ABSTRACT

One important group of people living a special lifestyle in Mongolia is mobile pastoralists. Requirements from the government of Mongolia push pastoralist parents to send their children to schools in settled areas far from their camps. This interpretative phenomenological study explored primary school classroom teachers’ experiences in communicating with pastoralist parents during the school year. In-depth interviews were conducted involving six classroom teachers from a rural primary school in eastern Mongolia. We applied Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model to organise our findings in our interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings indicated that classroom teachers had difficulties in communicating with pastoralist parents. The school and teachers heavily relied on a very few traditional forms of communication which was not appropriate given the pastoralist parents’ unique situation. This suggested the need for preparing pre-service teachers better for partnering with pastoralist families and their extended family members, and the need for further professional development on this topic for both teachers and school leaders. Our findings were also related to some contextual factors impacting teacher communication with pastoralist parents besides teacher education. This study highlighted the implications for teacher education and school policy. Potential directions for future research were recommended.

摘要

在蒙古过着特殊生活方式的重要人群是流动牧民。蒙古政府的要求促使牧民父母将孩子送到远离营地的定居地区的学校。这项解释性现象学研究探讨了小学课堂教师在学年与牧民父母交流的经验。对蒙古东部一所农村小学的六名任课教师进行了深入访谈。我们应用 Bronfenbrenner 的生态模型来组织我们在解释性现象学分析中的发现。调查结果表明，任课教师在与牧民父母沟通方面存在困难。鉴于牧民父母的独特情况，学校和教师严重依赖极少数传统的交流方式，这是不合适的。这表明需要更好地为与牧民家庭及其大家庭成员合作的职前教师做好准备，以及教师和学校领导都需要在这个主题上进一步专业发展。除了教师教育，我们的研究结果还与影响教师与牧民父母沟通的一些背景因素有关。这项研究强调了对教师教育和学校政策的影响。建议了未来研究的潜在方向。这表明需要更好地为与牧民家庭及其大家庭成员合作的职前教师做好准备，以及教师和学校领导都需要在这个主题上进一步专业发展。除了教师教育，我们的研究结果还与影响教师与牧民父母沟通的一些背景因素有关。这项研究强调了对教师教育和学校政策的影响。建议了未来研究的潜在方向。这表明需要更好地为与牧民家庭及其大家庭成员合作的职前教师做好准备，以及教师和学校领导都需要在这个主题上进一步专业发展。除了教师教育，我们的研究结果还与影响教师与牧民父母沟通的一些背景因素有关。这项研究强调了对教师教育和学校政策的影响。建议了未来研究的潜在方向。这项研究强调了对教师教育和学校政策的影响。建议了未来研究的潜在方向。这项研究强调了对教师教育和学校政策的影响。建议了未来研究的潜在方向。