Ethnographic visits to student homes as a strategy to create bonds of trust between teachers and families Servicios sociales

Abstract

The Funds of knowledge approach is based on the premise that all families, regardless of their ethnic, linguistic, economic or religious status, possessed knowledges and skills rooted in their particular practices and experiences of life, such as those garnered from their own working lives. The pedagogical challenge is to incorporate these resources into the school curriculum and into teaching practice. In doing so, teachers visit some of their students’ families at home for the purpose of learning from their experience and designing classroom activities that incorporate these intellectual and cultural resources previously uncovered. We illustrate this thesis by describing an experience in which the funds of knowledge approach was implemented in a public school located in Banyoles (Catalonia, Spain). In particular, five visits to household students by teachers are described. It is discussed the benefits of these visits to improve the relationships between teachers (school) and families.