Introduction and Literature review

Although there has been great enthusiasm about radio as a medium for education, radio could be considered the often forgotten classroom medium, since education technology projects tend to prioritize newer, more glamorous media.  As the medium with the greatest reach in South Africa, radio is accessible even in remote rural areas at minimal cost and is compatible with rich oral cultures. A widely understood technology, radio seems highly appropriate to address difficulties in distribution of educational media to South African schools.  Of the state-run schools in South Africa, 80% have no libraries and many government schools are not receiving shipments of textbooks.  Only about 35% of schools in South Africa have storage facilities.  Cost of educational goods and services to provincial departments of education is set to rise by 14.2% annually.

A life skills programme produced by the Children’s Radio Foundation was introduced to Grade 6 learners from two co-ed well-resourced urban schools in Cape Town in a lesson appropriate to their Life Skills curriculum.  The learners’ responses were analyzed using a theoretical framework which recommends understanding radio and other media through practical and theoretical work and activating children’s interest through participation and critique.

Although the two classes responded very differently, most learners reported that the radio programme influenced their way of thinking about human rights issues.  The paper also reports learners’ suggestions about how to improve educational radio programming.

A paper presented by Professor Robert Hilliard at the First International Workshop on Farm Radio Broadcasting (2001) concluded that South Africa has the potential to develop one of the most diverse and effective radio systems in the world which can be adapted to many other countries where radio can be used to serve the needs of rural populations.  He cites the following reasons for this: Radio is the least expensive medium, it is an appropriate technology for this time and the high development need gives high motivation for effective use of the medium.  The majority of the people have a rich oral tradition, which is ideally suited to radio.

In 2011 an estimated 95% of South African households have access to at least one radio. Radio reception is now also possible through internet and mobile phones. There are 120 radio stations broadcasting in 11 official languages.  This medium can reach more school-going children for educational and life skills purposes than any other medium in South Africa.

In their presentation, The Challenges facing Higher Education in South Africa, Ken Ramdass and David Kruger argue that South African schools are deprived of resources, facilities and qualified teachers.

Graeme Bloch, education policy analyst at the Development Bank of Southern Africa, remarks in his book The Toxic Mix that between 60 and 80% of schools in South Africa might be called “dysfunctional”.  He says education is also about how we live together - it has to change society, encourage creativity, originality and intolerance of injustice.

My pilot project will propose a way in which to address some of the problems touched on by Bloch, Ramdass and Kruger.  A life skills programme produced by the Children’s Radio Foundation has been evaluated by two co-ed urban grade 6 classes with respectively 18 and 23 learners per class.  Using a theoretical framework anchored in Buckingham’s theory of learning, the paper reports on the responses of the two Cape Town schools.

Radio has inspired philosophers, scientists and educators in its early days and was hailed as a magical new educational tool.  Thomas Edison believed media would revolutionize the educational system. Mary Somerville (one of the pioneers in BBC radio for schools) waxed lyrical in 1924 about what this new medium of communication might mean to schools.  Mark Pegg (1983:165) said radio was seen as a “social revolution, a great force of enlightenment and the most important essential of an educated democracy.”

Early enthusiasm waned, on the one hand because of technical and practical problems and on the other hand because alternative and more fashionable technologies arrived on the market.  Instead of learning from decades of radio in education research, radio was discarded in favour of a new media in education dream.

Case studies that shed light on difficulties or problems encountered in Radio in Education

Hawkridge and Robinson (1982:31) looked at case studies in Africa, Asia, Central America and South America and divided problems in Radio in Education into the following categories: Technical, economic, educational, political, integrational, cultural and geographical.

The role of teachers:

When looking at educational factors, the role of teachers is of paramount importance.  Robert Muller (1985, The World Core Curriculum) said that Radio has the advantage of teaching subjects in which classroom teachers are deficient or untrained. An added benefit for multi-grade classrooms is that it provides instruction for one group of students while the teacher works with another group.

A case study by Peter Spain in the state of San Luis Potosi in Mexico (Spain, 1973) suggests that the attitude of teachers was one of the most important reasons why radio classes in Mexico did not work.  Radioprimaria was a project that brought radio classes to grades 4, 5 and 6 of rural areas, to help counteract the lack of teachers. 

Teachers provided radios, but the radios were often not working.  The batteries were flat or the broadcast was bad.  There were critical administrative problems.  Inspectors who had to evaluate radio broadcasts, had to use their own cars and were not supplied with maintenance allowances.  When teachers were transferred, new teachers knew nothing about Radioprimaria.

There were many reasons why teachers did not follow the radio programmes. (1973:26)  There was a lack of information from the Department of Radiopriomaria and the fact that some teachers thought the radio receivers would be distributed for free, constituted some of the problems.  There was also neglect on the part of school teachers and directors who did not take the project seriously.  Poor signal reception at times was due to faulty transmitters.  Some teachers saw Radioprimaria as an additional task to their daily chores and teachers who commuted from Mexico City often did not arrive at 8.00am when the broadcasts started and could therefore not listen to it.  In some schools, children arrived as late as 10.30am.  If transmission was not prompt, it kept teachers in suspense and wasted time.  Only 18 out of 45 schools had working, audible radios.

These are practical problems that have to be addressed by the governing body of radio in education programmes. The problems are not impossible to overcome once they are understood.

Evaluation and participation of teachers and learners in Radio in Education programmes

According to Buckingham, broadcasters’ judgments of quality in broadcasting are largely derived not from understanding educational use of programmes, but from the profession criteria that apply within mainstream broadcasting.  If teachers are not involved and able to influence production, it cannot effectively meet their needs. (2007:55-56)  He also argues for children’s rights to participate in the media, “moving from passive rights to active rights” and for their involvement in shaping and producing the media environment that surrounds them. (Buckingham (b) 2000:203) 

In the following cases, teacher and children participation in production and evaluation of programmes have been achieved:

Afghanistan: REACH (Radio Education for Afghan Children) broadcast informative and inspiring programmes to children who have few other opportunities for learning. Peshawar is home to hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees. The programme staff themselves are Afghan refugees and liaise with the Afghan children to pilot ideas in refugee camps.  The programme makers take their cues from the audience. REACH does not teach, but helps children to learn by awakening their curiosity to understand and ask questions about their world. Because the listeners often have low levels of literacy, the programmes are designed to be effective without print materials.

Similar programmes exist in countries like Senegal (Radio Gune Yi )and Haiti (Radyo Timoun, started by street children and including rap, news, interviews, commentary and live interviews. (http//pangaea.org/street_children/latin/Haiti-htm.

The Butterflies Radio Project in India has 7 – 18 year old street and working children who broadcast nine 30-minute programmes featuring news, popular music and interviews.

The Talking Drum Studio is part of the Search for Common Ground Project and airs programmes designed to encourage peace and reconciliation in Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Côte d’Ivoire. (http://www.talkingdrumstudio.org)

South Africa:  Bush Radio is a community radio station in Cape Town, South Africa.  Tanja Bosch explains what they do in chapter 6 of her thesis, Radio, Community and Identity in South Africa: A rhizomatic study of Bush Radio in Cape Town. (2003: 147)  About 60 children between the ages of 6 and 18, show up at Bush Radio on Saturday mornings to learn how to produce radio programmes.  They learn to write scripts and edit recorded materials in the production studio. The vision at Bush Radio is to give the children an understanding of media and to have the entire Saturday programme produced by children.  A children’s broadcasting conference is held at Bush Radio every year.  The intention is to expose children to broadcasting and present media production as a viable career choice.  They allow children to make all the choices around the conference programme and discuss issues of broadcasting among themselves.

Policy Overview:

According to Sarah Mc Neill (http://www.worldradioforum.org) there seems to be a rising awareness of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and of radio’s potential to deliver information on child rights related issues such as health (HIV and AIDS) safety (land mines) and education as well as its power to action children’s participatory rights.  Mc Neill says, “I truly believe that in a globalised media environment, radio is the technology to span the digital divide.”

The SA Government’s Department of Communications (DOC) published plans in September 2001 to support and strengthen children’s radio by inviting community radio stations to tender for funds to produce appropriate programming for children.

The first Bush Radio conference was held in 2001 with approximately 60 participants aged 6 – 18.  This conference produced a set of notes that formed the basis of the Children’s and Youth Radio Manifesto.  This initiative has been taken up by the World Radio Forum.  They want to involve youth radio groups worldwide to draft an international charter to set a standard for appropriate youth programming.

The Children’s Radio Foundation broadcasts life skills programmes on SAFM at 12 noon in the Cape Town area.  This foundation is another excellent local example of child participation in the production of radio programmes.  The Children’s Radio Foundation, train children in Africa to report on their own situations.  The fact that radio is cheaper and easier to operate than television and the fact that the children feel safe and anonymous, prove it to be the perfect medium to use.  The effectiveness of these programmes has not yet been tested in classrooms.

In my pilot study, one of the programmes produced by die Children’s Radio Foundation and broadcast by SAFM will be used for research purposes.

The pilot study will investigate how a life skills programme is experienced and responded to by grade 6 pupils from two different city schools.  Life Orientation (life skills) is one of the compulsory subjects in South African schools. There is a history in South Africa of children growing up in child-headed households where the traditional role of parent/grandparent as life skills teacher and role model is simply not a reality anymore.  Basic life skills are of vital importance, even before literacy and mathematics education, because it has the power to instill messages of self-improvement. 

The programme chosen to use as classroom pilot study is called “Human Rights – a real life experience.”  Jonathan Gala who left Zimbabwe in search of a better life in Johannesburg tells his own story of endurance, suffering and hope.

A broadcast should not be a lesson, but an experience.  Moir (1967) said it should “open the doors of the classroom to let interesting visitors in and take the children out on journeys into time and space.” 

Climate change and new energy links

Excellent websites for those passionate about a green planet and new energies:

http://www.optimalenergy.co.za/
http://www.wwf.org.za/

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info@dontbeapassanger.com

Theoretical Framework

Theoretical framework:

Chomsky has a very bleak view on our relationship with the media when he calls it “just one of a variety of measures to deprive democratic political structures of substantive context, while leaving them formally intact.”  (Noam Chomsky, Necessary Illusions, London 1989)

It is interesting to note that Noam Chomsky visited Bush Radio in South Africa many years after this comment.  He then wrote a letter to the radio station that says, “I have travelled to many countries and have participated in radio programmes everywhere.  Bush Radio is arguably the most important radio station I have ever visited.”  (Bosch, 2003:28)

Michel Foucault believes that “Power {of the media} is not simply repressive, it is also productive.  Power subjects bodies not to render them passive, but active.” (Sheridan, London 1980:217)  He invites the student to engage in discourse in an area of no absolutes, where “truth” can change as a result of the very discourse. 

David Buckingham’s theoretical framework also embraces Foucault’s view. In his chapter, “Defining Pedagogy” in his book, Media Education (2003:139) he elaborates on the kind of theory of learning we need in media education.

Buckingham’s student-centered approach with strong emphasis on students sharing their own knowledge and opinions and forming their own conclusions about the issues (2003:69) is valuable and relevant to this research project.  His approach assumes that the learners already know something about the subject and about the media and that their knowledge is valuable and useful for further reflection.  This turns passive knowledge into active knowledge.

Buckingham is also drawn to Vygotsky’s work, which offers a social theory of consciousness and of learning.  Dialogue between teacher and student and between students themselves is central to this process. (2003: 141)  His theory of learning proposes a dynamic (or dialogic) approach to teaching and learning.  There is a shifting back and forth between different forms of learning – “action and reflection, practice and theory, passionate engagement and distanced analysis.” (2003:154)

Buckingham’s theory (derived from Foucault and Vygotsky’s work) is valuable for classroom research, while keeping in mind what Burn and Parker said in Analysing Media Text as a warning when working with any theory: “It is important for researchers using a [multimodal approach] to keep in mind it is a new and evolving theory.  The researcher must extend the theory it must not become an orthodoxy.” (2003:84)

 

Methodology Post

Methodology:

In Teaching the Way children Learn (1994 NCREST Columbia) Beverly Falk suggests that teachers should teach in ways that are responsive to the ways children learn.

She feels the role of the teacher in this process should be to give students centre stage in the classroom where they could play an active, inquiring role in their learning. The teacher acts as guide, coach, mentor and advisor.

She terms this conception “constructivist” because it sees learning as a dynamic internal process in which learners actively “construct” knowledge by connecting new information transferred to them from external sources (e.g. the radio programme). The emphasis is on developing the students’ capacity for analysis and problem-solving, rather than on “covering the curriculum.” In this way they become thinkers, creators and problem-solvers. (Falk 1994:3) Constructivist classrooms include students of different ages and abilities and students of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Although the learners in my pilot study groups will be more or less the same age and of the same abilities, they will be of different cultural, linguistic and socio-economic groups and this will also enhance exposure to different perspectives and frames of reference.

Participatory action research has been used, involving spontaneous and scientific concepts, as defined by Buckingham in his chapter Defining Pedagogy (2003:139).  Spontaneous concepts are those developed through the child’s own mental efforts while scientific concepts are influenced by the adult involved.  Conventional methods of surveys, interviews and focus groups have not been chosen and the real classroom situation was simulated as far as possible.  Buckingham warns that the realities of classroom practice are usually more messy and contradictory than the well-ordered educational theory. (2003: 153)

The research was conducted during school hours and in school context to gain data of a qualitative nature during the period allocated for Life Skills in the specific school (13.00 on Thursday 7 April 2011 at Reddam and 11.00 on Monday 18 April at Jan van Riebeeck).  The research was collaborative in that it involved learners, a facilitator and the Children’s Radio Foundation.  It was participatory in that the learners actively used their own mental efforts and the adult involved helped them to link this to scientific concepts of the research process.  Semi-structured questions were posed and more questions flowed spontaneously from the dialogue.  Only process notes were kept for maximum non-intrusiveness and in the case of Reddam, a Dictaphone.  Gender differences have not been investigated.  Investigator responsiveness is (Morse et al. 2002) plays an important role in naturalistic rather than conventional criteria relating to rigour. (Lincoln and Guba 1985, 300).  Only second level coding (pattern coding) between Jan van Riebeeck and Reddam was used since the questions already coded the answers.  The computer programme NVivo was not needed since the data was small enough to handle and words could not be coded – the learners did not repeat the same vocabulary and questions were also answered in Afrikaans.  The naturalistic criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability relating to rigour have been taken into account.

 

Reddam was chosen because it is a private, co-ed urban school with learners from high socio- economic status.  This school was further selected because it has an interesting audience of mostly confident, knowledgeable and eloquent learners who are used to speaking their minds.  The learners attend an English medium school and will have no problem understanding the radio programme.

Jan van Riebeeck represents a co-ed urban government school with learners from different socio-economic backgrounds, including children from the South African Children’s Home.  It is an Afrikaans medium school, which means that the children will have to make sense of a radio text that is not in their home language. (In South Africa where there are 11 official languages, children will necessarily sometimes have to listen to media that is not in their home language.)  I did not map the classroom, since the study does not look at gender differences and the children were more all less the same age.  There was a time restriction and I wanted to keep it as close as possible to a natural classroom situation.  Learners were all given a turn to speak to ensure that answers or suggestions did not only come from a few.   First-time participants were given priority.  After analyses of the transcriptions, themes were identified and coded.

The radio programme selected for this pilot project is a documentary about the young Zimbabwean Jonathan Gala, who left his country in search of a better life in South-Africa.  He tells his own story of endurance, suffering and hope.  Teachers and parents were able to listen to the programme before their children were exposed to it and it was available on the website (http://www.childrensradiofoundation.org) under the heading: “Human Rights – a real-life story”. The story was chosen because it ties in with the Curriculum Statement for Life Orientation on constitutional rights and responsibilities.