Classroom ethnography in a context of educational change

Abstract

Abstract by author:

Group work methodology represents a tool for the implementation of educational change. The two lessons which are the subject of the investigation employed group work methods, and the analysis of the data recorded during those lessons represents an attempt to establish the extent to which the underlying principles of communicative/interactive theories of language and learning are present in those lessons

Chapter one sets the context for the rest of the work. It contains a discussion of the role of the English language in the Namibian education system, and considers the extent of change that this role implies. Group work is identified as being a new classroom practice which will form the focus of the investigation. The concluding part of the chapter involves a discussion of classroom ethnography and the methods which were used to collect and analyse data

Chapter two involves ethnographic analysis of the way that the teacher introduces the group work, chapter three with the pupil process, and chapter four with the group feedback session. The data is considered in relation to power and the status of knowledge, the social implications of a new methodology, pupil management of group work, and teacher management of the introductory and feedback sessions. Such analysis reveals the extent to which each of the classrooms is likely to deliver the goals and objectives of the new educational policies

The final chapter is concerned with discussing the ways in which the two classrooms are representative of different types of educational practice. There are implications for the management of educational change in Namibia, and also for classroom ethnography in a context of educational change. It contains a recommendation that there is a role for classroom ethnography in the management of educational change and in the development of models of change which are driven by classroom practice