Dissertation Information for Ronald Wilhelm NAME: - Ronald Wilhelm
- (Alias) Ronald Wayne Wilhelm
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Education
SCHOOL:
- University of Texas, Austin (USA) (1991)
ADVISORS: - None COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - None
MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected
Title: The role of a national curriculum in ethnic image portrayal: An analysis of teacher practice and textbooks in Guatemalan elementary schools
Abstract: "This dissertation examined the portrayal of ethnic images in the public elementary school curriculum of Guatemala. The research explored the thesis that in an ethnically plural society one ethnic group tends to dominate other groups through various societal institutions, including schools. The school curriculum, therefore, functions to promote selected and preferred images about the various ethnic groups in order to legitimate and to maintain extant power relationships. In this study, daily teacher practice and the content of reading and social studies textbooks from government and commercial publishers were analyzed to identify the ""official"" ethnic images projected in the Guatemalan schooling experience.
Data gathering emphasized ethnographic techniques of participant observation, interviews with key informants, and examination of government documents, such as curriculum guides and training manuals. Also analyzed were observations made of forty-one teachers in seven public elementary schools in the Guatemalan departments of Sacatepequez and Chimaltenango.
The analysis of teacher practice focused on: (1) teachers' attitudes toward students, (2) teachers' attitudes toward parents and the community, and (3) ethnic images projected in teachers' lectures, class lessons, school rituals, and official school celebrations. Noted differences between ladino and indigena teacher practices included style of teacher-student interaction, image portrayal of motherhood, and image portrayal of events of the Spanish conquest.
The analysis of textbook content focused on ethnic images portrayed and projected in both printed text and illustrations. A quantitative instrument, the Evaluation Coefficient Analysis, was used for the analysis of social studies textbook text. Two categories of government published textbooks (Kaqchikel-Spanish bilingual and Spanish only) were compared with two categories of commercially published textbooks (Guatemalan and non-Guatemalan). Similarities and differences in the number and types of images in texts and illustrations were discussed in terms of ethnic interaction, national identity, and portrayal of specific ethnic groups.
This dissertation provides narrative and interpretive portrayal and insight into the manner in which the ideology of a dominant social elite is embedded in a national curriculum's daily classroom practices and textbooks. Also evident in the dissertation is attention to efforts by which counter hegemonic ideas may be promoted in the curriculum."
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MPACT Scores for Ronald Wilhelm A = 0
C = 4
A+C = 4
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2009-05-24 20:51:32
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