Abstracts 2001 Niels Kryger

Why research in child and youth culture is needed to qualify educational reflections (NFPF/NERA Stockholm March 2001)

From field studies in class room to field studies in informal learning environments (NFPF/NERA Stockholm March 2001)

Gender and Media (Affective Education Network - Porto June 2001)

Comparing children's every day life and media use in different Danish areas. A national and a cross-national perspective (Nordic Childhood Helsinki August 2001)

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Why research in child and youth culture is needed to qualify edu-cational reflections. - Based on an ongoing research project: Girls' and Boys' Everyday Life and Media Culture.

NORDIC EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION (NERA)
Conference Stockholm March 2001( Conference Homepage)

NERA Symposium 5:

Abstract Niels Kryger

An increasingly oppressing question in education is how and with what per-spective children's 'own culture' shall be is reflected in educational contexts. By children's 'own culture' is meant cultural activities children do voluntary by themselves and relatively independent of adults (but of course always in a kind of interplay with adults and a wider cultural context). This 'own culture' often takes place as leisure time activities in peer groups and has often been identified as children's (own) play culture. Media use often plays a very im-portant role in shaping this 'own culture' (as raw material for narratives and activities e.g. Spice Girls inspired dances).

Currently there are more and more efforts to include elements from children's own culture in school activities. The pupils are encouraged to communicate their own stories in writing or they do project work about their own pop groups etc.

However in practise this inclusion of children's 'own' culture in school comes about with a lot of ambiguity. It threatens the school's (traditional) order and interaction patterns and foremost it threatens a historically deeply rooted con-ception that the teaching and learning environments in school shall shape a counter culture to what is considered as children's own leisure time culture. Another problem is that teachers know very little about children's leisure time culture, especially they know very little about their media use. So all consid-ered, the perspective with which children's 'own culture' is brought into school is often very blurring.

In light of this an ongoing research project: 'Girls' and Boys' Everyday Life and Media Culture' shall be mentioned.

Homepage NERA (English) NFPF(Swedish)

NORDIC EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION (NERA)
Conference Stockholm March 2001 ( Conference Homepage)

Abstract Niels Kryger - Session 7:

From field studies in class room to field studies in in-formal learning environments

On the background of three of my own field studies from 1970's to 2000's I want to discuss challenges and conditions for empirical field studies with a learning perspective within this period. Methodological issues will be discussed in the presentation. The projects are

1970 Projekt Skolesprog (Project School Language) ? a project with 16 researchers. Studies in classroom interaction reveal patterns that are seen as a reflection of underlying institutionalised patterns: What is de-scribed in the official curriculum is systematically not what is actually hap-pening in the classroom. What is going on is summarised in the concept: the hidden curriculum (opposed to the official curriculum)

1980's (own ph.d. project) The big boys in school (de store drenge i skolen/ de skrappe drenge): The project is a field study in the Danish 'Folkeskole'of a group of boys' subculture. In the study the encounter - and clash - between the boys and their female teacher are seen as a re-flecting of some underlying socio-cultural patterns: a clash between a manual (working class) culture and the teacher's (school's and middle class') progressive pedagogy. A gender and a class perspective is mixed.

1990/2000 Studies in children's everyday life and media use foremost in leisure time. Arenas in leisure time are seen as sites of learning (family, peer groups, media use) (themes: generation, gender and globalisation - focus on children as active producers of culture). (Ongoing project: Girls' and Boys' Everyday Life and Media Culture - between a Global and Local Perspective).

Homepage NERA (English) NFPF(Swedish)

SEMINAR ON THE AFFECTIVE DIMENSION OF EDUCATION University of Porto (Portugal), June 25-27, 2001

See Programme

Session on Gender and Media
Coordinator: Niels Kryger, Danish University of Education, Denmark.
Discussant: .Cristina Pontes

Departing from the findings of existing research on boys' and girls' everyday life and media culture, this session will focus on gender, media and a generational issues, namely by exploring the relation between children and their parents and between children and their teachers. A crucial research topic is children's use of media in their building up of a gender identity in context marked by ambiguity and change, especially with regard to gender roles. The term media covers a wide range of media from printed media and sound-media to film/TV/video and the new hybrid forms of the computer-multimedia. A characteristic feature of the recent media development is internationalisation, which implies that children all over the world watch the same types of television programmes. An increasing globalisation of media has taken place. This development has influenced society in general, including children and their use of media. At the same time, there is a worldwide tendency of searching the local culture in the local community. Therefore, the tension between the global and the local is essential to this discussion. It is expected that results of existing research will provide a basis for political and educational initiatives concerning children's life and the societal function of media.

Homepage for European Affective Education Network 

CONFERENCE COMPARING CHILDHOODS, Helsinki August 23-26 2001
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Comparing children's every day life and media use in different Danish areas. A national and a cross-national perspective

Abstract - Niels Kryger
The background for the presentation is a longitudinal study on children's media use in three different Danish areas. The title of the project is 'Boys' and Girls' Every Day Life and Media Culture - in a Global and a Local Perspective'. We are a group of four researchers who during a three-year period have followed 24 Danis