School is like a hurdles track. School as described metaphorically by student teachers in their experiences and wishes

Main Content

Author(s):

Tiiu Kuurme(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2013

Network:

14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

14 SES 02, Schooling in Rural/Urban Settings II

Paper Session

Time:

2013-09-10

15:15-16:45

Room:

A-102

Chair:

Aitor Gomez

Contribution

The ways in which students experience school enable us to interpret the impact of the school on the development of their personality traits and value orientations. In a broader perspective, the spectrum of meanings that students associate with school may influence their general attitude to life and the values they live by in the society. According to the theory of metaphors by Lakoff and Johnson (2003), metaphors can be regarded as conceptual models that help us to understand and interpret the world. Methaphors expose things as well as hide them, and bind culturally shared meanings. However, methaphors can also narrow the vision, reinforcing certain stereotypes (Lahelma 2009). Metaphors serve as important means in the exploration of social systems (Mesjasz 2004). By examining the metaphors young people use to describe school, we may understand their school experiences on multiple levels, including the level working unconsciously, and make conclusions about the meaning and impact of school.

We consider it a problem that Estonian students express low school satisfaction as shown by the PISA studies (PISA 2009 http://www.hm.ee/index.php?048181). We claim that the reasons for the low school satisfaction are internationally quite similar, and are related to the generally operating model of school which may actually dehumanise learning activities. The neoliberal approach has increased rather than decreased the inhuman features of modernistic school ( Tenorth 2001 jt.)..

Our aim is to study which feelings and meanings are expressed in metaphors students use to describe school, and how the picture emerging relates to the generally accepted official objectives of school. The subquestions of the study are the following: 1), which characteristics of school as perceived by the students the metaphors refer to, 2) which influences of school the metaphors refer to, 3) which shortcomings in teaching activities students refer to in their metaphors regarding the school they wish for.

The long-term aim of the study is to draw attention to the need to reconceptualize the operating principles of school by looking into school reality as perceived by stuents.

Method

The data were collected from the first-year student teachers in 2008-2011 (215 students in total). As groupwork, they were asked to finish metaphorically the following sentences: „School is like...“ and „School should be like...“ There were 4-6 students in each group, and they were asked to give 5-6 metaphors. There were 35 groups. The groups had to explain the choice of a metaphor. In the analysis, the metaphors were categorized according to the sphere of experience expressed in them, based on the classification of metaphors by Lakoff and Johnson. I based the interpretation of the metaphors on the part of reality they denoted (metaphors of space, a journey, activities, being, etc.), and attempted to find an equivalent in the experiences the metaphors expressed. I classified the acquired meanings in the following manner: 1) which characteristics of school the metaphors refer to, 2) which impacts of school the metaphors refer to. I analysed the emerging spectrum of meanings in the light of objectives attributed to school ( Rajakaltio 2011).

Expected Outcomes

School is in views of students contradictory by its nature; it is a place which is closed, with strict rules, restless and sometimes irrational. The school’s role as a guide towards life and the opportunities that it makes available are recognised, but the school’s nature does not involve inspiration. As the impact of school, personality and individuality are perceived as empty and easy to change. This invites one to hide one’s true being with a masquerade and a game that enable to follow the rules of school to manage the inevitability of its reality. Knowledge received at school is perceived as a training in survival skills, not as personal intellectual development. The metaphors characterizing the school students wish to have refer to a strong need for feeling safe and secure, for closeness and support. On the other hand, the metaphors also express the need for spiritual inspiration, good emotions and a space for different ways of being active. The contradictory nature of school’s aims is expressed in the ambivalence of the experiences of the students; the mechanical and neoliberal set of instruments tends to suffocate the school’s task to provide a suppportive envrionment for the development of young people.

References

Lahelma, E. (2009) Dichotomized Metaphors and Young People`s Educational Routes. European Educational Research Journal. Volume 8 Number 4 Lakoff, G., Johnson, M. (2003) Metaphors we live bu. Chicago University Press Mesjasz, C. (2004). Images of organisation and development of information society: Going into Metaphors. http://www.library.utoronto.ca/see/SEED/Vol1-2/MesjSEED.htm. PISA 2009 Estonia. http://www.hm.ee/index.php?048181 Rajakaltio, H (2011) Moninaisuus yhtenäisyydessä. Peruskoulu muutosten ristipaineissa. (Diversity in coherence – comprehensive school in the crosspressure change) Tampere University Press Tenorth, H-E- (2001) Kann Schule leisten, was sie leisten soll? In Melzer E., Sandfuchs, U. (Hrsg) Was Schule leistet. Funktionen und Aufgaben von Schule. Juventa Verlag. Weinheim, 255-270.

Author Information

Tiiu Kuurme (presenting / submitting)

Tallinn University

Institute of educational sciences

Rae vald

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