19. Ethnography
Paper
Innovation Laboratory for Educational Spaces in Motion
Katharina Rosenberger
University College for Teacher Education, Vienna/Krems, Austria
Presenting Author: Rosenberger, Katharina
The project “Innovation Laboratory for Educational Spaces in Motion” reported on in this paper is being set up and operated by a team from the Vienna University of Technology in order to focus on the importance of the topic of spatiality in educational processes. In a broad-based three-year cooperation process (09/2021-09/2024), new models of creative thinking, action and design spaces are being created in Vienna's largest urban social housing area, the Per-Albin-Hansson housing estate. For this, three innovation labs (“School Lab”, “Neighbourhood Lab”, “Bus Lab”) were developed in a participatory manner, implemented and tested by several “innovation programmes”. By means of these intergenerational and multicultural space programmes, pupils from the surrounding schools and residents of all ages are invited to participate in the joint research and design process as experts on their neighbourhood and their everyday lives. The emerging synergies and specific spatial affordances are intended to serve as a model for planning practice in architecture as well as educational programmes.
As a member of the scientific advisory board I will give an insight into the scientific monitoring (cf. Schäfer-Walkmann 2018, 648; Luchte 2005, 189) of a specific aspect of this project: the work of architecture students with children and adolescents from the housing estate. The objective of this part of the project lies on two levels: 1. analysis of how young people engage with their spatial environment (school, neighbourhood, etc.) and 2. the acquisition of skills by architecture students in dealing with people for whom they may plan and build in the future after becoming professionals.
The second aspect, the professional development of architecture students through this special course, in which they are involved in innovation programmes, is particularly emphasised in the presentation. I will refer to two of the programmes in which the architecture students worked with children and teenagers who live and attend school in the Per-Albin-Hansson Housing estate: a) learning activities with pupils on the subject of "space" which took place in in a secondary school (“School Lab”), and b) the so called "Summer Cinema", which took place in a central public space of the neighbourhood (“Neighbourhood Lab”). The underlying research questions are: Which learning processes took place among the students of architecture according to project's aims? Which structures and framework conditions support or hinder the achievement of the objectives of the project? In what way do the innovation labs provide the basis for new developments?
Ad a) “School Lab”: Master's students of architecture at the Vienna University of Technology were (in cooperation with student teachers of a University College for Teacher Educatione) planning and realising activities with 10–14-year-old pupils. As part of their learning about school buildings through the direct collaboration with the “users” of a school they should make first hand experiences and raise awareness of the importance of "space as the third pedagogue".
Ad b) “Neighbourhood Lab”: The “Summer Cinema” took place in two vacant business premises in a small shopping centre in the centre of the housing estate that function as a work and project space for the project and are open to local residents. They form the spatial basis and creative platform for educationally relevant test settings and innovation programmes. Running a free cinema like this offered multidimensional experiences and insights about how the residents (young and old) appropriated the space. It quickly became apparent that the source of new learned knowledge was on the cinema as a collective, multidimensional event. So not only the space in front of the screen played a role, but also the spaces behind and next to the projected surfaces.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe project “Innovation Lab” (with its various forms “School Lab”, “Neighbourhood Lab”, “Bus Lab”) can be assigned to the concept of Real-World-Laboratories. According to this research approach the term “laboratory” is understood as “a ‘shared working space’ in which there is no harsh distinction between inside and outside, a place where one starts reconstruction, innovating and inspiring one’s surroundings in a practical manner” (Wanner et al. 2018, 95). The two innovation programmes reported on must therefore be seen in this special "learning environment" (Singer-Brodowski et al. 2018, 24) in which they are embedded.
In order to analyse the learning processes of the architecture students, the support they received from the innovation lab and the quality of the lab's services themselves (“School Lab” and “Neighbourhood Lab”), the design of the accompanying scientific research followed the principles and procedures of qualitative-empirical research. Following Creswell (2007, 37) we pursued “an emerging qualitative approach to inquiry, the collection of data in a natural setting sensitive to the people and places under study´, and data analysis that is inductive and establishes patterns or themes”. Several sources of information were collected for the case studies through observation, interviews and visual material. The observations covered the implementation of the activities with the participating children and adolescents as well as the preparation and follow-up phases. Photos were taken during the activities at the school and at the Summer Cinema. Group and individual interviews were then conducted with the architecture (and teacher) students. The interviews were completely transcribed and analysed using a category-based content analysis (Mayring 2014). This content analysis was systematically related to the observational work. It was characterised by an inductive process in which the participants (e.g. students) had the opportunity to collaborate and thus help shape the topics and questions that emerged from the research process. The interdisciplinary research team, which consisted of four social scientists, finally focused on case analyses in following the assumption that "generalisability can always be identified from the particular" (Breidenstein et al. 2015, 139).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe project has not yet been finalised, but some preliminary findings have already been drawn up. On the one hand, the activities in the "School Lab" demonstrate the different knowledge and approaches of the architecture students and student teachers. While the architecture students were not directly perceived by the pupils as "pedagogical staff" but rather as "coming from life", the student teachers were more able to take a step back in their concrete actions e.g. in order to act in a more gender-sensitive manner. On the other hand, the added value of developing a common language and ideas between architects and teachers became clear. Such a cross-fertilisation would have a lasting effect on architects' planning ideas as well as on the way in which teachers recognise the importance of this topic in their teaching. The fact that students of both subjects have had the opportunity to gain such experience during their studies is considered very valuable by the participants.
The organisation of the Summer Cinema in the "Neighbourhood Lab" revealed also a number of interesting aspects that provide valuable insights into the different needs of the various stakeholder groups (younger children, teenagers, parents, older residents of the neighbourhood, people with a migration background, etc.) and the extent to which these can be satisfied by offers such as this. In the course of the programme, the organisers (i.e the students) succeeded in creating networks and supporting relationships. Additionally, it also became clear how much their own attitudes and life experiences were reflected in their way of acting – for example, it makes a big difference in which neighbourhood they grew up in.
Overall, the scientific monitoring was also able to work out which structures and conditions of the operators of the innovation labs have supported the respective innovation projects well.
ReferencesBreidenstein, G., Hirschauer, S., Kalthoff, H., & Nieswand, B. (2015). Ethnografie. https://doi.org/10.36198/9783838544977
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design. Sage
Luchte, K. (2005). Wissenschaftliche Begleitung als empirische Forschung und Beratung. Report (28)1, 189–195
Mayring, P. (2014). Qualitative content analysis: theoretical foundation, basic procedures and software solution. Klagenfurt. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-395173
Schäfer-Walkmann, S. (2018). Wissenschaftliche Begleitung. Sozialwirtschaft, 648–652. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783845279060-648
Singer-Brodowski, M., Beecroft, R., & Parodi, O. (2018). Learning in Real-World Laboratories: A Systematic Impulse for Discussion. GAIA – Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 27(1), 23–27. https://doi.org/10.14512/gaia.27.s1.7
Wanner, M., Hilger, A., Westerkowski, J., Rose, M., Stelzer, F., & Schäpke, N. (2018). Towards a Cyclical Concept of Real-World Laboratories. DisP – The Planning Review, 54(2), 94–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/02513625.2018.1487651
19. Ethnography
Paper
An Ethnographic Study of Bangladeshi Primary Headteachers and Their Leadership of School Improvement Initiatives.
Nasrin Sultana, Carole Bignell
University of the West of, United Kingdom
Presenting Author: Sultana, Nasrin;
Bignell, Carole
School improvement has been the focus of much research within literature from the global north, with researchers explicating the challenges that arise for school leaders seeking to further school improvement within centralised systems of educational governance (Bernhardt, 2017; Day, Sammons and Gorge, 2022; Leithwood, Harris and Hopkins, 2019). Much less research has been undertaken into the leadership of school improvement in new and emerging countries (Moroosi, 2019), with even fewer research insights specifically offered into school improvement in Bangladesh. Here, recent research identifies educational challenges related to insufficient funding (Sarker, Wu, and Hossin, 2019), class sizes (Milon, 2016), teacher training (Salahuddin, Khan, and Rahman, 2013) and the role of school managing committees in supporting school improvement initiatives (Sehrawat and Roy, 2021). Until now, little research attention has been paid to the role of the headteacher in Bangladesh in furthering school improvement. Thus, this presentation reports on an ethnographic study of the experiences of three Bangladeshi primary headteachers, working in government schools, as they sought to lead school improvement initiatives.
A newly independent country in 1971, Bangladesh has a population of 171 million and is the eighth most populous country in the world. Since the launch of the first primary education development plan in 1997, Bangladesh has evidenced an increasingly ‘strong track record’ of growth and development in its Primary education system (The World Bank, 2023). Four cycles of development planning have since been implemented to: strengthen school infrastructure; introduce curriculum textbooks; train teachers and school leaders; and establish systems of governance at the national, regional and local levels (Asian Development Bank, 2023). The third Primary Education Development Plan (Directorate of Primary Education, 2015) introduced the requirement for a School Learning Improvement Plan, which sought to increase school-level and community involvement in leadership of school improvement - a move towards a more decentralised model of school leadership (Mousumi and Kusakabe, 2021). It is in this context, with the improvement focus shifting towards local management of schools (and increasing responsibility for school improvement located with the headteacher), that this presentation offers insights into the experiences of the participant headteachers as they sought to navigate contested leadership spaces in pursuit of such improvement.
Educational ethnography was selected as the research methodology. This allowed the researcher to spend extended periods observing the actions and interactions of the headteachers and their stakeholders so as to ‘throw light on the issues’ (Hammersley and Atkinson, 2007, p.3) that were the focus of inquiry. Thus, the research questions to be addressed in this presentation are:
- What are the challenges and opportunities for Bangladeshi headteachers regarding accountability and stakeholder engagement when involved in school improvement related activities?
- How do headteachers navigate contested leadership spaces when seeking to lead school improvement initiatives?
In response to the first question, data were thematically analysed drawing out the challenges and opportunities related to headteacher leadership of school improvement. Foucauldian theory (Foucault, 1982) informed data analysis in relation to the second research question, shedding light on how these school leaders navigated contested leadership spaces in pursuit of locally managed school improvement initiatives.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe study adopted educational ethnography as the research methodology (Hammersley, 2018), with naturalistic data (Erlandson, 1993) collected through ethnographic observation and informal conversations. As Hammersley and Atkinson (2007, p. 3) note, ethnography:
“Usually involves the researcher participating, overtly or covertly, in people's daily lives for an extended period of time, watching what happens, listening to what is said, and/or asking questions through formal and informal interviews."
The researcher (previously a Bangladeshi headteacher) was a participant observer, both insider and outsider (Gelir, 2021) in the research sites. Three distinct schools (all in Dhaka City) with different characteristics were selected for the research. At the time of data collection, School A had 20 teachers and 918 students. Its female headteacher had 15 years of experience in school leadership. School B was located outside of the urban area of Dhaka, serving a population of low-income families. At the time of data collection, School B had 453 students and 9 teachers. Its male headteacher had 20 years of experience in school leadership. School C was located in suburban area of Dhaka, serving a population of largely migrant families. At the time of data collection, School C had 520 students and 9 teachers. Its female headteacher had 14 years of experience in school leadership. A convenience and opportunistic sampling strategy was adopted to recruit, and the schools were known to the researcher. The schools were selected because of their differing demographic and headteacher reported experience of working with the school managing committee.
Data were collected in the form of field notes from observations and conversations over three a month-period. To triangulate the findings, additional data were collected through informal conversations (Swain and King, 2022) with individuals interested in school improvement activities in these schools - parents, teachers, members of school managing committees, education officers and local community leaders.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe findings offer unique insights into headteacher leadership of school improvement initiatives in a country where educational systems and school governance are still relatively new. Within this system, the participant headteachers were tasked with reconciling bureaucratic and systemic challenges with local accountability and stakeholder involvement in school leadership processes. Thus, data informing the first research question reveals a nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities related to school improvement in these Bangladeshi primary schools. The headteachers experienced a number of systemic and local challenges in their quest for improvement, including funding and infrastructure limitations, and teacher demotivation. The role of school managing committees and education officers as well as parental engagement in support of the drive for school improvement were identified as both challenge and opportunity.
With respect to the second question, extracts from observations and conversations with key stakeholders will be used to explore how the participant headteachers navigated the challenges of leading school improvement initiatives and how they experienced the instruments of disciplinary power (Foucault, 1977) as they engaged with school stakeholders in doing so.
ReferencesAsian Development Bank (2023). Bangladesh: Supporting Fourth Primary Education Development Program. Available: https://www.adb.org/projects/50192-002/main (Accessed 18 December, 2023).
Bernhardt, V. (2017). Data Analysis for Continuous School Improvement. London: Routledge.
Day, C., Sammons, P. & Gorge. K. (2022). Successful School Leadership. Reading: Education Development Trust.
Directorate of Primary Education (2015). Third Primary Education Development Program (PEDP-3) – Revised. Available: PEDP-3 Brief (Revised).pdf (portal.gov.bd) (Accessed 18 December, 2023).
Erlandson, D. A., Harris, E. L., Skipper, B. L. & Allen, S. D. (1993). Doing Naturalistic Inquiry: A guide to methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and Punish. London: Penguin.
Gelir, I. (2021), ‘Can insider be outsider? Doing an ethnographic research in a familiar setting’. Ethnography and Education, 16(2), pp. 226-242.
Hammersley, M., (2018). ‘What is ethnography? Can it survive? Should it?’. Ethnography and Education, 13(1), pp.1-17.
Hammersley, M., & Atkinson, P. (2007). Ethnography: Principles in Practice (3rd ed.). London: Routledge.
Leithwood, K., Harris, A. & Hopkins, D. (2020). ‘Seven strong claims about successful school leadership revisited’. School Leadership & Management, 40(1), pp. 5-22.
Mousumi, M.A. & Kusakabe, T. (2021). ‘School education system in Bangladesh’ in Sarangapani, P. M. & Pappu, R. (Eds) Handbook of Education Systems in South Asia. Singapore: Springer Nature.
Milon, R.K. (2016). ‘Challenges of teaching English at the rural primary schools in Bangladesh: Some recommendations’. ELK Asia Pacific Journal of Social Sciences, 2(3), pp.1-9.
Moorosi (2019), ‘Introduction and setting the scene’ in Moorosi, P. & Bush, T. (Eds.). Preparation and Development of School Leaders in Africa. Sydney: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Salahuddin, A.N.M., Khan, M.M.R. & Rahman, M.A. (2013). ‘Challenges of implementing English curriculum at rural primary schools of Bangladesh’. The International Journal of Social Sciences, 7(1), pp.34-51.
Sarker, M.N.I., Wu, M. & Hossin, M.A. (2019). ‘Economic effect of school dropout in Bangladesh’. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 9(2), pp.136-142.
Swain, J. & King, B. (2022). ‘Using informal conversations in qualitative research’ International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21, DOI: 10.1177/16094069221085056.
The World Bank (2023). The World Bank in Bangladesh https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/bangladesh/overview (Accessed 18 December, 2023).
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