Humour or humiliation? When classroom banter becomes irresponsible sledging in upper-primary school contexts

Wardman, Natasha

doi:10.1080/01596306.2019.1707777

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Humiliation as part of medical education is well described in the literature and that it negatively impacts their ability to conceptualise and retain information. (3,23,24)Teaching by humiliation reinforced and encouraged the perpetuation of hierarchy. (8) It prevented students from seeking clarity when concepts were poorly understood.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘I know my place’- The hidden curriculum of professional hierarchy in a South African undergraduate medical program: A Qualitative Study

Sons

Gaede

2021

Preprint

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Background The hidden curriculum of professional hierarchy refers a tacitly acquired perception of a power differential between medical students and their clinical teachers. This power gradient is enforced and maintained by means of humiliation and race- and gender prejudices. The consequences of these pedagogical approaches include disillusionment, anxiety, depression and suicide among student populations. Little is known about this phenomenon in the post- colonial African setting.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to explore the hidden curriculum of professional hierarchy as it is perceived by medical students. The objective was to define how it manifests and to describe the mechanism that enforce and maintain it.MethodsAn ethnographic study was conducted at a South African University. Through twelve in- depth interviews and 6 months’ participant observations in the clinical setting an understanding of the students’ experience was explored. NVivo software was used to perform a thematic analysis using an open coding method. The themes were then progressively refocussed as broader themes emerged and a deeper understanding of the hidden curriculum developed.ResultsFrom the interviews and the observations, we found that humiliation of students, racism and sexism was used to enforce the professional hierarchy between clinical teachers and students. Students felt discouraged and demotivated by such encounters.ConclusionsThe hidden curriculum of professional hierarchy plays a significant role in how students understand and find their place in the clinical setting. Humiliation continues to play a role despite institutional policies and guidelines and the transition to a democratic dispensation in 1994 in South Africa. Our findings resonated with the findings of international studies exploring the hidden curriculum. Using a historical perspective of the medical school where the study was conducted, the post-colonial lens offers a useful local analysis of the hidden curriculum in the local context of continued gender-based violence, racial, socio-political and economic inequalities in South Africa. It may allow for a more critical engagement with the students’ experience and hopefully assists in exploring institutional values in more profound ways.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘I know my place’- The hidden curriculum of professional hierarchy in a South African undergraduate medical program: A Qualitative Study

Sons

Gaede

2021

Preprint

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“…Perhaps the most misplaced myth, that is probably placed way out of context, is that humor is demeaning to the teaching as a profession, especially when it comes to the use of self-disparaging or self-depreciating humor-humor directed toward the teacher or teaching profession-in the classroom [17,18,32,33]. Some, if not most teachers, see the use of humor in the classroom as demeaning simply because they are afraid it may undermine their own authority as well as credibility in the classroom.…”

Section: Myths Against the Use Of Humor In The Classroom Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching and Learning Mathematics for Understanding, Enjoyment and Everyday Life Experiences

Tap¹

2022

Insights Into Global Engineering Education After the Birth of Industry 5.0

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This chapter expresses the views of a teacher-researcher who advocates and argues for the use of humor in the classroom setting, especially in the mathematics classroom. While existing research based literature has shown the use of humor to be promising and encouraging effecting teaching and learning tool, very little instructional humor or classroom humor–an appropriate type of humor often related to the content materials being discussed–has been used in the classroom setting–especially in the mathematics classrooms. The chapter explores, surveys and highlights ways in which the existing-related literature about the effective and appropriate use of humor in the classroom setting can be implemented in practice, especially in the teaching and learning of mathematics, in this challenging era of the increasingly rapid technological advancements referred to as 21th century technological revolution or the re-engineering of industrial education 5.0 relative to STEM subjects study areas. The use of humor as teaching and learning tool in the classroom setting has been shown to have so many associated benefits ranging from but not limited to a conducive-relaxed learning environment, enhanced students’ learning experience, motivating and inspiring the students to learn more and even the improvement of student-teacher classroom rapport, just to mention a few. Hence, the literature recommends that classroom teachers should make more use of humor as an effective teaching and learning tool, especially the contextualized-appropriate humor types that are related to the content materials being discussed.

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“…During a recent study that compared the interest-generating effects of two different instructional approaches in a secondary school classroom setting (Tap, Mtetwa, & Vere, 2019, 2020, a research question was posed: What kinds of humour forms generate and maintain interest for South Sudanese secondary school students living in displaced and re-settled communities? Before addressing this question in detail, a brief exploration and overview of relevant, existing literature about the appropriate and effective use of humour in the classroom setting is necessary.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The un-recommended, also known as the inappropriate or negative types, which are strongly not recommendable for classroom use include any type of humour whose intention is to manipulate, ridicule, humiliate, stereotype, denigrate, dehumanise, be sarcastic (mean or rude), put down or mock others. Also, in the same category, is any humour which could be perceived as offensive, especially with regard to race, religion or sex (Wanzer et al, 2006;Fitriah, 2012;Dieter, 2000;Friedman & Friedman, 2019;Sidelinger & Tatum, 2019;Lamminpaa & Vesterinen, 2018;Wardman, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Types of Humour Categories Used to Generate and Maintain Interest in Mathematics Among Secondary School Students in South Sudan’s Displaced and Re-settled Communities

Tap¹,

Mtetwa²,

Vere³

2021

JETS

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While there has been appreciable consensus among humour researchers as well as classroom teachers that the use of humour in the classroom setting can be an effective teaching tool, there is still, however, a dearth of literature available that classroom practitioners could use as a guide in actual practice. Most of the literature currently available tends to address the potential use of classroom humour in general, and does not go into the specifics of exactly “what types of humour forms” are effective. This article addresses this question in the context of a secondary school mathematics classroom in South Sudan’s displaced and re-settled communities, where the lesson plans used in the intervention were infused and laced with instructional humour–humour related to the mathematics concepts being discussed–for the purpose of generating and maintaining student interest in mathematics. Using a researcher constructed observation sheet (RCOS) as the research instrument for capturing the desired qualitative data, five specific literature recommended humour types or categories (namely: mathematical jokes, puns, riddles, related stories and funny-multiple choice items) were used and identified as the ones that generated and maintained interest among the South Sudanese secondary school students. Classroom teachers who would like to use classroom humour for the purpose of motivating and inspiring their students may find the information contained in this article useful, as a practical-reference classroom guide.

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Humour or humiliation? When classroom banter becomes irresponsible sledging in upper-primary school contexts

Cited by 7 publications

References 39 publications

‘I know my place’- The hidden curriculum of professional hierarchy in a South African undergraduate medical program: A Qualitative Study

‘I know my place’- The hidden curriculum of professional hierarchy in a South African undergraduate medical program: A Qualitative Study

Teaching and Learning Mathematics for Understanding, Enjoyment and Everyday Life Experiences

Types of Humour Categories Used to Generate and Maintain Interest in Mathematics Among Secondary School Students in South Sudan’s Displaced and Re-settled Communities

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