Session Information
14 SES 08 B, Interventions in Schools and Communities
Paper Session
Contribution
The Funds of Knowledge approach, which originated at the University of Arizona (USA) with the help of anthropologists and researchers in the field of education, took place from the need to address a deficit model that was being forged in schools, under the slogan of the supposed cultural and social deficiency of students from underrepresented families or from low economic strata.
In this context, Vélez-Ibáñez and Greenberg (1992) proposed that all families, regardless of their economic, linguistic and cultural status, have skills and knowledge that stem from their survival strategies in adverse scenarios (González et al., 2005). However, such intellectual resources are invisible, even denied, in school practice due to the existence of asymmetrical power relations between different social groups: "Public schools often ignore the cultural and strategic resources available to students' homes, which we have called Funds of Knowledge" (Vélez-Ibáñez and Greenberg, 1992, p. 314).
The strength of this approach lies in the possibility of giving a voice to families, through the establishment of mutual trust relationships between them and the educational centers. It is a matter of establishing bridges for the co-creation of knowledge and learning strategies for students in a society that is increasingly aware of the irrationality of wanting to homogenize school practices in increasingly diverse and complex classrooms (Santos Rego et al., 2022).
In recent times, terms such as 'Funds of Identity' (Esteban-Guitart, 2016), have emerged to broaden the perspective of the Funds of Knowledge to the students' own life experiences, thus giving them greater prominence. And in a scenario in which more and more importance is given to inclusive education, the role of the community also appears as a strategic resource to enhance students' Funds of Knowledge.
From our perspective, the community, in addition to being a learning asset compatible with family and school, also implies an 'extra' support for those students whose family and/or personal background may be more problematic. Researchers such as Zipin (2009) and Hogg (2011), among others, studied the complexities of entering into the personal and family life experiences of students with a past characterized by domestic violence, delinquency, or bullying situations, among others. Thus, the so-called 'Dark Funds of Knowledge' emerged, which, for some researchers, meant reliving the trauma without being able to make a significant contribution to the students' learning situations, and for others, it was presented as an opportunity to turn all those negative experiences into claims linked to social justice, and even to develop resilience practices as support for other young people who were going through similar situations.
The main objective of this proposal is to describe an experience that had as its theoretical basis the potential of this approach in disadvantaged contexts, adjusting it to a very specific reality. It is about a group of Roma families, regular participants in initiatives developed by the Fundación Secretariado Gitano in Pontevedra (Galicia-Spain). Our intention was to improve the relations of these families with their children's schools, taking advantage of the benefits of collaborative work between the groups involved, and, in short, favoring greater visibility and recognition of the Romany population in the school curriculum.
Method
In the dynamics of approaching the reality of our interest, with mainly interpretative purposes, we started from a qualitative methodology, based on the review of other studies on the Funds of Knowledge approach, most of them international, which have served as a theoretical basis for the design of the Funds-Knowledge-Families program. Specifically, the program is structured in two interconnected phases, planned on the basis of a preliminary contact and needs analysis of the participants: The first phase of the program focused exclusively on families, with whom eight training sessions were held at the facilities of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano, in which work was carried out in parallel with mothers and their children. With the former, topics related to culture, emotional education, and the functioning of the educational system were addressed, highlighting the important role of the school and the productivity of family-school communication in the search for greater family involvement. In the case of students, we focused our work on study methods, the organization of time for the completion of homework, in addition to issues related to good nutrition, rest or punctuality (Lorenzo et al., 2020). The second stage of the program was carried out in the three schools of the students participating in the first phase of the program. The main objective of this phase was the incorporation of the Funds of Family Knowledge of the Roma children in the school curriculum. The work consisted in the development, with six groups of students from 3rd to 6th grade of Primary Education, of an interdisciplinary Didactic Unit. The activities that comprise it culminated in the elaboration of short life stories, some of which could be published (Lorenzo et al., 2020).
Expected Outcomes
Firstly, with respect to the satisfaction shown by the families regarding their participation in the program, we can highlight the establishment of mutual trust relationships, based on the creation of spaces for dialogue and exchange of experiences, which allowed the women to explore and express aspects of their intimacy, by explaining in their comments the desire for a better future for their daughters and sons (Lorenzo et al., 2020). It was also a new environment of interaction, to which they gradually adapted, and in which they were able to open up and participate and discuss their perspectives, both on home education and on cultural dimensions. Regarding trust and reciprocity, the data on attendance and maintenance in the sessions were very positive, despite the many elements against them, such as displacement, household chores, opposition and pressure from their partners, among others. On the other hand, it is worth mentioning the teachers' level of satisfaction with the program. Thus, all those who attended the first meeting held with the schools, and even those who decided not to participate, were interested in the approach, letting us know that perhaps they could work with it in the future, but adjusting it to the characteristics of their students and classrooms. Finally, it is necessary to highlight the motivation shown by the students during all the sessions, in which they worked as a team and participated actively, also carrying out joint tasks with their mothers, a fact that favored their involvement in the teaching-learning process of their children (Santos Rego et al., 2021).
References
Esteban-Guitart, M. (2016). Funds of identity: Connecting meaningful learning experiences in and out of school. Cambridge University Press. González, N., Moll, L. C., & Amanti, C. (Eds.). (2005). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in households, communities, and classrooms. Routledge. Hogg, L. (2011). Funds of knowledge: An investigation of coherence within the literature. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(3), 666-677. Lorenzo, M., Míguez, G., y Cernadas, F. (2020). ¿Pueden contribuir los fondos de conocimiento a la participación de las familias gitanas en la escuela?: bases para un proyecto educativo. Teoría de la Educación, 32(1), 191-211. Santos Rego, M. A., Lorenzo, M., y Míguez, G. (2021). Repensando las Prácticas Culturales de la Infancia Gitana a través de la Exploración de sus Fondos de Conocimiento e Identidad. Revista Internacional De Educación Para La Justicia Social, 10(1), 69–82. https://doi.org/10.15366/riejs2021.10.1.005 Santos Rego, M. A., Lorenzo, M., y Míguez, G. (2022). Fondos de Conocimiento familiar e intervención educativa. Narcea. Vélez‐Ibáñez, C., & Greenberg, J. (1992). Formation and transformation of funds of knowledge among US‐Mexican households. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 23(4), 313-335. Zipin, L. (2009). Dark funds of knowledge, deep funds of pedagogy: Exploring boundaries between lifeworlds and schools. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 30(3), 317-331. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596300903037044
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