VARIACIONES DE GRAVEDAD.

At the beginning of the collection of the data the chosen participants had the opportunity to express how they felt about going to school. This was important to study in order to familiarise myself more with the context being studied. In addition, this was also important in order to explore whether students would identify reading and writing as an important aim of schooling. During the first focus group interview the children were specifically asked whether they enjoy going to school and to provide reasons for their answers. Six students participated in this interview; Amanda, Maria, Hailey, Chris, David and Steven aged six and seven. More information about these participants was provided in Table 3.3 in Chapter 3.

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Amanda, Maria and Hailey did not hesitate to explain that they loved going to school and that they looked forward to it. David and Chris reported that they did not really like to go to school whilst Steven explained that he had mixed feelings. David and Chris argued that they did not like attending school because they did not like studying and following rules. Additionally, they reported that they did not like school because sometimes they had a lot of writing to do. Chris went on to state that he did not enjoy school “because we have a lot of studying... because we need

to study a lot for the tests and the teacher gives us a lot of homework... we have to write a lot of homework afterwards which can be very tiring”. In response to the

same question Chris also reported that he did not like to go to school because according to a character from the Disney movie ‘Toy Story’, “there is no place

like home!” David continued by stating that sometimes he hated when his teacher

chose educational videos for them to watch.

During the winter season when the students could not go out to play in the school yard, due to bad weather, teachers had the tendency to show the children a video or DVD on the interactive whiteboard. David explained that he continuously brought DVDs from home to watch at school such as the Disney movie ‘Cars’, but the teacher did not let the children watch them because she stated that they were not educational. The same student also explained that sometimes he wanted to take a particular toy to school but his teacher did not allow toys to be brought to school either because it broke one of the school policies.

Episodes such as these made David frustrated, to the extent that this is the reason he gave for not liking school. This scenario showed that media that are meaningful and engaging for David were not recognised in school, on the grounds of them not being regarded as ‘educational’. In relation to this, similar findings have shown that popular media culture is often perceived in a positive way by parents but is often banned from early childhood classrooms (McNaught, Clugston, Arthur, Beecher, Jones Diaz, Ashton, Hayden and Makin, 2001; Boyd, 1997).

Data from this study shows that popular culture is manifested in the children’s lives and this was evident from the students’ early responses about school life. Popular culture is regarded as very important to students to the extent that in order to answer

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the question about whether he enjoys going to school, Chris referred to a cartoon character from ‘Toy Story’ to support his argument whilst David complained that he cannot watch the DVDs he wants and cannot bring toys from home. This shows that popular media culture has a central role in these children’s lives. The literature supports this notion, demonstrating that many young students are highly exposed to the world of media even before they start going to school (Marsh, 2005).

Data gathered from the first focus group interview revealed that the children made a clear distinction between what was perceived to be ‘educational’ and what was not. For example Chris reported that the film ‘Cars’ was not appropriate for the school environment because it was not ‘educational’. Chris further reported that this was a school policy and one of the “school rules”. Further through the interview Chris stated that not all videos are educational. He reported that most Disney movies are not educational whilst he explained that the episodes of ‘Barney’ are more educational “because you actually learn something from it”. This shows that this particular student distinguished between what he perceived to be educational and non-educational videos.

Furthermore, data showed that there is an inconsistency between the out of school literacy which students are exposed to at home and the schooled-literacy. This situation also seems to be mirrored in England where the literature shows that digital practices are not integrated between out-of-school and school settings (Marsh, 2008). The literature shows that students learn more when their popular culture interests are recognised (Evans, 2004) so that there is a connection between the digital literacy skills practiced at home and school. The importance of the continuity between home and school has also been emphasised through reference to ‘third space theory’ in the literature (Levy, 2008). The third space in this study is the space in between the literacy discourses of home and school and Levy’s (2008) work has showed that this can be an ‘uncomfortable’ space for some children when there is a lack of continuity between the two.

Moreover in order to ensure that schools make the best use of the students’ ‘funds of knowledge’ (Moll, Amanti, Neff and Gonzalez, 1992) schools need to consider and understand the children’s background which they bring to school (Marsh,

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2005). Studies such as those conducted by Marsh (2005) reveal how central material objects are for young children and how such media objects like those described by David might act as ‘soothers’ and facilitate the transition from home to school (Marsh, 2005). This stems from Winnicott’s (1971) work on transitional objects and attachment.

Observations further revealed that both teachers did not mind that students played games on the computer or tablet as long as they have finished the reading or writing tasks given. The fact that teachers allowed the children to ‘play’ on the computer once they had completed their reading and writing suggests that technology was not considered to be part of reading and writing. The analysis of data revealed that there were times when teachers accepted the link between popular culture and digital technologies mostly when these were used for leisure purposes. A number of students in fact were observed playing Disney and Nickelodeon games during break time and at no point was there any interaction from the teacher. All students agreed that they enjoy playing online games at school even though this does not occur frequently.

When the students were asked to elaborate on why they go to school, they all agreed that although they “must” attend school because it is compulsory they feel that attending to school is also a “need”. The children’s responses were all very similar in this respect. They explained that as children they need to go to school to learn to read, write and study. Alan explained that school is important because if he learns to read and write it will eventually help him “get a good job in the

future”. The students interviewed also explained that they attend school because

they need to learn languages, mainly English and Maltese, as well as Mathematics. All students agreed that they like ‘learning’ even though they might not necessarily like going to school.

This supports the Malta National Minimum Curriculum (1999) which claims that ‘students consider the learning process to be relevant when they realise that learning, in terms of both content and method, helps them throughout their life’ (p.25). Data from this study has therefore showed that these children bring popular culture into their own definitions of reading and writing, but this is not recognised

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by the school discourse as being part of ‘learning’. It can be argued that the students’ comments support the aims of the curriculum however there is a tension in what is meant by the term ‘learning’ – and indeed learning to read and write.

Chris and David reported that there were other aspects which they liked about school life. Chris, David and Steven agreed that they enjoyed playing with their friends during break time and that they liked to participate in fun activities such as art, crafts and music. Chris, David and Steven also explained that they preferred non-academic lessons such as art, physical education, drama and using the computer as opposed to reading, writing and mathematics lessons. All students expressed their belief however that they found that all the subjects taught at school were equally important because they all contributed to learning.

In this sample, students who reported that they enjoy going to school were all girls. Amber explained that she enjoyed going to school because when she grows up she would like to become a teacher whilst Amanda explained that she enjoyed attending school because she got to do a lot of fun things. Maria provided a different perspective and reported that she enjoyed school so much because she learned a lot; “I get to learn a lot... I learn to read and write... and this is very

useful for my future... my mummy says”.

In sum this is showing that many of these children feel that ‘school’ is about ‘reading and writing’ and that a main purpose of going to school is to learn to read and write. The boys claimed not to like this as much as the girls which is consistent with the literature (Younger and Warrington, 2006). However what is clear from the outset is that digital technology and popular culture are not viewed as being ‘educational’ and are not perceived as being part of ‘reading and writing’. I explored this concept further in the next drawing-based activity.

As Chapter 3 showed, apart from being asked about their attitude towards school all Grade 3 children were asked to draw themselves during a writing and/or reading activity. All the drawings showed happy faces and children drew themselves in a ‘happy setting’. There was only one student who expressed negative feelings towards school life. This student who was also assisted by a learning support

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assistant in Grade 3.2 showed this by choosing to draw his face rather than himself reading or writing because he said “it is nicer to see a drawing of myself rather

than drawing myself reading lots and lots of boring books in a boring place”. This

drawing is presented in Figure 4.1 below:

Initially, the students were asked to share their attitudes towards school in order for me to make them feel comfortable and introduce them to the focus group interview. However, asking students about school life has revealed important data. Early findings from this study have shown how popular culture is manifested within the children’s lives and how the teacher’s and school’s discourse has influenced their views on what is considered as educational and non-educational within the school setting. Observations also revealed that although figure toys and DVDs could not be brought to school, students could still ‘access’ popular culture through digital technologies in the classroom.

In conclusion, this section has shown that students’ ideas were influenced by the school discourse. Episodes such as those described in this section revealed that technology was not considered to be part of reading and writing. The analysis of data further revealed that popular culture was also not viewed as being ‘educational’ and part of ‘reading and writing’. The next section will examine the teachers’ and students’ views on the role of digital technology in reading and

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writing in the classroom. Furthermore, the following section addresses and answers the second research question behind this study and it also provides the reader with background information about the students’ and teachers’ views on digital technologies.

4.3 The students’ and teachers’ views on the role of technology in reading