Ħarġa Volum 2015, Numru 1 – Jannar 2015 Maħruġa mis-sezzjoni MUT Youth tal-Malta Union of Teachers – kuntatt: mutyouth@gmail.com – www.mut.org.mt

MUT Youth e-newsletter The Cost of

Teaching Resources Gilbert Zahra

Introduction

The MUT Youth Section aimed to shed light on the financial costs incurred by educators in doing their work. Information was collected through an online questionnaire aimed at Maltese educators. The survey was designed using Google Drive while data was analysed using Google Drive, Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS Statistics. A total of 325 individuals participated in the study.

Descriptive Statistics

Teaching grades occupied by participants and the sectors in which they work are illustrated in Figure 1. ‘Other’ teaching grades included mainly support and peripatetic teachers. Given the small numbers of respondents in this section, personnel from MCAST, Higher Secondary and Junior College were grouped together as ‘post-secondary’ for purposes of analysis.

Figure 1: General Demographics

Participants claimed to spend a yearly sum ranging from €0 to €1,800 to substantiate their teaching activities with resources. The average spent by an individual was €220 (median), while the most common response was €100 (mode). Although a wide range of options was provided in the survey (Figure 2), a considerable number of participants chose the ‘other’ option. Replies included: • resources used to decorate classrooms; • money to sponsor some students’ lunches and educational outings; • stationary, including ink cartridges;

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Agħfas fuq l-indirizzi biex tidħol fil-paġni tal-MUT:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/mutgroup/

https://twitter.com/MaltaMUT

http://www.youtube.com/MUTcampaigns

http://edcommut.blogspot.com/

Daħla – Xahar ta’ togħma tajba Gilbert Zahra, Ċerpersin MUT Youth Section

Ix-xahar li għadda kien wieħed importanti ferm għall-MUT Youth Section għax fih tgħomna, mhux biss l-ikel relatat ma dan iż-żmien ta’ festi, iżda frott ħidmietna.

L-MUT Youth Section ġiet aċċettata b’mod unanimu bħala membru sħiħ tal-Kunsill Nazzjonali Żgħażagħ (KNŻ). Minn hawn, l-MUT Youth Section tispira li tipparteċipa fi djalogu fejn taqsam l-ideat tagħha ma u titgħallem minn dawk ta’ organizzazzjonijiet oħra zgħażagħ. L-MUT Youth Section rċiviet kliem ta’ ftaħir mingħand il-Youth Committee tal-Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin u l-General Workers’ Union Youths.

L-MUT Youth Section negħdiet l-ewwel studju kwantitattiv tagħha fejn, bl-għajnuna ta’ 325-il persuna li għoġobhom jipparteċipaw, inġabret informazzjoni fuq l-ispejjeż li jġorru edukaturi Maltin biex isostnu x-xiri ta’ riżorsi meħtieġa għal xogħolhom. Aktar informazzjoni tinsab fl-artiklu f’din l-istess ħarġa.

Hekk kif ix-xogħol tal-MUT Youth Section qiegħed ikattar u jitkattar, ninsabu wkoll fi tfittxija għal ħbieb ġodda biex jissieħbu magħna. Jekk inti membru tal-MUT, għandek inqas minn 35 sena u tixtieq tkun parti mix-xogħol li qiegħed u jista’ jsir mill-MUT Youth Section, ikkuntattjana! Aħna ninsabu miftuħa għal ideat ġodda li jkomplu juru u jagħtu valur lil xogħol l-edukaturi kollha.

Mothers and homework supervision: A comparative study of the impact of educational background Silvana Bugeja

Introduction

In my dissertation for my Masters in Comparative Euro-Mediterranean Education Studies I sought to understand how mothers with different levels of education relate to homework. I wanted to learn whether they use any particular set of homework strategies with their daughters and whether the mothers’ level of education affects these. In order to find out about this, I used Bourdieu’s (2004) lens of cultural capital. I will explain this concept before summarising some of my research findings.

Bourdieu’s Concept of Cultural Capital

Bourdieu (2004) argues that there are three forms of capital: economic, social and cultural. These interact to form “prestigious symbolic capital” (Carrington & Luke, as cited in Clarke, 2012, p.29) - capital that the upper classes in society consider to be of value. Concerned about how the mothers’ level of education influences their children’s scholastic success, I focused on ‘cultural capital’, which here refers to “the unequal scholastic achievement of children originating from the different social classes” (Bourdieu, 2004, p.17). Cultural capital is further divided into three:

• The institutionalised state refers to parents’ academic credentials or qualifications. Bourdieu (2004) claims that by owning academic credentials one is also certified in cultural competence: the acknowledgement of one’s aptitude. This is then transferred to the children mainly by the mother, the medium through which reproduction strategies are employed (Lareau, 1989; Reay, 1998; Vincent, 2010). Academic success is easier for children whose mothers own academic credentials (Lareau, 1989). (Continues on page 4)

(Continued...) The Cost of Teaching Resources • internet connection, including that in classrooms; • materials to construct student portfolios, such as those required in CCP; • laminations; • personal laptop, computer hardware and its maintenance; • educational games and toys; • student rewards such as stickers and small gifts; and • books for children/class library.

Figure 2: Money is spent on a range of Resources

Inferential Statistics

A couple of respondents argued that “Teachers in the early years sector and KGs have to spend a substantial amount of money as children require more tactile resources than in other year groups.” This was supported by the data whereby primary school teachers were found to be the group to spend most on teaching resources, with a mean of €270 (Table 1). The yearly difference between the average money spent by primary school teachers and secondary school teachers amounted to €100 and was statistically significant (t(189)=3.271, p=0.001) while that between primary school teachers and post-secondary teachers / lecturers amounts to €175 and was also statistically significant (t(16.7)=4.065, p=0.001). Other differences were not statistically significant, although this might change with a larger sample size.

Although educators in independent and post-secondary schools seem to spend less personal money on resources than educators in state and church schools (Table 2), the small population size in these groups makes it difficult to conclude whether such differences are real. In fact, these differences were not statistically significant.

Table 1: Money Spent on Teaching Resources by Teaching Grade

Table 2: Money Spent on Teaching Resources by Sector

Qualitative Data

Different schools operate differently. Many participants argued that their place of work took no or very little measures to account for the expenses related to their work. A good number of schools seem to provide basic stationary and cardboard, though this is not always the case. Others allocate a number of photocopies to teachers. This leads some respondents to be happy with measures that others would consider insignificant:

To be fair at my new school biros and charts are provided without the bureaucracy in other places of work. Some other stationary would be great, for example plastic folders, sticky notes etcetera

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Avviżi L-MUT Youth Section qiegħda tfittex membri ġodda. Jekk inti membru tal-MUT, għandek inqas minn 35 sena u tixtieq tkun parti mix-xogħol li qiegħed u jista’ jsir mill-MUT Youth Section ikkuntattjana fuq mutyouth@gmail.com. Semma’ leħnek u kattar ħsieb kritiku! Wassal kummenti jew artikli lill-MUT Youth Section fuq mutyouth@gmail.com.

Lenti fuq…

Minn Dirk Muscat

Din id-darba se nitfa’ l-lenti tiegħi fuq Russell, Mark, Melissa, Britney, Brendon u Andrea, kollha studenti ta’ 14 il-sena. Nemmen li l-istudenti għandhom ħafna xi jgħidu fuq is-servizz li jagħtu l-edukaturi u b’hekk staqsejthom żewġt mistoqsijiet fuq din it-tema. Tinsiex, darb’oħra jmiss lilek!

Fl-opinjoni tiegħek, x’jagħmel għalliema effettivi (tajbin)?

Russell: Għalliema tajba jgħinu lill-istudenti fejn ikollhom problemi, jisimgħu l-opinjoni tagħna u jirrispettaw id-deciżjonijiet tagħna. Importanti li dan jagħmluh fil-limiti tal-kariga tagħhom.

Mark: Ċajtiera pero’ jibqgħu mas-suġġett u jinżlu għal-livell ta’ dak li jkun.

Melissa: Ivarjaw il-lezzjonijiet tagħhom u jfehmu b’modi differenti biex jifhem kulħadd.

Britney: Iridu jkunu stretti pero’ mhux iż-żejjed, u li jimxu aktar mal-livell tagħna.

Brendon: Waqt il-ħin tax-xogħol u fejn importanti li jkun hemm aktar serjeta’, l-għalliema għandhom iżommu d-dixxiplina. Min-naħa l-oħra, l-atmosfera tal-klassi għandha tkun kalma u ma tonqosx xi ċajta l’hawn u l’hemm.

Andrea: Ikunu jagħtu noti u eżempji tajbin fuq il-karti ta’ l-eżami. Jekk jista’ jkun, joħduk outings li jkunu relatati mas-suġġett.

L-għalliema effettivi kif iżommu d-dixxiplina fil-klassi? Għandhom ikunu stretti jew ħbieb li jħallu lil kulħadd ‘jagħmel li jrid’?

Russell: Jistgħu jkunu sew stretti u sew ħbieb imma ma tistax tippretendi li jkunu bħal sħabek għax għandhom ikunu ta’ eżempju għalina għal meta nikbru.

Mark: Għandhom iħallu lil kullħadd fil-liberta’ tiegħu pero’ iridu jkunu preparati sew u huma jridu jkunu li jżommu lill-klassi on task. Jekk jagħmlu dan, jerbħu r-rispett ta’ l-istudent.

Melissa: Biex jagħtu impressjoni tajba, iridu jkunu ħbieb imma iridu dejjem iżommu ċertu ordni u jkunu stretti wkoll.

Britney: Stretti imma mhux eżagerati u jagħtu ċans lit-tfal jesprimu ruħhom.

Brendon: Ċajtiera biex jiġbdu t-tfal imma stretti biex imexxu huma fil-klassi.

Andrea: Għalliema effettivi iridu jżommu d-dixxiplina billi meta xi ħadd jinsa xi xogħol għall-ewwel darba ma jaqlax xi brejk in, pero’ ma jistgħux iħallu kollox għaddej. Jekk iwegħduk rapport, iridu jżommu kelmthom. Mad-dixxiplina, jridu jkunu ħbieb mal-istudenti.

MUT Youth Section now part of the National Youth

Council

During the KNŻ Annual General Meeting

In December 2014 the MUT Youth Section was accepted unanimously as full member of the National Youth Council (KNŻ) during the AGM of the Council.

During this meeting the Chairperson of the Youth Section Gilbert Zahra presented the section to the Council and spoke about its ambitions for the future.

The Malta Union of Teachers in a statement congratulated the hardworking youth section of the Union for this historical achievement as the first sectoral Union that has become part of the KNŻ.

Find us on Facebook at:

facebook.com/MUTYouthSection

(Continued...) Mothers and homework...

• The embodied state refers to family experiences, traditions and socialisation. By drawing on Bourdieu, Clarke (2012) explains that these usually shape an individual’s attitude towards education. So does ‘habitus’, explained as “a set of dispositions that influence individuals to act and react in a particular manner” (Clarke, 2012, p.31). These dispositions create practices and attitudes which are structured, long-lasting and contribute “to an individual’s view of education and how one navigates a place within education” (Clarke, 2012, p.31).

• The objectified state is related to the families’ economic capital (Clarke, 2012). It refers to objects of a cultural nature (e.g. books, visits abroad, works of art) which can be used by students to develop their academic success.

It follows that the families’ cultural capital, which is inherited from generation to generation (Sullivan, 2002), is directly linked to social class. Education, occupational status, income and work characteristics make sure that “parents do not begin their family-school relationships from the same or equal starting points,” (Lareau, 1989, p.173). This is reflected in the way parents interact with their children when it comes to educational issues and is visible in the different homework strategies they deploy (Lareau, 1989; Reay, 1998; Clarke, 2012).

Research Findings

In order to be able to answer my research questions about the mothers’ actions and concerns about homework, I came in direct contact with a group of mothers whose daughters are in Form 1 and 2 in secondary school. I conducted individual interviews. I adopted an anti-positivist view towards research because in agreement with Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2005), I see the social world as soft, personal and humanly created. I decided to opt for grounded theory, so as to generate insight from data (Strauss & Corbin, 1990).

Irrespective of the mothers’ level of schooling, all the mothers in my study value education. They all wish that their daughters further their studies beyond secondary school because they want them to get a good job. Thus, they fully commit themselves to the education of their daughters. Amongst the strategies mothers use, I found that they often check their daughters’ homework diaries, sign their homework, take their daughters to the library, and help them in project work. They discuss compositions together and even look up information for them. These are strategies that the mothers remember from when they were at school. The mothers also use strategies they have learnt from a variety of sources.

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As mothers use strategies which are

(Continued...) The Cost of Teaching Resources

Respondents lamented that workplaces lack common printers, forcing them to print material at home. Ink cartridges, many complained, are expensive. The same goes for laminating machines. A respondent noted that although a laminating machine is available at his/her place of work, laminating pouches need to be bought by employees. Moreover, some schools lack a photocopying service and educators have to use their time and means of transportation to travel to print educational resources for their students.

Some educators are expected to collect money from their students to cover some of their expenses. There were respondents who remarked how fundraising activities are organized in some workplaces to collect money to help students with special educational needs.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are workplaces that reimburse employees’ expenditures when fiscal receipts are presented. In some cases, however, settlements can be rejected if the person in charge does not deem the purchase to be of educational value. A few schools give a small allowance to personnel. This, however, both teachers and SMT members noted, is rarely enough to cover the expenses of most educators.

Many argued that the quality and maintenance of the laptops provided forces them to invest in a personal laptop and related hardware. LSAs, respondents noted, have no other choice than to use their own since they are not considered eligible for a laptop even though they consider it to be essential for their work. The running costs of technological devices, a particular SMT or curricular leader argued, are very high. Considerable money is spent for running these while teaching staff are left to buy things from their own pockets:

The new technologies introduced in schools: IWB, Projectors and PCs are draining the school funds. The lamp of a particular IWB costs 250 Euro. We changed 2 last year. The lamp of a particular projector costs 125 Euro plus 25 Euro for service to be changed and 25 Euro to be cleaned. The lifetime of the projector lamps is starting to expire, It will be disastrous when more than one have to be replaced at the same time! Imagine a big school with more than 45 classes! If a pen of the IWB is broken it costs aprox 65 Euro. The endless number of batteries used for the IWB pens and other ICT resources such as Bee Bots and the voting system. Last year we had to change the batteries twice for the voting system that is 48 batteries. This was used only four to six times! At school we have to provide keyboards, mice, leads, printers etc... When you have a big school and consider all these expenses altogether it means hundreds and hundreds of Euro! So you can only imagine why certain resources become second class and are not provided by the school and thus the teaching-staff have to buy things at their own expense!!

Participants noted that bureaucracy in schools is increasing, making it harder to get financially compensated for one’s expenditures. Funds allotted for particular cases, some respondents implied, take an excessively long period of time to be delivered. A particular response revealed that a state school expects an educator who wants the school to invest in something to contact different suppliers and provide a minimum of three quotations from which the administration can choose. Moreover, many lamented that excessive bureaucracy and paperwork is taking up a considerable amount of respondents’ planning time. Time is, respondents argued, the educator’s biggest investment in the education of future generations. (Continues on page 5)

(Continued...) The Cost of Teaching Resources

Concluding Remarks

Many respondents suggested that educators in schools be provided with a grant that allows them to cover the expenses they incur to better educate our children. This could be, some argued, in a form similar to a student-card that allows money to be spent on certain items. At the very least, others noted, the hardware provided by schools, such as laptops, should be good enough to avoid one having to use his/her personal one. Internet connection at home should be provided since this is essential for planning. Others noted that teaching staff should also be provided with funds to be used on personal professional development as “This type of professional development allowance is normal practice in other government departments or entities for staff at a professional level.”

This study also points at the warm-heartedness of educators. Though many complained about the expenses they incur, they still choose to invest money to educate future generations.

Parti mill-paga fix-xahar dejjem tmur għal riżorsi u materjal għat-tfal. Wieħed jista’ jevita li jonfoq flus fuq l-istudenti tiegħu, pero’ jkun qed iżomm lura u jiċħad lit-tfal minn attivitajiet u lezzjonijiet iktar interessanti u eċitanti minħabba nuqqas ta’ riżorsi. Meta għalliem ikun dedikat u verament iħobb l-istudenti, jonfoq mill-flus personali tiegħu għat-tfal. Ġieli anka ġew tfal l-iskola mingħajr kejk fil-birthday tagħhom minħabba nuqqas min-naħa tal-ġenituri u xtrajtilhom kejk jien stess.

I always spend part of my monthly wage to buy resources and materials for children. One could try not to spend money on his students, however he would be, due to lack of resources, neglecting children from activities and lessons which are more interesting and exciting. When a teacher is passionate about and really loves his students, he spends from his personal money for them. There were cases where children came to school without a birthday cake due to some lacking from parent and I bought them a cake myself.

On the other hand, another respondent noted, this is not always possible. If the teacher is him/herself going through financial difficulties, there would be little he/she can do.

This study uncovers considerable deficiencies in our educational system. Educators should not be expected to pool out personal money to make up for these shortages. Employees need to be given adequate resources to work with and to further their professional development. We owe this, more than to the educators themselves, to future generations. Everyone deserves a quality education.

(Continued...) Mothers and homework...

What I find a bit challenging to the notion of Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital is the use of the internet. Most families from the working class are equipped with internet access and this has enhanced opportunities for the education of our children. The internet provides access to capital that would have been otherwise restricted to the middle class. The way this tool is being used, however, still varies according to the mothers’ level of education.

Working class mothers might embrace the same values and strategies as mothers from the middle class. However they do not have the cultural capital required by the school and, as a result, encounter difficulties. In particular they encounter problems with subject matter and financial requirements, contributing to a lower self-efficacy. The success they expect from their daughters is less ambitious than that of middle class mothers.

Conclusively, this research has shed light onto the social complexities which arise in mothers’ supervision of homework. From Bourdieu’s (2004) perspective, the difference in the strategies deployed in supervising homework tasks is related to the different cultural capital embedded in different families. As a researcher and educator I have learnt to be more sensitive to the needs of mothers of our students. It is important to listen to their concerns about homework and try to assist them.

This research work was carried out following the award of a STEPS scholarship which was part-financed by the European Union - European Social Fund (ESF) under Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2007-2013, “Empowering People for More Jobs and a Better Quality Of Life”.

References

Bourdieu, P. (2004). The forms of capital. In S. J. Ball (Ed.), The RoutledgeFalmer reader in sociology of education (pp.15-29). Oxon, OX: RoutledgeFalmer.

Clarke, C. D. (2012). Investigating homework as a social practice: A qualitative approach (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology. Retrieved from eprints.qut.edu.au/59963/1/Carolyn_Clarke_Thesis.pdf

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2005). Research methods in education. London: Routledge Publishers.

Lareau, A. (1989). Home advantage: Social class and parental intervention in elementary education. London: The Falmer Press.

Reay, D. (1998). Class work: Mothers’ involvement in their children’s primary schooling. London: UCL Press.

Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. London: Sage Publications.

Sullivan, A. (2002). Bourdieu and education: How useful is Bourdieu’s theory for researchers? The Netherlands’ Journal of Social Sciences, 38(2), 144-164.

Vincent, C. (2010). The sociology of mothering. In M. W. Apple, S. J. Ball, & L. A. Gandin (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of the Sociology of Education (pp.109-120). Oxon, OX: Routledge.