Dialogical construction of school connectedness  

Hideaki Matsushima!(University of Shiga Prefecture)  

4th ISCAR congress (Oral Session 4) !2014/09/30 11:00-13:00 !Platinum Lounge, Allphone arena!

Delinquent  students  in  Japanese  junior  

highschool  •  An increasing number of students have been reported to

have committed violent behavior against a teacher or their peers (MEXT, 2013). !

•  School connectedness is  the  belief  by  students  that  adults  and  peers  in  the  school  care  about  their  learning  as  well  as  about  them  as  individuals.!

•  young  people  who  feel  connected  to  their  school  are  less  likely  to  engage  in  many  risk  behaviors (including violence  and  gang  involvement).      

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Difficult  task  for  the  teacher  

•  serious contradiction between respecting delinquent youth autonomy and enhancing a teacher’s control to protect other students’ rights to learn in a safe environment.!

•  teachers often use their power to check youth misconduct, with delinquent youth tending to be excluded from school as a consequence. On the other hand, teachers have insufficient power to do this sufficiently well to prevent school from becoming a chaotic environment.    

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THEORETICAL  FRAMEWORK  •  Bakhtin “Dialogism” !

•  Engestrom (2009) Wildfire activity!– Guttierez et.al(1995) “third space”!– hybrid and poorly bounded community!–  the center does not hold.!

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Methodology  Research site:! a public junior high school which is located in an urban

area of the city with a relatively high percentage of students with various family problems, such as child abuse, poverty, and divorce. More than 700 students aged 13–15 years attend this school.  

   The data ! Field notes, transcriptions of recorded interviews.!•  I visited the school about once or twice a month, from 9

am to 3 pm from April 200x to March 200x+2. The total observation was 51 school days (Year 1 at the school; 19, Year 2: 15, Year 3: 17). I conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers at the end of each school year.  

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The  findings  of  this  research    (1) The school’s tumultuous climate consisted not solely of the antisocial

behavior of at-risk students, but also of the actions of other students who were overtly amused by the antisocial behavior, and of many other students demonstrating an attitude of indifference despite feeling uncomfortable privately. !

(2) To reduce this atmosphere, it was effective when teachers communicated with the rule-following students to enhance their feelings of being protected and safe.!

(3) Recovering their nerve from the tumultuous climate had also made the rule-following students more active, strengthening the cohesiveness of classes. !

(4) The more cohesive atmosphere led to at-risk youth re-entering class activity. !

(5) A few students who were unable to re-enter their class activities, and who experienced loneliness as a consequence, finally felt a sense of connection with their pro-social neighbors, as a result of the actions of the guidance teacher that entered the at-risk students’ peer networks.  

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School  corridor  

AKI    o&en  shit  about  here

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VIGNETTE  1•  One day in the afternoon, AKI tried to attend class. However, He

couldn’t keep up with this particular class. He consequently tried to chat with the teacher, Mr. Ken, privately to stay in the class. His attempts were not successful because Mr. Ken didn’t respond to AKI. !

•  In a series of conversations, AKI asked Mr. KEN whether his grades for the semester would rise from 1 to 2. AKI predicted that he would get 2 because he had attended some classes recently. Mr. KEN replied, “I can’t predict your future grade. You must participate in all of the classes if you want to up your grade.” !

•  AKI was increasingly irritated and finally said, “I’m not bothered to attend your class.” In response to this statement, Mr. Ken irritatingly responded, “Attending class is your duty. Chatting in such a loud voice during class disturbs your classmates’ rights. Not attending the class would be better.” Soon after he heard that, AKI rushed out of the classroom.  

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8   Conflict  formationbased  on  miscommunication

• Iden2fy  A5ending  class  as    his  challenging  task.  • Hard  to  keep  calm  during  class  • Need  compliments  for  his  efforts.

• Iden2fy  A5ending  class  as  students  duty  • require  to  keep  calm  during  class    • Can’t  assure  his  future  grades.  

TEACHER AKI

Vignette  2  (AKI sat on the floor of the school corridor, toying with his

mobile phone) !AKI “I’m bored”….”We will be seniors soon. We have to

take the entrance exam.” ….“When we entered this school, I had a lot of friends that cut class and chatted together. It was a lot of fun. But now, I have few friends to play with in this school. I’m bored.”!

Me: “So…. Why don’t you go to class? I think studying in the classroom is better than this boring situation.”!

AKI: “I know I should go to class, but...”!Me: “But...?”!AKI: “It bothers me.” !

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AKI’s trajectory from 1st year to the end of 2nd year  

TOOL  • hang  out  with  friends  →toying  mobile  phone  

DEVISION  OF  LAVOR  • Delinquent  student  member  ↓  Individual  student  who  don’t  a5end  class

COMMUNITY  School  →  Outside  world

RULE  

AKI

OBJECT  Pleasure  seeking  In  school  　　→undergo                      lonliness,                      boring  situa2on  

OUTCOME

Frequently Skipping school

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Teachersʼ’  narrative  about  AKI  •  One day, AKI informed Mr. KAZU that one of his troublesome

juniors, SHIGE, was confronted with a great difficulty. Some gang members had bullied SHIGE. !

•  Mr. KAZU consulted AKI in improving SHIGE’s situation. Therefore, SHIGE’s mother was moved to the point of tears and gave AKI a big thank you. Mr. KAZU narrated this situation as follows: !

•  After AKI met with his mother, he entered our office with a big smile. Then, I said to AKI, “You did the right thing, didn’t you? His mother was so grateful. You feel happy that someone is thankful for your conduct, don’t you?” He replied, “No, I don’t!” Then, I said, “I think it is a very good experience for you that you could make others feel happy.”  

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Talking  about  “deviant  behavior”  ,”bad  friendships”    as  a  tool    for  connec2ng  eachother  

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“improving  SHIGE’s    

being  bullied  situa2on”    

good  experience  of    “making  others  feel  happy”  

TEACHER AKI

Shared  Object

Vignette  3  •  One day, AKI paced restlessly about the school corridor.

Suddenly, he took a hammer or something from the school equipment storage area, and broke one of the light switches in the corridor playfully. !

•  After the incident, Some teachers instructed him to repair it. AKI followed this instruction without protest. Indeed, he repaired the light switch with great craft.!

•  The teachers praised his ability to repair and said, “Of course, breaking the school equipment is bad. But I know you always repair it. It is your best quality.” AKI said, “I taught myself all these skills. I’m skilled enough to get a job as a technical worker.”  

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Concrete future images of !“good workman”!

Shared  object

enhance  AKI’s  meaning  making    about  aDending  school

TEACHER AKI

TOOL  Focused  his  strength

Conclusion  •  To achieve “School connectedness” for

delinquents youth, teacher once need to give up being a teacher.!

•  To encourage delinquent students to follow a relatively safe direction, teachers need to go behind the scenes and learn what these students’ worlds are like, one that most adults cannot see.  

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