| Hello, Sandy. |
| How have you been getting on with your dissertation? |
| Fine, and I've been working hard on the various action points we agreed on our last tutorial. |
| Do you want to talk me through what you've done? |
| Yeah, sure. |
| Well, we agreed on three main targets for me to aim for. |
| The first one was to find out about suitable data analysis software. |
| Yes. |
| And what I decided to do was to look through catalogues specialising in IT. |
| That's a good idea. |
| What did you come up with? |
| I found the names of two promising ones. |
| Right. |
| But I also thought it'd be worthwhile talking to a lecturer. |
| Oh right. |
| Who did you see? |
| Jane Prince. Do you know her? |
| She's in the Computer Centre. |
| Yes, of course, she's the new Head. |
| Yes. Well, she was very helpful. |
| Oh, that's good. |
| Did she suggest anything in particular? |
| Yeah. She recommended software called Vivat |
| and said I should book up for a couple of practice sessions using Vivat. |
| Great. I'm sure you'll find them useful. |
| And, of course, the second target was to draw up a survey checklist... |
| Yes, you emailed me it last week. |
| Have you had a chance to look...? |
| Of course, |
| um, I think it's good. |
| Very much on the right lines. |
| I'd say your first two sections are spot on. |
| I wouldn't suggest that you change anything there, but... |
| in section three you really do need to have questions on teaching experience. |
| Yeah. I was thinking that section looked a bit short. |
| Right. |
| And my third target was, do further reading on discipline. |
| Oh yes. I mentioned a couple of writers, didn't I? |
| Yes, well, I got hold of the Banerjee and I thought that was excellent. |
| But I'm afraid I didn't manage to get hold of the essays about classroom management, |
| you know, the ones by Simon Ericsson. |
| The bookshop said it was out of print and the library doesn't have a copy. |
| Oh right, and I'm afraid I've lent my copy to another student. |
| What I suggest you do is try the library again - |
| this time apply for it through the service called special loans. |
| Have you done that before? |
| You're entitled to six books a year. |
| Yes. |
| No problem. That's what I'll do. |
| So, lots of useful work done. |
| So, let's look at some new targets. |
| We'll start by having a chat about your Chapter One. |
| I very much enjoyed reading it. |
| Your written style is very clear |
| and you've included lots of interesting descriptions of education in your target area. |
| I've just got a couple of suggestions for some additional work. |
| Of course. |
| Could I just ask - what do you think I should call it? |
| Well, I'd go for something like Context Review. |
| What do you think? |
| Well, short and to the point. |
| Exactly. |
| Now, as regards specific areas to work on, |
| I'd be quite interested to have a few more statistics about the schools in the different zones. |
| Oh, that wouldn't be a problem. I can get them from the Internet. |
| Great, |
| and although you did make a reference to quite a few different writers, |
| I think you should aim to cite more works written later than 2000. |
| Okay. |
| That's more difficult, but I can try. |
| When do you want that done by? |
| Oh, it's not urgent. |
| Um, I should aim for the end of term. |
| But in the meantime, I think you should also be thinking about Chapter Two. |
| Should I be drafting it already? |
| No, but I think you should note down its main sections. |
| Yes. |
| You know, I always find that the hardest part. |
| I always find it helpful to put some ideas on index cards. |
| Um... and then you can sort them, and even lay them out on the floor. |
| It's a real help. |
| Well, I'll certainly try it! |
| When would the deadline be for that? |
| My advice would be to get it done before you embark upon the research. |
| You can always change it later if you need to. |
| Okay. I'll get going on that... |