In My Study at Jasper Williams High School, Fiji

FIJI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-LAUTOKA CAMPUS
COLLEGE OF HUMMANITIES AND EDUCATION

___________________________________________________________________________

EDU611: ENTRY INTO TEACHING

FIELD
WORK
ASSIGNMENT
2011

NAME: VANESSA WAINIU LAL
DISCIPLINE: ACCOUNTING & ECONOMICS YEAR 2
ID NO#: 2010004562

FIELD WORK ASSIGNMENT AS AN ETHNOGRAPHER AT JASPER WILLIAMS HIGH SCHOOL

In my study on Jasper Williams High School, as an Educational Ethnographer, I followed an ethnographic research based on my observations and field notes about the school. According to the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Educational Ethnography is defined as “a branch of anthropology dealing with the scientific description of educational systems, processes, and phenomena within their specific contexts”. As for me as a educational ethnographer, I have found out that a school’s organisation, management, culture, school system and the roles and responsibilities of a schools’ stakeholders such as the committee, Head of School, teachers, parents and most importantly the students need to be surveyed because this is a way of addressing and highlighting certain issues, events and challenges that schools of Fiji today faces. So conducting this Educational Ethnographic research on Jasper Williams High School has allowed me to address certain issues that all these stakeholders face.

How I Went About With My Interview With The School Board
I am very privileged that the School Principal Mrs Soko of Jasper Williams High School allowed me to conduct my survey on the school. I informed her of the interviews that I needed to conduct and as a result she directed me to one of the teachers to assist me the right people whom I needed to interview. The first one was the Manager of the school, Reverend Rueben Goundar.

Results On My Interview With The School’s Manager: During the interview he outlined to me his responsibilities as the Manager of the school. These include the construction and management of the school’s buildings and management of the school’s finance. He informed me that the school is run by the Indian Methodist Church of Fiji. He further said that he was elected to the board because he represents the Indian circuit of the Methodist Church of Fiji. The school board consists of seven males and nine females. The school also has a Parent and teachers Association and they normally meet once or twice a term. News letters are normally given 2 to 3 weeks before the PTA meetings for parents to attend in numbers. The Manager finally said that ‘they are the voice of the parents and students in the board.’

Interview with Parents and Guardians
Furthermore, I was glad that I was able to interview parents personally who lived nearby the school area that included Vomo Street and Waiyavi area. Since my sister attends Jasper Williams High School, she and two of her friends helped me around to interview them.

Results on the interviews of Parents/Guardians of Jasper Williams High School Based on my Interview, majority of the families have one to two children attending the school. The parents are satisfied with their child or children’s education in terms of their academic performance. A parent of two sibling said that ‘Performance overall is great. Theory and practical work and assignments have been contributing more time on educational affairs.’ Another parent of one said that her daughter is managing satisfactorily with all subjects and she believes that her performance will enable her to complete high school and to enter into a reputable university. The parents and guardians help the school in terms of fundraising activities. The school also organises a Family Fun day whereby parents are invited to the school. Each family contributes $50 for this Family Fun Day celebration to the school. This fun day was organised by the Parents, Teachers and Friends Association. The money collected will be used for the purchasing of 20 computers for the school. The money raised from this fundraising drive was $16,000.00. Even though fundraising is part and partial of any institution, but one of the parents whom I interviewed was not quite supportive towards the school’s fundraising system. She said that “At this time when things are very expensive and life is not like it used to be, teachers and parents should work together and understand the situation now. Education is very important rather than fundraising.” Another parent also said that ‘fundraising should be conducted in an appropriate way and for a good course only and most importantly, it should serve its purpose.’ On interviewing about what they like about the school, most of them said that the religious and empowering of women is very encouraging and the school has great academic and sports reputation such as in oratory contests, debates and spell well. In sports the girls have improved well in athletics, soccer, hockey and netball. For any school to function well in terms of academic performance and extra- curricular activities, effective learning resources and equipments needs to be available for the students. However, the parents interviewed came up with suggestions on the improvements that they would like to see in the school. First of all, they recommended the school to provide better teaching facilities such as computers, lab instruments, more text books and new desk and chairs for the students. Secondly, they recommended to increase lessons on computer literacy since children of today need to be computer literate because this would help them to provide quality assignments and tasks for better performance. Lastly, there is a need for renovations of the classroom buildings. The parents are hoping that there would be improvements on the issues mentioned and they hope for the best in future. One of the parents whom I interviewed said that ‘If the school continues with its academic and religious involvement with the students, strong and honest young women will be seen in Fiji.’

School’s Relationship With The Community

The school has a healthy relationship with the community. Parents of Jasper Williams High School have a lot of trust towards the school. The main reason is that because Jasper Williams High School is a religious school. Parents have confidence towards the school because they believe that sending their girls to the school will not only prepare them academically but will also help them in their spiritual growth. Even non-Christian parents have high hopes about the school because they believe by sending their children to Jasper Williams High School will help them to behave nicely and towards their expectations. Most of these non-Christian parents have proved these from their older siblings who have gone through Jasper Williams High School. Therefore the relationship between Jasper Williams High School and the community is still intact.