Herramienta cuantitativa

In my research at the Bishop Pritchard School, I was able to observe two tutor periods. These take place at the very start of the day from 8.40am and represent the first formal contact that the tutor (teacher) has with his or her tutor group. I observed one year 7 tutor group on a Monday and another year 7 tutor group on a Tuesday. Year 7 children are all either 11 or 12 years old. The Monday period was an extended period until 9.05am as there are no assemblies on a Monday for this year group and the first lesson started at 9.10am. The Tuesday period took

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place from 8.40am until 8.55am when there was a lower school assembly until the first lesson at 9.10am. During this time there was little opportunity for anything more than taking the register and giving a few notices. I will therefore focus my description of the form and content on the tutor time on the Monday period.

The tutor entered a small green classroom, which was her teaching room, at 8.40am exactly.

The room was approximately 55m2 with 16 white tables and 32 green chairs. There were some

displays of current children’s work on the walls although this was made more difficult by a lack of pin boards. There were some Christian symbols on the walls although this was to be

expected as it was also an RE teaching room. The technology including the teacher’s

computer, an interactive whiteboard, speakers and an amplifier were used by the teacher.

At the start of the tutor period, the tutor (who was also head of RE) tells the class to get out their reading books. The pupils do this quietly and compliantly. During their silent private reading, the tutor takes the register by calling out names and entering the data directly onto the computer at her desk. During the taking of the register, the tutor displays on the whiteboard the

pupil notices for the day. This is known as the ‘yellow bulletin’ and is produced each day/week

by the administration office. The yellow bulletin includes the theme for the week and the daily notices. The notices for this day included, inter alia, information on how to get CDs for the summer concert, a thank you to older pupils for helping with the primary school children, homework arrangements and other extra-curricular clubs this day/week. This is a common way of communicating key information which is used by most (but not all) secondary schools. What is unusual is the fact that the yellow bulletin also lists those pupils at the school who have birthdays on this day. Today it happened to be two year 8 pupils, JL and BS. The fact that every school day of the year, the school makes an effort to record and publish the pupils’ birthdays contributes to an understanding of the ethos of the school. I reflected on what the pupils had told me in the group interviews earlier on in the year:

L1M7: “I think it’s kind of like fun because like on the day of your birthday all your friends realise it’s your birthday and you do get a lot more ...”

SG: “Birthday things? Sweet!”

L2M7: “And you get a lot more respect from your friends, because they all know that

it’s your birthday so they kind of like say, ‘Happy Birthday’ to you.”

L3F8: “For example, my birthday was last Friday and I must say for some people it

may be a bit annoying. They may want to keep their birthday a secret, because people will be coming up to them and seeing what they have, so if they have any chocolate they all want some, but the good thing about it is that they are all coming up to people’s birthday, saying, ‘Happy Birthday, hope you have a nice day’ and it’s nice to know that people actually care and actually come up to you to say, ‘Happy Birthday’ instead of hearing from someone else. It’s nice to know at the start of the day.” (Group interview transcript, Ks3 pupils, 27/3/12).

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While the pupils read the yellow bulletin, the tutor asks the class about one pupil who had been persistently absent. There was a sense of caring for this individual by the teacher and the offer of practical strategies to get this pupil back into school by making him feel welcome.

The teacher then enters into a dialogue about a boy called KK who hasn’t been

in school for a while. Does anyone know why? He is not on Facebook is he? We will get a card for him and if anyone lives nearby they can put it through his letter box. (Field notes, Tutor Period, 9/7/12).

Next, the tutor invites the pupils to share any news that they have from the week-end that has just passed. Finally, the tutor displays on the whiteboard the names of all the learners who have earned their bronze, silver or gold certificates. These certificates are awarded to those learners who achieve a certain amount of attendance and recognition for good classwork, good homework and extra-curricular activity. As this tutor group is a year 7 group, the pupils are keen and most of the class are successful in achieving the gold award.

“Anyone got any news to share about what they did over the week-end?

Lewis!” “On Sunday I went to Wimbledon to see Andy Murray play Roger

Federer.” The teacher says “I am pea green.” One girl says “but he didn’t win!”

The teacher says, “it doesn’t matter, it is the experience and the atmosphere.”

The teacher talks about how long it takes to put the new roof across and get the air conditioning right. Nobody is really listening.

“Anybody else with news to share?” “Me and my mum preparing for my sister’s surprise party”. Teacher shows interest and is encouraging. “What about you

Haydn?” “I went up to London and I also did Cadets on Saturday.” Teacher

says “you like cadets don’t you?” “Jack!” “I went to XXXX.” There are 3 hands

up as others want to share. George says “I am going to the British Superbikes

later in July.” “Where?” the teacher says and they both agree that it is up country. One child says “Sick”30

The teacher then gives out headteacher certificates. They all get one because they are in year 7 and keen not to be absent or get any behaviour points for poor behaviour.

The T shows a Microsoft Excel™ spread sheet for all the bronze, silver and gold. Most of the class (who attend) have already got gold. There is a page in the planners which shows what you need to do to get the various awards – Bronze, silver and gold. (Field notes, Tutor time, 09/07/12).

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Overall, the atmosphere created by the tutor, the school and the pupils during this tutor period was one where the value of the individual was emphasized. The pupils responded well to the encouragement of the tutor and felt able to share their news. The tutor, who is a self-professed Christian, did not read out, or get the children to read out the thought for the week on this occasion. Neither did she lead or facilitate a traditional act of worship during the tutor time on this occasion. However the pupils had space to reflect on their lives and space to be thankful for the opportunities they had. This approach accords with more contemporary views of spirituality (Comte-Sponvillle, 2007; Antinoff, 2009). However, the tutor did not on this occasion develop a sense of community and tradition based on an explicitly Christian narrative which may have been more appropriate for spirituality within a Church school (Wright, 2000). Perhaps this was done last time or will be done next time.