Welcome to the WJETT blog
What is WJETT?
The WJETT blog or Warwick Journal of Education - Transforming Teaching blog is designed to encourage staff and students to disseminate good practice and to engage with their peers on academic cultural critique or areas of research that they find interesting. With the increased focus on ‘teachers as researchers’ in the sector, many qualified teachers are expected to publish the outcomes of any action research projects they undertake. The WJETT blog can be the first step on your journey towards publishing and enables you to experience publishing and reviewing in a friendly and supportive environment.
You will need to scroll down the page below the tags to see the posts.
The big privacy debate: how do young people perceive privacy when using social media in the UK?
Chapman is a senior lecturer in Education at the University of Northampton, whose research explores young people’s behaviour online, and their perceptions of privacy. The big question overarching Chapman’s talk was ‘Does privacy exist in young people’s lives when they’re online?’ One of Chapman’s key reasons for this research was to give space for the voices of young people on an issue that is both relevant and important to them, but also to underpin a mutual understanding of how children’s experiences online can inform our practice when engaging with children and young people.
Though Social Networking Sites (SNS) have been written about for the past 25 years since their conception, Chapman highlights that these are ever evolving, and often leave the realms of young people’s lives as quickly as they enter them. Mark Zuckerberg’s famous statement “Privacy is dead” perfectly encapsulates the feelings of a worried generation of youth. Parents’ and guardians’ concerns about online safety contradict young peoples’ desires for privacy online, creating a difficult and stressful dynamic for families everywhere. Chapman found that though young people do take risks with their online identities, they also see value in their interactions, and worry about their peers more than themselves.
I asked Chapman what his response might be to schools whose only advice (to parents and students) is for students to stop using SNS altogether. Chapman replied that he found that quite sad, expressing a need for both educators and young people to be informed on the benefits and risks of using SNS. They also stated that if we knew more about young people’s perceptions and experiences online, we may have been able to support them throughout COVID in a more informed way. Social media is an irrefutable constant in many young people’s lives and, as educators, it may just be part of our job to better understand it.
Concluding thoughts
Despite it’s unconventional arrangement, the RiA virtual conference (2020) was engaging and enlightening. Davies’ keynote presentation was a highlight for many students, including myself, who felt optimistic about the concept of a truly inclusive and enriching school culture. All of the speakers’ enthusiasm for educational research and its capacity to develop our personal and professional lives was inspiring, and I believe we all left the day feeling more hopeful for teaching in 2021 and beyond.
Writing guidance
Can I write about anything in my blog post?
Yes pretty much. Academic cultural critique (Thomson and Mewburn, 2013) is always a good source of content for academic blogs. This can include (but is not limited to) comments and reflections on funding; higher education policy or academic life. You might also want to consider blogging about:
- Academic practice (Saper, 2006)
- Information and/or self-help advice
- Technical, teaching and careers advice
- Your research or practice
- How you’ve undertaken research
- The impact of research on your practice
- An area of research/practice that interests you
- Your teaching experiences/reflections
How long can my blog post be?
Each individual blog post should be no longer than 500 words. Long blocks of text are sometimes hard for readers to digest. Break up your content into shorter paragraphs, bullet points and lists whenever possible. Also include a list of keywords or tags as this makes it easier for Google to find your work.
Do I need to use citations?
No, this is a reflective piece so it does not need to include citations (but you obviously can include them if they are relevant).
Can I include links or images?
We would encourage you to include links to any articles that you have considered whilst writing your blog post. We also welcome the use of images (as long as you have permission to use them) as they can often help to illustrate a point and obviously will not be included in the word limit. Please remember this is a public site so if you want to include images of your students in your classes then you will need permission to do this.
What is the process for submitting a piece of work?
Your blog post should be emailed to A.Ball.1@warwick.ac.uk. Once the submission has been reviewed it will either be uploaded at the beginning of the next available week or sent back to you for editing if it requires amendments. You should then send the amended work to me once again and I will then upload it.