4.1 Introduction
4.2.5 Teachers’ comments on group/classroom practices
Anna, Berit, Carl, and Ester are all defining sorts on factor A, and David and Frida are defining sorts on factor B. This said, they also have comments that relate to essential statements on other factors as well.
Welcoming each child by name was especially important to factor A and C teachers and implies seeing each child. The issue is very important to Carl (p.
164): “it is so sad if people go through, or children go through daycare and are almost never seen. That is just so appalling.” According to Berit (p.333) it is an established routine: “About saying the name and all of that, that is established routines. And it is important that it’s there, so it’s not anything to discuss, but our attitudes and beliefs are. We have to discuss them the whole time”. This may imply that although there are established routines, teachers’
concrete practice may differ according to varying attitudes and need to be
discussed. Larrivee (2000) points to the danger of staying trapped in unexamined judgments, interpretations, assumptions, and expectations and argues for ongoing critical reflection on classroom practices. This is also a point that Anna (p. 164) is concerned about: “It’s good for a person to take a standpoint to what one thinks. It’s actually something we use too little time on in school. I feel there is a lot of planning and a lot of practical work. But to sit and philosophize, to think a little over what we actually are doing here, we have too little time to do.”
Working on group projects was placed in the middle by teachers on factors C and E, or at the negative pole, factor A with -1 and factors B and D with -2. A comment from Anna (p. 104) supports this “We don’t really use it, projects are probably more used with older children.” Frida calls attention to the possibility of misunderstanding concepts. She had read an article about huge misunderstandings among teachers concerning student projects which was actually something the students did alone. “I may have interpreted the word wrongly…because in my opinion when we work on group projects, we work together sometimes, and a little alone, but it’s different from what we do in our books. It could be something we perform, or hang up, that’s what I think about as project” (Frida, p.10).
Modeling behaviors for children was one of the most essential and/or characteristic aspects for factor E teachers, and Carl (p. 48) talking about the adult role in daycare says “it is an important function in relation to model-learning”. Using drill and recitation was placed at the far most negative pole on factors A, and C, and in the middle on factors B, D, and E. According to Carl, he remembers this was something he did as a young teacher’s aid together with the preschool teacher he was working with at that time, but points to a change: “I guess it’s a developmental issue, that I can see in myself and as a teacher in daycare, that I have become much more relaxed to that”
(Carl, p. 118).
Some dilemmas are pointed to by Berit. Having responsibility for many children Berit (p. 70) says: “either you have to be a “watcher” (påpasser) or you have to be very structured”. “Things don’t come by themselves, and I am thinking about the adult directed, if you wish. Children shall learn, and I believe that’s quite important as well, because I feel there has been a period
now, where there has been a lot of talk about how children should find out what to do themselves, and all of that. But, at the same time, if we don’t present things for them, then they won’t know about them” (Berit, p 74). Here we can see traces of varying childhood philosophies concerning what children should learn and how it should be done, and David (p. 71) draws attention to differentiation, an important issue in modern Norwegian education “I work very differentiated in relation to the students”, a point also made by Ester (p.
65) “You have to pull one along and calm down the other”.
Concerning a variety of choice (important to factor A and E teachers at +1) and children’s interests, Carl (p. 184) comments: ”As preschool teachers we have struggled to make visible that we are pedagogues in the same way that school teachers are…. It has been quite revolutionizing for me to register that it’s amazing how much teaching and learning that goes on when we for example are outside in daycare, or on a trip, I mean in the terrain, and the conversations we have. .. I believe in focusing on what the children are interested in learning. ..It may be difficult for those outside daycare to see daycare as a pedagogical enterprise, it has something to do with finding the code (knekke koden) to see that learning doesn’t need to be classrooms, desks and a teacher lecturing”. Carl (p. 176) “I think that we have become better at emphasizing children’s own initiatives and to be more flexible according to it.
And more conscious to that learning does not necessarily have to be formalized through structured teaching situations, but that learning…what stays put, is the informal learning”. Carl represents a view that focuses on letting children plan (legge føringen) their own day as much as possible, except for meals at certain hours, “otherwise it’s mostly on the children’s terms” (Carl, p. 102). Berit (p. 191) tells us her practice has changed somewhat: “I have become more structured than I was before, that is, ‘okay, now I’m talking, now I’m telling something, and you need to listen’. But earlier we were supposed to receive initiatives, see. We should receive all the initiatives.”
Morning routines were important especially for teachers on factors B and D. It is not just the routines Frida calls attention to, but also community collaboration and how coordinated teachers are. Frida (p.38) “It’s not only the ones we have in our own class we have to deal with, but all the others too.
And then we have some age-mixed teaching, so suddenly we can have groups
through several weeks where both 1st, 2nd ,and 3rd grade are together. …So being coordinated, see, on routines and so on, I believe that’s very important.
I like to be very well prepared … and I like to think before I act, but you also have to be very flexible and able to handle a lot of spontaneous input (innspill)... It’s important that they get to show their work, homework or something they do in class, .. and I like to give them very clear and direct feedback on things. They haven’t become tired of school (skoletrøtte) yet, see, so they are actually very motivated and interested in things, and then try to hold on to this as long as possible.”
A relational aspect is characteristic of teachers on factors A and C concerning group/classroom practices, and this was also focused on in Q 1 Beliefs about discipline and behavior management. Carl (p. 148) comments like this: “For my own part, I believe that I am better at creating relations, positive ones, to the child group and to the other employees. It might be unconsciously down prioritized, but from we start in the fall then creating/enhancing relationships is some of what we work most intensely with.”
There are also considerations of process and results. “Well, I believe more in the process. Being on your way (underveis) all the time and, … here we very much emphasize play, a lot of social interaction, a lot free choice activities”
(Carl, p. 102). He makes another point: “There are no set answers concerning interaction between people. One can’t see that, now we’re there, everything is perfect, now all are friends, and we have friendship as a theme” (Carl, p. 106).
Ester (p. 73) seems to agree: “I guess I’m not that product oriented… It’s more important to do things together, or that children take pleasure in what they are doing, show happiness and satisfaction”. Berit (p. 1) also finds process the most important, but in addition to take care of the results. Anna (p.
2) says it depends on the situation, one should not just focus on results, but look for the process as well. She is concerned of a stronger focus on results, commenting on national tests. Frida is also anxious of a stronger focus on results connected to the national tests, and that it becomes more and more important to score well on the test. “Well, you train on the test before you take it, to get good results, and I feel that is so wrong” (Frida, p. 154). Looking at process and results, it depends on the task at hand according to Frida.
Sometimes it has to do with the experiences they get, having to collaborate, to listen to each other, share equipment, distribute roles, and trust each other.
David (p. 315-339) speaks of the process one has to go through to get a good result, for example to get a nice handwriting, and that boys and girls may need to learn it through different writing processes as block letters or with handwriting connected by loops.
In relation to her work as a teacher, Berit (p. 176) draws a long sigh: “ I am not either there or there, I am there, and there, and there, and there, according to which situation I am in.” This depicts some of the complexity and challenges teachers meet in their work, a note also made by Bredekamp and Copple (2004).
4.2.6 Summary of beliefs concerning group/classroom practices