Researching Pupils’ Participation in School-Based Co-Curricular Activities Through an Ethnographic Case Study of Learning

Abstract

Case studies are widely used in qualitative research. Often, they require phenomena observed within a particular research to be examined in detail from various perspectives. In our account here, we show how one case study helped uncover a range of learning opportunities that arise from pupils’ participation in one school-based co-curricular activity (CCA) in Singapore. School-based CCAs are a distinctive type of organized activities in Singapore. The different types of CCAs such as Boys’ Brigade, Basketball, Choir, and Design and Innovation Club offer pupils the time and space to explore and interact outside of their academic curriculum. The research on which our case account is based challenges the deficit view of CCAs as lacking in educational value. The research argues how participation in CCAs can enhance academic learning rather than simply develop pupils’ dispositions. The case begins with a description of how CCAs were introduced to the schools in Singapore and their increasing importance to the school curriculum, in particular, their integration to initiatives that are linked to the development of 21st-century skills. In studying the educational potentials of CCAs, the case study approach was used with ethnography to examine closely the contextualizing features of CCA participation such as CCA curriculum and pupils’ ways of taking part in CCAs, and more significantly to illuminate what counts as school-based CCAs in Singapore. We conclude with a discussion on the perceived limited generalizability of case study research and provide some caveats for its use in qualitative studies.

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