Dimension of Time

knowledge is important because it gives them the opportunity to improve their lives through getting education. Education is important for their future lives as they assume and hope it will give them the opportunity to get a profession that will bring them out of a difficult situation caused by poverty.

To look at education in this perspective of being something useful for the future is an instrumental way to look upon education. It is a tool or an instrument to obtain a job and a good life. In this perspective there is an element of time, which brings me to the Dimension of Time referred to in Tangen’s study as one basic dimension of life

quality. Time is a basic dimension in the lives of human beings and not only relevant for school life. From the present situation we look into the past and interpret it related to the future – and the other way round. The students in my research have a strong hope for a better future life and education is the solution. Hence focus is much on the future, but related to their situation here and now.

In this connection it might be useful to refer to a distinction between future utility values of education which may be referred to as instrumental and on the other hand the intrinsic value of education and knowledge. Most of the students in the study by Tangen considered the future utility value of education as more important than its intrinsic value. However, what Tangen found interesting and surprising was how future and present dimensions seem to be connected and that this might indicate that from students’ perspective we talk about only one dimension: Their school life is at the same time “here and now and in – or rather: for – the future”.

The students in my research do not explicitly express the intrinsic value of education and knowledge. They, however, focus on the importance of the way teachers teach, how they follow up, how they care for the students and encourage them to do their best. This will help them to get good results, which is necessary in order to be promoted to secondary school. The content in itself seems not to be of importance, but to get good results on the monthly tests are in the focus of the students as well as the teachers. So it is important for the future. On the other hand good results, as the students say, bring about self-esteem, positive personality and it makes them happy

and respected by their teachers, classmates and parents. These are examples of what the students experience here and now in their daily life at school and are aspects of their school life that gives it an intrinsic value. So also in my research we may see the duality; how present and future seems to be closely connected.

The importance of getting knowledge and education is an attitude my students meet in their nearest environment, first of all among their teachers. In the interviews with them as well as with the principals they express the importance of raising awareness of the benefit of getting education. Their concern is first of all related to the future utility value of education. The school considers it as essential not only to tell the students, but also use every opportunity to tell their parents. Taking a look at the school as an institution, its perspective is very much directed towards the future. In the Education and Training Policy one of the general objectives is

“…to cultivate the cognitive, creative, productive and appreciative potential of citizens by appropriately relating education to

environmental and societal needs” (MOE; 1994).

On one hand education should develop the students for future life; on the other hand they should be developed according to the needs of the society.

As the students in my research live under economically disadvantaged conditions education is to them and their environment a way of getting the opportunity to improve their lives. In this way hope is created for a better future. What is the probability for a better future? What is done on macro level by the authorities? Are students educated to unemployment? Is getting education the only way out of poverty? These are many questions and this research does not answer them.

However, as raising awareness of the importance of education is so much in focus, one may wonder if some of the students develop unrealistic expectations. There might be a gap between the present reality and their future dreams. Some of my student informants expressed wishes for the future that seemed unrealistic. For the students, however, these wishes are perceived as real. It is an interpretation of their future opportunities made here and now in a particular context. Therefore it is

important that the future promises given are meaningful for the students. They should perceive them as real and obtainable.

The challenge for the school as institution lies in taking care of the whole person

“here and now” from the perspective of the best interest of the child. This principle is at the very heart of the child-centred perspective which is influenced by modern ideas of human rights and human development (CRC; 1991). It understands children to be resilient as well as vulnerable, to be capable as well as inexperienced, to have a variety of capacities as well as learning needs and to be active rather than passive agents in their development (Myers, 2001).

As discussed and argued above present and future is closely linked together. Related to students’ quality of school life this study wants to point at the importance of what is offered here and now as that is assumed to be the bases for the students to learn and develop and hence create possibilities for a good life in the future.