It's a balloon Sir!: Cultural Adaptations in Beginning TF Teachers

Alison Hramiak

Today's Talk• Purpose of research - why I did it• How I did it• Data collected • Some analysis and findings• Where to from here

Focus is on Cultural Adaptations of Beginning Teachers

Initial Research Questions

• What cultural differences and challenges can arise and are met by teachers during their first year of teaching when they are placed in a school that is culturally very different from their own background?

• How do these teachers rise to the challenges they face and overcome?

Why this angle?

• Much has been done on beginning teachers and impact/issues/adaptations of practice

• Little (if any) done on cultural adaptations• Though there is research out there on using

cultural angles with the development of teachers

• But not for TF (to my knowledge)

Cont.,

• TF lends itself to exploring this because of it's mission statement which is partly to put high level graduate into challenging schools

• So, this fit in with my Research Informed Teaching and interested me from the start

OPPORTUNITY +

How I did it

• Small case study with 5 participants teaching various subjects in an urban, challenging, 97% Ethnic school

• Mixed methods approach. • Rich in data.• Ethical documentation completed.• All participants gave written consent at start –

when I was ‘unknown’ to them

Cont.,

• 3 participant surveys over the academic year eliciting views on their experiences and focussing in on cultural challenges and issues and adaptations to practice

• Followed up with focus gp at end of year• Semi structured interview with school

professional mentor• Multiple observations of teaching over the year

(min of 6 per student)

Data

• 3 x survey sets from participants• 1 x interview notes from school mentor• 30 observation reports• Focus group notes

Cont.,

• Analysis of initial survey data allowed me to redirect subsequent surveys to focus in on the cultural angle in more detail

• Analysis of all survey data enabled me to direct focus group questions and semi structured interview questions so that the different methods were focussing on the initial research questions

From the surveys• Cultural differences a major concern, e.g. male

students lack of respect for women teachers• Children try to use cultural differences for

excuses but starting to get hang of it• Poor relations between gender affects teaching• Answer back in another language• Sometimes miss references Analysis and Findings• Needed to be better prepared, e.g. some simple

Urdu phrases

Adapting practice to fit in with the school

• Use of handshaking, and terms like respect and disrespect with pupils

• Adapting level for EAL students• Observation records show that lessons would

need to be adapted for the cultural differences in school

• Analysis and Findings

Analysis and Findings

Curriculum Versus Pupil

“The biggest barrier to learning is the lack of cultural references to draw on…”

Theoretical underpinnings (so far)

• Grounded in ideas of culture – the difference in cultural capital between the teachers and the pupils (Bordieu, 1983)

• Exploring the origins of the new meanings fashioned by, and new strategies employed by the teachers in order to relate better to their pupils (some links to ‘habitus’ here)

• Also Bruner (1996) looking at how new teachers from different backgrounds can add to the outlook of their pupils – fitting ways of knowing to the needs of the culture

But maybe…

• Maybe it’s the difference between pupil and the curriculum they are forced to follow

• Certainly seems so in English

And…

• The trainees were having to adapt their teaching to fit in with the school and its curriculum – not wishing to ‘rock the boat’ at such an early stage in their careers.

• Pressure of conforming to departmental requirements rather than being creative and innovative as their reflections demanded

Mind the gap…

• The gap seems to be between the curriculum and the cultural background of the pupils – according to their teachers

• Not between the teachers and their pupils, both of whom benefit from the diversity they bring to each other.

Was it worth it?

• Bordieu not necessarily a ‘neat’ fit but worth looking at because it makes us (me) think more about what we’re (I’m) trying to understand (Nash, 1999).

• Intention is to add to the body of knowledge about beginning teachers and their issues

• If in doing so, trainees can be better prepared in the future, then it was worthwhile

• Even if all they needed was “ a few simple Urdu phrases”

Where to now…

• Write up for conference presentations and journal submissions - ongoing

• Disseminate the findings within Teach First here at Hallam (Yorks and Humberside Region) and possibly nationally at TF conference

• Explore ways of extending the research further

• References and draft paper available if required

• A.Hramiak@shu.ac.uk