Alexander R.

Key

70708771

Penn Foster College ECE 230

Field Experience

405425

September 10th 2022

Interview questions:

1 – Angela, CFO Credit Suisse Bank. Originally from Scotland but spent last 10 years

residing in Hong Kong. Mother of one boy who is 6 years old and currently grade 1 international

primary school.

2 – Akumi, Japanese housewife. Has a daughter who is 5 years old and attends an international

Kindergarten in Hong Kong.

1. Do you think your child is respectful?

2. What do you think your child should learn about at home regarding respect?

3. What do you think your child should learn about regarding respect at school?

4. How do you think authority should work in school?

5. How do you help your child to behave more obediently at home?

6. What is your definition of obedience in school?

7. Do you think your child is obedient at home?

8. Does your child understand the idea of authority at home?

9. Does your child understand the idea of authority at school?

10. Do you agree with the way the school teaches authority, respect and obedience?
Parent 1 - Responses -Angela

1. In general, I feel my son is respectful yes. He is polite to his older relatives and realizes

that they are more senior than him. He also shares well with his other friends and takes

turns. He is friendly to people he meets, such as cleaners and shop staff.

2. We have tried to teach him that his older family need to be respected. We also try and

make him understand that he will be treated as he treats others. We are firm but fair, if we

see a problem with him then we will punish him. We encourage him to be respectful to

his friends at playdates and reward him if he is good.

3. We expect that the school teaches him the basics of how to treat others. Taking his turn

and speaking at appropriate times is important. Being taught to be polite to teachers and

other students is also very important.

4. We feel teachers should be respected and have the right to punish appropriately if respect

isn’t shown. We feel the school should be able to exert a little more authority sometimes

because I don’t want to have to do it always at home.

5. We give clear instructions to our child, for example at bedtime, he has to go when we say

or the next day’s screen time will be cut. We are always trying to be consistent with our

rules and make sure both myself and my husband are on the same page.

6. I feel my child should listen carefully to the teachers and follow their instructions. He

should follow the school rules and their classroom agreements. Basically, we feel he

should do as he’s told.

7. I think generally speaking he does what we ask of him. There are some times when he

can have a tantrum, but they are not usually melt downs. He listens to us most of the time

but we, as all parents do, have trouble with too much screen time.

8. Yes, but sometimes he still tries to push our boundaries. He looks to bend the rules but I

think he understands the idea of basic authority. He will try to challenge our authority

sometimes by not listening.

9. From the feedback we get from school, it seems like his behavior at school is quite good,

so I think he understands authority there. I imagine he does not have the opportunity to

question any school authority because there is no screen time or bedtime problems.

10. We feel the school’s policies on these issues are about right. We don’t want them to be

too strict so we understand it can be difficult to strike a good balance. Our son seems to

be on the right track having been influenced by the school for a number of years.
Responses from Akumi

1. I think my daughter is really quite respectful. She’s quite shy so when she talks to family

and friends she listens and doesn’t often say much. She has a gentle temperament so she

will smile and usually comply with our requests.

2. Japanese culture is very respectful, so we expect her to listen to our instructions.

Mealtimes are a good time for us to teach her about respect because we have quite a few

basic rules. She learns and follows these rules as a tradition in our culture. This is a good

start for her.

3. We hope that the school works with us to help her be respectful there too. She should

listen and not raise her voice in class. When she has lunch, we expect her to eat properly

and be guided by the staff to do so.

4. We don’t expect the school to be too strict. We want her to have fun in school and be

free. We feel sure that we can teach her well at home to have better behavior. The school

should help her to be polite but doesn’t need to give her punishment.

5. We give her simple rules for bedtime and eating time and this helps her to understand our

goals for her. She has simple chores too like putting her things away and shoes in the

cupboard and these things help her to be obedient.

6. At the start of the day, she should politely greet the teachers and do her little jobs too. She

has to find her cubby hole and tidy up here shoes. Putting up her hand and waiting her

turn is how we feel she should be.

7. I think she is really quite obedient yes. She can always remember to do her jobs and eats

well at the table. We don’t have problems with an I-pad or phone because we don’t let

her have one yet and this helps. She’s happy to go to bed when we tell her because she

likes school.

8. We have always tried to be consistent with her and haven’t shouted at her. I think she

understands that we have a steady household where we don’t raise our voices and I see

she is quite even tempered for a 5-year-old.

9. Her school report seems to say that she is also quite quiet and shy, so I think that she goes

on with her school life without trouble. She definitely understands that the teachers need

to be respected.

10. We are happy with the school policies, and they fit well with our child. The teacher

doesn’t shout at the children and allows them to be themselves but seem to have mutual

respect.
Interview Questions –Grace. Grace is originally from the U.K and has been a teacher at

Hamilton Hill for 1 year.

1. What’s your opinion of how authority should be in your classroom?

2. How do you put that into practice?

3. Are your students respectful in class?

4.How do you expect your students to be respectful in class?

5. How do you help your students to be more respectful in class?

6. Do you think your class is obedient?

7. What are your goals for obedience in the classroom?

8. How do you help your students reach these goals?

9. Does the school offer you any assistance in helping you to be a more authoritative teacher?

10. Is there professional development in school to help with respect and obedience in the

classroom.
Responses from Grace

1. I expect that the students listen carefully to me so that I don’t have to repeat or raise my

voice. I should remain calm if there are problems in class and keep my patience. I expect

that If I ask my students to do something, they should do it.

2. We have a classroom agreement that is set out at the beginning of the year. It is

reinforced throughout the year with lessons to make our rules clear. We have posters on

the walls and instructions around the class.

3. Generally speaking, they are quite respectful yes. They do listen to me and are good at

taking turns when speaking. They address me nicely and take care of their jobs in the

morning. They also seem to respect each other too.

4. I expect my students to be kind to each other and not fight. They do take turns mostly at

play sessions and in the gym. I also expect that when they speak, they are polite and use

appropriate language.

5. If the students are not respectful, we have a reward chart that they can be demoted on. If

they are respectful then vice-versa, they will get rewarded. We have signs around the

classroom to remind them about respect also.

6. They follow my instructions well mostly but at certain times can get a bit unrulily. If this

happens, I sit them down and talk with them about it. The class is good at doing the little

jobs I ask them to do without too much fuss.

7. I would really like them to tighten up the rules in class as sometimes they take too long to

complete tasks. I want them to increase their attention and to take more care when

listening to me.
8. Back in the U.K, my school was much stricter than here so I’m adjusting to that. We have

been working on timing with our transitions, especially with regards to listening to me

about warnings of transition times. They take too long to tidy up sometimes and we are

working on this. Things are smoother here than my old school.

9. We have regular meetings to share feedback from our classes and some of the senior

teachers help to offer advice on how they can help share ideas.

10. We have a few opportunities to discuss these issues in school on our professional

development days. If there are specific problems with discipline, we meet together to

discuss and talk to the parents if necessary.

Interview Questions- Vanessa

Vanessa is Principal at Hamilton Hill International Kindergarten in Hong Kong. The school has

around 60 students from ages 1-6 years old.

1. What is the school’s idea of authority in the classrooms?

2. How do you support your staff to help maintain this?

3. What is the school’s philosophy for respect in the classrooms?

4. How do you help staff reach this goal in school?

5. What is your idea of how children should be obedient in school?

6. How do help your staff to try and implement this?

7. How do you communicate with parents to keep them up to date with

the school’s policies on authority?

8. How do you handle disciplinary incidents at school?

9. What are the policies of punishment in school?

10. How do you regulate the punishment given by the teachers?

Answers from Vanessa

1. The school’s stance on authority is that we try to maintain a relaxed and comfortable

environment for our students. As the classrooms are open plan, we need to regulate our

voices and the amount of noise in the classrooms. We try our best to keep the classrooms

friendly and happy.

2. I offer constant reinforcement in the classrooms by going into each room and talking with

staff and students throughout the day. We have a very collaborative atmosphere in school

which helps if there are any problems during the day.

3. Respect is very important for us, and children must be polite with their greetings and their

classroom manner. We teach our students to take turns and be respectful to each other as

well as the staff.

4. We have the rules of the class on the walls and clearly displayed as well as a good reward

system for the students. Our professional development days are quite often dedicated to

how we can have more harmonious classrooms.

5. I think obedience should be natural in our classrooms. We hope that our students can

listen carefully to the teachers and respond accordingly. We want our students to respond

quickly so that the teachers don’t have to ask the same requests over and over.

6. We try to help the teachers but also work with the parents to communicate problems in

school. We have school handbooks and a communications app to be able to inform

parents of how they can help their children. We also have a ‘red choice’ and ‘green

choice’ policy where we try to reward good behavior.

7. Through our app and handbook, we can let the parents know of any problems. If there is

a more serious problem, then we ask the parents to come in for a meeting with us to

discuss.

8. Our staff will meet together if there is a serious incident and discuss. We will decide the

appropriate action and I usually have the final say on the best course of action. I will meet

with the parents and try to resolve the issue. Most of the time the parents are already

aware of a problem from either their child or the class teacher.

9. We try not to use traditional methods such as naughty corners or standing outside the

classroom. Usually, we try to use positive reinforcement to help overcome problems in

the class and informing parents or warning to inform parents usually helps to sort out

problems.

10. The classrooms are open plan, and the doors are always open, so I’ll always know if

there’s a problem in the class. I walk down and try and assist the teacher to make sure the

problems are handled according to the school’s philosophy.

 Parent 1 Summary –Angela is the mother of a student boy in Hong Kong. She is CFO of a

Swiss bank and has lived in Hong Kong for 10 years.

I feel Angela viewed authority at home as a work in progress and they were still developing

and adjusting. She gave the impression that her son was generally respectful towards his parents

and usually listened to them but could occasionally be a bit defiant. In school, she viewed

authority as a mutual partnership between themselves and her son and again, one that was still in

progress. However, she was confident that her son listened to the teachers and for the most part

respected them. They reinforced the school’s philosophies with their son at home and tried to

both be on the same page when it did come to discipline. I was under the impression that they

followed quite strict routines at home and that might help their son be more respectful at school.

I feel her sentiments of respect, authority and obedience lined up well with the school.

Parent 2 summary – Akumi has two daughters and is originally from Japan. Her 5-year-old goes

to kindergarten, and she looks after her other, younger daughter during the day at home.
 Akumi seemed to have a more relaxed view on authority at home with her child. It seemed

like her child was very obedient and generally did what she was told. The daughter, possibly

through her cultural environment, seemed to have no problem being respectful to others

including family and friends. Her characteristics in fact, seemed to shape her behavior. Akumi

seemingly wanted the school to also be quite relaxed with their policies on discipline too. I can’t

imagine she would want to send her child to a school that had shouting teachers and strong

discipline policies. Whereas I felt a stronger line on discipline was viewed as more normal policy

by the first interview conducted.

Teacher Summary –Grace, a teacher in Hong Kong for around a year, she is originally from

the U.K. She worked in a primary school in the U.K and taught year 1 for 6 years before moving

to Hong Kong.

Grace had quite relaxed views on authority and discipline in her classroom. Coming from a

stricter environment in the U.K she was adjusting quickly to the school’s policies on discipline.

Her views were aligned with the school’s as far as I could tell, and she had a classroom that was

generally working together to be understanding and respectful. Grace had to work closely with

the other staff to be able to pick-up their policies on respect, obedience and authority and relies

on their support to be able to keep the school’s policies in place. Her classroom demonstrated an

understanding of respect among the students, and they took turns and listened to her. Her

communication with parents and the reinforcement of the school’s policies was also a key to

helping her in the class. Open-plan classrooms help her to collaborate with other teachers and
help a more transparent environment. However, she told me that one incident recently had tested

her skills on obedience and respect. One of her students had been hiding another student’s snack

boxes for several days. After investigating and asking the children to help her find out who it

was, she found the boxes and the person hiding them. She sat all the students down and

explained that this was serious and violated their classroom agreement. After which, she met

with the principal, and they asked the parents to come in to discuss the matter.

Principal Summary –Vanessa. Vanessa has been principal of the Hamilton Hill International

School for 8 years. She is from Canada originally ans has worked in Hong Kong for 15 years.

It would seem that the school's philosophy aligns well with the harmony in the school.

Keeping good communications between parents and teachers helps to observe and monitor the

student's behavior. Informing the parents of problems or variations in behavior also helps to

maintain harmony in the classroom. Continuous professional development and networking with

other schools increases the communication and resources available to the school. Staff welfare is

also important in keeping the environment friendly and balanced.

Vanessa’s school tries to employ a ‘good choice, bad choice’ discipline procedure. The policy

is to try and have the children understand the choices they make have consequences. Sooner than
having a naughty chair or time-out area, the school tries to preempt problems by having the

children think first before they act.

It is evident that the schools work on environmental stability first and foremost and that the

harmony and discipline follow that. Through clear mission statements and school philosophy,

and keeping to them, the schools appear to avoid problems with discipline. This is very much a

cultural factor as clearly schools in Western countries have many more issues with discipline in

schools. Isolated incidents are taken seriously and parents are brought into school for discussion,

but these are rare. Constant communication with parents is essential in maintaining the harmony

in the schools.

While in school observing a rare incident actually happened. One 4-year-old boy hit another

boy causing his nose to bleed. The amount of distress that this incident caused was palpable and

obviously it was a serious cause for concern for the staff. His parents were called as it happened

early in the morning and the boy was sent home. I was told that nothing like this had ever

happened before. The parents were called back the next day and agreed to keep the boy home for

three days. After he came back, he was taken into the classroom separately and talked to by staff.

They asked him to be respectful to his classmates and to not hit the other children. The child in

question was deemed to have had an isolated outburst and will be closely observed in the next

few weeks.

After witnessing the hitting incident, it was surprising to note that the parents were

sympathetic with the school's policy of suspension. Although the word ‘suspension’ was never

used. I feel that they realized it was a matter of school policy to keep him home and agreed to

talk to him and help him understand why he was to stay at home. The parents could have tried to
blame another child and defended their son but they chose to trust the school. This says a bit

about the respect and trust they have for the school.

In general, I feel the school’s policies are effective in keeping the classrooms as harmonious as

could be expected. The staff are well-trained and up to date on the latest teaching methods

relating to discipline in schools. The communication when events in school occurs is good but I

feel the school could perhaps try to organize some information sessions for parents on the

school’s policies regarding their authority and discipline procedures. Everything seemed to be a

bit retroactive as regards communications and the school may benefit from being more open

about the discipline procedures. Having more information available to the parents would be

mutually beneficial.