Exploring staff perspectives of teacher-student relationships in an Alternative Provision, using focus groups guided by Appreciative Inquiry principles

Pupil exclusions from mainstream schools are continuing to cause concern (House of Commons Education Committee, 2018; Timpson, 2019). Outcomes for excluded children and young people are typically poor, with great individual and social costs (Gill, 2017). Excluded children and young people are over-represented in terms of ethnicity, special educational needs, and disabilities (SEND) and socio-economic status (Graham et al., 2019) – linking this issue with inequality and social justice. Excluded pupils often access education in Alternative Provisions (AP) – a historically failing (Ofsted, 2011; Taylor, 2012) but latterly improving sector (Ofsted, 2016; HoCEC, 2018; Timpson, 2019). Significant differences exist between AP settings (Pirrie & Macleod, 2009) and provision is understood to be highly variable (Timpson, 2019). Publicly-funded research (Gill, 2018; Timpson, 2019) has identified a need to better understand ‘good and great’ practice in AP. A key aspect of this is teacher-student relationships (TSRs) – identified in previous research as an ‘enabling’ factor for pupils (Michael & Frederickson, 2013) – supporting improved developmental and academic outcomes (Cornelius-White, 2007; Roorda et al., 2011).
This research is interested in how such relationships are formed, developed, and maintained in an AP context. An Appreciative Inquiry (AI) framework is used to identify existing relational strengths in relationships between community members in an AP, to highlight possible augmentative changes in the context of relationships. Six members of staff participated in a series of five focus groups (semi-structured interviews) taking place via online video conferencing. An AI Learning Team model was used to structure and guide these group interactions. Data were transcribed, then organised and interpreted using Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006).