Where Do Children Spend Their Afterschool Time And How?
Author(s):
Esin Acar (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2017
Network:
19. Ethnography
Format:
Paper

Session Information

19 SES 08 B, After School and Out of School Learning Contexts

Paper Session

Time:
2017-08-24
09:00-10:30
Room:
K3.19
Chair:
Andrea Raggl

Contribution

Activities that take place after school time have different purposes and functions. However, one of its most common goals is that children of working parents spend the after school hours in an environment that is structured in an adult-oriented, safe, social, academic and health-related environment ( Halpern, 2002).  Posner and Vandell (1994) stated that the academic achievement of children who spend post-school time with post-school activities, not under the supervision of their mothers, relatives or neighbors, is higher. for different age groups, and a flexible program for children to choose their own activities. Rosenthal and Vandell (1996) found that when the activities of children after school due to their work on the 3, 4 and 5th-grade students with an average age of 9.2 were negative for the interaction between the children and the educators, the children had a negative emotional perception and the programs were unsatisfactory. In the after-school activities that are perceived to be positive, it is noticed that children have a wide range of activities and that these activities are addressed to other environments (school, peer-friend environment, home, etc.) where the child lives. 

Borman and Dowling (2006) studied 438 students who were poor at the school level, who were studying for three years while they were looking at the effects of summer schools. It has been emphasized that the summer school programs in the study are a supporting effect on the learning of children in the lower socio-economic level, but that regular maintenance should be provided in order to achieve this effect. In this context, they pointed out that the proliferation of summer schools would be effective in reducing the boundaries between the social classes and at the expense of the lack of academic achievement of the students.

The meta-analysis study of Borman (2000) with Cooper et al. (2000) examines a number of studies involving the reasons for their success and the success of their summer schools. These components include; Working with small groups or providing individual instructions to the students, especially early intervention at the first grade level, ensuring parental involvement in the process, and carrying out a careful examination so that the implementation can be completed properly.Clark (1932) provided an important theory base for contemporary studies, with his study of the more general impact of after-school activities, not limited to summer schools alone. It was emphasized that support for events beyond the curriculum would play an important role in creating new interests for students who are not interested in the course, in addition to providing wealth for the students who are in agreement with the curriculum. Clark stated that the first goal of post-school activities is to make sure that students have fun and have healthy, beautiful times. Other than specialist activities such as athletics, orchestra formation, there is still no need for an out-of-school trainer to conduct post-school activities in primary schools, suggesting that these activities can be carried out in connection with the personality and enthusiasm of the classroom teacher.

The availability of an educated staff, the creation of a positive and supportive climate, the provision of diverse and versatile activities, and the support of school programs characterize the essential qualities of post-school education programs. In this study, it is aimed to see how the institutions work, where children attend in after school hours, if there are any programs they have implemented, the contents of applied programs and to compare them with their applications. At the same time, the purpose of the study is to determine the need for the existence and functioning of the institutions in which the children continue during the after school hours.

Method

Method An ethnographic study has been carried out since it is considered to be compatible with the purpose of working. Within the framework of the ethnographic study, the activities conducted for elementary school children in the institutions outside the school were determined and observed to see how these activities were carried out. We aimed to see motivation level of the students and the emphasis of cultural enrichment in the activities. Data collection and analysis process Towards the research’s aim, the study centers, art centers, sports centers and the museum in the city center of Aydın were visited. These places were visited in the study and observations took place in the nature of the events without any intervention. The researchers determined what the after-school activities were and where they were implemented before the study. Afterward, the places where the observations were made were carried out and negotiations about the scope and purpose of working with the institution manager were carried out and an appointment was made for observations. During the observations, the "Observation Form" prepared by the researchers was used and the observed events were recorded with the camera. After observing some activities, some unstructured discussions were made with the instructor and sometimes with the children. Observed Institutions in the aim of the work, the study centers in the city center were visited, different activities were observed in the art centers and sports activities were observed. In total 33 hours and 50 minutes observation were conducted. Within the scope of our work, there were 16 study centers and 2 foreign languages (English) courses for primary school children, were observed. All of the studies were carried out and the activity was observed in accordance with the determined course of the route and recorded with the video camera. Since only one of the language schools had a problem with the video-recording permission process, therefore only one was able to observe. The observed video recordings were watched, coded, categorized and themes were extracted from common codes in the direction of research findings. All of this was used in the descriptive analysis. Participation rates in the studies varied according to physical conditions and practicing types. In some, the participation rate is half of the capacity, while in others it is reduced to 4-5 students around a table. Especially in the school model study centers, the participation rate has been confronted with filling the class capacity.

Expected Outcomes

Findings concluded from the observations in all institutions visited in the study, were classified as motivation level, level of performance given in the event, the area and level that the activities address, becoming a structured assistant in activities, the person who help children during the activities, community-based activities and the emphasis of cultural enrichment. It has been observed that the studies in which the activities of each study center are examined differently in terms of physical and application structures. In the context of these differences, some study centers used the school model in which the students sat in order in the classroom, where the teacher helped with narration, homework control or test solution. In the studies that this model is applied, the classes show themselves in the order of sequential order or as a cluster of different places in the class. The multiplicity of the number of students in such studies and the wide range between class levels for some (grade 1 - 7) was remarkable. It was a bit disappointing that fewer students lived in a more relaxed environment with a teacher or a teacher around a table in a crescent or a round, and the study model they were doing, checking, or repeating something. The number of students in these studies was lower and there was a sincere atmosphere. Culture and art are features that support and develop each other. When we observed that it was presented to children as an activity, we also saw that most of our activities were directed to art events and there were no cultural events other than folk dances. Therefore, we declare that we will take cultural and artistic events separately, but it is necessary to evaluate them together. The cultural activities should be carried out with children for the continuity of society.

References

Borman, G. D. & Dowling, N. M. (2006). Longitudinal achievement effects of multiyear summer school: Evidence from the Teach Baltimore randomized field trial. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 28(1), 25-48. Casper, L. M., Hawkins, M„ & O'Connell, M. (1994). Who's minding the kids: Child care arrangements: Fall 1991 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, P70-36). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Clark, A. W. (1932). Extra-Curriculum Activities in the Elementary School. The Elementary School Journal, 32(9), 691-696. Cooper, H. Charlton, K., Valentine, J. C., Muhlenbruck, L., & Borman, G. D. (2000). Making the most of a summer school: A meta-analytic and narrative review. Monographs of the society for research in child development, i-127. Cosden M., Morrison, G., Albanese, A. L., & Marcias, S. (2001). When homework is not home work: After-school programs for homework assistance. Educational Psychologist 36, 211-221. Eccles, J. S. & Barber, B. L. (1999). Student council, volunteering, basketball, or marching band what kind of extracurricular involvement matters?. Journal of adolescent research, 14(1), 10-43. Halpern, R. (2002). A different kind of child development institution: The history of afterschool programs for low-income children. Teachers College Record, 104, 178–211. Heyns, B. (1978). Summer learning and the effects of schooling (pp. 227-268). New York: Academic Press. Lauer, P. A., Akiba, M., Wilkerson, S. B., Apthorp, H. S., Snow, D., & Martin-Glenn, M. L. (2006). Out-of-school-time programs: A meta-analysis of effects for at-risk students. Review of educational research, 76(2), 275-313. Lefstein, L. M. (1982). 3: 00 To 6:00 P.M.: Young Adolescents at Home and in the Community, Center for Early Adolescence. Posner, J. K., & Vandell, D. L. (1994). Low-income children's after-school care: Are there beneficial effects of after-school programs? Child Develop ment, 65, 440-456. Posner, J. K., & Vandell, D. L. (1999). After-school activities and the development of low-income urban children: A longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 35, 868-879. Pierce, K. M., Hamm, J. V., & Vandell, D. L. (1999). Experiences in after-school programs and children's adjustment in first-grade classrooms. Child Development, 70, 756–767. Rosenthal, R. & Vandell, D. L. (1996). Quality of Care at School-Aged Child-Care Programs: Regulatable Features, Observed Experiences, Child Perspectives, and Parent Perspectives, Child Development, 67(5), 2434–2445. Welsh, M. E., Russell, C. A., Williams, I., Reisner, E. R., & White, R. N. (2002). Promoting learning and school attendance through after-school programs: Student-level changes in educational performance across TASC's first three years. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates.

Author Information

Esin Acar (presenting / submitting)
Adnan Menderes University / Faculty of Education, Turkey

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