Thinking outside the box

When Parents Choose to Home Educate...
the Education Advisor's Dilemma

By Jenny

Despite the digital culture promoted in most educational arenas of today, there exists a minority of students not exposed to, or denied access to, many of the texts usually so freely available. These multimodal texts feature with great predominance in the Australian Curriculum, which defines multimodal texts as: combining “language with other systems for communication, such as print text, visual images, soundtrack and spoken word as in film or computer presentation media” (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2011a).

Multimodal texts are historically, in the forms of film and television, and usually taken, by most of us, for granted. New technologies have aided the universal spread of these text forms, and have created “individualisation and the associated trends of consumerism, globalisation and democratisation (Livingstone, 2009, p. 151). Their dynamic nature, as an entity of popular culture sees daily changes, “to such a degree that it is often difficult to make any coherent sense of it” (Pomerance & Sakeris, 2010, p. xi).  It is for this very reason critical literacy/media skills are necessary to face the challenges of understanding issues in both a domestic and global sense. The Australian Curriculum acknowledges this priority through its seven General Capabilities to support students to become “successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens” (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2011b).

 (Bika Masr Staff, 2011)

There quite likely exists young people, whose parents have shunned multimedia and as such, endeavour to deny its access. These are the offspring of ‘digital disbelievers’ or ‘digital dissidents’; parents who champion philosophies of Natural Learners (or Unschoolers), Classical Educators, Steiner or Warldof and Charlotte Mason, just to name a few. These are the students not enrolled in formal schooling, children, whose parents have decided, often due to moral, religious or ideological convictions, not to ever send them to school, or have withdrawn them, for a plethora of reasons (Jennens, 2011, p. 146).

Within Queensland, it is a legal option for parents to Home Educate their children if they do not attend a formal educational setting (Department of Education and Training, 2010). In my role as an Education Advisor, for the Home Education Unit, I am expected to assist “parents to comply with legislative procedures should they wish to register their child for home education” (Department of Education and Training, 2010).Parents must “comply with the standard conditions of registration by providing their child with a high-quality education which is detailed in the child's education program and demonstrated in the annual report” (Department of Education and Training, 2006).  There is no obligation for these parents to follow a timetable, school-like curriculum or actually formally teach. So as previously suggested, many home-schooled children are at risk of becoming, as Henry Jenkins termed, part of the “participation gap” within the “digital divide”(Jenkins, 2006, p. 258). Zingrone, as cited by Mackey declares “a one-medium user is the new illiterate” (2003, p. 403).

It is highly likely many home-educated students are at risk of becoming the “vulnerable citizens… (those) in the media and communications context… (with) limited digital literacy” (Australian Communications and Media Authority, 2010, pp. 6-7) . This notion is recognised by UNESCO’s Declaration on Media Education, the Grünwald Declaration, which outlines the value of instilling critical understandings of various communication forms in “fostering greater citizenship and social participation through the use of the media” (O'Neill, 2010, p. 324).

The challenges many fundamentalist, home-educating parents pose to core values of citizenship, by rejecting them, is the subject of a study by Ross. She argues that democracy relies on citizens who share core values of citizenship and calls for the reform of home schooling; in particular to encourage homeschooled students to be allowed the “exposure to mainstream norms of tolerance” (Ross, 2010, p. 1013).

These students miss the usual enculturation of formal education, especially when parents snub the basic ideals of citizenship, including the most prevalent and culturally popular of media forms: mainly film and television. These are media, which also closely align to the internet and other forms through convergence. It is therefore imperative to promote the importance of media literacy to these home-schooling parents. Unlike the study conducted by Bullock to investigate “the role of technology in home school environments in Southeast Ohio” (2011, p. 19), the parents I am concerned about are the ones not using any technological media. A study by Princiotta and Bielick in 2006, found only 41% of the home-schooled students participated in learning programs provided by their parents that used “media such as e-mail, the Internet, television or video” (Bullock, 2011, p. 40).

Consequently, in my role as an educator, it is not so much innovative pedagogy that I must consider, but innovative andragogy. Understanding the relevance and motivation of these adults (Riggs, 2010, p. 388) I deal with, who are their children’s educators, is paramount. With this in mind, a careful balancing act of respecting parental choices and supporting the provision of quality education ensues. Jennens (2011) questions whether upholding the rights of home educating parents’ freedom of choice is an acceptable outcome, in relation to the access and openness of their child’s education. He considered the implications of acquiring "such freedom raises questions about the very essence of education" (p. 145). Whereas in contrast, Kinz advocates and cites Bourdieu’s opinion of considering worldview whereby “people are conditioned by their social and material conditions to a habitus” or unconscious perceptions that classify those who are different (Kintz & Lesage, 1998, pp. xi-xii).  

Examples of these diverse views range from the Natural Learning Australia website suggesting “Turn off the TV and…”. Yet upon this same webpage, going “to the library… (to) find DVD’s” is advised. The Steiner education clearly avoids the use of electronic media until students are in secondary school. Yet another viewpoint comes from the advocates of the Classical Education which declare “in front of a video screen, the brain can sit back and relax; faced with the written page, the mind is required to roll its sleeves up and get back to work.” Proponents of this philosophy believe their language-focussed approach, achieved via written and spoken words as opposed to images, has the mind working. The theory is that different 'Habits of Thought' are required for language learning which encourages the brain to translate symbols into thought from words on a page whereas an image learnt via pictures, videos and television causes the brain to be passive.

There are; however, other parents who are purely anti-technology as discussed in a Technology in Education Blog from last year, or in a Charlotte Mason blog promoting ditching the TV and taking up sewing instead! Unfortunately, many of these parent educators are not valuing the power of film and television as conduits to learning, but using it merely as a babysitter. The flipside to this techo-aversion is the acknowledgement by Henry Jenkins in 2004 of a home schooler embracing technology and researchers such as Templeton who are considering future directions and the need for collaboration (Templeton & Johnson, 2008). 

Gunther Kress posited the necessity for educators to embrace a new theory of semiosis as a way to acknowledge content and process of the embedded cultural resource of various multimodal text forms. He also acknowledges the demand for transformative action to develop literacies of critique and design. These 21^st Century media forms afford potential of both representation and communication by consumer/producers within social, cultural and economic fields. He goes on to call for precise transformative action, for now and in the future (2000, pp. 156-161).  

 (Vilimaka on cruiselyna, 2010)

It is therefore vital for me, as an educator, to engage in, not necessarily pedagogy, but the innovative andragogy previously highlighted! To these parents, I must seek ways to promote the value of multimodal texts and media forms, while still respecting their diverse views. A conclusion reached by Ross, is that democracy requires similar views (2010, p. 1013). It is not, after all, my responsibility to educate these home-schooled young people, but their parent’s job.

Conversely, when I was a classroom teacher, I was the one accountable for the students within my class, now; I am expected only to assist parents to ensure they provide their progeny with a high quality education. The regulatory nature of my work leaves few avenues in which to promote media use within home education programs. Hopefully information disseminated via the Home Education website (which is in need of an upgrade), links to The Australian Curriculum and our quarterly Newsletters may help spread the message! As Ian McShane, suggests “it has been necessary to build an alliance between schools and homes as co-contributors to digital education” (2011, p. 387), but in some instances with home educators and their children, where the home is the school – even more so!

References

Australian Communications and Media Authority. (2010). 'Citizens' and the ACMA - Exploring the concepts within Australian media and communications regulation. Retrieved from http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/_assets/main/lib311886/citizens_and_the_acma.pdf.

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2011a). The Australian Curriculum v1.2 - English: Content structure. The Australian Curriculum  Retrieved 15 October, 2011, from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/English/Content-structure

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2011b). General Capabilities  ACARA. ACARA  Retrieved 26 August, 2011, from http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/general_capabilities.html

Bika Masr Staff (Producer). (2011) new-media-literacy-lesson-one.jpg. Turkey: Journalists’ Arrests Chills Free Speech - Bikya Masr : Bikya Masr. JPEG image retrieved from http://bikyamasr.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/new-media-literacy-lesson-one.jpg

Bullock, K. K. (2011). Home Schooling and Technology: What is the Connection? A Collective Case Study in Southeast Ohio. Ohio University.

Department of Education and Training. (2006). SMS-PR-014: Home Education in Queensland. Department of Education and Training

  Retrieved October 12, 2011, from http://education.qld.gov.au/strategic/eppr/students/smspr014/

Department of Education and Training. (2010). Home education legislation Department of Education and Training  Retrieved 12 October, 2011, from http://education.qld.gov.au/parents/home-education/legislation.html

Jenkins, H. (2004). Why Heather can write. Technology review, 6.

Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media collide: NYU Press.

Jennens, R. (2011). Professional knowledge and practice in health, welfare and educational agencies in England in relation to children being educated at home: An exploratory review. Child Care in Practice, 17(2), 143-161.

Kintz, L., & Lesage, J. (1998). Media, culture, and the religious right: Univ Of Minnesota Press.

Kress, G. (2000). Design and transformation: New theories of meaning. Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures, 153-161.

Livingstone, S. (2009). Half a century of television in the lives of our children. The ANNALS of the American academy of political and social science, 625(1), 151.

Mackey, M. (2003). Researching new forms of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 38(3), 403-407.

McShane, I. (2011). Public libraries, digital literacy and participatory culture. Discourse, 32(3), 383-397.

O'Neill, B. (2010). Media Literacy and Communication Rights. International Communication Gazette, 72(4-5), 323.

Pomerance, M., & Sakeris, J. (2010). Popping Culture: Pearson/Education.

Riggs, C. J. (2010). Taming the Pedagogy Dragon. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 41(9), 388.

Ross, C. J. (2010). Fundamentalist Challenges to Core Democratic Values: Exit and Homeschooling. Wm. & Mary Bill of Rts. J., 18, 991-1129.

Templeton, R., & Johnson, C. E. (2008). Homeshool Learne. 21st Century Education: A Reference Handbook. SAGE Publications. Thousand Oaks, USA: SAGE Publications.

Vilimaka on cruiselyna (Producer). (2010) medialiteracy.jpg. JPEG image retrieved from http://cruiselyna.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/medialiteracy.jpg