CHAPTER 8 TEACHING AND LEADERSHIP
4.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.4.7 Film stimulus: screen culture
“The ‘reel’ world of teachers”
(Susan Ellsmore, 2005, p. v)
In order to further explore what it is that teachers understand about leadership (and about how and why the leadership of a class of pupils does or does not occur), it was decided to invite focus groups to view feature films that specifically illustrate certain aspects of teacher leadership. Understanding leadership means recognising it when it is happening.
The researcher, in showing these films to the film-stimulus focus groups, was making use of this insight so as to assess the teachers’ understanding of leadership.
102 Five films were selected (see Appendices C and M), and viewed by the members of the focus groups in their own schools. Members of the focus groups were selected by the principals (see Respondents above). The screening of the films lasted between 95 minutes and 135 minutes (see Appendix B and 4.1 below). After the screening of the film, the focus group discussions took place for a further 75 to 90 minutes.
Whilst individual and focus group interviews provide the opportunity for expressions of understanding and insight into teacher leadership, the use of film provides unique opportunities for recognising and contemplating incidents in school life. Brunner (1994) suggests that film illuminates issues as no discourse and text can, “mainly by inviting us to experience situations vicariously through dramatic forms” (Trier, 2001, p. 129).
McCulloch and Richardson (2000) stress the importance of utilising visual sources in the study of individuals, institutions and social policies, as “[…] films provide historical documentation of the teaching culture of which current members of the profession are the descendants” (Ellsmore, 2005, p. 127). Altheide (1995, p. 95) notes that “culture is not only mediated through mass media, culture in both form and content is constituted and embodied by the mass media and particularly by films
Ellsmore (2005, p. vii) suggests that screen culture:
[…] provides resources which can be plundered and exploited as a source of educational theory for both practising teachers and teachers-in-training as a means of questioning and reflecting on their work.
The screen culture can add to this study’s philosophical understanding of the what, how and why of teacher leadership in a class. Giroux (2002), who has used films in a training context, believes that “films should be examined as a serious source of pedagogical knowledge.” This comment by Giroux helps justify the use of film in the study of education and the lives of teachers. Cohen (1999, pp. 147-148) asserts:
Films can potentially carry ideas and information with more power and more effectively than the written word. Thus, some school films
103 capture the daily life, the personal relationships, the lived encounters
of classrooms, in ways our written histories do not. They reveal things […] we cannot see (or choose not to see), or cannot see well, or see but not tell as well. [School films] provide encounters with teachers, parents, and adolescents and a thick description of […]
schools that histories of education cannot even approximate. We have not begun to exploit the possibilities of films. There is a rich archive waiting for historians of education to explore in film.
The literature makes reference to the use of such vignettes in qualitative research, particularly when used to supplement other data collection techniques (Hazel, 1995; Hughes, 1998).
Vignettes have been described as “scenarios in written or pictorial form, intended to elicit response to typical scenarios” (Hill, 1997, p. 177) and also as “concrete examples of people and their behaviours on which participants can offer comment or opinion” (Hazel, 1995, p. 2).
Hughes (1998, p. 381) defines a vignette as a story “about individuals, situations and structures which can make reference to important points in the study of perceptions, beliefs and attitudes.” Each scene in the films used in this study represents just such a vignette, as they all elicited comment in terms of the type of teacher leadership that they depict.
Barter and Renold (1999) reviewed the usage of vignettes in qualitative research experience and have suggested that the stories shown must be plausible and real to the participants. The context of the situation must also be sufficiently clear so that the research participants will be able to react and comment, which they need to be able to do ion their own terms.
This method of research is enhanced if the participants have personal experience of the type of situation that is portrayed. Stories presented in the vignettes need to be understandable to the participants, not too complex, and also ‘internally consistent’ with the experiences of those involved. My selection of films that portray school-based scenarios relevant to this study is consistent with these guidelines and was made with the expectation that the scenarios will help me discover and explore respondents’ beliefs and understanding regarding leadership within the teaching/learning situation.
104 It is significant that the schools selected for this study, and from which the respondents were drawn, are described in South Africa as section 21 (or ex Model C) schools. These schools have traditionally benefited from above-average resources (both human and material) and many have received international recognition for their high standards. The teachers and pupils in these schools are very familiar with film, as it is an oft-used medium in classes and is also a common recreational activity. The ethos, atmosphere, educational culture and operation of these schools are similar to what one would find in the schools of many first-world countries. The challenges and opportunities presented to the teachers of this study as they interact with their pupils are reminiscent of similar challenges and opportunities that I have personally observed over the past twenty years in numerous schools in Britain, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, North America and Europe. Covey (2008), in describing leadership principles within a teaching context, has noted that there is a “universal nature [to] leadership principles” and that there are timeless, universal similarities to teaching principles across the cultures and nations of the world. Covey’s comment validates my choice to show the respondents films that portray British and American scenarios in order for them to then discuss the what, how and why of the critical questions of this study regarding classroom leadership.
The study’s respondents are familiar with film as a medium and are aware of the shortcomings of ‘screen culture’ (see below). They readily recognised and associated with the situations portrayed in the selected films. The regular use of films in these schools for their own educational purposes had rendered the teachers comfortable with and positive about the use of such a data collection method.
The viewing of, and responding to, films as part of the data collection process does, however, have limitations. In view of the ongoing philosophical debate regarding truth and reality, the degree of realism in film portrayals is subjective and individual. Films cannot ordinarily observe the laws of real time since they operate under the constraint of having to tell stories (which almost always cover varying time periods) within the space of ninety to one-hundred-and-twenty minutes (Dick, 1998). As a result of this, the reality of perseverance and of the hard work of teaching (which involves teaching large classes, marking, holding examinations, preparing lessons, doing administration, dealing with parental interference, making changes to the curriculum and dealing with all the other minutiae that make up a teacher’s day) cannot be realistically portrayed. Real teachers
105 (versus fictional portrayals) are also simply unable to present an inspirational face and offer a life-changing lesson to willing learners every lesson of every day of every school year. Ellsmore (2005, p. 128), in her doctoral research on films about teaching, comments on ‘reel’ teachers (those portrayed in film) serving to underscore the limitation of film as a medium for portraying the teachers’ professional role in its entirety:
Real world teachers have experienced what their ‘reel’ world counterparts have not – diminished creativity, and the reduction of their work to technician status thanks to a national curriculum which has imposed models of teaching via teacher-proof curriculum programmes and standardised tests. The apparent simplicity of the task is underpinned by individuals who can set their own agenda with the one class they are responsible for, and can overcome their problems and the attitude of cynical colleagues with their innate inspiration.
As the researcher it was important that my own presentation of the film to the members of the viewing group and my manner of doing so be essentially neutral as well as inviting of critical comment. It was crucial that I not present the behaviour of the teacher in the film under consideration as either positive or negative in terms of his/her leadership ability.
Instead, I needed to encourage analysis of the essential questions relating to the search for an understanding of the phenomenon of teacher leadership. I would contend that films are a vocal though perhaps unusual vehicle for viewing teaching situations and considering educational theory and practice. Films “constitute a powerful force for shaping public memory, hope, popular consciousness and social agency, and as such invite people into a broader public conversation” (Giroux, 2002, p. 15). In an age of visual culture, it can be asserted that films can prove to be of importance to image-based research (Andrew, 1998).
Andrew (1998, p. 181) explains further, saying:
The social historian consults the fullest archive available for the topic, from which a few fiction films are selected as the richest examples and most indicative sources of indirect evidence.
106 By using film to consider the lives and practices of teachers, the researcher allows for critical reflection on not only the day-to-day activities of teachers but also the social environment in which teaching occurs.
The film-stimulus focus groups of this study were convened so as to view each film and elicit comments that would reveal the teachers’ understanding of leadership and how and why (or why not) leadership had occurred in the class situation portrayed. A focus group is
“a group of individuals selected and assembled by researchers to discuss and comment on, from personal experience, the topic that is the subject of the research” (Powell, 1996, p.
499). The five groups were comprised of practising teachers who had been invited to partake in the study after they had been identified as having an interest in teacher leadership and being willing to participate.
This type of group activity allows group members to interact and thereby produce insights and other data. Film-stimulus focus groups can “excite contributions from interviewees who might otherwise be reluctant to contribute […] and lead to insights that might otherwise not have come to light” (Denscombe, 2005, p. 169). The film-stimulus exercise of this study followed the regular pattern of sharing individual understandings of leadership within the context of teaching, of then viewing the film, then responding to the questions contained in the pre-prepared questionnaire, and lastly discussing any issues that emerged. In each case, this process occupied between four and five hours, and was invariably punctuated with breaks for refreshment, comfort and fresh air.