Dr Samyia Ambreen

1. Treescapes: “Voices of the Future” Project 

This project (November 2021 -Present) develops new methods of engaging young people in designing, creating and caring for treescapes, including natural woodlands and urban parks.

2. Analysing the nature of peer interactions among children in classroom-based group work in a primary classroom (Doctoral Thesis)

This research (2017) aimed to explore the nature of children’s interaction during their routinely organised group work in an ethnically diverse primary classroom in the West Yorkshire. Using ethnographic research design, I used participant observation to study children’s interaction and conducted informal conversational interviews with children to explore their perceptions of working in ability-based groups. Thematic discourse analysis was used to analyse observational and interview data. The main findings of the research contribute to understand the influences of children’s home and school context on their interaction with peers and their perceptions of group work. Using Bronfenbrenner’ s ecological theory, I first explained how children’s interactions towards their peers got influenced by children’s social, cultural, religious contexts.  I also used the principles of NSSC (New Social Studies of Childhood) to re-iterate the importance of considering children as active agents, who possess abilities to interpret their learning contexts in different ways based on their daily life experiences inside and outside the school.

3. Action research to improve the teaching of mathematics at primary level (MA Dissertation)

This participatory action based research (2009) was conducted with children and class teachers in federally administered mainstream primary schools in Pakistan.  I used action research methodology to explore the effects of interactive activities on children’s learning in mathematics.  Children and their class teachers were involved as collaborative partners to practically demonstrate how action research can be used as a strategy to encourage student-centred teaching in Mathematics classroom. Data was analysed using both quantitative and qualitative research approaches.

4. Analysing the effectiveness of “Maar nahi Pyarr” in elementary state schools in Pakistan (BA Dissertation)

The project (2006) investigated influences of corporal punishment on children and the effectiveness of educational policy “Maar nahi Pyarr (say no to corporal punishment) in elementary state schools in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were used to explore teachers’ perspectives. The findings of the project revealed that most of the teachers (8/n10) reported the policy as effective for motivating children towards learning, though they emphasized upon the importance of having professional training to explore about the alternative ways for discouraging negative behavioral among children.

Journal Article

Kapoor, A., Ambreen, S.,  & Zhu, Y. (2023) Agency, power and emotions: ethnographic note-taking in research with children, International Journal of Research & Method in Education, DOI: 10.1080/1743727X.2023.2196065

Ambreen, S. (2021). Children’s perspectives towards ability-based group work in a primary classroom. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 35:4, 651-665,DOI: 10.1080/02568543.2020.1811813 

Book Chapter

Ambreen, S. (2017) “Exploring the Influences of Social Backgrounds and Parental Concerns on Pupils’ Participations in Ability Based Groups.  In Conteh, J. (ed). “Researching Education for Social Justice in Multilingual Settings”. Bloomsbury publishing PLC: United Kingdom

Workshop

I conducted a workshop for primary and secondary school teachers and researchers in an annual conference organized by NALDIC (The National Subject Association for EAL) in King’s College London (UK). The workshop was about ”Understanding the influences of home and school context in influencing peer interaction among children in multicultural classrooms”. 

Conference Presentations

Co-planting woodlands: navigating interdisciplinarity through fieldnotes (Contributed in a panel discussion at UK Treescapes’s annual conference 23 in Cardiff UK)

New ways of engaging children and young people in designing, creating and caring for future urban and rural Treescapes (A poster Presentation in the annual conference of UK Treescapes Programme 23 in Cardiff, UK)

Attending to children’s Inter-action as they do trees  (A presentation in British Sociological Association’s annual conference at University of Manchester, UK)

Voices of the future: Collaborating with children and young people to re-imagine treescapes (A presentation in “UK Consortium on Sustainability Research: Climate change: the contribution of UK universities to addressing climate change from a sustainability perspective”, organised by Manchester Metropolitan University). 

Learners as Collaborative Partners: Lessons Learned while Incorporating Student- Centeredness in Higher Education Teaching (A presentation in  Education Conference organized by Leeds Institute of Teaching Excellence Framework (LITE) in the University of Leeds (UK).

Using action-based research in primary classroom: Do we need to learn more? (Apresentation in an interdisciplinary international conference organized by the Department of Education at Fatima Jinnah Women’s University, Rawalpindi (Pakistan).

“I can do what they so why should I tell them”: exploring the nature of competitive interactions among pupils in an English primary classroom (A presentation in an international conference organized by BERA (British Educational Research Association) in the University of Leeds (UK).

How the practices of social interaction among pupils differ with its theoretical expectations: an ethnographic exploration of pupils’ group work in a state primary classroom (A presentation in an annual conference organised by the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge (UK).

Exploring the nature of gender biased interactions among pupils in an English state primary classroom (A presentation in fourth annual research student conference organised by the Faculty of Education [FRSC] at University of Sheffield (UK).  

An exploration of attainment-based inequalities among pupils in primary classroom (A presentation in annual conference organised by the faculty of Education, Social Science and Law [ESSL] at the University of Leeds (UK).  

Group organisation and dynamic nature of students’ interaction in an English primary classroom (A presentation in an annual conference organised by the faculty of Education, Social Science and Law [ESSL] in University of Leeds (UK).  

Interviewing Primary School Children Informally in an Ethnographic Research (A presentation in a Research Student Educational conference organised by the School of Education in University of Leeds (UK).  

Doing research in a primary classroom: Field work experiences (A presentation in an annual conference organised by the School of Education in University of Leeds (UK). 

Exploring the nature of pupils’ interaction during their group work: initial methodological proposal (A presentation in TESOL annual conference organised by the School of Education in University of Leeds (UK).

Seminars 

Ethics as producing potential new worlds: Laser scanning the future (A presentation in a seminar “Grasping the nettle: Ethics in research with children, young people and families” organised  by (Children and Childhood Research Group) at Education and Social Research Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK).

Researching in school: messy methodologies in co-production ( A presentation in a seminar organised by (Theory and Methodology Group) in Education Social Research Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK)

Pupil Identities in group Interactions in a Primary Classroom (A guest speech in a seminar organised by the School of Education in University of Leeds (UK).

Processes in Ethnographic Research: Being in the Field (A guest speech in a seminar in the School of Education at University of Leeds (UK).