Efficiency and quality in the skill acquisition characterized by the rural school. Findings from international research.

Author(s):

Laura Domingo Peñafiel(presenting / submitting)Roser Boix Tomás(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching

Format:

Paper

Session Information

27 SES 02 C, Parallel Paper Session

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-18

15:15-16:45

Room:

ESI 3 - Aula 6

Chair:

Joana da Silveira Duarte

Contribution

This paper offers a general approach to and the first results of the international study “Efficiency and quality in the acquisition of skills characterize the rural school, is this model transferable to other types of schools?". This three year study is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation[1], within the grant program for I+D+I Non-Fundamental Research Projects -2009 (EDU2009-13460, sub-program EDUC). Here we discuss the work completed during the two first years of the project’s implementation, during which time the sample was selected and some results were obtained. This project, which is being carried out in Latin America and Europe, analyses rural schools equivalent to primary schools, located in Latin America (Chile, Uruguay) and Europe (France, Portugal and Spain).

The project reflects on the process of acquiring competences in the rural school, to learn how these competences situated within the framework of a participative-active methodology, and which give special attention to cultural and social diversity, could have transferable didactic and organizational components for ordinary (urban and suburban) schools. To this end, we will analyse how a participative methodology is linked to the acquisition of competences that is being carried out in some countries in Latin America and Europe. By reflecting on and learning from these countries' experiences, we hope to contribute new knowledge about multigrade schools, the acquisition of competences, and the attention paid to the vast cultural and social diversity in which we are globally immersed.

The main objectives that arise in the present research are:

1.- Study and compare the methods of teaching and learning in rural schools in Chile, Spain, France, Portugal and Uruguay.

2. Design a proposal for teaching components that can be transferred to other types of schools, in order to improve learning in other schools.

In an attempt to generate new knowledge about multi-grade schooling we have undertaken research into rural education in countries with diverse regional organizations, as well as different educational systems and traditions. Here in lies much of the motivation to implement the study, since there is not enough research on multi-grade schooling, especially in didactics. In this manner, this project seeks to allocate an importance to rural education research that it has yet to receive in academic studies or in the teaching field (both university and non-university). International journals we consulted in our literature review that make reference to the limited research on rural education have continued to denounce this imbalance (Little, 1995, 2001; Coladarci, 2007). The current state of the research proposes a challenge for us who intend to advance and improve this area, since we are not able to locate enough relevant references in the scientific literature.

[1] Members of the Research Project: Roser Boix (principal investigator), Carlos Moreno, Limber Santos, Antonio Pereira, Pierre Champollion, Antonio Bustos, Pilar Abós, Marta Ramo, Virginia Domingo, Marta Ramo, Laura Domingo, Fernando Leiva, Fernando Mandujano, Esther del Moral, Jean-Luc Fauguet, Gladys Villaroel, René Flores, Alain Legardez, Yves Alpe and Thierry May-Carle.

Method

This research will combine quantitative and qualitative research techniques. Regarding the choice of the sample, we selected the most effective (successful) rural schools that practiced methodologies that supported learning in heterogeneous groups. Our select was based on the national test scores and / or country-specific evidence of school success. Of the selected schools, we believe that a sample of 10% according to type of school (one teacher / one unit, and cyclic) is sufficiently representative to respond to our objectives . As for the qualitative techniques and instruments used with researching teachers the context, we used: in-depth interviews, participant observation (observational methodology), focus groups (discussion), key informant interviews and document review. The only quantitative techniques and tools used with pupils, teachers and families, were questionnaires (results). The research process is long and complex, and as indicated by Taylor and Bogdan (1986:158) by using these instruments, we can bring to light emerging themes, the researchers read field notes and transcripts and develop concepts and proposals that begin to make sense of the data.

Expected Outcomes

Last year in ECER 2011 in Berlin we presented the results up to this point in our study are based on information from the centres that responded to the pre-qualification questionnaire. This year we can add the results from the interviews we carried out with the different selected schools, and from the fieldwork that was done in each country. By basing our work on previous research results, which affirm that the work in multigrade classrooms implies a greater and more varied selection and use of materials (Bandy, 1980) and educational resources (Marland, 2004, OERI, 1990), we have been selecting different pedagogical themes that emerge from the investigation. These themes are related to the use and development of curriculum materials and text books, teaching-learning process (teaching strategies, type of evaluation, etc), the relationship of the content to the environment, understood here as the immediate school surroundings, classroom organisation (grouping, time and space), and finally the use of information and communication technologies. The first findings of this research into multi-grade classrooms allow us to initiate the next phase, the socialization of the results and their evaluation in order to facilitate the development of recommendations and decision making criteria.

References

Bandy, H (1980): “The identification of skills and characteristics needed by country schoolteachers”, Education reports, Canada. Coladarci, T. (2007). Improving the yield of rural education research: an editor’s Swan Song. Journal of Research in Rural Education, 22 (3). Little, A.W. (1995). Multigrade teaching: a review of research and practice. En Education Research, serial nº 12. Londres: Overseas Development Administration. Marland, P (2004): Preparing teachers for multigrade classrooms: Some questions and answers. University of Southern Queensland. OERI (1990). Teaching combined grade classes: Real problems and promising practices. Virginia: Appalachia Educational Laboratory. Taylor, S. J.; Bogdan, R. (1986). Introducción a los métodos cualitativos de investigación. Buenos Aires: Paidós.

Author Information

Laura Domingo Peñafiel (presenting / submitting)

University of Vic, Spain

Roser Boix Tomás (presenting)

University of Barcelona, Spain

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