@phdthesis{discovery10020459,
            note = {Thesis: (PhD) University of London Institute of Education, 2004.},
            year = {2004},
           title = {Multigrade schools in context : literacy in the community, the family and the school in the Peruvian Amazon},
          school = {Institute of Education, University of London},
        abstract = {This study explores literacy practices among the Peruvian rural population in
the Amazon, and the relationships of these with literacy practices in the
multigrade school. The conceptual framework for the study draws on a
perspective of literacy as a social practice whereby literacy is seen as a highly
contextualised practice, related to the uses that different social groups have
for it, and shaped by history, culture and power relationships that permeate
each group.
The study therefore focuses not only on the multigrade school but also on
literacy practices in different domains in the life of rural children: the
community, the home and the multigrade school. Through an ethnographic
approach, the case study examines rural children's immediate environment,
and the meanings and uses that literacy has for their communities and
families. These values and expectations of literacy are not confined to the
local context but examined in relation to regional and national contexts and to
the particularities of Peruvian society and history. The arrival of literacy within
the colonial enterprise in XVI century, the limited access to literacy for rural
population, the progressive expansion of schooling during XX century and the
current uses of literacy are examined as aspects of the historical and current
context that shape what literacy means today for rural populations.
In order to explore the practical possibilities to improve literacy learning in
school, an action research-based intervention was conducted with teachers in
the case study school. It demonstrates the possibilities and also the
constraints for improving literacy learning and for using action research as an
instrument for fostering teachers' professional development.
The research findings indicate a complex relationship between literacy
practices in different domains, including the multigrade school. They also
demonstrate the social character of literacy practices and their
embeddedness in power structures, social relations and identities. While there
are clear discontinuities between domains, there are also coincidences and
continuities across domains that have implications for literacy learning in the
multigrade school.},
          author = {Ames Ramello, Patricia Paola.},
             url = {http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.405703}
}