Small schools in small communities. Teaching and learning in context.

Author(s):

Anita Berg-OlsenIrene Løstegaard Olsen Jan Birger Johansen Karl Jan Solstad

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

14 SES 06, Research in Rural Schools and Communities (Part 2) Educational Strategies

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-11

10:30-12:00

Room:

A1 318

Chair:

Janne Pietarinen

Contribution

My study is part of a large scale project at Nesna University College, Norway, financed by the Norwegian Research Council, titled “ Schooling ang Growing up in Sparsely Populated Areas”, led by professor Karl Jan Solstad. The object of my study “Small schools in small communities. Teaching and learning in context” is to describe and explore issues on learning and teaching in multi-grade schools in rural Norway, to generate new knowledge about the pedagogy and the teaching these schools are related to, and which then again constitute the rural multi-grade school as a specific educational phenomenon. Theoretical background: I started my inquiries by asking two questions which have guided my interest for this particular field of research: What makes rural teaching different?- and - What difference does it make? My starting point is that teachers in this field of education develop their base of knowledge about teaching in these small rural schools as a result of their own experiences in this particular field of reality and practice. Therefore, the way the teacher chooses her pedagogical and didactical solutions will necessarily depend upon how he/she understands the pedagogical context he/she works in, in addition to different kinds of terms, conditions and frameworks in the material, social and cultural context in which her practice takes place. This study focuses on learning and teaching in rural schools which draw heavily on socio-cultural theory, and the works of Vygotsky, Lave and Wenger, Rogoff, Säljö, Cole and Wertsch. Research questions: · Main research question: What characterizes difference in pedagogical action and learning in small rural schools? · Subordinated questions: What meanings of teaching and learning underlie the pedagogical action in these small schools? What characterizes the organising and accomplishment of the processes of learning and teaching? Which learning-contexts are created due to the understandings and practices in these small schools?

Method

A socialconstructivist approach is the theoretical basis for the reseach design. This includes not only exploring, but also disclosing cultural and historical assumptions about reality which prestructure the dominant understandings of these schools. This theoretical approach also emphasizes the way different discourses work through existing and structured knowledge about rurality and urbanity, and how they produce a truth and meaning about social conditions in rural schools that also works suppressing by the way they structure and shape a common meaning about these schools. I designed three case studies of small rural elementary schools in different rural locations in Northern Norway, using conversational interviews and observations of interactions between teachers and pupils as the main methods for data- collecting.

Expected Outcomes

My analysis shows general similarities between these three schools in ways of pedagogical and didactic thinking and action, which may indicate that there are general cultural standards for an approach to teaching and pedagogical practice in small rural schools. These standards can also be recognized in the terms of adjustment and resistance, which are apparent in various ways and degrees in the different schools as dilemmas. These conceptions stand forward as two types of rationales which can explain the meaning in the schools. This meaning was impressed by the double relations which tied the teachers and the school to the place, and which imposed upon the way they understood their own role, and their own teaching, and thereby also influenced the pupils` learning and identitybuilding.

References

Berg-Olsen, A. og Knutsen, O. (2001). Evaluering av prosjektet ”Skolen som grendesentrum”. Nesna: Høgskolen i Nesna. Bonner, K. (1997). A Great Place to Raise Kids. Interpretation, Science and the Urban-Rural Debate. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen`s University Press. Cole, M. (1996): Cultural psychology. A once and future discipline. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press. Foucault, M.(1974):The Archaeology of Knowledge. London: Tavistock. Gruenewald, D.A. (2003). Foundations of place: A multidisciplinary framework for place-concious education. American Educational Research Journal 40, 3, 619-54 Haas, T., & Nachtigal, P. (1998). Place value: An educator`s guide to good literature on rural lifeways, environments and purposes of education. Charleston, Wv: ERID Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools. Herlitz, U. (2000). Platsideologi. Bygderörelsen och demokratiska perspektiv i det postindustriella samhället. Östersund: Institutet för regionalforskning. (Rapport 119) Høgmo A., Solstad K. J., & Tiller, T. (red.)(1981): Skolen og den lokale utfordring. En sluttrapport fra Lofotprosjektet. Tromsø: Institutt for samfunnsvitenskap. Kvalsund, R. (2004b): School and local community – dimensions of change. A review of Norwegian research. Rapport nr.58. Volda: Volda University College. Lave, J. og Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning. Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rogoff, B. (2003). The Cultural Nature of Human Development. Oxford/ New York: Oxford University Press. Solstad, K.J. (1978): Riksskole i utkantstrok. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Solstad, K. J. & Thelin, A. A. (2006). Skolen og distrikta. Samspel eller konflikt? Bergen: Fagbokforlaget. Säljö, Roger (2001). Læring i praksis. Et sosiokulturelt perspektiv. Oslo: Cappelen Akademisk Forlag. Theobald, P. (1997). Teaching the Commons. Place, Pride, and the Renewal of Community.” Boulder, Colorado/ Oxford, United Kingdom: Westview Press. Vygotsky, L.S. (1978): Mind in Society. Red.: M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Schribner, E. Soubermann. Cambridge, Ma/ London: Harvard University Press. Wenger, E. (2005): Communities of Practices. Learning, meaning and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press, Wertsch, J.V. (1998): Mind as action. New York: Oxford University Press.

Author Information

Anita Berg-Olsen

Nesna University College

Nesna

158

Irene Løstegaard Olsen

Nesna University College, Norway

Jan Birger Johansen

Nesna University College, Norway

Karl Jan Solstad

Nesna University College, Norway

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