A Study of Graffiti in Teacher Education

Abstract

Problem statement: Graffiti is about self-expression. When youth cannot find people to listen to them, they may express their strongly felt, internal experiences and emotions safely by writing on public property. Thus, graffiti can be handled as a counseling issue. When this self-expression of a thought, wish, or attitude comes from prospective teachers, the difficult work of sorting these issues out may help us develop better teacher-education programs and produce better teachers. Thus, this work takes the issue of graffiti by prospective teachers as an interdisciplinary issue, bridging counseling and teacher training. Purpose of the Study: This research aims at extending the understanding of the contents of and underlying reasons for graffiti written by prospective teachers. Method: This study is based on the content analysis method and supplemented with structured interviews. A total of 178 inscriptions were analyzed. In addition, six graduating students were interviewed. Findings and Results: One of the major implications of this qualitative research was the presence of some methodological problems inherent in the graffitirelated studies. Second, it was found that bathroom graffiti might point to the importance for student teachers to express themselves in terms of sexual, political, and religious issues and to socialize through proper communication with others. Finally, the results of the analysis indicated that there were two main spheres of graffiti production: labs/classes and restrooms. The first group included rather socially acceptable topics, which focused on the need for belongingness, homesickness, romance, and humor or the form of someone’s name and signs (doodling). The second group included more anonymous inscriptions, mainly about sex and politics/religion. In this category, men were found to write more than women did. Conclusions and Recommendations: The findings suggested that the anonymous nature of bathroom graffiti particularly makes it difficult to be inquired about through interviews. Prospective teachers’ need to express themselves and socialize can be further met through curricular and/or extracurricular activities

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