Bridging homes and classrooms: advancing students’ capabilities

Abstract

This paper investigates the capabilities of remote rural teachers in Indonesia's Probolinggo Regency to make meaningful pedagogic connections between students' homes and their classrooms. The term capabilities is derived from Sen's and Nussbaum's capabilities approach, which refers to substantive freedom or opportunities that a person holds to do and to be a certain thing that he or she considers valuable (Nussbaum, 2006; Sen, 1999). Informed by the capabilities approach (CA), the study involved classroom observations, teacher interviews and examination of Indonesian curriculum documents (teachers' syllabi and lesson plans). Making connections between homes and classrooms enables students to critically engage in their learning and makes knowledge more meaningful about solving real-life issues or problems. Teachers need to accommodate 'local' knowledge that exists in homes and communities thereby strengthening relationships between communities and schools; something synonymous with social justice aspects of the CA. Data generated for the study indicate that teachers encounter significant impediments in making connections between homes (communities) and classrooms (schools). In addition, while participants demonstrate that they are in part committed to the notions of 'connections' and 'inclusivity', their classroom practices still need strengthening in their adherence to the general substance of the CA.

Local and scientific knowledge in the school context: characterization and content of published works

“…Communities in which students live may thus be places filled with inspiration, which, if properly approached, will make students critical agents of their own realities [39]. Some positive contributions to the teaching-learning process represented among the recovered works include (1) production of contextual teaching involving the perspective of Science, Technology, Society, and Environment [9]; (2) socially just education, which privileges the reasoning skills of students and encourages them to value their cultures [50,51]; 3teaching-learning process that is active [50,52], questioning, and preparatory for decision making [52]; (4) expansion of learning horizons with student recognition of the information built by cultural groups outside the dominant culture, and the exploration of local issues [13,37,[52][53][54], possibility of learning multiple forms of interpretation of problems and phenomena useful in several situations [39,53]; (5) conservation and perpetuation of local knowledge [8,30,55]; (6) use of the environment as a formal learning tool [39,55,56]; (7) use of local knowledge as a pedagogical, instructional, and communicative instrument for the educator [14]; and (8) reinforcing the sensitivity of teachers and researchers to the specific sociocultural contexts of students [57].…”

Investigating the Factors Influencing Literacy Skills among Young Students in Rural Areas of Indonesia

“…While past research has mostly concentrated on urban settings (Damaianti, et.al., students in rural regions to develop excellent literacy skills. Furthermore, rural schools encounter other problems, such as the lack of school facilities and competent teachers, government policy, and the problem of nutritional food supplies (Sugiono et al, 2018). Therefore, to tackle the problem of inadequate literacy skills in rural areas, it is crucial to implement extensive measures that concentrate on enhancing educational facilities, expanding the availability of high-quality teaching materials, offering teacher training programs, and involving parents and communities in fostering student literacy growth.…”