Archives education - Emma Parfitt Proofreading Editing Services

Writing: To write is to constantly improve

Emma Parfitt — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:03:59 +0000

Writing? To write one must write. Also, improving one’s writing is a constant learning process. I wrote a book review in 2017 (published in 2018 in International Sociology).

Book review

Review: Ulrich Bröckling, The Entrepreneurial Self: Fabricating a New Type of Subject.

Today, I recieved a box of hardback copies of Young People, Learning and Storytelling (published with Palgrave Macmillan)

Strange to read my short article after a year, even stranger seeing the book that took me four years to research, and one year to write (with book proposal writing inbetween).

When I reread the article I saw some room for improvement. I think this is more apparent to me now because I have read a lot of things about improving academic writing and edited the work of others. The article was gladly accepted, still I can see some room for improvement. For example, tip of the day: avoid the word ‘it’ and use something more precise.

When I looked at my research book I’m proud because I wrote the book I wanted to. The arrival of the box below tells me that it’s time to face a new writing challenge… bring it on!

Find out more about my book here.

Update: since writing this text I have started my own proofreading business as a way to support myself whilst writing. I have helped academic books be published such as Art as an Institution (Alberto Cossu) and published more fiction such as A Friendship of Thistles (a novel about friendship during Covid), Shattered Roses (a beauty and the beast retelling based in a nursing home) and Seascape (a collection of fairytales).

Who is Emma?

As an introvert haunting the corners of storytelling festivals, it’s incredibly difficult to track Emma down. She’s best known for writing Scottish fiction about working-class women and communities and their misrepresented lives.You can find her recent book A Friendship of Thistles here. Or hire her for proofreading here.

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Young people, learning & storytelling

Emma Parfitt — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 17:00:26 +0000

Young people, learning & storytelling. Bascially, many years of storytelling research in schools later… Check it out here.

Book summary

This book explores the lives of young people through the lens of storytelling. Using extensive qualitative and empirical data from young people’s conversations following storytelling performances in secondary schools in the UK, the author considers the benefits of stories and storytelling for learning and the subsequent emotional, behavioural and social connections to story and other genres of narrative.

Storytelling has both global and transnational relevance in education, as it allows individuals to compare their experiences to others. Young people learn through discussion that their opinions matter, that they are both similar to and different from their peers. This in turn can facilitate the development of critical thinking skills as well as encouraging social learning, co-operation and cohesion. Drawing upon folklore and literary studies as well as sociology, philosophy, youth studies and theatre, this volume explores how storytelling can shape the lives of young people through storytelling projects. This reflective and creative volume will appeal to students and scholars of storytelling, youth studies and folklore.

Reviews

Some reviews below:

This book is an exceptional study of how storytelling cannot only help us understand children’s experiences under difficult conditions, but also how children use storytelling to cope with problems facing them in their daily lives. Dr Parfitt has a firm grasp of the art of oral storytelling and interdisciplinary methods, and develops keen insights into the emotional behaviour of children as they tell and listen to stories. Her book is a significant contribution to the fields of childhood studies and folklore and will interest anyone concerned with improving relations with children in schools and at home.

(Jack Zipes, Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota, USA)

“Beautifully written, with imaginative metaphors from the stories themselves, she offers really accessible theory and vivid compelling accounts infused with the real voices and personalities of the young people themselves. This is not a manual, but something more precious, a guide to reflective practice to inspire teachers and storytellers practically in the classroom.”

(Nicola Grove, Founder of OpenStoryTellers, UK)

Reflections in 2023

It seems surreal now, that I finally got a book accepted and went through the whole publication process with Macmillan. I’m proud of myself. It feels like another person wrote this now. Four years ago the final version left my desk the same year as my wedding! It had taken me four years of research and writing and working parttime to obtain my PhD as a mature student. The book feels well earned for that reason. I faced emotionally draining times living in student accomodation to provide well-being support to students.

During that process I learnt a lot about myself. And the few individuals, you know who you are, I really helped, that appreciated an ear to talk to and talking through their options to get the outcome they wanted for their educational journey made it worthwhile. Thought, I’m sure the fab residental team would have had them anyway. For if a student reached out we were there. The being woken up to deal with emergencies and noise disturbances I would rather forget.

The process of hard, exhausting work that got me on that stage collecting my PhD is an experience I constantly remind myself of whenever I doubt myself. It has eased the doubts of my educational ability, past scarring from previous university experiences that ‘I was not good enough’, that I see now is a narrative I had heard from others and constantly reinforced in my own head. I was good enough then, and I am good enough now, always striving to be better. Not just in the way I write, but as a human being.

And I would not be the ‘me’ I am today without the people that challenged and support me along the way. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I don’t say it often enough. I’m getting emotional thinking about all the friends I miss, some no longer with us, some across the world seperated by the cost of a flight ticket. Thankfully we have the technology to stay connected. And to those who I have lost touch with … I think of you sometimes with gratefulness for the periods of life we shared along the way.

My writing

If you are looking for another book to read, this time a fictional tale about sisterhood … I have also published A Friendship of Thistles.

Or you can contact me for proofreading.

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The hills are alive…

Emma Parfitt — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 11:52:00 +0000

The International Sociological Association have accepted my abstract to speak in Vienna this July. Yay! I won’t be wearing a dress made from curtains but this is what the presentation will be on, perhaps I’ll see you there.

Photo ‘Vienna’ by Osamu Kaneko (http://bit.ly/1OuQFXF)

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

A Managed Heart in relation to storytelling: how education policy shapes young people’s perceptions of emotion.

Literature searches indicate that Hochschild’s theories of emotion have not been linked to oral storytelling in an educational setting. In A Managed Heart Hochschild researched how flight attendants at Delta Airlines managed emotion. Hochschild proposed that people were trained to manage emotion in the workplace. This paper explores Hochschild’s theories in the context of educational policy and oral storytelling.

A storytelling space was created in three schools in the UK, Warwickshire, in 2013. Analysis involved NVivo coding of storytelling and focus group sessions one hour long, over five subsequent weeks, with young people from 12-14 years. In total, there were six groups of four children, of mixed ethnicity, ability, and socio-economic background. The students’ conversations were recorded and transcribed for empirical analysis.

The findings suggest that English literature guidelines, set by the Department for Education, influenced the students’ interpretations of emotion. There were significant similarities between educational guidelines and the way students discussed oral storytelling. For instance, the students connected character motivation to emotion reflective of an educational approach (a standardised way to interpret classroom texts such as Romeo and Juliet). The students identified a character’s emotional ‘motivation’ and linked this to ‘actions or events’ in a causative way. Through Hochschild’s work parallels can be drawn between ‘how society uses feeling’ (2003, 17) and how individuals might be educated to use feeling through Governmental policies like the National Curriculum.

The analysis indicates that oral storytelling is a useful method for exploring the theories of Hochschild in a social context. If education influences the students’ analysis of texts, and the analysis of oral storytelling, similar aspects of interpreting behaviour and emotions might arise in other situations in the students’ lives. In this way education might have structural influence over students’ emotional connections, and potentially, the negotiation of social relationships with others.

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Childcare … Education, Emotions and the Future Seminar

Emma Parfitt — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 11:12:00 +0000

Childcare meeting a conference? What are you talking about, Emma? The name of the conference was Education, Emotions and the Future Seminar. I attended and spoke at this fascinating conference in Leicester (22 Jan 2014). The standard of speakers was very high. Here is a link to the presentation that I gave:-

Emma’s presentation

The programme for the day was as follows:-

Part 1: Education, Emotions and the Present

Keynote: ‘Spatial Disparities in Emotional Responses to Education: Feelings of ‘Guilt’ Amongst Student-Parents’ (Rachel Brooks; University of Surrey)

Detached Youth Work: Understanding (how to be with) Young People’s Emotions (Matej Blazek; Loughborough University)

Emotions and Disaffection with School Mathematics (Gareth Lewis; University of Leicester)

The Cry for Professional Intimacy (Fiona Birkbeck; University of Nottingham)

Reflection, Emotions, Shock and Puzzlement in the Education Workplace (Rajesh Patel; De Montfort University)

Part 2: Education, Emotions and the Future

Keynote: Education and the Construction of Hope (Darren Webb; University of Sheffield)

Atmospheres of Progress in a Data-Based School (Matt Finn; University of Durham)

Me! The Narrative of Education: A Changing Force in Society? (Emma Parfitt; University of Warwick)

Widening Participation and Educating Hope (Thomas Grant; University of Leicester)

Thoughts about the conference

I especially enjoyed Darren Webb, Matt Finn, and also Rachel Brooks’ talk on student-parents.

What I took away from Rachel Brooks’ talk is this. That historically there is an uneasy relationship between emotions and higher education. Emotions are typically erased or managed in the education system in place of rational thought (Beard 07, Clegg 13, Hey and Leathwood 09). This is an advantage to those from privileged backgrounds. I am not from such a background, and have found the educational transition hard between public school, to university (for a degree), finally returning for a PhD after working. With a lot more confidence, if not the bank balance … having worked parttime to fund my studies as a mature student.

One place where class and choices meet, where the topic of the talk was evident, is in the provision of childcare and the ability of women to have access to suitable childcare for their circumstances. For instance this effects women’s options to return to education/work or stay in the home to provide childcare. And different women have different needs and wants in this area.

I liked the idea Brooks mentioned of social patterning. What makes a good mother, what makes a good father, as being determined by the expectations and pressures of society around families. The ‘norm’ for a family, in terms of who cares for the child, who works, in the family home.

Women’s Guilt

Over all women felt more guilty than fathers for returning to university. Brooks’ argued that therefore normative constructions of motherhood are in conflict with education. And one could say that emphasis on attachment (in early childhood studies) and intensive parenting (and its effect on brain development) carries a cost for women more than men. How as woman can we validate decisions to keep working, or to return to education, if child care structures as they stand do not there to support this?

I found it interesting that more guilt was expressed by UK mothers than those from Denmark (the study compared two Danish, and two British univisersities). Brooks’ explained that in Denmark it is more usual for mothers to work while the child is young compared to the UK where women feel the weight of societal disapproval against the return of mothers to the workplace. Her work indicates that surrounding social networks have a big impact in women’s opportunities/resolve to return or continue with higher education. Brooks’ also mentioned that the state also plays an important role because they establish the ‘norms’ of child care. More needs to be done to support women who want to work, because women can feel this conflict between work and child care. Those that want to work also want to know their child is getting the best care.

Women in Denmark

Women in Denmark also received more support from their partners. Men were more involved with child care. Whereas in the UK men predominantly saw themselves as providers for the family and therefore less guilty than the women for not being as involved with child care. Though I also know, through personal experience, more men are opting to look after their children, and support their partners and get involved, to allow their partner to continue working.

The point is that those options should be there. Women should be supported and not made to feel guilty for wanting to work. Whether we like it or not female biology makes this difficult, naturally mothers want to be close to their child, they may want to breast-feed and there are not the structures to support this for the average working woman. The workplace favours men with families more than women, and understandably women are more and more caustious about mentioning family in a job interview than men. Because it is assumed that they will be the ones to drop everything and not show up to work if the child has the chicken-pox or whatever.

More provisions are needed for childcare

Therefore more provisions, more demands, need to be requested from employers, from the government, to allow women to be close to their children whilst working. And affordable child care for people who need to work to bring in enough money to live on.

Obviously any woman who intends to have a family will have concerns about how to balance these things. Especially that it is often the woman who is expected to make sacrifices either in terms of her career or in time spent with her children. We can’t have it all. That is the reality. But we can try to find a way that works for us … that at least should be an option.

Unfortunately we don’t all have the same gumption as Kara Westlund, a full-time municipal councillor to take our children to work. I have to ask… why not?

Who am I?

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BSA Education Study Group Conference 17th Sept

Emma Parfitt — Sat, 21 Sep 2013 11:34:00 +0000

Young People’s Educational Identities in Challenging Times

The title of my presentation was Climbing the Beanstalk: Self-worth and Education. It was a challenge for me to think about my research in a different light. That is, how it could be related to young people’s educational identities. I largely let the students’ words speak for themselves to demonstrate that one of the themes that seemed to emerge was that a large part of their identity at school. In particular the students had an awareness of the current economic crisis and its consequences for their future. They felt under pressure to achieve academically. While some students felt supported to meet educational goals, and were therefore more confident in their futures, others did not feel supported and tended to think negatively based on the experiences of their families. As a result these young people felt powerless and frustrated, with low self-worth despite their potential.

The keynote speaker was Dr Sara Delamont. She gave an interesting view on sociology as a subject and how female researchers work was becoming forgotten about because of male and female academics citing a biased ratio of male authors, despite many women working the field (something for all us PhD students to bear in mind, to be inclusive in our referencing). Obviously a PhD supervisor has more power to insist on this being done by their students. So I’ll be checking with mine that they are aware of this issue! This also affects journals and books. One series of books Dr Delamont mentioned wasn’t going to include a book on Gender until she pointed out it was missing. Something for us all to be aware of in our own referencing and when writing book reviews.

Other speakers:-

Siobhan Dytham – The Dynamic and Contestable Nature of Friendship Groups at Secondary School

Shelagh Keogh and John Fulton – An Exploration of a Free Schools and the Application of Bourdieu’s Theories of Habitus, Capital and Field

Natalie Campbell – Higher Education Experiences of the Paralympic Student

John Fulton – Learning Through Amateur Boxing

Maria Papapolydorou and Patrick Ainley – Aspiring middle class people who come from working class backgrounds may, one day ‘marry a prince’

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Therapeutic Ends

Emma Parfitt — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 12:18:00 +0000

After months of waiting I read Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends, by White and Epston, and discovered that it wasn’t particularly relevant to my research. Mainly because it focuses on individual therapy sessions and I am working with groups. However I liked how White and Epston discussed the importance of imagination. It is through communication of their “story” that individuals are able to externalise thoughts. This begins the process of reforming the meaning around certain events in order to ‘revise their relationship with the problem’ (p63). Verbalising allows recognition that what is causing distress quite often is a miss-match of our story with how things are, or how we would like them to be. A letting go of the need to control others, of expecting others to act in a certain way; an understanding of what we feel, why, and how to process it. These things take time to reshape in the brain.

While my study hopes to examine the changes that occur in adolescent’s emotions as a result of storytelling what I have mainly learnt this week is that coding is complex and time consuming. This is where it is invaluable to have a clear and focused idea from the start; otherwise you end up scrapping a lot of work. I admit there were one or two false starts this week. The outcome is that I’ve accepted the idea that being specific at this stage is a way to allow ideas to expand over time. The words we use to express emotions are very complex. Often a word like frustrated is not used, rather expressed through tone which I have to ignore at this stage of simple word counting. I need to count the words to see patterns that otherwise might be overlooked and later return to a more critical analysis. The transcripts I’m currently examining may inspire new directions once I get my head around using NVivo.

In other news I have been asked to write a guest blog for Youngminds. And Scientific American published an interesting article in issue 23 this month. In Schools add Workouts for Attention, Grit and EmotionalControl, Ingrid Wickelgren discusses the importance of emotional control being taught in schools: ‘Thinking about thinking, known as metacognition, may give kids better control over how they think and feel in ways that could enhance learning.’ It is a very good thing that recognition is being given to teaching positive psychological skills in schools. Although, letting down the side somewhat, Charlie Taylor, the government expect on behaviour, in his April 2012 report on Improving Attendanceat School suggested more focus at a primary level to prevent problems. This seems to be the governments go to area. Sure, I don’t disagree, primary care is very important, but what are you proposing to do about those pupils who are older and need our support? They need us to teach them to engage in life, they need their emotional needs met, and the current system is failing to do this. Especially where one of the suggestions to control truancy places a financial burden on the family by fining parents, how is that going to encourage a positive attitude to school? It could backfire, big time. Of course, I’m biased, but I think storytelling could engage pupils where other methods have failed. Thoughts?

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