would be the correct way of going about it.

I hope this answers your questions!
Pauline

thank you, your answer has clarified my problem. thanks

Dear Pauline

Sorry to disturb you again but I'm still a bit confused about the timescale. On page 53 of the handbook we need to plan a timeline for research planning, data collection, data analysis and report writing. Till when do we need to plan all this, ie. the end date ? I mean the range of time. Will it be till the 8th May ? Sorry for all this confusing wording but I can't think of a way to express myself better.

Thanks

Jacqueline, I think the timeline suggested on page 53 is for the research work you will be carrying out in Unit 3 - but there would be no harm in including dates to the final hand in date if you so choose.
Regards
Pauline