The community as a resource in student learning : a comparative study on school-community relations in Minnesota and Iceland

Sérrit 2015 um útinámHeilt þorp þarf til að ala upp barn, segir máltækið. Með tengslum skóla og grenndar eða útinámi er leitast við að auðga námsreynslu nemenda og gefa þeim tækifæri til að hafa áhrif á umhverfi sitt. Markmið þessarar samanburðarrannsóknar er að varpa ljósi á tengsl grunnskóla við nærumhverfið, bæði náttúru og mannlegt samfélag, í Minnesota í Bandaríkjunum og á Íslandi og bera saman framkvæmd þeirra tengsla í þessum löndum. Tilgangurinn er meðal annars að benda á hvað skólar geti lært hver af öðrum. Spurt var hvað væri líkt og ólíkt með a) gagnkvæmri upplýsingamiðlun og upplýsingaöflun, b) námi nemenda utan skólans – útinámi og c) þátttöku aðila úr grenndarsamfélaginu í námi nemenda. Einnig var spurt hvað væri líkt með hugmyndum viðmælenda um markmið þessara tengsla og framtíðarsýn á þau. Þessi athugun á rætur í umfangsmikilli rannsókn á starfsháttum í íslenskum grunnskólum og meðal annars eru nýtt gögn úr henni. Tekin voru viðtöl um tengslin við skólastjórnendur á grunnskólastigi, alls níu í Minnesota og sjö á Íslandi. Auk þess var stuðst við niðurstöður úr spurningakönnunum sem lagðar voru fyrir kennara, nemendur og foreldra í 20 grunnskólum um tengslin hér á landi. Í ljós kom meðal annars að það voru einkum fjórir þættir sem voru með talsvert öðrum hætti í Minnesota en á Íslandi. Þeir voru a) áhersla á formlega samninga við aðila utan skólans, b) yfirsýn yfir tengslin og leyfi skólastjórnenda til ferða og móttöku aðila utan skólans, c) nær ófrávíkjanleg tenging við námskrá í viðfangsefnum í útinámi jafnt sem aðkomu aðila utan skólans að námi nemenda og loks d) umfangsmikið sjálfboðaliðastarf. Aðspurðir um markmið tengslanna nefndu viðmælendur í báðum löndum oftar tækifæri fyrir nemendur til að öðlast áþreifanlega reynslu utan skólans en viðleitni til að auðga félagsleg tengsl í nærsamfélaginu. Gögnin voru meðal annars greind með tilvísunum í umræðu Dewey um samfélagsmiðaða menntun, kenningar um félagsauð og þekkingarsjóði, vistkerfakenningu Bronfenbrenner og hugmyndir Hargreaves um þróun kennarastarfsins.It takes a village to raise a child, according to an African proverb. Utilizing school-community relations or outdoor education expands the effort to enrich the learning experience of students at the same time as giving them an opportunity to make their community a better place to live. Thus schools expand the learning environment outside the school building by providing students with learning opportunities out in nature and in the community as well as welcoming the community into the school, making the schoolhouse “Everybody’s house”. However, despite its importance, academic research on the shape and scope of these relations and how they are implemented into the curriculum is scarce. The aim of this comparative study was to cast light on and compare schoolcommunity relations, including both nature and society, in the state of Minnesota and in Iceland. The purpose was to uncover what schools can learn from each other, even if in a different country and different setting. The research questions addressed similarities and differences in terms of: a) mutual information exchange, b) community-based and outdoor education, and c) participation of community members in student learning. They also addressed a comparison of the interviewees’ ideas on aims and future prospects. This study was rooted in a large research project on teaching and learning in Icelandic schools (ages 6 to 15) and was partly based on data from that project. Interviews with coordinators of school-community relations or other middle managers were conducted, nine in Minnesota and seven in Iceland. These were semi-structured interviews lasting around one hour each. The same researcher conducted the interviews in both countries, in the appropriate language in each case, and analyzed the results. Issues addressed included aims, planning and attitudes towards school-community relations, frequency of activities out of school, partnerships with firms or institutions, guests invited to the school, and future scenarios. In addition results from a questionnaire surveying staff (860), students (2,119) and parents (5,195) on school-community relations in 20 schools in four school districts in Iceland were analyzed. The results indicated four issues that were considerably different in Minnesota from Iceland. They included: a) an emphasis on formal partnerships between the schools and coworkers outside the school, b) a clear overview of all activities within the school related to school-community relations, c) a strong emphasis on connections to the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in community-based and outdoor learning as well as participation of volunteers in student learning, and finally d) the extensive participation of volunteers in all activities in the schools. The Icelandic interviewees, in contrast, in some cases did not have a clear overview of all the school-community activities in the school, partnerships with coworkers outside the school were often informal, and they described outdoor activities conducted just for the fun of it as well as to fulfill curriculum requirements. In terms of the aims of schoolcommunity relations, interviewees in both countries more often mentioned the importance of hands-on and real life experiences outside the school building than an endeavor to enrich social connections and local identity in the community. Information exchange was conducted in a similar way in both countries, especially through home pages and communication systems, as well as through teacher parent meetings. The extent of outdoor and communitybased activities was considerable in both countries. The planning of the school-community relations as a whole in both countries was most often left in the hands of teams of home-room teachers teaching the same levels. Outcomes are discussed in the light of Dewey’s ideas of community-centered education, theories on social capital and funds of knowledge, Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, and Hargreave’s theory on the four stages of teacher professionalism and professional learnin