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resources]. It is very labour intensive’
(1 FGT Sophie 6). As an extra pair of hands
would not always be available to teachers it was imperative that organisational
strategies were developed, as part of the support offered in the PDP to enable teachers
manage on their own;
I have now decided to have the children do much of the organising … to show
teachers that … they can just get on with it and do it, you don’t need another set
of hands, you don’t need two or three people putting out things. It can be done
with one teacher on their own with the equipment being carried out in the box,
the children putting out all the equipment and preparing the lesson for
you…already this week I was already using fifth and sixth class children to put
out equipment for their own classes and also for the younger classes. So it’s just
to use the children and use the resources in the school as best as can be done.
(FN 28.02.07)
This ‘use’ of children could be, involving the children in the organisation of
equipment for their own lesson or having senior children organise equipment for the
younger classes where possible.
During stage 2, teachers themselves tried to find ways around the equipment
organising difficulties that they encountered. Two of the infant teachers asked two of
the fifth class children to put out scavenger hunt materials for their class. They only
required the older children for 10 minutes but yet were conscious that this might not be
appropriate all the time;
It’s just to clarify that we’re not annoying fifth and sixth class teachers because
they have choir and they have this and they have that. And if they’re out…
they’ve loads. So if we’re taking them for 15 minutes we’re another 15 minutes.
(2 FGT Coleen JI)
Other teachers came in early to prepare resources and equipment, to have it
ready for their class time. They still could not put the controls out before school, as on
one occasion a teacher put orienteering controls out only to have some infant children
collect and return it to the teacher, trying to be helpful, when they saw it in the yard at
break-time. Senior teachers had similar difficulties, if they wanted controls or activities
put out prior to lessons they would
require help;
That was the one trouble we had…who would put the buckets out and if you put
them out and left them over break it would be the kids during break might
tamper with it…..windy day they would have blown away so…that’s the only
thing now that would be a little off-putting if you were setting out…
(2 FGT
Alannah 5)
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Having it ready for you when you go out. I really think that’s a huge
thing…because I think once the resources are there it’s only a matter of going
through the list in your head and kind of knowing what it is yourself, and kind of
going out and teaching it.
(2 FGT Maeve 2)
Sophie, a teacher in sixth class said that she put controls up for her class and it
had put her off teaching the activity again;
It took her about half-an-hour with a map and the controls herself, trying to put
them up and find [the points on the map] around the place, and go around the
school, tie them up securely, make sure they were still there for her class then
later on that day. So she said without somebody there to put them [controls] up
they probably wouldn’t do the activity.
(FN 19.10.07)
Claire another sixth class teacher encountered the same barrier;
I did one [orienteering lesson] last year myself near the end of the year and I
was out in the rain for 45 minutes trying to put them [controls] up in the
morning and that’s a long time to be putting them up and then looking at the
map to make sure it was right, it was quite difficult.
(2 FGT Claire 6)
As the senior classes required ‘an extra pair of hands’ primarily to place controls
for orienteering activities we discussed a solution to this during the interviews. One
idea was to place permanent controls around the school but as
the school site is small
and was about to undergo some construction work it was thought best to leave putting
up permanent controls and creating new maps until after any building works. Another
option was to choose tiny control cards that would be difficult for children to notice and
remove, and which would also challenge the children when orienteering to a greater
extent. Junior teachers decided as a solution to their organisational issues, to approach
senior class teachers to ascertain if they could ‘borrow’ some older children to help with
the organisation of their equipment for lessons, on a regular basis without encroaching
on the children’s time for too long. This was agreed to by their teachers on a trial basis
to see how it might work.
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