Students of the backyard: An ethnographic analysis of a ghetto school

Abstract

The study aimed to contribute to the literature on education and spatial segregation in Türkiye, focuses on the similarities, parallels, and/or contrasts between the space in which a child lives and the cultural codes imparted to them at a poor public school located in a "ghetto" neighbourhood. Following a qualitative paradigm with an ethnographic approach, data were collected through participant observation at the ghetto school referred to as Backyard Elementary School. Data were gathered through unstructured interviews with the neighbourhood head, school administrators, and teachers, as well as semi-structured interviews and observations with seven teachers and six parents. The data were analysed using descriptive analysis. Findings of the study revealed that students' economic and cultural capital have negative reflections on their school life. While parents express aspirations for their children to achieve professional success, teachers view these ambitions as unattainable within the current educational framework. The families also perceived their children, whose academic performance declines yearly, as failures. Despite their dissatisfaction with their children's school experiences, parents advocated for 12 years of compulsory education, whereas teachers opposed compulsory education, advocating for vocational redirection at an earlier age. Teachers, viewing their own school as marginalized despite its central location, refer to other institutions as "central schools" and do not send their own children to the school where they work.