An exploration of the outcomes of a parent survey concerning the nature of popular culture and its place in the primary classroom

Week 2 - An exploration of the outcomes of a parent survey conducted that refers to the nature of media use in the primary classroom.


It has been said that popular culture plays and should continue to play a valuable role in the teaching of literacy and other subjects across the primary national curriculum due to the way that it has an influence over children's reading choices.(Marsh et al, 2005) 


I feel, as a result of both first and second hand research, that it provides the opportunity for the children to validate the experiences they have outside of school and enable them to feel that their out-of-school knowledge is valuable. This seems to be key if we, as teachers, want to ensure a smooth transition between home and school.


The view expressed by Marsh et al (2005) has allowed me to consider not only my own opinions, but also engage myself in conversational with parents to gain their perspective on the use of technology and popular culture in schools. As a result I have conducted an interview with a prospective parent concerning this topic and received a range of feedback.


It seemed that the popular belief was that children should have access to technologies such as iPads and laptops as well as programmes such as Blogger and an email forum so long as they are supported in this and they are taught to use them sensibly and safely. However, there was a concern that children would perhaps lose out on precious writing time, something that aids fine motor skills. It seemed that the parents interviewed were very up for the use of technology so long as it didn't dwarf other subjects but was perhaps integrated within them smoothly so that their children could gain a variety of experiences.


Additionally, it was expressed that the use of technology may prove useful to allow teacher/parent communication as teachers do not necessarily have a lot of time at the end of the day for lengthy conversations, as much as they try. The use of a blog could encourage parents to look at how their child is getting on during the day and also allows the teacher to ensure that the parents know what is going on, especially when issues (both good and bad) have occurred.


When asked about the use of popular culture in the classroom though, the parents seemed less forthcoming. This turned out to be due to my need to explain the concept of popular culture and what it meant for the classroom. Once this had been explained, they seemed to be highly interested in the topic and were curious to know my own opinion as to the use of it to aid learning. They suggested that children may have more of a gateway to accessing their learning if they had a text that they could engage with or could choose a text to read, thus giving the children ownership of their learning.


From the view of a trainee teacher, I can see the merit of the use of popular culture and the interview has given me an insight into the parental view of what goes on in the classroom. This task seems to be to have been invaluable in my development as a professional and is one that I will definitely do again, perhaps to justify readings that I have seen or my own opinions.


Bibliography:


Marsh, J. (Ed.) (2005) 'Popular culture, new media and digital literacy in early childhood' London: Routledge Falmer