consciousness that I experienced has helped me to a process of enlightenment, which has led to the improvement of my practice of teaching.
Through this self-study inquiry I have managed to conduct, I am able to view myself differently. After a process of self-reflection, I have realised that I may be what Ferguson (2006) refers to as a ―coconut‖. ―Coconut‖ is a term referring to a black person who has been socialised into the dominant culture and one who has taken up a different meanings, learnings and understandings as ―other‖. Resulting in a loss of understanding of him/herself as a black person, this space has the potential to be both enabling and disabling. Arriving at this understanding has given me the opportunity to rework and rethink my meaning-making and my choices in my multi-cultural classroom. I am now in new space where I understand why I have made and continue to make the choices that I have in my position as teacher. This reflexive process will open up opportunities for my practice as an art teacher and how I can move from what is to what should be.
While previous auto-ethnographic enquiries of teachers have been conducted from the psychological perspective, and focus on pre-service teacher‘s attitudes in response to cultural diversity, this auto-ethnographic research study focuses on teacher self-reflection from the critical perspective. The critical theory lens is used in this research study to make visible the spaces I created within the dominant structures to open up possibilities for my meaning making as a black, male art teacher. From the critical point of view, the individual works within the dominant structures in order to challenge it. I had to become a coconut in order to gain access to the dominant structures as a way to change and challenge them. Enrolling at the Technikon of Northern Natal (an historically white institution), to pursue a formal career in Fine Arts, are two such spaces that have
threatened to challenge and change my previous definition from being a black African crafter to an Art Teacher.
Through this self-study, I am able to reflect on my life using legitimate academic channels to understand how my false consciousness and the assimilated coconut identity has informed the meaning making of who I am as an art teacher in a multi-cultural setting. This research shows how false consciousness forms part of the de-construction and re-construction of the teacher-self for better ways of thinking and working in South African classrooms. A deeper understanding of my meanings and definitions has opened up other ways of negotiating who I am and how I can make sense of my life as a member of a community of teachers.
6.1 My journey ahead…
The recommendations I am making in this study will affect, in the main, teachers, art education researchers and policy-makers. Every research study is aimed at bridging an existing gap in any particular field. Chapter Two (Literature Review) of this study revealed that there is still a big gap in terms of research that illuminates teachers‘ lived stories in South Africa.
Teachers, researchers and policy-makers are turning to auto-ethnography as a valuable method of study that reveals what is happening at schools today. In this auto- ethnography, I used my personal journal as part of the data produced. I hope this may
inspire teachers to keep personal journals, and to encourage their pupils to do the same.
‖This will enable the educator to get to know and understand their learners better‖
(Grossi, 2006: 231).
In a profession as challenging as teaching, honest self-reflection is key. That means that we must regularly examine what has worked and what has not in the classroom, in spite of how painful it can sometimes look in the mirror (Lewis, 2008). As teachers and researchers go through critical changes in the educational system in South Africa, I encouraged us to ask the following questions:
Are there any aspects of the profession that I am ignoring out of fear of change or lack of knowledge?
What resentments do I need to resolve in order to move forward more optimistically and with a fresh mind?
What types of students do I tend to ignore or do I need to spend more time serving?
Where did I fail as a teacher in the past? Where did I succeed?
What can I do to make my teaching more effective while adding to my students' learning and enjoyment?
What can I do to be more proactive in my professional development?
Are old teaching habits controlling my teaching style and content?
Do I still enjoy teaching? If not, what can I do to increase my enjoyment in my
chosen profession after such critical changes within the educational system?
Do I bring additional stress upon myself? If so, how can I decrease or eliminate it.
How have my beliefs about learning and pedagogy changed over the years?
What minor and/or major changes can I make to my academic Programme in order to directly increase my students' learning?
For educational researchers and practitioners:
Teaching is a profession, like any other profession. Change is inevitable. New methods and technologies are put in place as a result of local and global changes. As times change, perspectives change. Educational research must shape and be shaped by educational and social change. Research that includes art and education should be able to use creative metaphors to link it up with the contemporary research methodologies. Auto-ethnography which gives a voice to ordinary teachers should be encouraged in order to improve teaching practice.
Art education, as the subject that I teach, has been changing critically over the last few years. These changes range from art education curriculum to pedagogy. As Chapter Two has shown, until recently not much critical research has been done in South Africa;
research that might assist art teachers to reflect on their careers in order to improve the art teaching practice is sorely lacking.
Art education researchers should also use this study as a self-reflection tool, as it can assist them to reflect back on changes in terms the curriculum and implementation strategies. This will help them to evaluate if those changes were effective enough to
prepare art teachers to face wider social changes. I am glad I was compelled by my frustrations as an art teacher to resist being overwhelmed, and to embark on a journey of self-reflection and self-exploration, a journey that continues to reconstruct who I am in this culture of education in South Africa.
For policy-makers:
This research recommends that policy-makers should construct policies with a thorough understanding that new educational policies affect teachers the most. So, policy-makers should not assume that once the policy is passed it will automatically be implemented without taking teachers‘ voices, concerns and interventions, into account. Change of policies should involve the teachers‘ research projects like this that attempt to understand their complexities. Finally, it must be acknowledged that changes in the education policies are not complete unless they try to integrate teachers from the old separate education system into the new democratic system of education in South Africa.