Stage 1
Before presenting a detailed description of the methods used by the researcher in the classroom it is necessary to discuss another component of Stage 1 of the project. This was the attendance at the Margaret Simpson in-service courses by the researcher. As will be more fully expanded upon in Chapter 4 the in-service courses were designed to sensitise teachers to the basic concepts and assumptions underlying the Western Desert course.
The researcher attended two in-service courses - one for teachers in the ACT and the other a more advanced course designed to train experienced Western Desert teachers in giving in-service courses to other teachers. The ACT course was attended just prior to Term 2, 1979 while the advanced course was attended during Term 2 in Sydney.
The teaching method adopted by Margaret Simpson in hen in-service courses was to involve the participants in activities that they in turn in their own classrooms would have their children do. The theory, then, was that people learn by doing. The researcher became a total 'participant' in the strict sense of the word at these courses; just as the teachers became immersed in the activities so too did the researcher. This enabled her to experience the in-service course from a participant's perspective.
Apart from participating in the in-service courses the researcher also took the opportunity to interview Margaret Simpson. The interview was casual and informal representing an unstructured approach. Similarly, at a later date an opportunity presented itself when the researcher was able to interview Bob Tonkinson - the anthropological adviser to The People of the Western Desert.
During Term 2 the bulk of Stage 1 of the project occurred for it was during this period that the Grade 5 class in question underwent their Western Desert course. For the duration of the term the researcher became a
participant-observer in the classroom.
Prior to working in the classroom the children met the observer in Term 1. They were told by their teacher that she would be spending a lot of time with them in the second term. The point of meeting the children in Term 1 was to ensure that the researcher would not arrive in the classroom in Term 2 as a complete stranger. Several visits were made to their classroom during this time. On one of these occasions the researcher decided to try and find out what the children could articulate about Aborigines prior to their exposure to the Western Desert course. The methods used for this exercise were as follows. The class teacher selected six children (3 boys and 3 girls) to give impromptu talks on Aborigines. These talks were given first thing after the morning Assembly when it was usual for some members of the class to talk briefly on any topic. The six children stayed outside the classroom until their turns came to talk. This prevented each child from hearing what the other speakers were saying. None of the children knew the topic of their talks prior to entering the classroom; and so, they did not know that all six were speaking on the same topic - Aborigines. After each child presented his/her talk the rest of the class were invited to ask questions.
The talks together with the questions posed by the other children in the class were all recorded on cassette tape and this provided a useful source of information on
what the children knew about Aborigines and what their feelings were, if any. This exercise was followed up by another one when in a language class the teacher got every child in the class to write a short essay on what they knew and felt about Aborigines.
The researcher's role in the classroom during Term 2 was never fully explained to the children, although gradually over time several came to the realization that she was some sort of researcher. The idea was to make the researcher's presence there as low-key as possible. It did not bother the children because they were used to having outsiders in their classroom. It was common for student-teachers to be there to both observe the proceedings and to occasionally take lessons. More often than not the childnen thought of the researcher as a student-teacher from the College of Advanced Education. Sometimes the researcher sat with the children at one of their desks; at other times she would sit in an inconspicuous position at the back of the room where she had a good vantage point to observe everyone and where she herself was not under constant observation by the children.
At finst the children expected the researcher to act in an authoritative role either as teacher or student-teacher. Over time attempts were made to dispel this view because she did not want to be looked upon as an authority figure. If asked where she came from she would reply that she was a
researcher from the University. The researcher made a point of not telling the children that she was there to evaluate the Grade 5 Aboriginal studies course or that she was interested in their responses to this course for fear of contaminating too greatly the situation under study.
It was felt to be extremely important that a close rapport be developed with the children and to make friends with them. If barriers could be broken down between the researcher and the children and a relationship established that was casual, friendly and informal it was more likely to be possible to elicit information from them that represented their genuine feelings about the course and Aborigines. Part of the campaign to establish such a relationship was the insistence on the part of the researcher that the children call her by her Christian name and not address her as Miss Hill as would be the manner of address to the teachers and student teachers. This did help them dissociate her to some extent from the authoritative role. Very early in the term the researcher learnt everyone’s name and made a point of addressing the children as often as possible by their Christian names. This helped her to become familiar with their personalities over time and also helped establish a degree of intimacy with them.
The researcher’s relationship with the teacher had its initial problems but over time these were ironed out as the relationship became one based more on friendship rather than
one based on cnitical evaluation. On neflection, it was a lot to ask of the teachen to allow a stnangen to come into his classnoom to evaluate his implementation of the Westenn Desert course. Naturally enough, to start with the teacher was a little nervous and often became insecure when he spoke to the class about Aborigines. Initially, he wanted the researcher to contribute in a positive manner to his course but for obvious reasons the researcher had to refrain from doing this, otherwise she would have been directly influencing the implementation of the course. The teacher’s role expectations of the researcher together with the researcher's own role expectations became the biggest source of frustration throughout the period of the evaluation. After a while, however, the teacher tended to make jokes to the researcher about her lack of contribution to the course and over time the problem resolved itself. Considering the position of vulnerability the teacher found himself in as a result of the project, the researcher can only commend his patience and preparedness to cope with what more normally would have been a very difficult situation.
In Stage 1 of the project the researcher made sure that her role in the classroom was kept at a low profile - she simply observed, got to know the children and would casually chat with them. It was important not to pose any threat. For this reason no interviewing was attempted or anything done that might make the children nervous of the researcher's presence or which would indicate that she was
concentrating on their responses to their Aboriginal studies course. Apart from attending all sessions that related to the Western Desert (with the exception of a few when absences were unavoidable) the researcher attended other lessons as well. She often attended mathematics and language classes and sometimes sat in on scripture, library, singing and listening or attended a sports afternoon. This participation in the overall Grade 5 curriculum was to ensure that the children got used to the researcher’s presence and to camouflage the fact that she was really interested in the Aboriginal studies course.
Taking this approach allowed for unobtrusive observation and for participation within limits, for sometimes the researcher would help correct spelling homework or would assist the children with some of their language exercises. A point was made of never assisting the teacher in the Aboriginal studies course, however. The greatest degree of 'participation' occurred at the three day Aboriginal studies camp held outside Canberra. Here, the researcher lived with the children in cabins, went on their Aboriginal studies activities with them, and ate with them. Being one of the five adults on this excursion and only one of the two female adults she felt obligated to help out with supervision and with other duties at the camp, although always ensuring that she maintained a low profile in the Aboriginal activities.
Throughout this period of field work every effort was made to keep an open mind and to allow the phenomena to unfold. The researcher, too, always tried to make sure that she was not influencing events, although her actual presence must have been contaminating to some degree. Emerging issues were watched for and original ideas were adapted or changed as new evidence presented itself.
Apart from the casual, subjective observations data were collected in a more formal way as well. Of chief interest to the research project were the content of the course, the skills and processes, and the children’s attitudes. Whenever in the classroom whether attending the Western Desert sessions or some other subject the researcher always had a cassette recorder with her (which may or may not have been used for recording purposes). The children at first were quite conscious of the cassette recorder but after the initial couple of weeks they got used to it and paid little attention to it. Whenever an opportunity presented itself in the Western Desert sessions the proceedings were recorded. This research method enabled the researcher to collect data on what the children said about Aborigines in discussions that took place in the classroom. Wnenever the teacher gave a formal presentation such as he did on topics like kinship or the Dreamtime the proceedings were also recorded. Using this method over time allowed for the collection of a lot of verbal data which on analysis enabled the researcher to tap the perceptions that both
children and teacher had towards Aborigines.
The written record proved to be a valuable means of
obtaining data which again pointed to the ways in which the
children thought about Aborigines. It was common for the
teacher to ask the children to write things. These writings
included stories, class exercises, essays, projects,
responses to films (in the form of questions posed) and so
o n .
Over the first three month period, then, the chief
techniques of data gathering included making subjective
observations, recording on cassette relevant classroom
proceedings and collecting the written record. Such methods
were supplemented by holding relaxed conversations with the
children that may or may not have related to the topic of
Aborigines, and the taking of photographs. Photographs were
taken of the classroom setting, the decoration on the
classroom walls and the children performing various
activities at their three day camp.
Data gathering in Term 2 concluded with unstructured
interviewing. This occurred after the three day camp when
the course was rapidly drawing to a close. While the course
and the camp experiences were still fresh in the minds of
the children every available child was interviewed. Had
this interviewing occurred after the August vacation there
would have been a danger that the impact of these learning
children to become accustomed to the researcher and vice versa, interviews were able to take place in a casual and relaxed manner - all of which were recorded on cassette.
The purpose of these unstructured interviews was to ascertain the children's responses to the activities at camp and to find out how much thought they were giving to their Aboriginal studies course. The interviews took place in a quiet room with both child and researcher seated on a mat on the floor. Each interview was commenced with the showing to the child a set of photographs depicting various activities at camp. The aim was to stimulate their memories of the camp and to try and provoke some kind of response which would open up the way for discussion. Interspersed with this discussion the researcher would ask what activities they liked best and why; and then, which activity they thought would be most important or relevant to an Aboriginal person and so on. Not all the children were good talkers; some proved shy and hesitant in their responses while others had no inhibitions and were very forthcoming with their information.
Stage 2
Stage 2 of the project took place in Term 3,1979. Having spent Stage 1 taking a low profile approach to the research and collecting data largely by unobtrusive means,
in Stage 2 the strategy was to focus more closely on some of the emerging issues. During this second stage the intention was to enquire further in order to confirm or disconfirm the initial impressions. For this purpose a variety of methods were used.
Key informant interviewing represented one of the major methods. Those people who became key informants occupied special positions in relation to the Western Desert course. At the adult level key informants included the school Principal, the Grade 5 teacher, and three other teachers. The three other teachers were selected because one taught the parallel Western Desert course in the school, and the other two were experienced teachers of the course and had some association with the one that was being implemented. Apart from interviewing these people in a formal way it was also possible to elicit information through unobtrusive means, for example, from casual conversations during morning tea breaks or in the lunch hour, in social situations and at school functions.
At the child level one key informant was selected - a girl in the Grade 5 class. She was able to provide information about classroom life from the child's point of view. The reasons for selecting this particular girl were because she and the researcher related easily with each other, she was garrulous and also she appeared to be typical of the average student in the class.
Interviews with the teachers evolved into lengthy sessions often lasting several hours which meant on occasions these sessions had to be split into two. All the questions were predetermined although enough flexibility was allowed for the discussion to merge into other areas which had not been pinpointed in the interview schedule. Because so much of the information was of a confidential nature it was decided not to record the interviews on cassette. Instead notes were taken. These interviews proved to be fruitful as the informants showed no hesitation in coming forth freely with information. The success of these interviews could be said to lie with the fact that over the preceedirg four to five months the researcher had developed relationships with these people based on mutual respect and trust. Should the same questions have been broached early in the project one would doubt whether it would have been possible to acquire the same amount of information. Also by conducting these interviews late in Stage 2 of the project the researcher was able to direct the questions to those issues that needed further clarification.
Apart from the structured interviews with key informants (at the teacher level) structured interviews were held also with some of the children. The intention was to try and discover the Grade 5 pupils’ attitudes towards Aborigines. These questions were predetermined and so the children’s responses were structured accordingly within the framework. The interview schedule was based in part on
Chamber's (1978) Primary Pupils Attitude Schedule which had been designed to test children's attitudes towards Aborigines. In Stage 1 of the project information had already been collected which conveyed children's attitudes towards Aborigines. Now by usi'ng this more structured approach it was possible to cross check the evidence already obtained. One third of the class were interviewed - the children having been selected by random sample.
Archives and other written records provided a large source of data. As has already been indicated in Stage 1 the written records of the children - projects, stories, essays, class exercises and so on, were collected. Whilst these data were in part teacher-directed giving them some degree of distortion they did basically represent the 'inside' view - the way in which children perceived Aborigines and their Aboriginal studies course.
The collection of the written record continued in Stage 2 of the project for in order to compile a class profile which gave insights into the nature of the children under investigation various school records had to be consulted. Information was gathered on parental occupations, educational progress and ability, and the results of ACER testing (learning ability, reading development and percentile ratings). To obtain general background information on the school, the school's newsletter to parents was examined together with any other information
that the school published, such as, official statements on school policy, philosophy and so on.
Another way in which the written record was used was to have the children write a paragraph on their opinion and feelings towards Aborigines that they had prior to doing the course and then to have them write on how they felt about Aborigines after the course. Such an exercise was once again a means of cross checking information previously collected in an effort to confirm or refute emerging issues.
In other words an obtrusive method was used to check