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Leon Benade

Being a
Teacher in the
21st Century
A Critical New Zealand Research Study
Being a Teacher in the 21st Century
Leon Benade

Being a Teacher in the 21st

Century
A Critical New Zealand Research Study

123
Leon Benade
School of Education
Auckland University of Technology
Auckland
New Zealand

ISBN 978-981-10-3781-8 ISBN 978-981-10-3782-5 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-3782-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017930800

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017

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Acknowledgements

The research work on which this book is based was made largely possible by the
generous funding of the Faculty of Culture and Society and the School of Education
of the Auckland University of Technology. This support was invaluable in helping
to bring the various elements of the research to fruition.
In a study of this nature, there is no research without participants, and a large
number of participants who gave generously of their time over the past three years
are gratefully acknowledged. I hope I have accorded their voices and words the
respect and dignity they deserve. They, like so many other teachers and school
leaders, deserve praise for their unstinting efforts. I focus my work on resisting the
movement of teachers’ work into the shadow-lands of education.
My thanks to my publisher, Nick Melchior of Springer, and his colleagues, who
have supported the publication of this important work. Special thanks to my col-
league, Andrew Gibbons, of the School of Education at the Auckland University of
Technology, who participated in certain aspects of this research, both in the initial
‘21st-Century Learning’ (2013/2014) and in the later ‘Being a Teacher’ (2015)
studies. Special thanks too are extended to the two anonymous reviewers, whose
helpful insights and some incisive commentary have helped sharpening this book.
Last but not least, I acknowledge my wife and professional friend, Gina, who is a
constant companion in these endeavours, and has had to put up with my distracted
attention and seemingly endless 4 am starts.

v
Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 1
Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 1
Conceptual Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 3
A Bricolage of Critical Theory, Critical Hermeneutics
and Post-Intentional Phenomenology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
A Personal Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Division of Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 Presenting the Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Design and Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The Four Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Innovation Primary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Angelus School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Millennial College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Holyoake College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3 The Future Is Now: What ‘21st-Century Learning’
Means for Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Futures Discourse and the Status of Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Character of the Digital Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Technological Determinism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Digital Natives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
21st-Century Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Skills Students Need for the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Lifelong Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Learning at the Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

vii
viii Contents

21st-Century Learning and Modern Learning Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Personalised Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Authentic Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Project-Based, Problem-Based and Design-Based Approaches to
Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
‘Stage, Not Age’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Collaborative Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Learning Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
The Imperative of Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Design Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
The Place of Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Learning Space Design Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Furniture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Influence of Environment on Teaching and Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Critical Perspectives on the Technology of Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Materiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Lefebvre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
ICT in Schools/BYOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
‘Digital Revolution’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Student Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Staff PD/L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Integrating ICT in Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Digital Pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
ICT and Student Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Teachers’ Reflective Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Becoming Reflective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Being Reflective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Implications for Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Change Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Teacher Stress and Work Intensification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Change Management for Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Staff Development and Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4 The Impacts on Teachers’ Work: 21st-Century Learning ......... 75
The Demands of Modern Teaching and Learning Practices:
A Critical Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 76
The Practical Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 79
Modern Teaching and Learning Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 79
Contents ix

Approach to Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Integrated Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Personalised Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Tracking and Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Classroom Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Student Agency and Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Student Attitudes and Opinions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
On Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Personalisation and the ‘Knowledge Problem’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Intentionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
In Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5 The Impacts on Teachers’ Work: Working in Flexible Learning
Environments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Flexible Learning Environments and Space: Some Critical
Perspectives on Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
AC Nielsen Study: Best Practice in School Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Ministry of Education: Learning Studio Pilot Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
The Practical Studies: Working in Flexible (Innovative) Learning
Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Innovation Primary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Angelus School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Millennial College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Design and Set-Up of the Working Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Student Work and Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Classroom Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Teachers’ Work and Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
On Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Spatiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Intentionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
In Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
6 The Impacts on Teachers’ Work: ICT/BYOD and Digital
Pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 135
Digital Technology Implementation in Education:
Critical Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 136
The Practical Studies: The Challenge of Undertaking a BYOD
Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 139
Holyoake College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 140
The BYOD Policy at Holyoake: Arguments for and Against . . . .... 140
x Contents

BYOD at Innovation Primary, Millennial College and Angelus

School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 142
Digital pedagogy: Holyoake College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 142
Digital pedagogy at Innovation Primary, Millennial College
and Angelus School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 146
The Relationship Between Device Use and Student Learning:
Holyoake College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 147
The Relationship Between Device Use and Student Learning:
At Innovation Primary, Millennial College and Angelus School . .... 149
Strategic and Management Considerations: Holyoake College . . .... 149
Strategic and Management Considerations: Innovation Primary,
Millennial College and Angelus School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 151
On Reflection: Critical Perspectives on Technology and ICT
in Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Materiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Intentionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
In Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
7 The Impacts on Teachers’ Work: Practitioner Attitudes
and Reflective Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Critically Reflective Practice, Trust and Teaching as Inquiry . . . . . . . . . 164
Teachers’ Critical Reflective Practice in the Context of Twenty-First
Century Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
The Role of Trust in Reflective Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Teaching as Inquiry: Well Intentioned, but Fundamentally Flawed . . . . 166
The Practical Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Open to New Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Reflection–In, –On and For–Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
The Changes that e-Learning Demands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
On Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Intentionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
In Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
8 Responding to 21st Century Learning Policy Demands . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Policy: The New Zealand Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Critical Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
The Policy Framework: A Critical Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
How Might Change be Effected? Theory and Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
The Practical Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Vision of, and Support for, Progressive Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Contents xi

Recruitment and Team Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Supporting Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Looking Outward—The Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
On Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Intentionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
In Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
9 Lessons to Be Learned? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Lessons for Practitioners in Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Lessons for Teacher Educators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Lessons for Policy-Makers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Lessons for Designers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
The Final Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Chapter 1
Introduction

Once again, there is no such thing as teaching without research and research without
teaching. One inhabits the body of the other. As I teach, I continue to search and re-search.
I teach because I search, because I question, and because I submit myself to questioning.
I research because I notice things, take cognizance of them. And in so doing, I intervene.
And intervening, I educate and educate myself. I do research so as to know what I do not
yet know and to communicate and proclaim what I discover (Freire 1998, p. 35).

Context

The past five to ten years have witnessed the increasing use of the somewhat
nebulous term, ‘21st-century learning’. This implies learning and teaching that
prepares students to engage with the 21st century world, and while an imperfect
term, it is one many policy-makers have latched onto, although terms like ‘modern
learning’, ‘innovative learning’ and ‘modern teaching and learning’ are also heard
amongst practitioners. Internationally, schooling systems have been motivated for
some time to ensure that teachers are able to provide school-leavers with appro-
priate life-long and 21st century skills.
There is value in understanding how teachers and leaders are making the shift
from transmission models of teaching to modern and innovative approaches that
develop such skills as critical thinking and problem solving; collaboration and
leadership; agility and adaptability; initiative and entrepreneurialism; effective oral
and written communication; accessing and analysing information; and curiosity and
imagination (Wagner 2008, cited in Saavedra and Opfer 2012, p. 8).
Being a Teacher in the 21st Century traverses the space between being a
research report and being a conventional book. It is not exclusively about changes
to the spaces in which teachers work, the digital tools they use or the pedagogies
they develop in response to these changes. It is rather more about what all these
changes do to teachers’ heads (to put it bluntly), and thus to teachers’ conceptions
of their work.

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 1

L. Benade, Being a Teacher in the 21st Century,
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-3782-5_1
2 1 Introduction

The book is not intended to be a practitioner book of ‘how to’, or practical

suggestions for what to do in flexible space or with digital technology. What it does
do is draw on the findings of a qualitative study of teachers and leaders in several
New Zealand schools over three years to take stock of some of the central mani-
festations of 21st-century learning. In particular, these are the collaborative prac-
tices associated with teaching and learning in flexible learning environments, and
digital pedagogies. This book reflects on the mental shifts and sometimes-painful
transitions teachers and leaders are making and experiencing, as they move through
uncharted waters, from traditional classroom practices to ones emphasising col-
laboration, teamwork and the radical de-centring of their personal roles. It
demonstrates how they navigate these changes, describing and explaining the
nature of pedagogical shifts apparent in digital classrooms and modern learning
environments, which, according to international schools’ architect, Nair (2011),
make the classroom obsolete.
The purpose of this book is to provide scholars, teacher educators, and reflective
school leaders and teachers a valuable insight to what it is to be a teacher in the 21st
century. The book achieves this aim by presenting original research based on my
study of several New Zealand schools between 2013 and 2015, and in particular,
my focussed study of four of those schools in 2015.
This book has particular benefits:
1. For teacher educators who may have long since left the classroom, the notions of
digital technology and pedagogy, flexible learning spaces, ergonomic furniture
and developing critically reflective practice may not be familiar territory. This
text will support their efforts to prepare their student teachers for a rapidly
changing school environment.
2. For New Zealand scholars and reflective school practitioners, this book con-
tributes by addressing the paucity of relevant, critical, New Zealand education
literature in relation to the concept of flexible (or innovative, modern or new
generation) learning environments. It does so through its carefully analytical and
critical consideration of 21st-century learning, modern pedagogy, teacher
reflective practice, and the strategic actions of school leaders in responding to
these discrete elements.
3. While drawing on examples that have a New Zealand focus, and reflecting on
fieldwork in some New Zealand schools, this book has international relevance.
Scholars, teacher educators and reflective school practitioners will recognise the
experiences of their New Zealand counterparts described and interpreted in these
pages.
Conceptual Framework 3

Conceptual Framework

Here I will engage in discussion concerning the conceptual underpinnings of this

book, which is framed by an ontology that emphasises the lived experience of
individuals working in an evolving and emerging educational environment. These
individuals seek to make sense of this experience, and this book is an attempt to
convey and interpret this sense-making. The analyses in this book are framed by a
critical and rationalist epistemology that emphasises the importance of uncovering
underlying patterns of thought and practice in discourses, found in daily work
practices and texts such as policies. Of particular interest is to uncover discourses
that oppress, disadvantage or marginalise whilst simultaneously shaping identities
and manufacturing consent. The ontological discoveries and findings are contex-
tualised and embedded in the critical analyses, which in turn are informed by social
democratic political influences.
The human experience, while bound to specific contexts, offers valuable lessons
across contexts. Why researchers approach their study of human experience the way
they do is shaped by multiple historical and cultural influences, giving rise to and
deriving from particular ways of seeing the world. These ways of seeing the world
influence how researchers conduct their investigations, and, in particular, what they
do with the results of their efforts.

A Bricolage of Critical Theory, Critical Hermeneutics

and Post-Intentional Phenomenology

Denzin and Lincoln (2005) and Steinberg and Kincheloe (2010) wrote of bricolage,
that is, a bringing together of elements from different and varied sources. Denzin
and Lincoln (2005) called the qualitative researcher a bricoleur, showing the term
to have wide use among many researchers. The bricoleur ranges freely, but care-
fully and intentionally, across a wide range of approaches to research, deploying
practices that are pertinent to the particular research task at hand. These practices
may not necessarily be worked out beforehand, but emerge from the complexities
of the task, as they unfold (2005).
Steinberg and Kincheloe, in keeping with the notion of the bricoleur, sought to
combine several streams of critical theorising besides the critical theory of the
Frankfurt School, including Foucault’s genealogy, poststructuralist practices of
deconstruction, and critical cultural studies and critical pedagogy (2012).
Hermeneutics, they argued, provided this bridge.
4 1 Introduction

Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is a methodology of interpretation (Mantzavinos 2016). It is the

process that allows human beings to interpret what is perceived and to make sense
of their perceptions (Ramberg and Gjesdal 2009). Although hermeneutics has a
long history, as a method of sceptical critique of Biblical Scripture, it has been
associated in modern times particularly with Hans-Georg Gadamer. His approach to
hermeneutics, with its emphasis linking interpretation to human interests makes it
an ontological project.
Hermeneutic practitioners (such as Gadamer) regarded interpretation as con-
textual and closely related to the one who interprets. Researchers and their par-
ticipants are products of history and tradition, and this is likely to influence
researcher interpretations. Texts then, are viewed from within each individual
perspective, and interpretations are therefore partial (Kinsella 2006). Not only is it
the researcher who is historically located, but the texts themselves, and the language
in which they are expressed (2006). Therefore, language is fundamental to inter-
pretation. In fact, Gadamer claimed credit for placing the linguistic at the centre of
hermeneutics. Human language is essential not only to their humanness, but to their
ability to learn from each other. Gadamer noted, in his interview with Carsten Dutt:
“We do not need just to hear one another but to listen to one another. Only when
this happens is there understanding” (Gadamer et al. 2001, p. 39. Emphasis in the
original).
Gadamer’s point suggests conversation, a further dimension of his hermeneutics,
is an invaluable concept in understanding the interpretation of research.
Conversation is not a monologue, but a dialogue with another. The process of
research entails using language to better understand, even translate, the message the
researcher receives. To do so, requires researchers to step over their boundaries and
personal limits (2001). In hermeneutic conversation, the researcher becomes a
translator of texts in search of a common(ly understood) language. Kinsella (2006)
called for a Bakhtinian notion of polyphonic voices to underpin a researcher’s
understanding of this search for meaning. Certainty is thus replaced with ambiguity,
which is consistent, according to Kinsella, with Gadamer’s own understanding of
how to approach texts. Multiple conversations replace a single, universal intent,
thus reducing the prospect of an authoritative reading of text (2006).

Critical Theory

Critical theory originated from the work of the Frankfurt School, which included
Theo Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Max Horkheimer and Herbert Marcuse. Jurgen
Habermas is an influential ‘second generation’ member of the Frankfurt School
(Farganis 2011). The Institute for Social Research was established at the University
of Frankfurt in Germany in 1923, though its founding members were forced to
migrate to the United States after 1933 when Hitler’s Nazi government outlawed
the Institute.
Conceptual Framework 5

The original members of the Frankfurt School developed a social reconstructive

perspective and a commitment to social justice (Bohman 2005). Critical theory
draws on several disciplines (Bohman 2005; Farganis 2011) in the human and
social sciences. This allowed its founding thinkers to bring together “empirical and
interpretive social sciences… [with] normative claims of truth, morality and justice”
(Bohman 2005, p. 5). Critical theory is therefore practical, in a moral, not instru-
mental sense, and normative. Its normative orientation is mainly pointed towards
“the transformation of capitalism into a ‘real democracy’” (Bohman 2005, p. 3),
deploying the knowledge it generates to achieving just social outcomes (Farganis
2011). Critical theory is an epistemological project that proposes rational interests,
and its practical effect is to bring about enlightenment and emancipation (Geuss
1981).
Critical theory can thus be distinguished from a traditional (scientific) theory by
an explicit agenda for a change of society. A major challenge facing these theorists
was the growing influence of a materialist, capitalist economic ethos of instru-
mentality and technological development, which negated social change (not unlike
the influence of neoliberalism today). Horkheimer, in Eclipse of Reason (2004),
argued that instrumental reason, driven by technological progress, was supplanting
independent thought and action. Moral reasoning, which seeks truth and meaning,
by focusing on moral ends, had been replaced by irrationality that focussed on
means whereby desired practical ends (rather than desirable ones) could be attained.
Writing in 1941, Marcuse spoke of “a new [technological] rationality and new
standards of individuality [that] have spread over society” (1998, p. 42). Marcuse
argued that technological rationality was characterised by compliance and auto-
matic behaviour: “Rationality is being transformed from a critical force into one of
adjustment and compliance…Reason has found its resting place in the system of
standardized control, production and consumption” (p. 49).
Therefore, what both thinkers were arguing is that humans were losing their
ability to think and act critically, due in significant measure to the economic and
technological development of capitalism, but also because of the rise of Fascist
ideologies. This compliant attitude exists in ironic relation to so-called open and
democratic societies, which ought to be open to critique, but are actually closed to
any dissenting opinion (Farganis 2011).

Critical Research and Education

Steinberg and Kincheloe (2012) suggested five requirements of critical research:

• a rejection of positivistic rationality;
• making and keeping explicit the value position (social justice and democracy) of
the researcher or practitioner in relation to the field of practice;
• making explicit the tacit cultural and professional understandings that shape the
thinking of researchers and practitioners;
• exposing power structures that are dominant in society; and
6 1 Introduction

• maintaining a conscious link to practice, with a view to improving its social

justice and democratic potential.
Positivistic rationality can be rejected by recognising the constraints in place
over teachers and education researchers. A significant constraint is the singular
focus on student achievement. This focus is an example of the ‘instrumental
rationality’ referred to earlier, where teaching and its associated areas of interest are
reduced to mere technicalities. Similarly, this mentality is evident in the
‘evidence-led’ dogma that underpins so much educational policy and practice (see,
in this regard, Biesta 2007).
It is helpful for researchers to have a self-conscious sense of their research
identity, and to be able to define their positionality. Being a critical researcher and
practitioner requires “the attempt to free oneself from the tacit controls of racial,
class-based, and gendered discourses and lived practices” (p. 1489). Culture in all
its forms is deeply contested terrain in education, and particularly in critical edu-
cation studies. Culture is “a domain of struggle” (Steinberg and Kincheloe 2010,
p. 144), and is a key determinant in shaping perspective. Therefore, the critical
educator and researcher must be able to acknowledge the role their own cultural
positioning plays in shaping their attitudes. This means recognising the roles class,
gender, race and religion play in shaping attitudes, not to mention the role played by
the popular culture of cinema and music, for example.
Developing research strategies to counteract the technical determinism inherent
in a ‘what works’, ‘evidence-led’ policy and practice framework, and to do the
work of emancipation could include empirical work. What critical researchers do
with that empirical data is what will set them apart from positivistic researchers, by
going beyond description and ‘objective’ reporting, to searching for contradictions
and patterns that explain power relationships, for example. The critical researcher
eschews the notion of a fact–value divide in empirical work: “The knowledge that
the world yields has to be interpreted by men and women who are a part of that
world. What we call information always involves an act of human judgment”
(Steinberg and Kincheloe 2012, p. 1493).
Power does not hit us in the face, as it were. It is somewhat subtler, yet the
critical researcher must seek it out and expose it for what it is—often sophisticated
policy announcements and positions designed to encourage a technological deter-
minism, for example. Giving education practitioners the language to identify and
‘name’ instances of power has an emancipatory effect. So too can be the exposure
of the ways in which “citizens are regulated by the forces of power operating in a
general climate of deceit” (Steinberg and Kincheloe 2010, p. 140). This requires
some understanding of the symbolic language of society, which often acts as a
vehicle to convey images of power (such as extolling material affluence in popular
media). Uncovering the winners and losers in society is another example of
revealing power and how it works. Yet other examples would include instances of
gendered power, or issues of sexuality in schools.
To avoid the determinism inherent in ‘what works’ and effect-size research does
not automatically imply that critical theoretic researchers are not interested in
Conceptual Framework 7

bringing about improved practice, though their first concern would be to bring
about improved situations and contexts. Giving teachers frameworks on which to
construct coherent value positions of their own will be an important first step to
supporting their practice. It is not only the practice of teachers that should be of
concern here, but the practice of researchers too. Through self-reflexive activity,
they are able to confront challenges in their own research practice, especially in
such areas as personal cultural context or unintended displays of power.

Developing a Critical Hermeneutics

Although critical theory and hermeneutics do not appear to sit well together,
Steinberg and Kincheloe (2010) argued that their reading of Gadamer led them to
the view that interpretation is an act of moral reasoning and action (and therefore
allied to the aims of critical theory). The time is right, they suggested, for a dialogue
between critical theory and the bricolage of postmodern and poststructural theories,
such as feminism, Foucauldian genealogy, complexity theory and discourse anal-
ysis, amongst others. Drawing together this amalgam of approaches to research is
consistent with the fuzziness of the contemporary 21st century world. A critical
reading of hermeneutics, they suggested, creates the bridge between the bricolage
of theories that reject boundary setting and Cartesian rationality on the one hand,
and critical theory on the other.
An understanding of Gadamerian hermeneutics reminds a critical theorist and
researcher “that meaning making cannot be quarantined from where one stands or is
placed in the web of social reality” (2010, p. 148). To this view of meaning,
Roberge (2011) added that ideology plays a major role: ideology is filled with
meaning (rather than meaning something), thus inquiries must seek out the links
between groups and their beliefs. Coupled with the impetus to moral action,
research will interpret according to the context and the social forces at play over that
context, and will seek to point to appropriate action in relation to the
phenomena-in-context (Steinberg and Kincheloe 2010). Roberge (2011) too
regarded critical hermeneutics as a theory of action responding to ‘ideology,
domination and violence’ (p. 13), by developing, for example, participation and
solidarity.
Steinberg with Kincheloe noted that the ‘critical’ addition to hermeneutics brings
a concern with power and justice, and it requires the ethnographic researcher to seek
to expose the “concealed motives that move events and shape everyday life” (2010,
p. 148). Gadamer’s notion of historical context now includes researcher
self-awareness, the place and significance of culture in a research context, the
construction of research design and the significance of human subjectivity and its
construction. The voices of the subjugated are brought forth, and the hermeneutic
circle engages the researcher in conversation with those voices, in the pursuit of
deeper understanding. Not only are the voices raised and heard, but also they are
located in their unique historical, socio-economic, political and cultural contexts.
8 1 Introduction

Critical hermeneutics attempts to marry both the ontological project that

Gadamer had in mind, and the epistemic project of critical theory. It signals par-
ticular ways to go about designing and conducting research. It represents a brico-
lage that draws widely on disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, psychology,
history and economics, and on research scholarship. This of course includes phe-
nomenology, Gadamerian hermeneutics, critical theory and many postmodern
influences, such as gender studies, cultural studies, indigenous research, discourse
theory, autoethnography and narrative. While this sounds like a random and eclectic
mix, critical hermeneutics gets its coherence from its emphasis on analysis
uncovering power and ideological influences, its focus on social justice outcomes,
and the contextualised place of researcher, participants and research texts in their
varied forms.

Post-Intentional Phenomenology

A final influence over the content and analysis in this book is attributable to the
recent work of Vagle (2010, 2014). He has developed a critical dimension to
phenomenology (2015), thus taking it beyond its descriptive/interpretive bounds,
and his work adds dimensions not present in Gadamer’s hermeneutics. He
emphasises postmodern strategies such as journaling, and appeals to the post-
modern concept of ‘playing’ with different approaches to disrupt customary flows
of thought and action. It is especially Vagle’s use of ‘post-intentional phe-
nomenology’ that is worth grappling with, however. I do so as it provides some of
the tools to enable a discussion of the meaningful ways in which practitioners
within and across schools engage with the policy imperative to implement modern
teaching and learning practice, characterised by flexible learning environments and
digital technology.
Vagle (2014) described intentionality as the inseparable connectedness between
subjects (people) and objects in the world (animate, inanimate, ideas). Intentionality
signifies our meaningful connection to the world, not conscious planning to take
action, or deliberate choice. Having an understanding of intentionality is central to
engaging in research that has a phenomenological impetus. There are intentional
relations ‘that manifest and appear’ (p. 27), and the researcher is attempting to grasp
these, which appear to take the form of ways in which people are connected to other
people, their workplaces and their work. The manifestation of these relationships
may be evident in their feelings, such as hopefulness, despair, confusion, joy or
resistance. The development Vagle posited, building on earlier phenomenological
uses of intentionality, was to see intentionality as a meaningful connection people
make to their world. In this sense, he prefers the notion of consciousness-with,
rather than consciousness-of. The latter sense speaks, Vagle argued, of Western
ego-centred rationality (and here we can see his postmodernism come into play).
Clearly, Vagle’s intent was to place “phenomenological philosophies in dialogue
with aspects of post-structural philosophies” (p. 29).
Conceptual Framework 9

The “dynamic intentional relationships that tie participants, the researcher, the
produced text, and their positionalities together” (p. 30) yield understanding in the
research process. For Vagle, “this positioning is only known through intentionality”
(p. 30), and he thus gave significant emphasis to constant self-critique by
researchers of their performance in the field, which he considered an ethical act.
Vagle clearly indicated that the researcher is implicated in the findings of research,
by virtue of being positioned. Just as research participants are constantly projecting
forward into various relationships, so the researcher is projecting into the research
relationship. Research findings are anything but final, being instead “de-centered as
multiple, partial and endlessly deferred” (p. 31. Emphasis in the original).
The concept of intentionality is one I now attempt to integrate into my research,
particularly in regard to making sense of ways my participants make sense of their
lived experience and describe their meaningful connection to their lifeworld.
Vagle’s post-intentional approach is liberating insofar as it de-emphasises the
notion of deriving universal or defined essences of meaning and understanding.
Apart from recognising my own place in the research process, there is an oppor-
tunity to share and develop mutual understandings with my participants. Vagle
furthermore suggested constant self-reflection, fundamental to which is the
awareness researchers have of their own position.

A Personal Note

There are several influences that intersect with, and overlap, the concerns, themes,
ideas and topics presented in this book. The obvious concerns relate to a question
about what is happening to teachers’ work in the midst of rapid changes. Change is,
surely, one of life’s constants, so I want to be careful from the outset not to create
the impression that I think teachers and school leaders find themselves caught up in
some kind of ‘revolution’, or that decades of idyll have been suddenly and rudely
interrupted.
Like countless other teachers before (and many still today), I practiced my work
in cellular rooms with fixed, uniform furniture. Indeed, some of my early teaching
was carried out in classrooms not unlike the ones in which I spent my school years,
replete with rows of the solid wooden desk/seat and hinged top and inkwell! More
modern furniture allowed a little more flexibility, the overhead projector and slide
projector (if you were a really progressive sort) may have been replaced with the
data projector and interactive whiteboard, but, by and large, the single-cell room,
with the teacher the focus of attention at the front, has remained largely unchanged.
In the past five years or so, in New Zealand, and in schools elsewhere in the
world (in parts of Australia, in some Scandinavian, English and American contexts,
for example), this picture has been undergoing considerable change, however.
Contemporary architectural and furniture design has been implemented in the
10 1 Introduction

building of new schools and other educational institutions, and in the renovation of
exiting buildings. ‘Eco friendly’ and ‘smart’ design principles have been utilised,
combined with the provision of technology-rich infrastructure (such as ultra fast
broadband and sophisticated servers) to create places of learning that have been
dubbed ‘modern’, ‘innovative’, ‘flexible’, ‘agile’ and ‘new generation’ to name
some of the more popular terms. In these spaces, much larger than single-cell
rooms, multiple classes are combined and teachers work in teams. No longer is the
sole teacher at the front the focus of attention (indeed, there is no longer a dis-
cernible ‘front’).
Moreover, the focus in education has been shifting steadily in this century from
‘knowing’ to ‘learning’. Teachers are becoming ‘facilitators’, ‘learning coaches’ or
‘learning advisors’, and ‘students’ are ‘learners’. These changes in the physical
space of learning, the changes in the way we think and speak about teaching and
learning, and the tools and artefacts which support teachers’ work, are all bringing
about significant demands on teachers to reconceptualise they way they think and
carry out their work.
As a teacher educator, I have some interest in conveying to my students an
understanding of what underlies these changes. I also have an interest in supporting
them to develop some of the strategies they will find invaluable once they step into
the classroom, particularly if it is to be a shared, collaborative space. Universities
can work with, and support schools in their work. Research work with schools falls
into this category, and as Freire said, as a researcher I have a responsibility to
“communicate and proclaim what I discover” (1998, p. 35). Schools have a vested
interest in the external perspectives researchers can provide on the nature and
processes of their work.

Division of Content

In the following chapter, I will introduce readers to the specifics of the research
process that has generated the findings on which the book’s content reflects. To
challenge the oft-heard comment that “there is no research” to support the shifts
towards flexibility in architecture and pedagogy and digital strategies, Chapter 3
will consider a review of relevant literature informing the field on which my
research inquiries into flexible, modern environments and pedagogy is based.
Chapters 4–8 will present and discuss the findings, with reference to impacts on
teachers’ work, reflective practice and responses to the policy drive to implement
‘21st-century learning’. The book concludes with a chapter of ‘take home lessons’.
References 11

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Steinberg, S., & Kincheloe, J. (2010). Power, emancipation, and complexity: Employing critical
theory. Power and Education, 2, 140–151. doi:10.2304/power.2010.2.2.140
Steinberg, S., & Kincheloe, J. (2012). Employing the bricolage as critical research in science
education. In B. J. Fraser, K. Tobin & C. J. McRobbie (Eds.), Second international handbook of
science education [Springer international handbooks of education] (pp. 1485–1500). Dordrecht,
The Netherlands: Springer. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/book/10.
1007/978-1-4020-9041-7/page/1
Vagle, M. D. (2010). Re–framing Schön’s call for a phenomenology of practice: a post–intentional
approach. Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 11(3), 393–407.
doi:10.1080/14623943.2010.487375.
12 1 Introduction

Vagle, M. D. (2014). Crafting phenomenological research. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast
Press.
Vagle, M. D. (2015). Curriculum as post-intentional phenomenological text: Working along the
edges and margins of phenomenology using post-structuralist ideas. Journal of Curriculum
Studies, 47(5), 594–612. doi:10.1080/00220272.2015.1051118.
Chapter 2
Presenting the Research

Good qualitative purpose statements contain information about the central phenomenon
explored in the study, the participants in the study, and the research site. [They] also convey
an emerging design and [use]…the language of qualitative inquiry… (Schwandt, 2007,
cited in Creswell 2014, p. 124)

Introduction

My intention in writing this book is not simply to describe teaching and learning in
the second decade of the 21st century. The two studies on which it is based,
‘21st-Century Learning’ and ‘Being a Teacher in the 21st Century’, provided an
opportunity to gain deeper insight to the rich tapestry forming the backdrop to
teachers’ work as it has been evolving in this, the second decade of the 21st century.
Around 2011, I began to pay attention to the strident and zealous clamour around
the concept of ‘21st-century learning’. I was somewhat sceptical (mainly because
missionary zeal tends to cloud and conflate multiple concepts and sweeps up adherents
in an uncritical maelstrom). I began drilling into this concept philosophically, pre-
senting a conference paper in 2011 that was eventually published in 2015 (Benade
2015a). The links between 21st-century learning and The New Zealand Curriculum
(Ministry of Education 2007) can be seen in its general vision for schooling of “young
people…who will seize the opportunities offered by new knowledge and technologies
to secure a sustainable social, cultural, economic, and environmental future for our
country…[and]… who will be confident, connected, actively involved, and lifelong
learners.” (p. 8). Further, one of the values to be encouraged in New Zealand schooling
is “innovation, inquiry, and curiosity, [encouraged] by thinking critically, creatively,
and reflectively” (p. 10). Among the ‘key competencies’ are included ‘thinking’,
‘understanding language, symbols and texts’ and ‘managing self’. Within these, the
following stand out: students will be “problem-solvers [who] actively seek, use and
create knowledge”; who will “confidently use ICT…to access and provide informa-
tion and to communicate with others”; and who will be “enterprising, resourceful,
reliable, and resilient…[able to]… establish personal goals, make plans, [and] manage
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 13
L. Benade, Being a Teacher in the 21st Century,
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-3782-5_2
14 2 Presenting the Research

projects” (p. 12). A striking feature of this curriculum document is its limited reference
to teachers and teaching, though there is reference to ‘teaching as inquiry’, which
“requires that teachers inquire into the impact of their teaching on their students.”
(p. 35). In support of this aim, a three-step model is provided, and serves as a tool of
reflective practice.
Furthering a personal interest in, and a critical focus on, teachers and teachers’
work, with financial support from the Faculty of Culture and Society of the
Auckland University of Technology, I framed a study in 2013, guided by this
question: What is the influence of the concept of ‘21st-century learning’ on
reflective practice, pedagogy and leadership in a selection of New Zealand
schools? My funding proposal drew attention to the features of the concept of
‘21st-century learning’ in New Zealand schools including the use of digital tech-
nologies and the emerging development of flexible teaching and learning spaces.
There was some evidence in research literature for a claim that new pedagogies are
required to support the widening and deepening use of technologies, which, in turn,
would require teachers to take up an increasingly critical (self-reflective) orientation
(Wright 2010). There was an associated likelihood of students becoming more
motivated, engaged and able to engage in critical and collaborative learning (2010).
The intention of the project at this stage (2013/4) was to critically appraise the claim
that the introduction of digital tools and working in flexible spaces brings about
changed pedagogy, and, in particular, critical practitioner reflection. To achieve this
purpose, the lived professional experiences of teachers and school leaders in a small
number of case study schools were considered (see Benade et al. 2014; Benade
2015b, c). Data was gathered in the field by interviewing 23 participants selected
from six schools. In addition, a focus group was held, consisting of a further four
participants not associated with the six participant schools.
In 2015, the study focus developed, with this guiding question: What is it to be a
teacher in the twenty-first century? This study (with further university financial
support) continued to focus on the work of teachers and the strategic actions of
leaders at a selection of New Zealand schools. As in the earlier study, this was a
qualitative study. It sought to explore, interpret and develop greater understanding of
modern teaching and learning practices, and the transitions teachers and school
leaders make as they grapple with the challenge of 21st-century learning, the
development of flexible learning spaces and the rapidly changing nature of knowl-
edge and learning in a digital age. Teachers and leaders were selected from among
the participant schools to the earlier study. Data was gathered through interviews,
focus groups and observations of teachers working in flexible spaces and/or
implementing BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and/or e-Learning. The intent was
to continue to encourage these participants to explore and reflect on their lived
professional experiences in the context of 21st-century learning, but now with the
focus being on their evolving understanding and experience of leading and managing
their transition to modern teaching and learning practices. It was also important to
understand the challenges and obstacles they were encountering in this transition
process, and how they were sustaining fundamental pedagogical change.
Design and Participants 15

Design and Participants

The ‘21st-century Learning’ study was designed as a multiple case study, due to the
likelihood (as will be seen shortly) of what Yin (2003) had identified as complex
and highly contextualised research settings, with multiple uncontrollable variables.
Of particular interest was the view of Ary et al. (2006), who saw in case study
designs the opportunity to understand how and why individuals respond to changes
in their environment. Stake (2006) advised against single researchers working on
multiple case studies, given their complexity. In this study, I enlisted the support of
a colleague (Andrew Gibbons), who helped with interviews and data analysis, and
subsequently contracted the support of two others (Michele Gardener and Christoph
Teschers) who undertook literature review work.
A purposive selection (choice of specific participants who display specific
characteristics) was made to ensure there were six participating schools that rep-
resented a range of deciles1 (SES) and sectors (primary and secondary).
Additionally, school orientation was taken into account: the schools were either:
(a) overtly future-oriented2;
(b) shifting from traditional cellular spaces and pedagogies to flexible spaces and
pedagogies influenced by e-Learning and future-focused concepts, or
(c) retaining the use of traditional spaces and more conventional pedagogies
(which could range from teacher-centred to learner-centred).
The selected mix of schools in orientation, deciles and sectors was segmented as
follows:
(a) was represented by two high–decile (affluent neighbourhoods) state schools,
one of which was a primary (elementary) school, one of which a secondary
(high) school;
(b) was represented by two schools, one mid–high decile state-integrated primary,3
one low-decile state primary; and
(c) was represented by two schools, one mid–low-decile state primary and one
mid-decile state secondary school.

1
The ‘decile’ rating system has been used in New Zealand as a way of allocating funding equi-
tably. Based on a number of measures, schools are rated ‘low’ in areas of greatest socio-economic
deprivation; ‘high’ in affluent areas. Per capita funding is greatest to low-decile schools. The
system is being reviewed at the present time, and is slated for imminent replacement.
2
While the New Zealand Curriculum refers to ‘future focussed’ concepts such as sustainability,
citizenship, enterprise and globalisation (2007, p. 39), the term used here indicates a school
established with clear focus on the principles of 21st-century learning in an innovative context.
3
New Zealand schools that were previously private (notably, but not solely, Catholic schools),
which are integrated into the state system, thus attracting state support (particularly teachers’ pay,
but also decile funding). These schools continue to have the right to advance their ‘special
character’.
16 2 Presenting the Research

Table 2.1 Participant schools by sector and classification: 21st-century learning study
School Sector Classification
School A1 Primary ‘Futures oriented’, built by modern learning environment
(MLE) design
School A2 Primary Blends single-cell classes and MLE
School A3 Primary Single-cell classes; limited ICT use across curriculum
School B1 Secondary ‘Futures oriented’, built by modern learning environment
(MLE) design
School B2 Secondary Overt BYOD approach across curriculum
School B3 Secondary Single-cell classes; limited ICT use across curriculum

Table 2.1 below captures this information in a different format.

The design allowed for the ‘School 2’ case to be either a school upgrading
single-cell rooms to flexible learning spaces, or be a school that had recently
introduced BYOD. This was so in case B2. In either kind of school, significant
pedagogical shifts by teachers would be required.
Individual participants were also purposively selected, specifically the principal
of each school, the head of ICT or e-Learning, one long-serving teacher and one
recently appointed teacher (1–2 years of service) from each school. The reasoning
here related to questions of strategic leadership and management of change; the
demands of ICT and/or e-Learning on staff; and gaining the perspectives of teachers
from opposite ends of the experience continuum.
Data was gathered from one-hour interviews, conducted with the participants.
Although the original design allowed for focus groups to be formed from 12 invited
participants made up of two teachers from each of the six schools, this did not
materialise. On reflection, Stake (2006) was correct in suggesting that a multiple
case study is not practicable for one person. Nevertheless, somewhat serendipi-
tously, a group of individuals not linked to the six schools, but with an interest in
the project, agreed to participate in a focus group. A further participant agreed to an
individual interview (see Table 2.2).
The interviews and the focus group were audio-recorded and transcribed by a
contracted transcriber. Themes emerged in the process of interviewing and as
transcripts were analysed. The first stage of this analysis utilised NVivo software.
At this stage, I did not seriously make use of field notes, and was not yet keeping
any kind of journal.
The ‘Being a Teacher in the 21st Century’ study reflects a methodological shift
from focussing on finding patterns and differences among a number of participant
schools to evaluating and understanding how individual participants across the
schools find themselves in relationship with 21st-century learning. This evaluation
takes into account 21st-century learning as an exemplar of macro-level, global
governance (specifically the OECD), and as a national education policy commit-
ment at the meso or national level. In the New Zealand context, this means con-
sidering the commitment of the New Zealand Ministry of Education to introduce
flexible learning spaces (or, Innovative Learning Environments [ILE]) to all New
Design and Participants 17

Table 2.2 Individual participants not linked to case study schools: 21st-century learning study
Role Comments
Ex-principal Was a recent leader of a futures oriented secondary school
Consultant to schools Engages with schools on e-Learning
Consultant to schools Engages with schools on e-Learning
Principal Leads a traditional low-decile regional primary school

Zealand schools by 2021 (MOE 2011). In addition, and in line with the promotion
of ICT in The New Zealand Curriculum, is the stated intent that schools adopt
digital technology and teachers acquire e-Learning expertise. An evaluative focus at
the micro-level of the classroom and school allows for description and judgement of
actual practices, including making some judgments about school policy intent as
expressed in documentary evidence and the voices of participants. This evaluation
of practice was therefore considered through the lenses of pedagogical principles
that can be considered essential to the development of ‘21st century skills’, such
as: personalisation, interdisciplinary and project-based inquiry, student direction or
agency and collaborative practices (Nair 2011; Pearlman 2010).
The participant schools to the ‘Being a Teacher’ study were Schools A1, A2, B1
and B2 (see Table 2.1), as these are schools committed to engaging the policy
impetus that schools develop modern, technologically rich, pedagogies.4 My focus,
influenced by my reading of Vagle (2014), was not to describe or explain teacher
(and school) practices as much as to establish the intentional relationships of the
participants towards each other, their schools, to the policy imperatives, to digital
technology, to flexible learning spaces and even to me, the researcher. How do they
find themselves where they are, and how do they make sense of what they are or are
becoming? I wanted to examine how these participants respond to, and make sense
of, the commitment to 21st-century learning, to the process of transition from more
conventional and traditional approaches to teaching and learning, and to the sug-
gestion they re-fashion themselves as teachers for the 21st century.
As in the earlier phase of study, School B2 was again approached as it was in the
early phase of BYOD implementation. It was likely that its teachers were living
through the experience of implementing a significant new strategy, which, as
suggested above, would be placing demands on their pedagogy and sense of pro-
fessional identity.
Teachers at all four schools were approached, with the support of the principals,
to participate in the research, which in this second phase, involved several obser-
vations across the second term of 2015. In addition, teachers were asked to commit
to informal debriefing discussions. The teachers at all four schools were invited to a
focus group at each school as well. These were run at the conclusion of the
observation phase. The principals also agreed to be interviewed.

4
My use of ‘pedagogy’ refers to teachers thinking about their work and their actual classroom-
related work.
18 2 Presenting the Research

Data was gathered from 31 observations across the four school sites, ranging
from 45–100 min each. In addition, 16 debriefing interviews, of 5 min–1 h were
conducted with a range of teachers. In later chapters, these are denoted as ‘DB’. All
four principals were interviewed, and these are denoted as ‘IV’ in later chapters.
Where data is used from the 2013 interviews, these are denoted as ‘IV 2013’. Four
staff focus groups (one at each school) of an hour were held, and these are denoted
as ‘FG’. In the case of School B2, I ran focus group sessions of between 45 min and
an hour with a group of Year 9 and Year 10 students, and one with a selection of
parents. Although not originally planned, a student survey was run at School B2.
Once again, the overall task was considerable, and I thus once more invited my
colleague, Andrew Gibbons, to assist at one of the school sites with observations, a
principal interview and the staff focus group. Some literature review work was
contracted to one of my Ph.D. students, Alastair Wells, and I contracted a tran-
scriber. Table 2.3 below summarises this data gathering.
The interviews, informal debriefing discussions and the focus groups were
audio-recorded and transcribed by a contracted transcriber. Again, I used NVivo,
and consciously tried to develop the idea of whole-part-whole analysis advocated
by Vagle (2014). Once more, as in the previous study, themes emerged inductively,
or through the multiple processes of observation, discussion, interviewing and as
transcripts were analysed. A further addition to the design was my intention to
create field notes. Towards the end of the ‘21st-Century Learning’ study, I had
begun to experiment with a journal in the form of electronic notes that followed the
suggestion of Hughes (2006). I voice recorded personal reflections—field notes
after observations and discussions during the ‘Being a Teacher’ study, and framed
these according to the categories suggested by Hughes (2006). In these reflections, I
was aware of Vagle’s perspective on self-reflexive ‘bridling’ in which the
researcher’s intentionality is held in rein, allowing the researcher to be open to the
intentional relationships that always already exist in the lives of the participants.
These voice recordings were also transcribed, and thus became evidence on record
to be utilised in the analysis.
The participants included some of those involved in the first phase of the
research. In an earlier iteration of this book, and in published articles elsewhere, I
attempted to humanise and personalise the participants by assigning them pseu-
donyms. In response to reviews of this book, and the possibility of participants
potentially being identified by readers who correctly guess which schools partici-
pated, I have resorted to de-identification of the teachers. It is not possible to
completely de-identify all participants, as some are identified by virtue of their
roles. All participants have, however, had the opportunity to review Chaps. 4–8.
A final point about design: one of the fundamental difficulties of this design (and
a weakness, some will doubtless point out) is the inclusion of a traditional
single-cell school among the schools with flexible learning environments. Indeed,
when I told a colleague about the various schools, he thought that, in fact, there
were two studies—one that was evaluating BYOD at the traditional school, and one
that was evaluating flexible learning spaces at the other three. While I can see why
he would think along those lines, to do so misses the point, which I will make here,
Design and Participants 19

Table 2.3 Field data summary: being a teacher study

School Sector Classification Data gathering
School Primary ‘Futures oriented’, built by modern learning 3 teacher
A1 environment (MLE) design interviews
2 principal
interviews
6 observations
1 staff focus
group
School Primary Blends single-cell classes and MLE 1 teacher
A2 interview
2 principal
interviews
6 observations
1 staff focus
group
School Secondary ‘Futures oriented’, built by modern learning 2 teacher
B1 environment (MLE) design interviews
2 principal
interviews
8 observations
1 staff focus
group
School Secondary Overt BYOD approach across curriculum 3 teacher
B2 interviews
1 principal
interview
11
observations
1 staff focus
group
2 student focus
groups
1 parent focus
group

by repeating my purpose: this study sought to explore, interpret and develop greater
understanding of modern teaching and learning practices, and the transitions
teachers and school leaders make as they grapple with the challenge of 21st-century
learning, the development of flexible learning spaces and the rapidly changing
nature of knowledge and learning in a digital age. The implementation of a BYOD
policy and the development of associated e-Learning pedagogies by teachers is as
much part of what it means to be a teacher today, as I write in 2016, as is the
implementation of flexible learning spaces and the development of pedagogies now
associated with those spaces. I will now say something about ethics, and then
introduce the four sites of investigation.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
north. This town is the sansan, or gathering place for their armies,
and is mostly inhabited by the slaves of the great in Soccatoo, who
have all houses here, and their slaves, who are employed in raising
grain, and tending the cattle, mostly reside here, and in the villages
around. The swampy plain, the river, and the lakes, extend about six
miles to the westward, below Magaria; and from its situation in the
gap of the hills must be very unhealthy, from the north-east winds
driving the vapours right through the town, which, in fact, is situated
on the borders of the swamp.
Morning clear. At 7 left Magaria, the Gadado and sultan having
sent to me the evening before, to say, if I wished to go to Soccatoo
and remain there, until they joined me, I might do so; as they
intended to stay for some days in Magaria, to see if the enemy was
disposed to make an attack on them. I availed myself of this
permission; indeed I had met with nothing but losses and difficulties
since I had joined the Fellata army. I therefore set out, and passed
over a fertile country. Every spot capable of cultivation was planted
with millet and dourra, which was in fine condition. In this district,
they had a scarcity last year, and the year before, and many of the
people had perished for want.
After crossing the hills, which were composed of loose pieces of
iron clay-stone, covered with sand, to the depth of a foot, I arrived at
the river which runs close to the foot of the ridge or hill on which
Soccatoo stands. The banks were crowded with people fishing. Their
nets were formed like a bag, having a border of two small wands,
which they held on each hand, to open the bag. The fish they caught
were small white ones, which are usually carried to the market fried
in butter, and sold at two cowries a-piece.
At 3 I entered Soccatoo, and took possession of the same house I
formerly inhabited; the Gadado having sent a messenger before me,
to make every thing ready for my reception, and to provide for all my
wants.
 FOOTNOTES:

[1]It does not appear that he ever recovered them—hence the

hiatus in the journal.
 CHAPTER VI.

RESIDENCE AT SOCCATOO, TILL THE DEATH OF THE AUTHOR.

Shortly after my arrival at Soccatoo, I was visited by all the

Arabs of the place, who began to pay me a great many compliments,
and after that, to beg every thing they saw in my possession. They
immediately recollected my servant, Mahomed El Siekis, who was
formerly a slave of Bukhaloom, and the only one of his army who
brought off the flag of the bashaw of Tripoli, at the battle with the
Fellatas at Musfeia; and the same man who restored Major Denham
his horse, when he thought he had lost it in that action. I had found
this man a slave to a Fellata, in the town of Korfu, and bought him for
25,700 cowries, and gave him his liberty. These villains of Arabs now
advised him to leave me, because I was a Christian; telling him that
they would maintain him. I told him he was at full liberty to go, when
and where he pleased; that he was now free, and no longer a slave:
but I advised him not to go away like a thief and abscond, but to
leave me boldly and openly; at the same time I desired him only to
look at the dirty and ragged tobes of his advisers, poor rascals, who
were not able to buy soap to wash themselves or keep their clothes
clean, still less to give him food, wages, and clothes as I did.
On taking a survey of Soccatoo, I was not able to see much, if
any, alteration in its buildings, though I understand it was nearly
consumed by fire last winter, said to be the work of the rebels of
Goobur; who, as the morning breezes at day-break come strong
from the north-east, set fire to one house in that quarter, which
spread rapidly, and consumed nearly two-thirds of the town before it
could be stopped. It is now rebuilt just as it was before. There are at
present eleven gates into Soccatoo; seven having been built up
since the breaking out of the rebellion.
 There are ten cadies or judges, who, with old Ben Gumso, an
Arab living here, whenever the sultan leaves the city, keep watch at
the gates day and night, with their people, until his return. Each
takes a gate, and has a temporary house of matting, built close
inside to live in. Ben Gumso, on my arrival, sent to tell me where he
was stationed, and that he could not come and see me, until the
sultan should return, as the punishment for leaving his post would be
death. I accordingly went to see him. He was standing at the door of
his house; he had seven crazy Arab muskets, some of them without
flint or ramrod; but, notwithstanding all this, his post, on account of
the muskets, was considered impregnable.
Tuesday, 24th.—In the afternoon a messenger arrived from the
sultan and the Gadado, to inform me that, as the rebels were daily
expected near Magaria, they did not know when they would be able
to return to Soccatoo. They therefore wished me to return to that
place, and remain with them, and sent two camels to carry my
baggage, and a horse for myself. The report here is, that the
inhabitants of the neighbouring villages near Magaria have all fled,
and taken up their quarters there.
Wednesday, 25th.—I did not start for Magaria to-day, as I had to
lay in a stock of rice, bread, dried meat, and flour, as these articles
are much dearer in Magaria, and bread not known. Magaria is in the
province of Adir, which is also called Tadela, containing a great
number of towns. The inhabitants are for the greatest part negroes.
The rest are a half breed between the Tuarics and their slaves. The
country is full of low rocky hills, and is well watered by lakes and
streams.
Thursday, 26th.—Morning cool and clear. At 8 A.M. I left Soccatoo
for Magaria. I was ill with a severe cold, caught by my own
carelessness, in throwing off my cloth trousers and worsted
stockings on my arrival at Soccatoo. The sun being very hot, I was
quite feverish. I halted at a village till 3 P.M., when I started again,
and arrived at Magaria at 6 P.M., where a house had been prepared
for me. I had messages from the sultan and Gadado, to inquire after
my health. My spleen was considerably increased in one day; but I
went to bed without tasting food: had a fire made at my bed-side,
which procured me a good sweat, and I soon found myself better;
though not lessening the swelling in my side, it eased the pain, as
also the pain in my head and bones.
Friday, 27th.—Cool and clear. I found myself much relieved; and
the Gadado, paying me an early visit, said, if I was able, the sultan
would receive his majesty’s letters and presents. I immediately
dressed in my uniform, and the presents being ready packed in
separate parcels, the time-piece, watch, &c. taken out of the tin
cases, and all just as they had left the maker’s hands, I went,
accompanied by the Gadado, my servants and the servants of the
Gadado carrying the presents, consisting of red silk umbrella, silver
mounted; a message cane, silver mounted; twelve yards red
damask; twelve yards sky blue; twelve yards red silk; twelve yards
blue silk; twenty-four yards cambric; two pounds cloves; a fowling-
piece, brass mountings, single barrel; a plain fowling-piece, double
barrel; a pair of pistols for his eldest son; two short swords; two
boxes of rockets; a quantity of powder, balls, flints, and small shot;
one ream of English foolscap paper; two bundles of black lead
pencils; coloured prints of the royal family, battles, and a plain journal
book; a small ditto; a dozen pair white cotton stockings; a dozen pair
white cotton gloves; a time-piece by Rigby; gold watch by ditto; a
Bramah pen; a pistol, detonating lock; two gilt chains; four clasp
knives; a dressing-case complete; a magnifying looking-glass; two
English bridles; a quantity of medicines; two empty trunks; the New
Testament in Arabic; that part of the Old Testament which was
translated; the Koran in Arabic; Euclid’s Elements in ditto; Ebn
Senna in ditto; History of the Tartars under Tamerlane; Psalms of
David; several chapters of the Bible, with a number of other books in
Arabic. To the Gadado a smaller collection of the same kind of
articles.
Saturday, 28th.—I was visited this morning by Sidi Sheik, Bello’s
doctor, and one of his secretaries, who said he had a message from
the sultan for me, which, on his delivery, certainly surprised me not a
little, though I was cautious not to show him that I considered it as
any thing but a thing of course. It was this, that the sultan had sent
him to inform me that, by whatever road I might choose to return to
England, he would send me, were it even by Bornou, if I should
prefer that road; but that I should consider well before I decided upon
that road, as he had to inform me that, when I was here two years
ago, the Sheik of Bornou had written to him, advising him to put me
to death; as, if the English should meet with too great
encouragement, they would come into Soudan, one after another,
until they got strong enough to seize on the country, and dispossess
him, as they had done with regard to India, which they had wrested
from the hands of the Mahometans: that Bello, however, had said, in
reply, it would be a most disgraceful thing in him to cause an
unprotected man to be put to death, and could only account for such
conduct, on the part of the Sheik, after he himself had placed me
under Bello’s protection, to seek a quarrel between him and the
Sultan Bello.
I observed to Sidi Sheik, that it was certainly very extraordinary to
me, that the Sheik El Kanemi should have written in such a manner;
as he had ever behaved to me with the greatest kindness, both
before I came to Soudan and on my return; and that, when I left
Bornou for England, he had dismissed me with a handsome present,
and the strongest expressions of friendship and regard. I added, that
I must insist on seeing this extraordinary letter, and have a copy of it;
but he said that Bello had sent the letter to Gondo, to his cousin
Abdallah. I must positively see it, I rejoined; and also be allowed to
take a copy of it before I leave this place; for I had a letter and
presents from the king of England for the Sheik. I then asked him
what other path the sultan proposed. He replied that he would place
me under the protection of a maraboot, or holy man, who would
safely conduct me to the sultan of Borgoo, and from thence I might
pass to the northward, as far as the borders of the desert, and
proceed along it until I came near to Foutoo Tora, from whence I
could turn to the southward into a country that belonged to Bello, and
which was inhabited by Fellatas, and not far from one of the English
settlements. I told him it was a matter of serious consideration to me,
as I had a sick servant at Kano, who was unable to travel; but, at all
events, I must have the letter the Sheik of Bornou had sent to Bello.
 I was very ill all day; but in the afternoon I paid a visit to Atego,
Bello’s brother, and made him a present of a gilt chain and a pair of
scissors, and a few cloves. His house being at some distance, I was
so much fatigued I thought I should not live until the morning.
Sunday, 29th.—Saw the sultan this morning, who was sitting in
the inner apartment of his house, with the Arabic copy of Euclid
before him, which I had given to him as a present. He said that his
family had a copy of Euclid brought by one of their relations, who
had procured it in Mecca; that it was destroyed when part of his
house was burnt down last year; and he observed, that he could not
but feel very much obliged to the king of England for sending him so
valuable a present. After a few general questions, I retired with the
Gadado; and when we arrived at his house, and were seated, I again
expressed my anxious desire that he would give me a copy of the
letter which had been sent from the Sheik of Bornou, as it was of
some importance to me to be guided as to my choice of the road I
was to take on my return home. The Gadado said he was not aware
of any letter having been sent; that it was very wrong in Sidi Sheik to
have told me such a story; said he must have made a mistake; but,
to relieve me from any uneasiness on that score, he would inquire
into the truth, and let me know to-morrow.
Monday, 30th.—I had been so ill all night with the pain in my side
that I had no rest whatever. At noon the Gadado came to say that he
would go with me to the sultan. Though very ill, I went; and we were
immediately shown into the apartment of the sultan, who was
reading: but when we entered, he laid down his book, and began of
his own accord about the letter. He observed, that a letter had
certainly come to him, but not with the Sheik’s signature; that it
appeared, however, the letter had been written, with the Sheik’s
sanction, by that holy man Hadgi Mohamed Bootabli; and that he
was desired to say I was a spy, and that he would not allow me to go
beyond Soccatoo; hinting, at the same time, that it would be better I
should die, as the English had taken possession of all India by first
going there by ones and twos, until we got strong enough to seize
upon the whole country. And thus ended our interview.
 Tuesday, 31st.—I was much better this morning, and the swelling
and pain in my side much less, a dose of calomel I took having done
its duty; but I thought it advisable not to stir out all day. The sultan
and Gadado sent to me to know how I was.
Wednesday, Nov. 1st.—Clear. Magaria is now increasing to a
town of considerable size. Before, it was without shape or form; now,
all the people from the villages, for a considerable distance around,
have been ordered to live here; and the houses being properly
arranged, each man’s cluster of huts being fenced round with
matting, nearly all the vacant places are filled up with houses or
enclosures for cattle. A new wall has been built, according to the
present Goobur mode of fortifying a town; which is, to build a low
wall, with a deep ditch outside, and to erect on the wall a stockade of
rough stakes, firmly fixed in an upright posture, through the openings
of which the people inside are enabled to shoot their arrows and fire
muskets, when they have any. This new wall was not quite
completed when I arrived; but as every man having a house in the
town was to bear his part in the work, and every man of
consideration who held office under the sultan was to superintend
that part of it next to his residence, as well as to employ his slaves
and servants in bringing wood and materials, the progress advanced
rapidly.
This evening we had a courier from the nearest town in the
province of Zamfra, bringing intelligence that Aleva, the rebel sultan
of Goobur, had died by an arrow wound in his side, which he
received when we made the attack. Whether this will have any effect
in bringing about a reconciliation with Bello and them I know not.
Thursday, 2d.—Warm, with light flying clouds. The Juma, or place
of worship, in Magaria, is only a temporary one. I have had several
opportunities of seeing them at prayers, being only a square
enclosure of matting, supported by stakes, and open on one side,
which is to the east. The Iman, or priest, a head man, stands at a
little distance in front, on his mat; the rest of the people in rows
behind him. He repeats the prayer, and those behind him also
repeating inwardly at the same time, and with the greatest regularity,
in a kneeling posture, with their heads inclined.
 I had a long visit from Prince Atego this morning, who was
amazingly civil: at last it came out that he was afflicted with a
disorder which he represented as being very common in this country.
I recommended him to drink rice water in plenty, to refrain from
pepper and strong spices, and not to visit his ladies too often, and to
wear a hat when he rode out. I also gave him a dose of calomel,
recommending him to use natron in his food.
The henna or salli, with whose leaves they stain their hands and
toes, is made of pounded leaves, mixed with water to the
consistence of a poultice, which is laid on thick, and bound with
gourd leaves to keep it on. To see a person in this state, without
knowing that he was sacrificing comfort to make himself look
beautiful, would be apt to excite pity for the poor man, and to
imagine that he had fallen from some height, and bruised his hands
and feet so badly as to require their being poulticed to reduce the
inflammation. Some great people go so far as to have themselves
stained every three nights.
Friday, 3d.—The negroes and most of the Arabs are great
gamblers, though it is strictly prohibited by the Fellata laws. Their
principal game is called cha-cha, and is played by any number of
persons at a time, with cowries. Night is the usual time for this game;
and so eager are they in it, that they will frequently stake their
breeches and every part of their dress. I should never have known of
its existence, had not one of my servants, named Micama, a native
of Zinder in Bornou, come home last night with the loss of his tobe;
and on my insisting this morning that he should not enter the house
in such a state, he pleaded the heat of the weather, and made other
excuses, which I could not allow: the other servants then told me
what he had been at, and said he was an expert hand, and could not
refrain from playing when he saw others play. I advanced him money
to buy another tobe, telling him if I ever knew him to play again, I
should give him up to the Fellatas, who punish all caught at such a
game with death, or something approaching it. In the afternoon I took
leave of the sultan, who breaks up in the night, and proceeds to
Soccatoo.
 Saturday, 4th.—Morning cool and clear. The sultan did not leave
last night, but to-day at 3 P.M. I had to go and see the chronometer
carefully put up to bear carriage without injury: it is considered the
most valuable part of his property, and numbers come from a great
distance to hear it strike. One of the gold watches he has already
spoiled, and I have had to give his brother Atego my silver watch for
it in return, but I have got the worse bargain. If the sultan had not
asked me I should never have done it, as it has the new patent key,
and kept a regular rate from England.
Sunday, 5th.—I did not start this morning, as I had been very
unwell all night: got a new camel, and employed a Tuarick to buy me
another, as they are nearly 2000 cowries cheaper here than they are
at Kano.
Monday, 6th.—Cool and clear. At 6 A.M. left Magaria. I rode my
new camel, as his load was light, and I had no horse. At 11 A.M.
halted at a spring for an hour, and started again at 2. Arrived at
Soccatoo.
Tuesday, 7th.—This day I visited the sultan about noon, and, at
his request, taught a man, one of his servants, how to wind up the
time-piece, which is one of eight days. In the afternoon I was visited
by three Fellatas, Hadji Omer from Foota Tora, Malem Mahomed
from Timbuctoo, and the third from a neighbouring town to
Timbuctoo. Malem Mahomed says the whole of the district called
Timbuctoo is at present under the authority of the Tuaricks; that the
principal town is called Timbuctoo; and that their gold comes from
Ashantee, Gonga, and Bambarra, where they exchange it for salt to
the Tuaricks, and cloths to the inhabitants of Fez, Ghadamis, and
Tripoli; that Timbuctoo produces no gold, it being only the great
market where all the gaffles from the north and east meet those of
the south and west; that few Arabs now come from Fez and
Morocco, owing, he says, to the Arabs, called Waled Dleim, cutting
off the caravans.
Hadji Omar, who was an intelligent man, told me that forty men
arrived at Sego with the late Mungo Park. That, out of the forty,
thirty-five had died of sickness, and that five only embarked in the
canoe given to him by the sultan of Sego. That they were repeatedly
attacked by the Tuaricks, of whom they killed a great number.
Whether any, or how many, of those belonging to the canoe were
killed, he could not say. The Hadji had just returned from Mecca, and
wished to go there again, if he could get an opportunity; but, as he
said the sultan of Baghermi and his subjects had been driven into
the mountains to the south of that kingdom by the Sheik el Kanemi,
there was no passing through that country, as it was now only
inhabited by wandering Arabs, who plunder all that fall into their
hands, otherwise it was the best road to the east from Adamowa, by
the way of Baghermi.
Friday, 10th.—For the two last days I have found myself very ill,
with an enlargement of the spleen. Soccatoo was built by Sheik
Othman, usually known by the name of Danfodio, or the learned son
of Fodio. He was a good linguist; and knew most of the languages of
the interior, which he spoke fluently, and also all the dialects of the
Arabic. He knew all the learning of the Arabs; and, what was of the
greatest importance to him, was firmly believed to be a prophet; and
the belief continues, getting stronger as the Fellatas get stronger. He
came out of the woods of Ader, or Tadela, and settled, and built a
town in the province of Goobur, where the Fellatas began to gather
around him; he soon began to interfere with the affairs of the sultan
of Goobur, saying this was proper to be done, and such a thing was
improper. This not pleasing either the people of Goobur or the sultan,
he was ordered out of the country, he and his people. This order he
did not obey; and the people of Goobur rose and drove them out;
when he again settled in Ader, not in the woods, as formerly, but built
a town. Fellatas gathering round him from all the different countries,
he divided them under different chiefs, giving each chief a white flag,
telling them to go and conquer in the name of God and the prophet,
as God had given the Fellatas the lands and the riches of all the
Kaffirs, as they, the Fellatas, were the only true believers. In addition
to the white flag, the Fellatas were to wear a white tobe, as an
emblem of their purity, and their war-cry was to be Allahu Akber! or,
God is great! That every one who was wounded, or fell in battle, was
sure to gain paradise. Their belief in him as a prophet, their own
poverty, numbers, and the apparent wealth of the blacks, who had
been lulled into a fatal security, made the latter fall an easy prey to
their conquerors. Kano submitted without a blow. The next was
Goobur; the people of which had taken the alarm, and attempted to
turn Danfodio out of his town in Ader, but they were driven back, and
the wily old chief then attacked them, overran their country, and
killed the sultan. After this the whole of Houssa, with Cubbé, Youri,
and part of Nyffé, fell under their dominion. The whole of the interior,
from east to west, was terror-struck. Bornou, in the east, was
attacked with success, as was also Yourriba, in the west. Here they
found more resistance than any where else, as they (the people of
Yourriba) could not be made to believe in his doctrine or prophecy,
as they were confirmed Kaffers, who, on the invasion of the Fellatas,
put all the Mahometans to death, whether natives, or in caravans
trafficking; quite denying the plea that God had given to the faithful
their lands and houses, and their wives and children to be slaves.
Notwithstanding, they took Rakah, Elora or Affaga, besides a great
number of other towns, reaching to the sea coast, in their
expeditions; and once entered Eyeo, or Katunga, the capital, a great
part of which they burnt down, giving liberty to all the Mahometan
slaves, and encouraging others to kill their pagan masters and join
them. After they had fairly settled themselves, the Arabs from the
east and west came to congratulate Danfodio on his newly acquired
territory. Numbers of his countrymen came from the west to settle in
Houssa. These he located principally in the province of Zegzeg,
where he gave the lands and houses of the negroes who had fled to
the mountains and inaccessible parts of that province lying to the
south. To the Arabs of Tripoli and Fezzan he made large presents of
slaves and camels, sending none away empty-handed. The news of
his fame spread every way. Arabs, in shoals, came and passed with
him as sherifs, and would seldom go away under a hundred slaves,
with camels and provisions.
Before he gathered the Foulahs, or Fellatas, under his
government, they did not live in towns, but were scattered over the
greater part of Soudan, attending to their herds and flocks, living in
temporary huts, generally in the midst of unfrequented woods,
seldom visiting the towns. This business they left to the women, who
attended the markets, and sold the produce of their cattle. The men
were reported to live a religious and harmless life, spending a great
part of their time in reading the Koran and other religious books. Now
and then a few of their learned men would come forth, and engage
themselves for a few years with the Mahometan sultans and
governors, until they had collected a little money, with which they
purchased a few cattle, and then returned to the woods to their
countrymen, who moved about from one province to another,
according to the seasons, and the nature and quantity of pasture and
water; contented with building temporary huts of straw and rushes,
and to be left in peace. No one indeed thought of disturbing them, or
interfering with their pursuits, they being probably considered as too
contemptible and insignificant to excite any fear. Thus dispersed, no
one but themselves knew or could guess at their numbers. Melli, or
the petty kingdoms of Foota-Torra, Foota-Bonda, and Foota-Jella,
were the places from whence they spread themselves eastward,
until they became very considerable, in point of numbers, in all the
countries between the above-mentioned places and Wady. Many of
them had performed their pilgrimage to Mecca, and others had
visited the empires of Turkey and Morocco, as also Algiers, Tunis,
and Tripoli, bringing back with them all the Arabic books they were
able to beg or buy.
In the year of the Hegira 1218, the old Mallem Sheik Othman
Danfodio, Sheik of the Koran, became religiously mad, and is said to
have died some years afterwards in that state. This Foulah or Fellata
conqueror was styled Sheik of the Koran from his being perfect
master of that book, not only being able to read it, and all the
commentaries upon it, but also to repeat any part, and explain it,
from memory. The laws of the Koran were in his time, and indeed
continue to be, so strictly put in force, not only among the Fellatas,
but the negroes and Arabs, and the whole country, when not in a
state of war, was so well regulated, that it was a common saying,
that a woman might travel with a casket of gold upon her head from
one end of the Fellata dominions to the other.
His madness took a very unhappy turn. In the midst of a
paroxysm, he would constantly call out that he should go to hell, for
having put so many good Mussulmen to death. The Arabs used to
take advantage of this, and tell him he was sure to be damned,
unless he made amends by giving them presents to assuage the
manes of their friends. Not so with the Fellatas. These people had so
great a veneration for their chief that, when his head was shaving,
the hairs were carefully collected, and preserved by them in cases of
gold and silver, and they used to come from all parts of the interior to
get a sight of him, negroes as well as Fellatas.
After his death, his son Mohamed Bello, the present sultan,
governed the kingdom which his father had conquered; but that part
of the country to the westward of Houssa he left to his brother’s son,
Mohamed Ben Abdallah, while the eldest, Mohammed Bello, had
Haussa, with all the countries to the south and east. Atego, the
brother of Mohammed Bello, both by father and mother, attempted to
usurp the government of the latter, at the death of the Sheik Othman;
but his brother put him down, and confined him to his house for
twelve months; and they are now as good friends as before.
Bello extended the walls of Soccatoo, which is now the largest
and most populous town in the interior that I have seen. Within these
walls live all the children which Danfodio had by his different wives
and concubines, very quietly and without splendour, except Atego,
who is a mean fellow, but keeps a large establishment. At the death
of Danfodio, in the year of the Hegira 1232 (in 1816 of ours), the
province of the Goobur, Zamfra, part of Kashna, and Zegzeg, threw
off the yoke of the Fellatas, and put the whole of them to death that
they could lay their hands on. Since that time, Bello has retaken the
greater part of Goobur; part of Zamfra, and Guari, the southern part
of Kashna, have made their peace, as also part of Cubbé; but on this
condition, that they shall be ruled by their native chiefs, and the
Fellatas not to interfere with them. Since my arrival, he has also got
back the greater part of Nyffé. Youri has, since 1822, joined in the
rebellion, being forced by the people of Zamfra, who at all times can
command that province, if not supported by Cubbé or Soccatoo. The
governor is to be hereditary, not like most of the other provinces and
kingdoms in the interior, where the oldest relation always succeeds.
The city of Soccatoo stands on the top of a low hill, or rising
ground, having a river passing at a short distance from the northern
wall. It is formed of the united branches of the several streams,
which take their rise to the south of Kashna, and flow past Zirmie.
Having passed Soccatoo, it crosses the district of Cubbé in a south-
westerly direction, and at the distance of four days’ journey enters
the Quorra. It is well stored with fish, which afford the poor people of
Soccatoo a very considerable part of their food. The city is
surrounded by a wall, about twenty-four feet high, and a dry ditch.
The wall is kept in good repair, and there are eleven gates; seven
having been built up at the breaking out of the rebellion. The clay
walls which surround all African towns, clusters of huts, and even
single coozies, give a deadly dull appearance to them all, whether
negro or Mahometan. The only appearance of animation is given by
the great number of slaves and others moving to and fro, or
lounging, or lying in the shade at the doors of great men. A great part
of the town within the walls might be taken for a number of ill-
enclosed gardens.
The house of the sultan is surrounded by a clay wall, about twenty
feet high, having two low tower-like entrances, one on the east, the
other on the west. The eastern one is entirely guarded by eunuchs,
of whom he has a great number, I suppose because the harem is on
the eastern side. The whole of his house forms, as it were, a little
town of itself; for in it there are five square towers, a small mosque, a
great number of huts, and a garden, besides a house, which consists
of one single room, used as the place for his receiving and hearing
complaints, receiving visitors, and giving audiences to strangers.
This room or house is nothing more than what we should call in our
country a shed. Two large pillars support a beam, or bundle of long
rods, plastered over with clay. These support the rafters, which are of
the branches of the palm-tree; on the back part is an imitation of a
fire-place, with a fire-screen before it; and on each side are two
chairs, which are also plastered with clay, and coloured like
mahogany. The ornament or figure on the back of these is the same
as those seen on a number of chairs in England, and corresponds
with that on the fire-screen. The walls are ornamented partly in the
European and partly in the African fashion. There are two doors, one
in the front towards the right, and the other in the left end of the
house, and which leads through a small street of huts to a large hut,
with two doors: passing through and within a few yards of it stands a
large square clay tower, with an entrance in the west side. The
interior of this is common in most of the great men’s houses in
Houssa. It is in the shape of a dome, formed of eight arches
springing from the ground; in the centre of which is a large bright
brass basin, acting as it were in the place of a key-stone to the
arches, which are turned by branches plastered over with clay. If I
had not seen them constructing the arches and pillars of a mosque, I
should have supposed them to be formed entirely of clay, as the
wood in no part appears. The clay serves to keep the white ants
from destroying the wood; they are ornamented in their fashion while
the clay is wet, an operation performed with the fingers and a small
square stick. From the arches, about one-third up, runs a gallery
quite round the interior building, having a railing with pillars of wood,
covered and ornamented with clay. There are three steps leading up
to this gallery, from which every thing in the dome may be seen or
heard. Passages also lead from it into small rooms, having each one
small window, or square hole, some appearing to be used as store-
rooms, and others as sleeping-rooms. The floor of the dome was
covered with clean white sand. The height might be, from the floor to
the brass basin in the centre of the arches, from thirty-five to forty
feet. The air inside of this dome was cool and pleasant; and Bello
told me he often used it as a place to read in during the heat of the
day. These two apartments are the only two I have seen deserving
remark within his enclosure. One night that he sent for me, when it
was rather late, I was led by the hand by an old woman through
several apartments before I arrived at the one in which he was. As
there was no light, I could only judge by the stooping, and ascending
and descending through doors and galleries, that I passed through
some large rooms, out of one into another.
The houses of the other great men, and those of his brothers, are
nearly the same, but on a much smaller scale. A great number of the
poorer sort are fenced round with matting, or the stalk of dourra or
millet. Before the west front of the sultan’s enclosure is a large open
space, of an irregular form, on the west side of which stands the
principal mosque. In this space is also the prison, a building of about
eighty feet long, and nearly the same in breadth, covered at top with
a flat clay roof, overlaid with boughs. Inside is a deep pit, where
those who have committed the greatest crimes are confined. No
person is put in prison for debt; only thieves, prisoners of war (taken
singly), such as spies, and disobedient slaves, who, on a complaint
to the sultan that they will not work, are sent to prison. Their only
food is the bran or husks of millet and dourra, with water; but their
friends are allowed to give them food, if they have any. It is a filthy
place, and the terror of the men-slaves of Soccatoo. The prisoners
are taken out, two and two, every day to work at the walls, or any
laborious work which may occur.
Another house and the tomb of the sultan is further to the west of
the mosque, on the north side of a broad street, which leads to the
western gate. It is occupied by his widows, concubines, and
youngest son, called Abedelgader, who is not arrived at a proper age
to have a house for himself. The sheik’s tent is inside of the square
enclosure, behind the room he generally occupied when living. It is
visited as a holy place by all Mahometan strangers, from which they
afterwards hope to enjoy the good things of this world, and that of
their world to come.
The ordinary occupations of the higher, and indeed I may say of
all classes of the Fellatas is, they rise at day-break, wash and say
their prayers, count their beads for about half an hour, and then
chew a gora nut, if they have any; which done, they sip a quantity of
senkie, or furro-furrocoo. These articles are a preparation of half-
boiled dourra flowers, made into balls of about one pound, mixed up
with dry flour. Senkie is one of these balls, bruised and mixed with
milk; furro-furrocoo is the same kind of ball mixed with water. About
10 A.M. they have rice boiled, which they eat with a little melted
butter. After this they pay visits, or lounge in the shade, hear the
news, say prayers, count their beads, which employ them till sunset,
when they have a meal of pudding, with a little stewed meat and
gravy, or a few small fish; they then retire to rest.
During the spring and harvest the proprietors of estates ride out to
their different slave villages to look after their grain, cotton, indigo,
&c.; or to the place where they have their cattle. The occupations of
the poorer class, who are not engaged in trade, are much the same
as those of their superiors; their food is somewhat different, being
principally confined to furro-furrocoo. The wives of the principal
people, of whom they all appear to keep up the number allowed by
the Koran, which is four, with concubines as many as they can get or
are able to keep, are occupied in directing the female slaves in their
work, cooking their husband’s food, cleaning and spinning cotton,
and dressing their hair, teeth, eye-brows and eye-lashes, which take
up no little time. They also take charge of sending the female slaves
to market to sell their spare cotton, grain, furro-furrocoo, millet, cakes
fried in butter, fried fish, which are usually caught by the younger
male slaves; in receiving or paying visits, for they are great gossips.
They are allowed more liberty than the generality of Mahometan
women.
The dress of the men is a red cap, with a blue tassel of silk, a
white turban, part of which, or a fold, shades the brow and eyes;
another fold is taken over the nose, which covers mouth and chin,
hanging down on the breast; a white shirt, close at the breast and
short in the skirts, a large white tobe, and white trousers, trimmed
with red or green silk, and a pair of sandals or boots: this is the dress
of the greater part of the wealthy inhabitants. When travelling, they
wear, over the turban, a broad-brimmed straw hat, with a round low
crown. Some who do not affect great sanctity or learning wear check
tobes and blue turbans over the forehead, with the end hanging
down behind; the poorer, a white check tobe, white cap and trousers,
and sandals. Some are content with the straw hat only, but all wear a
sword, which is carried over the left shoulder. The women have a
cloth striped with blue, white, and red, falling as low as the ankles;
silver rings in the ear, about an inch and a half in diameter, bracelets
of horn, glass, brass, copper, and silver, according to the quality of
the wearer; round the neck, beads, and strings of glass, or coral;
round the ankles, brass, copper, or silver, and sometimes rings on
the toes as well as fingers. The fashionable ornament is a Spanish
dollar soldered fast to a ring. The poor women have pewter, brass,
and copper rings. The hair is generally turned up like a crest on the
top of the head, with something like a pig’s tail hanging down from
each extremity, a little before the ears.
 Some of the Fellata women have the hair frizzed out at the ends,
all round the head; others have the hair plaited in four small plaits,
going round the head like a riband or bandeau. This, and all the
plaited parts, are well smeared over with indigo or shumri. The razor
is applied to smooth all uneven places, and give a high and fine arch
to the forehead; they thin the eye-brows to a fine line, which, with the
eye-lashes, are rubbed over with pounded lead ore, and done by
drawing a small pen that has been dipped in this ore. The teeth are
then dyed with the gora nut, and a root of a shining red colour; the
hands and feet, the toe and finger nails, are stained red with henna.
A lady thus equipped is fit to appear in the best society. The looking-
glass is a circular piece of metal, about an inch and a half in
diameter, set in a small skin box, and is often applied to. The young
girls of the better sort of people dress much in the same manner as
their mothers, after they arrive at the age of nine or ten; before that,
they have very little dress, except the binta or apron, scolloped or
vandyked round with red cloth, with two long broad strings vandyked
round in the same manner, hanging down as low as the heels
behind. This is the dress of the poorer sort of people, until fit for
marriage, as also of a great many of the virgin female slaves.
Their marriages are celebrated without any pomp or noise. The
bride, as far as I was informed, is always consulted by her parents;
but a refusal on her part is unknown. The poorer class of people
make up matters much in the same way; that is, after having got the
consent of one another, they ask their father and mother. The dowry
given by a man of good condition, with regard to riches, may be said
to consist of young female slaves, carved and mounted calabashes
or gourds, filled with millet, dourra and rice, cloths for the loins,
bracelets, and the equipage of her toilet, and one or two large
wooden mortars for beating corn, &c. and stones for grinding, &c.;
even these are carried in procession on the heads of her female
slaves, when she first goes to her husband’s house.
It is said that, in the event of the husband sleeping or having
connexion with any of the female slaves given as dower to the wife,
he must give her in lieu a virgin slave of equal value the next day.
This never causes any dispute between the parties.
 Their mode of burial I have never seen; but I understand they
always bury their dead behind the house which the deceased
occupied while living. The following day all the friends and relations
of the deceased visit the head of the family, and sit a while with him
or her. If the husband dies, the widow returns to the house of her
parents, with the property she brought with her.
The domestic slaves are generally well treated. The males who
have arrived at the age of eighteen or nineteen are given a wife, and
sent to live at their villages and farms in the country, where they build
a hut, and until the harvest are fed by their owners. When the time
for cultivating the ground and sowing the seed comes on, the owner
points out what he requires, and what is to be sown on it. The slave
is then allowed to enclose a part for himself and family. The hours of
labour, for his master, are from daylight till mid-day; the remainder of
the day is employed on his own, or in any other way he may think
proper. At the time of harvest, when they cut and tie up the grain,
each slave gets a bundle of the different sorts of grain, about a
bushel of our measure, for himself. The grain on his own ground is
entirely left for his own use, and he may dispose of it as he thinks
proper. At the vacant seasons of the year he must attend to the calls
of his master, whether to accompany him on a journey, or go to war,
if so ordered.
The children of a slave are also slaves, and when able are usually
sent out to attend the goats and sheep, and, at a more advanced
age, the bullocks and larger cattle; they are soon afterwards taken
home to the master’s house, to look after his horse or his domestic
concerns, as long as they remain single. The domestic slaves are
fed the same as the rest of the family, with whom they appear to be
on an equality of footing.
The children of slaves, whether dwelling in the house or on the
farm, are never sold, unless their behaviour is such that, after
repeated punishment, they continue unmanageable, so that the
master is compelled to part with them. The slaves that are sold are
those taken from the enemy, or newly purchased, who, on trial, do
not suit the purchaser. When a male or female slave dies unmarried,
his property goes to the owner. The children of the slaves are