Methodology This study employs a qualitative design of case studies to interpret the world that the interviewees will present since it creates a direct and personal contact with the respondents in their own environment. Patton (1987: 16) claims that the ‘qualitative approaches emphasise the importance of getting close to the people and situations being studied in order to understand personally the realities and minutiae of daily program life’. The interpretative approach to science prompts fieldwork to identify how participants at the ‘doing’ and ‘receiving’ ends of the inter-school working process in state-maintained colleges in the Maltese islands regard the issue of governance and governing in a policy context as sanctioned by the Act, and how the respondents regard implications for this within the institutions involved. We wanted to explore the interviewees’ narratives and reflections, and the impact that these were to have upon them as social actors in a joint working endeavour.
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Given this underlying objective of the study we targeted the experiences and accounts directly involving the professional lives of teachers. We also concur with Ribbins (2007) that interviewing is the most fruitful since interviews as a data collection method is considered to be related to naturalness and spontaneity, flexibility and control of the environment, aspects that we witnessed first-hand during the interviews. Bryman (2004) argues that semi-structured interviews sustain flexibility, and together with unstructured interviews are becoming recognised as in-depth or qualitative interviews. Reflecting on what Bryman (2004) stated, and recognising that they would assist us in exploring our framework of themes, we opted for semi-structured interviews to help us collect the data. We wanted to obtain general information as well as a range of insights relevant to specific issues; wanted to probe the unknown. In order that the semi-structured interview questions might be finalised, they were piloted with a sample of interviewees (one principal, three heads of school and ten teachers) randomly chosen from among three of the first four pilot networks. The interviewees identified favourably with the whole population of educators in the current four pilot networks of Maltese state schools and the sample population that was to be interviewed. The exercise helped us to refine points of details and finalise the data collecting instrument. It helped us discover problems that we had not predicted or noticed when designing the questions for the interviews. When we finalised the semi-structured interview questions, based on a pilot study, we discussed them and the interview mechanics with some of our colleagues at the university. In choosing the sample of interviewees we ensured that the elicited data would be representative of College One. Cohen, Manion & Morrison (2003) argue that the researcher when choosing the sample has to consider the extent to which the sample represents the whole population. When choosing the sample of College One for the study we decided to interview the college principal, all the heads of school (16 in all) and a sample of 34 teachers to form an adequate representation of the school practitioners of College One. The sample of interviewed teachers was randomly chosen from the school staff lists that the heads of school willingly supplied. We chose a representative sample of teachers on the basis of gender and teaching experience so as to ensure the right mix. The range of professional experience of interviewed teachers ranged from 2 to 40 years and their professional qualifications ranged from a teacher training college certificate to a postgraduate degree. The heads of school were the main gatekeepers to the school, and obtaining their permission to enter the schools and interview the teachers was crucial. To maximise the research response of the sample of teachers, we arranged with the heads of every school involved in the research to have informal meetings with the selected teachers at their place of work. The purpose of all the meetings was to explain the objective and background of the study, to inform the individual respondents that they had a personal choice about whether or not they took part, to answer any queries or apprehensions, and to assure the interviewees of anonymity and confidentiality in the content of the interview. We guaranteed the respondents’ anonymity (Hoinville et al. 1978) and also asked them if they had any objection to our recording their interview. We took on board Denscombe’s (2007) recommendations to undertake tape recordings, which helped to make the narrative of the interviewees less impermanent. Furthermore, data recording made possible member validation since conclusions could be traced back to the interview transcripts, and would not be conditioned by our preconceptions.
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Finally, taking into account the degree to which the researcher’s findings may be biased, we considered the internal validity of the interviewee’s verbal comments, subjective expressions and non-verbal reactions and tried to recognise to what extent their data was supported by other interviewees’ recorded experiences. Furthermore, aware that it was not going to be an easy task to recognise the extent to which there might be a difference between ‘espoused and enacted responses’ of the interviewees, we hoped that by getting multiplicity of views, different pictures and perspectives, by observing people in action and by analysing documents, we would obtain a full sense of how they were working together. We also attended a number of Council of Heads meetings and consulted relevant educational and legal documents. This reinforced the validity of our data collecting instrument. Naturally, there are a number of limitations that are worth mentioning. The interviews were conducted within a localised timeframe and a number of personnel identified in the Act had not yet been appointed. Furthermore, not all ten Colleges had been set up, and the proposed National Curriculum Framework was still at the consultation stage. All this placed certain limitations on the data collection of our study. We could not ask questions that addressed policies that related to areas and issues emanating from the College reform that were not yet in place (as those mentioned above) because the interviewed practitioners were not in a position to answer them. Consequently we could not record any related discourse that could have presented the participants interpretations, opinions, attitudes and perspectives about certain provisions of the College reform that had not yet been realised. Although there were gaps and missing links in the administrative structure and practices of the Colleges, which brought on a number of challenges, all interviewees were exceptionally supportive and receptive. Accordingly, we were still able to collect robust data on the themes that formed the essence of our research.