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In this section I provide an overview of my experiences in the schools under study, where my ethnographic research took place. I believe that it is crucial to mention my personal experiences during fieldwork, for they outline the social context within which the data of this study were generated. Throughout the ethnographic study I was concerned about the effects of my presence on the nature of data that I collected. It is for this reason that this research project is the culmination of ‘something contracted and contested, something presented and

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re/presented in a process of translated, moulded and negotiated codes of understanding’

(Bhana, 2002: 69).

When I started my research I was not thinking very much about the influence of my presence on the data (Thorne, 1993). Yet, I was also concerned about how, as a subjective gendered being, I would address my own subjectivities about undertaking the research processes of this nature. My main subjectivity in this project was a conviction to undertake a PhD fieldwork research. This assisted me to overcome my own anxieties about undertaking the ethnographic aspects of the study. Although I had read a lot about ethnographic studies and I had previous experience, the strict timetable for completing the observations and the interviews in each school was very stressful, for if anything went wrong I would have to wait until the next academic year as my ethnographic research would last until the final days of the school year.

My initial thoughts upon arrival to schools were that I had to make children feel comfortable in my presence so that they could talk freely during the interviews. It is for that reason that every time the children called me ‘sir’ I encouraged them to call me by my name. I explained to them that I was a student as well, and the reason that I was visiting their school was because I had some questions to ask them. Although, it was impossible to befriend all the students who participated in my research I think that the removal of the ‘sir’ barrier eased our communication and set the basis for the friendly discussions that followed during my ethnographic research. Building rapport with the subjects of my research was one of the most challenging aspects of my study. However, I believe that I managed to build rapport with the pupils, for after the first couple of days, many of the students would come to tell me their personal stories with girlfriends, school grades etc.

Building rapport with the teachers was a lot easier, for they were very welcoming from the first moment that I arrived in the schools they were trying to help me as much as possible.

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However, their attitude made me think that they might try to be pleasing during the interviews or classroom observations. So I was extremely careful during the observations to try and spot any inconsistencies, which I would then openly discuss with them.

During the observation I was keeping notes throughout the day. However, the decision to keep notes was forced upon me, as the Greek Pedagogical Institute rejected my request for using a tape recorder. I have now come to realise that the written notes had a positive impact on the data collected, for I believe that had I used a tape recorder participants would have been more apprehensive. This is because the tape recorder would not allow the dynamics that were developed between me and participants to come into force, as the presence of the tape recorder would distract them from spontaneous talk. As a result, the atmosphere would have been less relaxing and might have had an immense impact on the data collected.

A very important issue that I was faced with on the first day of the fieldwork was that teachers were concerned that I was interested in exploring their teaching skills and students’

knowledge. For instance, on the very first day, one teacher in the mathematics class told me:

‘sorry but we did these equations yesterday but they haven’t learned them very well yet’. As soon as I realised the deeper meaning of her words I made it clear that my study was not exploring teachers’ skills or students’ comprehension abilities and knowledge. This was made clear to all the other teachers when I visited their classrooms to conduct my observations.

A challenging aspect of the observations was that I did not know from the beginning what it would be interesting to record, so I had to keep notes of everything that was happening in the schools, especially during the first observations. In the notes that I kept during classroom and play ground observations I used the real names of the participants and, at a later stage, when full field notes were written, were replaced by pseudonyms. This was done because it was impossible for me to remember during the observations what pseudonym I had given to each

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one of the pupils, which would increase the risk of ascribing a child’s activities to a different person. However, in this final thesis, I refer to participants with their ascribed pseudonym in order to protect their anonymity.

I would also like to refer to the interviews and informal conversations that I had throughout the observation period with participants. As discussed, interviews and informal conversations with pupils aimed to encourage them to discuss their views of gender roles and their quotidian experiences of gender. The interviews with the students based on creating groups with equal number of male and female pupils (four boys and four girls formed each interview group). The informal conversations with the students that took place in the classroom or in the school playgrounds were unstructured and participants could be boys, girls or boys and girls together. During these casual conversations I asked children the same question that towards the end of the ethnographic observations would ask in the interviews. By doing so, I enhanced the validity of my findings as pupils’ answers were cross checked.

On the other hand, the interviews and the conversations with the teachers offered me rich data related to their perceptions of gender discourses, as well as their classroom practices. The data offered some valuable insights into the potential impact of teachers’ classroom practices on children’s perceptions of gender roles. Often, during the casual conversations, teachers would ask about my views of certain problems related to gender equality issues. The first time I found myself in a difficult situation where I was not sure if it was right to answer their questions, fearing that my answer might be reflected upon the data gathered. However, I realised that sharing my views on issues that were not strictly related to my research subject would have a positive influence on my research, for this discussion would make teachers during the interviews feel more like taking part in a conversation rather than like being interrogated. The informal conversations with the teachers offered me the opportunity to

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compare their views with those expressed during the interview. Specifically, I followed Ramazanoglu and Holland (2002: 159) suggestion that ‘If you expect to be in a position of power, you can decide to attempt to subvert your own exercise of power by undertaking research as a collaborative interactional process, with reciprocal inputs from the researcher and the researched …’.

In conclusion, from my experience ethnographic research is a complex and often contradictory process that no matter how logical or coherent appears in the presentation all the aspects, dynamics of the processes that the researcher witnesses in the field cannot be captured and offer a holistic view of what really happened in the field. However, above all these, an immense challenge that I was faced with was making sense of the nature and meanings of ideas, experiences, practices and social categories of gender in order to answer the main research questions that led to my study.

160 Synopsis

In this chapter I reviewed the main methodological, epistemological, ethical challenges and concerns of my research on the Hellenic education system’s role in reinforcing traditional gender discourses through its practices and children’s sense making of gender discourses.

The chapter discussed synoptically my main concern to evade imposing my views on the data and my positioning during the fieldwork. Additionally, I presented the research design and the objectives of the study along with the main sampling strategy that was deployed in choosing the participants. The fundamental issues of credibility and validity of my findings were discussed through the description of the data collection procedures and data analysis methods. This chapter concluded with the presentation of the main ethical consideration regarding access and acceptance, informed consent, privacy and confidentiality. Throughout the ethnographic study I was concerned about the effects of my presence on the nature of data that I collected. Thus, it was considered important to discuss in this chapter my personal experiences during fieldwork, as they outline the social context within which the data of this study were generated.

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Chapter 5

Gender Discourses in the Curriculum Materials and