Children

1
Childrens voices, school partnerships and
geography.

• Fran Martin, University of Exeter
• GTE annual conference, Southport, Jan 30th Feb
  1st 2009.

2
Mexico (1)

• Y1 and 2 class
• Studying Tocuaro, a village in Mexico
• Predominantly affluent, white, middle class
  school
• Pupils asked to do drawings, and had group and
  individual conversations with teacher

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Mexico (2)

• Pictures children drew included
• Drawings of the desert (clearly thinking back to
  what they had learnt about Egypt)
• A wise man (from a pupil basing his ideas on his
  knowledge of the nativity)
• Drawings of volcanoes and dinosaurs

4
Mexico (3)

• T Has anyone heard of Mexico?
• Its a place
• Its a place, a country
• Theres all wooden houses and all forest and
  mountains and a river which goes through all
  rocks and goes down a river and then I think went
  to an old shop where its just no doors and its
  just, you just go in and just pay and just go to
  another shop and just go.

5
T Has anyone got a picture in their head of what
Mexico is like?
Mexico (3 cont)

• Its got mountains
• Its got like skyscrapers
• Its for like flower necklaces
• Its very hot

6
Scoffham (Primary Geographer Spring, 2007)

• Many of the pupils used ideas about the past to
  inform their images of modern Mexico. For
  example, there were references to cave life,
  dinosaurs and Egyptian style pyramids in both the
  drawing and the discussion
• These historical references are likely to be
  reinforced if pupils learn about the bloody
  rituals and warfare associated with Aztec, Maya,
  and Tula civilisations

7
Kaptalamwa (1)

• Y1/2 class
• Geography unit of 6 weeks
• Kaptalamwa, a village in Kenya
• UK school, rural village in West Midlands
• Pupils asked to draw a picture of what they
  thought the village might be like
• Pupils had a discussion with teacher

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Kaptalamwa (2)Tims picture before
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Kaptalamwa (3)Bens picture before
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Tims picture after
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Bens picture after
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Kaptalamwa (4)

• T What do you think homes might be like in
  Kenya?
• Tim Mud houses, or caves with little doors on
• Ben Yes, mud and straw
• T What do you think the people might be like?
• Tim They dont speak English, they speak African
• Ben They have brown, black skin

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Martin (Primary Geographer Spring 2005)

• Developing a language for lack of certainty
  (maybe, might, could, possibly) is crucial to
  understanding that photographs do not tell us the
  whole story.
• The knowledge in a photograph is subject to the
  purposes the photographer had for taking it, to
  the selection made by the teacher, as well as the
  ways in which it might be interpreted.
• Developing a language of uncertainty is the first
  step in helping pupils to begin to recognise that
  ideas can change once new information comes along.

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Goa (1) Within a school link context

• School link between primary schools in
  Northamptonshire and Goa
• Curriculum activity at beginning of partnership
• Y5 children in England asked what they thought
  their partner school locality might be like
• Standard 6 children in India asked similar
  question

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Goa (2) English pupils perceptions of Indian
locality

• Stereotypical, traditional, rural Indian village
  straw and mud huts, people carrying baskets on
  their heads, wells
• Complex flat roof houses, markets, palm trees,
  bicycles
• The exotic domed buildings, snake charmers, in
  keeping with stories from Arabian Nights
• Undifferentiated could have been of England

16
Goa (3) Indian pupils perceptions of English
locality

• Snowy scenes rural urban scenes dominated by
  snow
• Skateboarding children skateboarding and
  roller-skating
• Urban scenes cars, buses, traffic lights, shops,
  Houses of Parliament, Prime Ministers house,
  schools. BUT mostly depicted in the traditional
  Goan Portuguese architectural style
• Rural scenes hills, rivers, flowers and trees

17
Goa (4)

• After 2 years of partnership activities data
  from English pupils show
• Some stereotypical images remain
• Majority depicted elements of the real locality,
  especially school environment
• Widespread reference to modern technology
• Wider range of buildings, people in Western and
  traditional clothes
• Pictures more diverse and informed by knowledge

18
Disney (in Catling Martin 2004, p145)

• There is some indication that the childrens
  estimation of the worth of their peers in the
  partner school is affected by the extent to which
  they possess modern consumer items. Teachers
  may also latch onto this, as it is a much more
  comfortable image with which to work. We cannot
  afford to dismantle some stereotypes and replace
  them with others.

19
The Gambia (1)Within a school link context

• School link between rural school in West Midlands
  and rural school in The Gambia
• English pupils (Y1/2) images of life in The
  Gambia after school link established for a number
  of years
• Tape-recorded conversation with teacher

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The Gambia (2)
T What do you mean?
P Because weve got clothes and houses
P Why are we so Lucky?
P2 Gross things like flies go on their mouths
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The Gambia (3)

• T What about the children in The Gambia, what do
  you think the children are like?
• Hmm. Well, not that happy because they dont have
  many toys to play with so they have to make them
• Operation Christmas!
• Yes! We gave them toys. I sent a Noddy car
• For Christmas, every single Christmas, we get
  boxes and put paper on it and then put toys in it
  and send to Gambia.

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School context (Wood, 2006)

• Prior to the activity days, much of the
  information that the children received came from
  the media and from the school link.
• The maintenance of this link, however, appeared
  to be providing inaccurate information. Animals
  such as zebras, lions and elephants were
  displayed around school. None of these are native
  to The Gambia.
• There was traditional craftwork scattered around
  the school. This was typically tourist souvenirs
  of crude workmanship.
• Visitors to the school concentrated on ways that
  the school could help people in The Gambia. All
  this appeared to lead to an environment where the
  children saw themselves in a position of
  superiority.

23
School context cont (Wood, 2006)

• The school link environment can be a major factor
  in influencing attitudes either way. Teachers
  need to be aware of the messages they are giving
  to children. Teaching about other cultures does
  not necessarily address negative attitudes.
• The children recognised that charitable work had
  taken place in their school to raise funds for
  the school in The Gambia. This appeared to give
  them a sense that they were in a superior and
  privileged position to the children in The
  Gambian school. There was also a sense that the
  Gambian childrens needs were much more basic in
  comparison with their own.

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Influences on linking childrens learning

• Teacher dispositions, knowledge understanding
• School context
• Educational context
• Political Context
• Western cultural historical contexts and
  conceptions of the other.

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Sameness-difference dichotomy
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Sameness-difference related
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A philosophy of difference
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Implications

• A focus on difference within as a starting point
• Acknowledging that issues are complex
• Pedagogy that is critical / questioning
• Exploration of assumptions
• Recognition that tacit categories of sameness and
  difference could be re-made differently
• Access to a range of voices

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Geography teaching

• Teaching about distant place - when (year group,
  time of year, in-depth study, long unit)
• Recognition of childrens voices both in North
  and South
• Selection of resources how to gain access to a
  range of voices, recognition of the impact of our
  own baggage on our choices (what is
  authentic?)
• Teaching about otherness - difference
  within/difference without
• Recognition of dynamic nature of places,
  societies, cultures and the relationships between
  them (frozen narratives)
• Partnership activities and learning in geography
  - compatible aims or not?

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Further reading

• Burbules, T (1997), A Grammar of Difference
  Some Ways of Rethinking Difference and Diversity
  as Educational Topics. Australian Educational
  Researcher, 24(10) 97-116.
• GA (2007) Primary Geographer Focus on School
  Partnerships and Global Dimension Geographical
  Association.
• Leonard, A (2008) Global school relationships
  school linking and modern challenges in Bourn,
  (ed) Development Education Debates and
  dialogues. London Institute of Education
• Martin, F (2008) Mutual Learning the impact of a
  study visit course on UK teachers knowledge and
  understanding of global Partnerships Critical
  Literacy Theories and Practices Vol 21 60-75
• Wood, S (2006) Learning from Linking in Tide
  Talk http//www.tidec.org/Tidetalk/network20arts
  /distant-places.html
• www.osdemethodology.org.uk/primaryeducation.html
• www.throughothereyes.org.uk/