Voices on school failure. The students have the floor

Author(s):

J. Eduardo Sierra Nieto(submitting)Nieves Blanco García(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

04. Inclusive Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

04 SES 13 C, Students’ Voices and Decision-making

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-21

11:00-12:30

Room:

FFL - Aula 18

Chair:

Hannu Savolainen

Contribution

This Paper is part of a doctoral thesis titled “La secundaria vivida. Experiencias masculinas de relación con el saber y la escolaridad” (“Secondary education lived: masculine experiences of relationship with knowledge and schooling”), directed by Dr Nieves Blanco. The main purpose of the research consists of constructing narratives of school experiences of boys who have had a difficult relationship with learning and their own experience at secondary school. I am developing 3 case studies with boys of between 16 and 18 years of age who are studying an initial vocational training program (within the compulsory education) and who dragging a school history of failure. The research therefore focuses on two aspects:

(1) On the one hand, we are attempting to learn about the meanings constructed by students on the basis of a history of academic failure. What Perrenoud (2007) called to as "training histories", related to the subjective implications of growing up immersed in institutions and relationships that emphasise their learning difficulties. In keeping with authors like Blanchard-Laville (1998) and Diker (2007), the research focuses particularly on relationships with knowledge, understood as the position an individual takes up with regard to knowledge and his possibilities for learning and doing.

(2) On the other hand, the focus is on the male experience of failure. Researching the experiences of "school failure” on the basis of sexual difference (Molina, 2010) implies to recognise that there are particular symbolic and cultural elements in boys' stories we need to learn to see. Especially if we take into account that, as mentioned in the literature on masculinities and coeducation, changes in hegemonic masculinities are closely linked to the difficulties many boys have for maintaining a positive and enriching relationship with their school and with knowledge (Epstein, Hey & Man, 1999; Seidler, 2006).

Within said general framework, this paper focuses on the Initial Phase of the fieldwork. The purpose of this phase consisted of negotiating the access to the fieldwork and starting to collect data through classroom observation and in-depth-interview with students. As events progressed, the teacher I am collaborating with suggested carrying out activities with the group to help them identify experiences and emotions which, in our opinion, are hampering their possibilities for learning and achieving good academic results. Being able to work directly with the group is making it possible to discover aspects of classroom life related to the subject of the research and it is providing very valuable information for cases contextualisation.

Method

The research has been designed through case studies (Stake, 1998. Simmons, 2011). The main technique used to collect data is the in-depth interview, together with the field diary and self-referential writing. The Phase presented here has consisted of designing and developing two sessions with a vocational training program group to make them reflect on their the experiences of "school failure”. In the first session, we performed 2 activities: (1) a self-knowledge questionnaire whose purpose was to start speaking in the first person about their experiences as "bad students"; (2) an exercise for listing their experiences, which consisted of finding a word or expression that reflected how they felt about their failed attempt at Compulsory Secondary Education. In the second session, we held a video-forum based on a selection of scenes from the film La Clase by Laurent Cantet (2008). We worked on the script for analysing the scenes shown to them; finally, they wrote a personal reflection on what the activity had suggested to them. Both sessions were registered into the field diary, together with an observations register kept by the group's teacher.

Expected Outcomes

The conclusions will examine two levels of reflection: (1) Methodological reflections related to the particularities of the research with young people (Sierra y Caparrós, 2011). In these sessions and throughout the research, we try to pay special attention to relationships and processes owing to the ethical requirements of the research and a pedagogical concern for the knowledge we are capable of constructing about young people's experiences at secondary school. (2) Reflections on the subject of the research. Despite the fact that the research did not seek to hear the group's collective opinions about its members’ school failure, certain elements appeared that were common to many students, such as the sensation of having wasted time doing Compulsory Education. There was also a certain level of unanimity regarding the teachers they had had during their Compulsory Education; a teacher who was distant, strict and unbending. More personal feelings and emotions appeared, associated with specific episodes, many of which had to do with situations in which they felt a teacher had ignored them. Some of these feelings were part of the way they felt in class (and, on a broader level, their feelings towards that subject).

References

Blanchard-Laville, C. (1998). En los orígenes de la capacidad de pensar y aprender. A propósito de las concepciones teóricas de W. R. Bion. In: Mosconi, N.; Beillerot, J. y Blanchard Laville, C. (1998) Saber y relación con el saber. Buenos Aires: Paidós. pp. 79-109. Bonal, X. (Coord.) Apropiaciones escolares. Barcelona: Octaedro. Diker, G. (2007) ¿Es posible promover otra relación con el saber? Reflexiones en torno del proyecto DAS. In Baquero, R.; Diker, G.; Frigerio, G. (comps.) Las formas de lo escolar. Buenos Aires: Del estante editorial. Epstein, D.; Hey, V. & Man, J. (1999) Failing boys? Issues in gender and achievement. Buckinham: Open University Press. Funes, J. (2010) 9 ideas clave. Educar en la adolescencia. Barcelona: Graó. Molina Galvañ, D. (2010) La práctica viva y la experiencia colectiva de la renovación pedagógica. Historia de vida del MRP del País Valencià -Gonçal Anaya-. Valencia: Universidad de Valencia. Tesis Doctoral. Perrenoud (2007) Pedagogía diferenciada. De las intenciones a la acción. Madrid: Popular. Seidler, V. (2006) Masculinidades. Culturas globales y vidas íntimas. España: Montesinos. Sierra Nieto, J. E. & Caparrós Martín, E. (2011) Al hilo de lo vivido: la pedagogía como brújula de la investigación. Málaga: II Jornadas sobre historias de vida en educación. En prensa. Simons, H. (2011) El estudio de caso: teoría y práctica. Madrid: Morata.

Author Information

J. Eduardo Sierra Nieto (submitting)

University of Málaga, Spain

Nieves Blanco García (presenting)