Showing papers in "British Journal of Sociology of Education in 1982"
TL;DR: In this article, a theoretical model with which to analyse the social context and genesis of classroom coping strategies, thereby linking macro-and micro-factors, is presented, and the importance of teacher biography is emphasised.
Abstract: This paper represents an attempt to construct a theoretical model with which to analyse the social context and genesis of classroom coping strategies, thereby linking macro‐ and micro‐factors. I approach this firstly through a critique of A. Hargreaves’ analysis which tends to emphasise macro‐factors and constraints on teacher action. I suggest that this analysis should be balanced and augmented by recognition of more independent and creative action in micro contexts. In the second part of the paper I develop Woods’ work on teacher survival by considering the use of the interactionist concept of ‘self and the phenomenological concept of ‘interests‐at‐hand’ as a means of defining the subjective meaning of ‘coping’, and its implication for classroom processes. I emphasise the importance of teacher biography. Finally a conceptual model which seeks to integrate many macro‐ and micro‐factors which bear on classroom coping strategies is presented.
135 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that contemporary Marxist sociology of education is characterised by theoretical closure and an absence of empirical rigour, and the reason for these shortcomings is to be found in a third factor which Arnot & Whitty mistakenly regard as a virtue of recent Marxist analyses, the optimistic commitment to social transformation.
Abstract: This article takes issue with the claims of Arnot & Whitty in the previous number of this journal, that many recent Marxist analyses of education are theoretically ‘open’ and use evidence to interrogate theory. On the contrary, it is argued, contemporary Marxist sociology of education is characterised by theoretical closure and an absence of empirical rigour. The reason for these shortcomings is to be found in a third factor which Arnot & Whitty mistakenly regard as a virtue of recent Marxist analyses — the optimistic commitment to social transformation. The effect of such commitments on the validity of social scientific explanations, it is suggested, have made themselves fell in two ways: in distorted theories of resistance and transformation, where schools are seen as sites of resistance and struggle as well as places of ideological subjection; and in incoherent theories of relative autonomy which attempt to demonstrate the simultaneous autonomy and dependence of schooling. At the end of the ar...
96 citations
TL;DR: Despite the diversity of training they receive and diversity of subjects and schools in which they work, teachers tend to share a vision of their work in which "classroom control" and "class room privacy" figure prominently.
Abstract: Despite the diversity of training they receive and the diversity of subjects and schools in which they work, teachers tend to share a vision of their work in which ‘classroom control’ and ‘classroom privacy’ figure prominently. This common element in their understanding of the work can be explained by the fact that they share one overriding influence on their attitudes and approaches to the job — assroom experience. Because this experience itself is shaped by some characteristic features of the material and social organisation of classrooms, teachers tend to share certain problems, dilemmas, frustrations and opportunities that come as normal parts of classroom experience and which present the teachers with some practical imperatives they cannot afford to ignore. Classroom experience, for this reason, fosters a set of pragmatic beliefs about the job which, by way of contrast with formal educational theory, can be regarded as a ‘hidden pedagogy’. This generally involves a belief in the need to esta...
94 citations
TL;DR: For example, the authors argues that despite the early promise of transcending some of the conventional dichotomies between theoretical and empirical work and between educational theory and practice, British sociology of education of the 1970s was characterised by a progressive separation of theoretical analyses and by an increasing marginalisation of issues of curriculum policy and practice.
Abstract: The standard judgement on the various 'new directions' in the sociology of education of the 1970s seems to be that they signalled many new departures but precious few arrivals. Nowhere has this judgement been more true than in the substantive area where they were widely expected to bear most fruit, the sociology of the curriculum. Neither the phenomenological 'new sociology of education' of the early 1970s, nor the various strands of neo-Marxist theory that became more dominant later in the decade, generated the volume of substantive work that might have been expected nor did they make the contribution to the transformation of curriculum practice that the more enthusiastic early proponents of these 'new directions' envisaged. Indeed, despite its early promise of transcending some of the conventional dichotomies between theoretical and empirical work and between educational theory and practice, British sociology of education of the 1970s was characterised by a progressive separation of theoretical and empirical analyses and by an increasing marginalisation of issues of curriculum policy and practice. One of the reasons for the relative paucity of substantive work was that, despite the eclectic origins of a seminal work like Knowledge and Control (Young, 1971), the subsequent theoretical development of sociology of education in Britain took the form of a number of rapid shifts in fashion, from the phenomenological orientation
32 citations
TL;DR: This article found that most parents were in favour of working mothers, equal pay and men helping with housework, however these egalitarian attitudes coexisted with more traditional assumptions about male breadwinners and a woman's main responsibility being to her children.
Abstract: Parents of 116 first‐year pupils at an urban comprehensive school were studied by questionnaire and interview. They were asked about their educational and occupational aspirations for their children, their views on sexual equality and their children's out‐of‐school activities. Educational aspirations were found to be high, with little differentiation between the sexes. Parents were enthusiastic about their daughters studying physical science and neutral about craft subjects. Occupational aspirations were also high and although they tended to be sex‐stereotyped, parents were found to be generally supportive of non‐traditional choices. Class differences were few. Most parents were in favour of working mothers, equal pay and men helping with housework. However these egalitarian attitudes coexisted with more traditional assumptions about male breadwinners and a woman's main responsibility being to her children. Parents’ own domestic labour and that which they required of their children was strongly s...
26 citations
TL;DR: For instance, this article found that there were differences between male and female teachers' perceptions of sex role changes and also the age of teachers affected their interpretation of female pupils' behaviour.
Abstract: The article discusses the changes to sex‐roles which teachers perceived to have occurred during the past decade or so, and how such perceptions affected themselves and their teaching of male and female pupils. The research took place in two primary schools in Victoria, Australia and comprised of interviews and observation methods. The results demonstrated that there were differences between male and female teachers’ perceptions of sex‐role changes and also the age of teachers affected their interpretation of female pupils’ behaviour. Female teachers were found to have an ambiguity of self‐concept in terms of their understanding of women's roles as both mothers and teachers. Several examples of teachers’ comments and interactions with their pupils are discussed and interpreted within an interactionist framework.
22 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an analysis of the attempt in Tanzanian secondary schools to alter the conventional academic school curriculum by the inclusion of productive work is presented. But, in practice, teachers have been unable to adopt the unified approach advocated by President Nyerere.
Abstract: This paper offers an analysis of the attempt in Tanzanian Secondary Schools to alter the conventional academic school curriculum by the inclusion of productive work. It describes the broad aims of the policy of education for self reliance as a text, focussing in particular on those elements in the policy which imply a redefinition of the relationship between the dominant literate curriculum and the productive, or essentially practical, projects carried out by the schools. The paper includes some research evidence which suggests that, in practice, teachers have been unable to adopt the ‘unified’ approach advocated by President Nyerere. The paper outlines different practices carried out by teachers in response to the policy imperatives and presents three critical factors affecting teachers’ actions. These are the relationship between schools and the division of labour, the difficulties of specifying what ‘unity’ may mean in terms of pupil action and the problems of school organisation related to th...
18 citations
TL;DR: A path analysis was carried out using the data from the original Aston study which tested one possible causal model of the organisational processes behind the level of specialist qualifications found in a sample of firms and public institutions.
Abstract: Sociologists of education have until very recently ignored the role of organisational processes in generating the demand for qualified personnel, preferring instead to explain any ‘inflation’ of the value of credentials in terms of either class strategies of social reproduction or as the outcome of positional competition within the labour market. In recent years, however, neo‐Weberian theorists have tried to redress this imbalance by pointing to the importance of contextual features of organisation (such as size and national prominence) as predictors of educational demand, while neo‐Marxist historians of the firm have examined the role played by credentials within the control processes of the capitalist enterprise. As a preliminary to more extensive investigation, a path analysis was carried out using the data from the original Aston study which tested one possible causal model of the organisational processes behind the level of specialist qualifications found in a sample of firms and public inst...
13 citations
TL;DR: The authors criticises the reproduction theory movement in education for its pessimism and its inability to conceptualise change, and argues that liberal tenets provide room for action at the level of schools because they are oppositional.
Abstract: This paper criticises the reproduction theory movement in education for its pessimism and its inability to conceptualise change. Both of these characteristics, it is argued, derive not from structures or cultures in the world, but from the concepts employed in such analyses. The paper then argues that liberal tenets provide room for action at the level of schools because they are oppositional. Both Right and Left unanimously condemn liberalism and in the authors’ view there is a need to reassess educational goals in this light.
9 citations
TL;DR: Our own view of the future for the political arithmetic tradition is not quite so gloomy, however as discussed by the authors see it as a developing tradition, evolving new techniques of analysis, hybridising with related species and occupying a distinct and secure ecological niche.
Abstract: 'Theoretical and methodological insularity' sounds bad. To be imprisoned in a 'fossilised tradition' sounds worse. We are'clearly doomed for extinction; an endangered species threatened by a disappearing habitat or hungry predators. We trust that Martyn Hammersley will set up the appropriate conservation measures immediately. Our own view of-the future for the 'political arithmetic' tradition is not quite so gloomy, however. We see it as a developing tradition, evolving new techniques of analysis, hybridising with related species and occupying a distinct and secure ecological niche. To put the matter less metaphorically, we believe that the large-scale random sample on which Origins and Destinations was based is ideally suited to answering a specific and limited, but nonetheless important set of questions about men (we apologise for our omission of women). These questions by no means exhaust the subject-matter of the sociology of education, and there are some (equally important) for which they would be quite inappropriate. Here we suspect we really stand on common ground with Martyn Hammersley. It is rather that he has misunderstood the topology. There are however other points where we are quite clearly in disagreement. First, take the charge of insularity. Anyone who compares our work with earlier examples of the political arithmetic tradition in Britain (Glass's work for example) is bound to notice changes in statistical technique and conceptualisation. In particular we have been influenced by the methods of data analysis popularised by Blau and Duncan and by Jencks; we have found Boudon's way of conceptualising the educational system a helpful one; and we have also made innovations of our own such as the
7 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss situations, developments, debates and debates in the field of Sociology of Education in the Netherlands, and present a survey of the literature in this field.
Abstract: (1982). Sociology of Education in the Netherlands: situations, developments, debates. British Journal of Sociology of Education: Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 319-329.
TL;DR: In this paper, the concepts of technical culture and the morality of technical processes are explored in the context of lower levels of vocational education in France, and some of Grignon's analytic concepts may offer useful perspectives for analyzing British Further Education curricula.
Abstract: This paper examines Claude Grignon's empirical study of lower levels of vocational education in France. The concepts of technical culture and the morality of technical processes are explored. Grignon argues that the hidden curriculum of the Lycee for vocational education (Lycee d'Enseignement Professionel) socialises students into a worldview in which social relations are conflated with technical relations, and take on the appearance of the certainly of technical processes. Social control is exerted by excluding the possibility of ambiguity and change from this deterministic frame of reference. In the second part of the paper we seek to show that some of Grignon's analytic concepts may offer useful perspectives for analysing British Further Education curricula, by applying the concepts of technical and ‘technicised’ culture to some recent developments in British Further Education curricula.
TL;DR: In this article, an empirically grounded discussion of relationships which can exist between the maintenance of order in teaching situations and the use of space in primary school buildings is offered, specifically focused on verbal directives issued by teachers to their charges about what they deem acceptable behaviour in teaching areas during lesson periods.
Abstract: An empirically grounded discussion of relationships which can exist between the maintenance of order in teaching situations and the use of space in primary school buildings is offered in this paper. Attention is specifically focused on verbal directives issued by teachers to their charges about what they deem acceptable behaviour in teaching areas during lesson periods. Examples of these directives are presented in order to illustrate both how teachers may manipulate children's use of space to impose on them particular definitions of educational order and also how they may use space as a means of disciplining those who transgress against that order.
TL;DR: A longitudinal study of a sample of secondary schools has shown that over a period of ten years there have been changes in grouping practices, an expansion of examination opportunities, and a tightening of the control of school work as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A longitudinal study of a sample of secondary schools has shown that over a period of ten years there have been changes in grouping practices, an expansion of examination opportunities, and a tightening of the control of school work. The prefectorial system has a reduced importance and has been deritualised, as has the school assembly. There is less sex differentiation of pupils’ school work and behaviour. These changes are explained using an action approach derived principally from Weber, concerned with the social construction of school organisation, whch is briefly compared to other possible explanations.
TL;DR: This paper set the development of the Sociology of Education in the changing Australian social structure, emphasising particularly economic prosperity, the influence of the rapid growth in the 1970s of the tertiary sector, the continuation of a relatively high level of migration, the egalitarian political ideology and the nature of educational administration.
Abstract: > This paper sets the development of the Sociology of Education in the changing Australian social structure, emphasising particularly economic prosperity, the influence of the rapid growth in the 1970s of the tertiary sector, the continuation of a relatively high level of migration, the egalitarian political ideology and the nature of educational administration. During this period many social pressures worked to support the political arithmetic tradition, though less so as the decade progressed. The sub‐discipline does seem by some measures to have become more mature by 1980, but at the very moment when economic stringency has been applied to the education sector.
TL;DR: Sharma and Meighan as discussed by the authors found that the difference between the sexes in mathematical attainment in secondary schools might be attributed to girls' different innate capacities and dispositions, but rather by their relatively restricted experience, by comparison with boys, of such mathematically-relevant curriculum options as physics.
Abstract: In their article in Volume 1, No. 2, 1980 (pp. 193-205) of this journal, Sharma & Meighan, on the basis of a detailed statistical analysis of examination data for a stratified random sample of male and female entrants for the Cambridge 'O' level in mathematics, reach several interesting conclusions. In particular, they argue that much of the difference between the sexes in mathematical attainment in secondary schools might be accounted for, not by girls' different innate capacities and dispositions, but rather by their relatively restricted experience, by comparison with boys, of such mathematically-relevant curriculum options as physics. This conclusion is primarily supported by their evidence that girls who study, or, at least, are entered for, physics or technical subjects as well as mathematics do rather better at 'O' level mathematics than 'comparable' boys. I should like here, however, to point to a possible problem in their use of these data to reach this conclusion. In the description of their investigation the claim is made that intelligence, social class, motivation and other relevant independent variables have been controlled for by the 'conventional practice' of choosing pupils at random from relevant subgroups of the total entry for mathematics. The problem, however, is that, in this particular case, it appears that such variables cannot be adequately dealt with in this way. This is because of the problem of underand over-selection within schools of each sex for entry to various sex-typed examination subjects. The population from which the authors have drawn their sample-the Cambridge 'O' level entry for one year-is, that is, the result of previous processes of social construction in schools and families. Six thousand, five hundred and ninty-eight boys and 5861 girls were entered for '0' level mathematics and, all other things being equal, these groups may well have shared similar capacities and dispositions. Taking, however, those pupils who were entered for both mathematics and physics, we find that approximately twice as many boys as girls (2189 against 1043) appear here. Given this difference in number, it is not reasonable to expect similar average scores on any of the variables supposedly controlled for. The girls entered for physics may just have been, for a variety of reasons not given prominence by the authors, more likely to
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw inspiration from the three socio-epistemological theories of phenomenology, contextualism and traditional epistemology and their abrasive interrelation, and devise a theoretical framework as a basis for an exposition and interpretation of empirical work undertaken in four contrasting school contexts.
Abstract: This article draws its inspiration from the three socio‐epistemological theories of phenomenology, contextualism and traditional epistemology and their abrasive interrelation. From these foundations, a theoretical framework is devised as a basis for an exposition and interpretation of empirical work undertaken in four contrasting school contexts. The aim of the research was firstly to look for similarities between teachers’ conceptions of the curriculum and secondly to provide evidence which could be used as a basis for judging to what extent these similarities were constrained by teachers’ conceptions of ‘truth’. The paper discusses teachers’ responses to three questions from an open‐ended questionnaire; these requested views on how far curriculum content was considered to be related: (a) to individual pupils, (b) to social requirements and (c) to ‘truth’. The discussion of each question resolves itself into a number of issues connected with these three themes. The article is predominantly inter...
TL;DR: In this article, analysing children's talk: a response to Joan Tough's review of Learning Through Interaction is presented, with a focus on the role of children in learning through interaction.
Abstract: (1982). Analysing Children's Talk: a response to Joan Tough's review of Learning Through Interaction. British Journal of Sociology of Education: Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 313-317.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: This paper explored the relationship between education and the economy and found that economic growth and slowdown are associated with different educational experiences of groups of children, with particular types of experiences relating to relative power and the sense of justice held by more powerful individuals and groups.
Abstract: This study explores the relationships between education and the economy. Briefly, the thesis proposes that economic growth and slowdown are associated with different educational experiences of groups of children, with particular types of experiences relating to relative power and the sense of justice held by more powerful individuals and groups. The thesis is explored in an examination of recent developments in Australian education. The personal and social usefulness of education has justified the investment of considerable effort in extending understanding of the functioning of schooling. However, while that effort has generated useful findings, commonly offered interpretations in terms of depersonalised concepts such as society, the state, the economy, or the system are unsatisfactory. In particular, in ascribing to people essentially passive roles in educational processes, such interpretations neglect personal motivations and actions that may be crucial influences on social activity. Accordingly, this study explores a thesis that accepts people as active in pursuance of personal and social interests, and as differing in the power they employ and in the sense of justice with which they pursue those interests. In emphasising the dynamic, interactive and interpretative character of people, and their interest in achieving identity and personal and group development, together with status, wealth, power and other forms of aggrandisement, the position accepts that groups and organisations, rationalisations and ideologies, and other social phenomena are social arrangements or constructions. It also accepts that such aspects of social reality are perceived and experienced differently, according to circumstances-as instruments or mechanisms by the more powerful or as forms of social reality to be accommodated to by the less powerful, and as operated more or less justly. Moreover, in linking these more specific expectations about the functioning of institutions with basic assumptions about the nature of reality, including people and their relationships, this study concurrently explores several dimensions of a comprehensive thesis. That, however, is not a novel step; any novelty is in acknowledging the range and interrelatedness of the set of assumptions being made and implicitly or explicitly being examined in a particular study. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.84 on Tue, 05 Jul 2016 05:16:45 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
TL;DR: In this paper, an extended review of Unpopular Education (and, oddly enough, of an old working paper) calls for "a sustained re-examination and reappraisal of educational policy and experience" and for "debate how to do it".
Abstract: Harold Silver's extended review of Unpopular Education (and, oddly enough, of an old working paper) calls for "a sustained re-examination and reappraisal of educational policy and experience" and for "debate how to do it" [1]. Obviously his interests are similar to our own: Unpopular Education too locates itself in the contemporary crisis in education, re-examines the relation between 'policy' and (popular) experience, and debates 'how to do it'. After this start, we expected an extended argument with our substantive findings. Our reviewer is one of the most productive and lively educational historians writing in Britain today: we started reading his piece with considerable anticipation. We were surprised by the antagonism of the review and disappointed by its substance. For instead of debating our findings and arguments, Professor Silver delivers a little inaugural lecture on the subject of 'real History'. Indeed, he seems to be pretty sure what real 'sociology' and real 'political science' are too [2]. The main charge against Unpopular Education is that it does not conform to any of these reputable academic practices. The professor casts it instead into a limbo of its own, along with some other 'restless' characters-'Marxists' all. We will comment later on the review as a form of intellectual politics, especially its similarity to conservative academic strategies and its apparent debt to some bad old radical habits too. First we want to comment on an important but hidden presence in the review: Unpopular Education is condemned through an unfavourable contrast with a foil of assumed, good, historical practice. In what follows we try to