In terms of ontology, the Burnard (2008) study (Sample Study 1.2) exemplifies the
constructivist paradigm in a number of ways. First, the researcher allowed the concepts
of importance in the study to emerge as they had been constructed by the participants.
Rather than studying the implementation of a defined curriculum or pedagogical
approach, she studied pedagogical practices used to engage disaffected youth not as she
conceptualized them but, rather, as they were constructed by the teachers in the study. She
asked the question, “How [do] music teachers working with disengaged students—whose
difficulties with learning in school are expressed through disruption, disengagement andwithdrawal—promote inclusiveness through the development of particular pedagogic
practices?...What is it that teachers think they do in developing inclusive pedagogies in
classroom contexts where young people are most at risk of exclusion?” (pp. 62–63).
The author’s ontological assumptions are also evidenced in her discussion of her
decision to use the constructivist approach. Burnard acknowledges that her report of the
three teachers’ experiences does not result in a definitive capture of a reality that can be
generalized to a larger population. Rather, she argues that these teachers’ accounts shed
light on teaching strategies that can be adapted by other teachers (whether of music or
other subjects) in order to reach disaffected learners.