Showing papers in "European Educational Research Journal in 2013"
TL;DR: The what-went-right approach is related to two other practices in policy studies: evidence-based policy planning and lesson-drawing as discussed by the authors, and it often leads to the erroneous assumption that what went right in one educational system will inevitably work well in another.
Abstract: This article critically examines how 'what-went-right' analyses are used to subsequently justify the transfer of reform packages or 'best practices' from one country to another. Similar to evidence-based policy planning, the what-went-right approach needs to be criticized for being presumptuous. There are three fallacies of the what-went-right analysis that the article dismantles: rationality, precision and universality. The article focuses on the facade of universality and examines how the claim to universal solutions is methodologically sustained. First, the author shows how standardized or normative comparison has in recent years overshadowed the other two types of comparison: comparison across time (historical analyses) and comparison across contexts ('simple comparison'). Then, she elaborates on why the what-went-right approach requires policy analysts to downplay differences between educational systems in order to establish comparability between cases. The emphasis on comparability and similarity of cases is a prerequisite to importing 'best practices' from vastly different educational systems. But what if transfer occurs regardless of difference? There is a curious phenomenon that the article addresses in greater detail: the retrospective definition of a local problem. Given the worldwide circulation of 'best practices' and traveling reform packages, policy analysts sometimes are under pressure to align their analyses of local problems with already existing global solutions. The article ends with a reflection on policy borrowing and lending research and situates the what-went-right approach in the broader question of why and how policy analysts 'buy' or 'sell' reform packages that worked well in one context for transfer into another. In this article I examine the reasons why the 'what-went-right' approach has become so popular, the methodological assumptions upon which it depends, as well as its impact upon agenda setting and policy formulation. This approach often leads to the erroneous assumption that what went right in one educational system will inevitably work well in another. Because it is associated with policy borrowing and learning, the approach has drawn the attention of comparative education researchers. The what-went-right approach is related to two other practices in policy studies: evidence- based policy planning and lesson-drawing. The latter is nowadays more commonly defined as learning from 'best practices.' If we were to place the three terms on a continuum ranging from analytical to prescriptive, evidence-based policy planning would be considered the most analytical, lesson-drawing the most prescriptive, and the what-went-right approach would fall somewhere in between. Evidence-based policy planning is, at least in its intention, an instrument for evaluating and understanding the effectiveness of a reform. At the other end of the continuum are 'best practices' that organizations export or import, lend or borrow or, more generally, transfer from one context to another.
79 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the increasing commercialisation of education through the empirical case of Teach For All, a network of social enterprises which is spreading a new model of teacher training across Europe and around the world.
Abstract: This article explores the increasing commercialisation of education through the empirical case of Teach For All, a network of social enterprises which is spreading a new model of teacher training across Europe and around the world. This model, which is supported and funded by a heterogeneous mix of public institutions and private sector organisations, is not only opening up public education to private involvement and influence, but it is also reshaping what it means to be a teacher. The substantive argument that we present here is that commercialisation is not only about making money (which is certainly being achieved through this kind of heterarchical network), but also about making people up as commercial and enterprising subjects. Drawing on the idea of neoliberalism as both a material process of economisation, and a form of governmentality, we weave together an analysis which considers the interrelations between profit, the subjectivities of the Teach For All teacher, and the governance of teacher edu...
59 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the principles and standards of mobility in the Bologna process and found that the dimensions, benefits and effects of spatial mobility have been mainly taken for granted, and both its social selectivity and its effects on social mobility understated.
Abstract: Cross-border mobility is among the pillars of internationality in higher education. Understood as central to educational and economic growth for individuals and societies, mobility also should facilitate social cohesion. Yet those who can afford spatial mobility are unevenly distributed; elites benefit in far greater measure. Policymakers in Europe aim to bolster the competitiveness and attractiveness of European higher education, especially through enhanced mobility of students and staff. Extending beyond the successes of Erasmus, the Bologna process defines a new model of mobility in higher education to foster spatial mobility, but how is the social selectivity of spatial mobility addressed? Based on a theory-guided content analysis of official Bologna policy documents, the authors examine the principles and standards of mobility. Which dimensions of mobility are mentioned in these declarations and communiques from 1998 to 2012? To what extent are spatial mobility's social significance and selection processes reflected? The authors find that the dimensions, benefits and effects of spatial mobility have been mainly taken for granted, and both its social selectivity and its effects on social mobility understated. However, if the Bologna process is to facilitate social inclusion, inequalities must be addressed. The authors argue that if the 47 signatory countries to the Bologna process simply follow the principles espoused in this model, considerable disparities in participation in international exchange are likely to persist, reproducing social reproduction of dis/advantages.
50 citations
TL;DR: The idea of a system of education has never been fully accepted in England as mentioned in this paper, as the political, spatial and contextual elements in the organisation of education over time mean that it is almost impossible to describe the system meaningfully.
Abstract: The idea of a system of education has never been fully accepted in England. A more realistic translation of the realities of English education is that of systems of education, folded inside each other. Although it is possible to outline the building blocks of a national system (primary, secondary, further and higher), the political, spatial and contextual elements in the organisation of education over time mean that it is almost impossible to describe the system meaningfully. The idea of an English system is a vernacular device used within the twentieth century to manage the contradictions and diversity of educational provision. In the twenty-first century, even this device is failing to work, as a wide range of providers and a hostile government have systematically disarticulated the idea of a system.
46 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that classroom management is just as much about managing learning processes when an activity is taking place as it is about creating peace and quiet so pupils can get down to work.
Abstract: The article reviews studies that focus on classroom management. The aim of classroom management is twofold. The first is to establish a quiet and calm environment in the classroom so that the pupils can take part in meaningful learning in a subject. The second aim is that classroom management contributes to the pupils' social and moral development. During an early phase, classroom management focused on pupil behaviour and discipline, and was rooted in a behaviourist understanding. This article shows that classroom management is now more about understanding the class as a social system. The findings show that several factors and conditions influence classroom management: the self-understanding of teachers and their mindfulness, the multicultural classroom, behaviour management, lack of knowledge on classroom management, knowledge of physical and social context, rules, relations and commitment, person-centred versus teacher-centred classroom management, an ecological perspective on classroom management and classroom management in connection with motivation and learning. The review article states that classroom management is just as much about managing learning processes when an activity is taking place as it is about creating peace and quiet so pupils can get down to work.
44 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce a special issue on commercialisation of the European Educational Research Journal by discussing some general issues: theoretical and methodological considerations when studying privatisation and commercialisation in the governing of education, conceptual clarifications, and finally, possible themes and topics for study, but also for further debate.
Abstract: Contemporary research on the European policy space in education has paid much attention to decentralisation, deregulation and new modalities of privatisation and marketisation, but there is less focus on how these processes and policies are actually played out in education. It is argued that understanding the role of commercial actors, new local and global markets and public—private partnerships in the governing of education becomes increasingly important. The aim of the article is to introduce the special issue on commercialisation of the European Educational Research Journal by discussing some general issues: theoretical and methodological considerations when studying privatisation and commercialisation in the governing of education, conceptual clarifications, and finally, possible themes and topics for study, but also for further debate.
34 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a mixed-methods study of 758 survey respondents and over 100 interviews of Erasmus participants and non-participants in France, Italy and the UK finds that participants are more open to international opportunities, increasing their employment chances and further reinforcing their advantages.
Abstract: With three million participants since 1987, Erasmus promotes educational and cross-cultural exchange. It claims to be the world's most successful student exchange scheme. The pertinent question is, successful for whom? This mixed-methods study of 758 survey respondents and over 100 interviews of Erasmus participants and non-participants in France, Italy and the UK finds that participation differs by social class. Compared with sedentary students, Erasmus students engaged in more academic and leisurely travel and have higher socio-economic status (SES). The authors argue that in the age of increased education access, an Erasmus year may be used to signal distinction and privilege. Participants are also more open to international opportunities, increasing their employment chances and further reinforcing their advantages.
34 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe how the methodological approach of autoethnography enabled them to interrogate the philosophical underpinnings of the learning and teaching practices that they espoused as a university academic.
Abstract: In this article, the author describes how the methodological approach of autoethnography enabled her to interrogate the philosophical underpinnings of the learning and teaching practices that she espoused as a university academic. This critical questioning was provoked through her interactions with postgraduate students from a range of contexts and academic traditions in a School of Education in a university in the United Kingdom. Through personal reflections and conversations with her ‘selves' on her teaching and on her supervisory relationships with doctoral researchers, the author strives to show how she reduced her reliance on familiar ideas and changed the shape of her teaching through questioning her ‘selves’, beliefs and values. The value of autoethnography in enabling this critical exploration when working in an international European higher education context is highlighted. An aim is to encourage greater use of this methodological approach in European higher education research to enable greater s...
31 citations
TL;DR: The use of indicators (benchmarks) to govern education systems and policies at national and international level is widespread as discussed by the authors, and this process leads to a new "vision" (social construction of reality) of people, education systems, and backgrounds, through new standardised objects like the "average child" or an "achievement standard".
Abstract: Nowadays, the use of indicators (benchmarks) to govern education systems and policies at national and international level is widespread. The practice of using data to administrate and govern education systems appeared at the end of the nineteenth century and developed throughout the twentieth century. Through national and international case studies, this issue studies the process and the conditions which allowed the emergence and the expansion of this phenomenon. Deciding how to collect useful data, how to organise data series according to models which allow comparison (or even ranking), and how to transform them into governing tools is essential for conducting data/benchmarks-based policies. This process leads to a new ‘vision’ (social construction of reality) of people, education systems and backgrounds, through new standardised objects like the ‘average child’ or an ‘achievement standard’. These processes are at the core of policies conducted by organisations at national, European or international leve...
29 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a 2010-11 study involving senior researchers from seven disciplines explores critically some of the diverse interpretations of impact in different disciplines, sub-fields and modes of research, and researchers' views about how these interpretations articulate with top-down impact agendas and with university structures and incentive systems.
Abstract: Based on a 2010–11 study involving senior researchers from seven disciplines, this article explores critically some of the diverse interpretations of impact in different disciplines, sub-fields and modes of research, and researchers' views about how these interpretations articulate with top-down impact agendas and with university structures and incentive systems. Among the participants in the study, humanities researchers referred more explicitly to disciplines in framing their definitions of impact; social researchers, to theoretical and methodological traditions of research; and physical scientists, to modes of research (such as applied and theoretical). The article highlights the limits of unidirectional and short-term notions of impact and of pressures to demonstrate chain-link trajectories of influence from research insights to non-academic changes and benefits. Nonetheless, it argues that the current context offers an important (though easy-to-miss) opportunity to debate and reconceptualise ‘impact’...
27 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated the influence of attitudes towards acculturation of 180 primary school teachers on their classroom management and found that teachers with integrative attitudes towards immigrant students' acculture have a high propensity to punish students for disruptive behaviour, but they also demonstrate high levels of diagnostic expertise in social areas.
Abstract: This article investigates the influence of attitudes towards acculturation of 180 primary school teachers on their classroom management. The results indicate that teachers with integrative attitudes towards immigrant students' acculturation have a high propensity to punish students for disruptive behaviour, but they also demonstrate high levels of diagnostic expertise in social areas. Teachers with assimilative attitudes are also likely to punish students for misbehaviour, but tend to have a deficiency in the ability to diagnose social tensions among students. Teachers with assimilative attitudes who report high levels of disruptive behaviour in their classroom have the strongest tendency to punish and the lowest level of diagnostic expertise in social areas.
TL;DR: In the early 20th century, an international scientific community in education, testing and statistics appeared which was rooted in the same texts and processes and worked together across distan... as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Through the twentieth century, an international scientific community in education, testing and statistics appeared which was rooted in the same texts and processes and worked together across distan...
TL;DR: Several notions have been proposed to understand the specificity of schooling and its persistence across time and space, despite several attempts to reform it as discussed by the authors, including the grammar of schooling, forme scolaire, and school organisational culture.
Abstract: Several notions have been proposed to understand the specificity of schooling and its persistence across time and space, despite several attempts to reform it. In this article, the author analyses more closely the notions of the 'grammar of schooling', 'forme scolaire', and 'school organisational culture'. These notions have also been used to address the global expansion of schooling and the adoption of similar structures and visions, in a process coterminous with westernisation and colonialism. The author reads the three of them together and analyses with some detail what they say about schooling as well as some of their blind spots. She then presents two alternatives to what she perceives to be their shortcomings: first, a historical and anthropological approach to school culture; and second, Bruno Latour's notion of networks and assemblages. While the two of them are not exclusive of each other, they have tended to grow different intellectual projects that are discussed here. While acknowledging that theorising might be a risky project, the author argues that researchers have a lot to gain from navigating these turbulent waters, producing a grounded, local theory that illuminates the 'more than one, less than many' configurations of schooling. Does educational research need a theory of schooling? This is an ambitious question, which it is probably best to leave in suspension, as if unanswered. But 'unanswered' does not mean rejected: research uses concepts and theories, whether knowingly or unknowingly, and most of the time in the educational field they pass by as natural, familiar notions. Also, in a time of decline of grand- narratives and theories, researchers have generally confined themselves to empirical cases and local descriptions, perceived as safe havens in the theoretical turmoil. This text originates in a symposium held at a history of education meeting that went against
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a survey of the role of statistics in the formation of state education systems and the importance of tests, examinations and surveys in the development of pedagogical modernity.
Abstract: The article is organised around three themes, each one illuminating half a century of historical life: (i) the first theme relates to the second half of the nineteenth century, analysing the role of statistics in the formation of state education systems; (ii) the second theme concentrates on the first half of the twentieth century and the importance of tests, examinations and surveys in the development of 'pedagogical modernity'; (iii) the third theme looks at the historical period of the second half of the twentieth century, and how databases began to be used as an important tool in the formulation of educational policies. To conclude, the article underlines how comparison is becoming one of the main instruments of governance in contemporary societies - in other words, how power tends increasingly to be exercised through policies that claim to be 'obvious', 'natural', 'evidence- based', instead of being grounded on ideological and political options. Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. (Robert Kennedy, 1968)
TL;DR: The International Bureau of Education (IBE) was a platform where a growing number of governments exposed their considerations and concerns with the purpose of building up a better world through education as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The international conferences and the official publications of the International Bureau of Education (IBE) comprise a platform where a growing number of governments exposed their considerations and concerns with the purpose of building up a better world through education. The resulting recommendations foster the basis of an 'international code for public education'. The voluminous archives of the IBE comprise a particularly fertile source for understanding 'the variants and invariants', and of course also the purposes of school organisations and curricula as promoted by these organisations. The paradoxes of this effort carried out during the first forty years represent both the challenges for its survival and the outline of this article: (a) giving up on all obligations and political statements so as to ensure effective actions at governmental level; (b) documenting local needs so as to establish a world chart; (c) supporting mass schooling through state involvement for promoting individual emancipation; (d) promoting curricula designed on separate subjects so as to guarantee harmonious complete personal growth; (e) advocating scientific objectivity for spreading the methods and principles of New Education; (f) acting upon public schooling, the reserved hunting grounds of nations, for building up international education.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the impact of seven institutional conditions in 20 European countries on educational efficiency and equity, and show that there are multiple causal paths to good policy outcome.
Abstract: In recent years, the degree of choice in education systems has increased in most countries. Still, the variation of choice policies across countries is substantial. The authors ask under what combinations of conditions (i.e. institutional features of education systems) choice policy succeeds in balancing educational efficiency and equity. Using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, they investigate the impact of seven institutional conditions in 20 European countries. Those seven conditions are identified in school choice literature as relevant in explaining variations in educational efficiency and equity. The analysis shows that there are multiple causal paths to good policy outcome. The main contribution of this article is to show that ‘choice’ is an INUS condition (i.e. an insufficient but necessary part of an unnecessary but sufficient combination of conditions) and that ‘no tracking’ is a necessary condition for educational efficiency and equity. In addition, the authors show that ‘good man...
TL;DR: In this article, a study of a cohort of 38 students followed over a three-year period from when they were about to finish upper-secondary school in 2009 and into higher education is presented.
Abstract: This article shows how the application of narrative methodology brings new insights into understanding students' choices and their experiences upon entering a higher education programme. The point of departure is a study of a cohort of 38 students followed over a three-year period from when they were about to finish upper-secondary school in 2009 and into higher education. Firstly, the use of a narrative methodology gives access to understanding the students' choice of study as a continuous process of meaning making that involves both changes in perspectives concerning future plans and in interpretation of past experiences. This process continues when the students' expectations of their new programme interact with their first-year experiences, and they continuously work on their identities in order to feel they belong to their higher education programme. Secondly, by using this methodology, the authors gain access to how this meaning-making process through a three-year period of time reflects the students' negotiations of belonging to their higher education study programme. Finally, the methodology highlights the complexity of the students' choices, as well as the factors and contexts influencing these choices. Ann: Tell me why, Graham, why? ... Graham: Am I supposed to recount all the points in my life leading up to this moment and then just hope that it's coherent, that it makes some sort of sense to you? It doesn't make any sense to me. You know, I was there. (soderbergh, 1989, 1:22) In Steven Soderbergh's film, Sex, Lies, and Videotapes, from 1989, the character Graham records women talking about sex. This upsets his new acquaintance, Ann, but when she asks him to explain why he makes the tapes, he responds as quoted above. What he had experienced in his life had not made any sense to him, even though he was there. The experience expressed by Graham does not fully reflect the results of research based on a narrative methodology. Indeed, this kind of research challenges the quote in two ways. Firstly, using narrative inquiry reveals that even though experiences and incidents may not make sense to the person involved, a careful analysis of the narrative can unveil the sense or at least sociological and/or personal rationale behind some of the occurrences. Secondly, as we shall discuss in this article, an important way to cope with the challenges is the construction of narratives that are sensible to themselves as well as to their surroundings. Before coming to this, we will present the background of our study and the methodology. In the presentation of the results we will focus on the use of narratives as both a research method and as a way of coping with the experiences when entering higher education.
TL;DR: In this article, a large three-year mixed-method study comparing four English university sociology departments, the authors demonstrate the benefits to be gained from concisely recording biographical stories on life-grids.
Abstract: Drawing upon their large three-year mixed-method study comparing four English university sociology departments, the authors demonstrate the benefits to be gained from concisely recording biographical stories on life-grids. They argue that life-grids have key benefits which are important for comparative European educational research. Some of these advantages are common to all biographical methods; for example, they facilitate: nuanced understandings of the impact of education policies in different national contexts; more complex depictions of cross-national and within-country variation and similarity; theoretical and conceptual developments based upon commonality and difference across national boundaries; and insight into the relationship between the macro, meso and micro levels for case-based approaches. Life-grids also have the advantage of being less resource-intensive than recorded and transcribed biographical interviews. They are an easier method for researchers to use and comparative checks for quality are simple and can be ongoing. The data generated is more conducive to comparison and designing the life-grid ensures that cross-cultural understanding and dialogue between researchers is inbuilt. The physical act of co-producing life-grids with participants builds relationships and knowledge of participants' lives in ways that can be useful to other aspects of data collection
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the ways in which commercial actors are operating in state education by focusing on the case study of England's academies policy, and suggested that commercial actors need to be understood not merely as participants in this process, but as being active in the reconstruction of 'public-private' categories.
Abstract: This article explores the ways in which commercial actors are operating in state education by focusing on the case study of England's academies policy. First of all the discussion outlines the development of academies over time and the way in which the policy has provided opportunities for private actors to become involved in the state schooling system. The second part of the article focuses on empirical findings from interviews with academy sponsors as a way of understanding the nature of the role commercial actors play in academies. Commercial sponsor involvement in academies demonstrates a blurring of the boundaries between ‘public’ and ‘private’, and the article suggests that commercial actors need to be understood not merely as participants in this process, but as being active in the reconstruction of ‘public—private’ categories. Also, it is underlined that the commercial sponsors in this study cannot be disconnected from the locality in which they operate. In light of this, the article calls for gre...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse the consequences of private actors' intrusions in a closed system of higher education and conclude that private actors still have to move within a framework that is highly conditional and that a closed higher education system can largely remain untouched by a clear-cut, well-defined "intrusion" in the system.
Abstract: The higher education system in Flanders is characterised by tight regulation and a tradition of excluding private providers from the sector. However, as in other European countries, the Belgian public sector has been confronted with the principles of New Public Management (NPM) and trends of liberalisation and privatisation. The same goes for the higher education sector where recently a private company has been recognised by the Flemish government as a higher education institution. This event triggers several questions: what are the consequences when the traditional providers seem to have lost their monopoly? What can this case tell us about the introduction of the principles of NPM in a closed system of higher education? This article comes to the conclusion that private actors still have to move within a framework that is highly conditional and that a closed higher education system can largely remain untouched by a clear-cut, well-defined ‘intrusion’ in the system. On the other hand, actors become aware ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used semi-structured interviews with 41 early career academics specialising in various disciplinary fields in higher education to investigate their professional identity and related underlying concepts.
Abstract: In recent years the higher education context in Estonia, as in most European countries, has changed a lot. All changes have an impact on university teachers' practice and their work organisation, and are presenting new challenges. The current research aims at developing an understanding of Estonian early career academics' professional identity by using their teaching narratives. The research is based on the consideration that narratives have previously yielded good results in investigating professional identity and related underlying concepts. This article is based on semi-structured interviews with 41 early career academics specialising in various disciplinary fields in higher education. On the basis of the analysis, the authors found that academics constructed their life as a whole while retelling their stories and made links between their previous life and being an academic. The findings from the research reveal that early career academics' experiences of teaching and their professional identity as tea...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on three distinct, although interrelated, processes currently being experienced in the Italian education system: (a) the widening of the spaces for private schooling; (b) the ongoing privatisation of policy and the related blurring of the boundaries between public policy-making and the private sector; and (c) the dynamics of new/old markets where commercial actors and edu-businesses sell tools, technologies, knowledge and data, policy programs and recipes that inform educational processes.
Abstract: This article deals with the issue of privatisation(s) in the field of education. In doing so, it focuses on three distinct, although interrelated, processes currently being experienced in the Italian education system: (a) the widening of the spaces for private schooling; (b) the ongoing privatisation of policy and the related blurring of the boundaries between public policy-making and the private sector; and (c) the dynamics of new/old markets where commercial actors and edu-businesses sell tools, technologies, knowledge and data, policy programs and recipes that inform educational processes. The work tries to highlight some connections between specific developments in these three processes of privatisation(s) and three distinct policy trends that are increasingly shaping the European education space, namely austerity, standardisation, and digitalisation. The conclusion discusses the actual and potential implications of all of this for both the ongoing transformation of the role of the education state in the post-welfarist scenario, and the restructuring of the societal governing of education, reflecting on the relationship between these specific processes of privatisation(s), the related reshaping of the role of the education state, that seems to shift towards a metagovernance function, and the developing of a new market-like governmental environment informed by the neo-liberal imaginary.
TL;DR: In Norway, Sweden and Denmark national testing communities advocating the introduction and expanded use of standardised educational tests in the national educational systems emerged around World Wide World Wide Web 2011 as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In Norway, Sweden and Denmark national testing communities advocating the introduction and expanded use of standardised educational tests in the national educational systems emerged around World Wa ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors tackle the issues from a historical perspective and discuss two concepts often addressed for understanding certain aspects of mass schooling -school form and grammar of schooling -to shed a new light on the matter.
Abstract: During the nineteenth century many European countries proclaimed sovereignty of the people and simultaneously founded their national educational systems. In order to provide public schooling, free and compulsory education was established. Political and sociocultural revolutions led to the rise of nation states, based on democratic or democratic-inspired aspirations, that then turned into 'teacher states'. Mass schooling and the worldwide - and furthermore enforced - dissemination of this schooling model characterise the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. How can one best describe the concrete process of mass schooling? How should it be analysed, and what are the appropriate concepts to do so? How did nations contribute to its dissemination? By tackling these issues from a historical perspective and discussing, in particular, two concepts often addressed for understanding certain aspects of mass schooling - 'school form' and 'grammar of schooling' - the contributions of this volume shed a new light on the matter.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report the findings of a comparative study of pedagogy in lower-secondary school mathematics in Denmark and England and identify the range of goals towards which teachers in each country worked and the actions these prompted.
Abstract: This article reports the findings of a comparative study of pedagogy in lower-secondary school mathematics in Denmark and England. Lesson observations and interviews identified the range of goals towards which teachers in each country worked and the actions these prompted. These were clustered using the lens of Bernstein's pedagogic discourse to construct mathematics teacher roles which provided a view of pedagogy. Comparison allowed variations in pedagogy across the two countries to be identified and implications drawn. Of particular interest were the differences in experience of lower-attaining pupils, and some of the advantages and disadvantages of mathematics pedagogy in each country for this group are indicated.
TL;DR: The authors argue that the theoretical language that drives current approaches of integrated education may unintentionally be complicit to the project of hegemony and status quo, thus preventing social transformation towards shared and just societies.
Abstract: This article takes on the issue of 'integrated education' in conflicted societies and engages in a deeper analysis of its dominant theoretical concepts, approaches, and implications. This analysis suggests that the theoretical language that drives current approaches of integrated education may unintentionally be complicit to the project of hegemony and status quo, thus preventing social transformation towards shared and just societies. As the article discusses, present research on integrated education in conflicted societies - not only in the European context, but also around the world - suggests that the main theoretical traditions which seem to justify integration in the education sphere are those of social cohesion, contact hypothesis, and acculturation theory. The article analyses these traditions theoretically and looks at some of their empirical results in conflicted societies, highlighting the problematic implications of the language that essentialises group identities. In the process to find an alternative theoretical language, the ideas of Judith Butler and Julia Kristeva are used to reconsider integrated education along the lines of a renewed theorisation of the notion of 'critical multiculturalism'.
TL;DR: In this paper, a number of studies in the past few decades address how the governing of educational systems are changing as a result of intensified measurement and use of statistics and suggest that an...
Abstract: A number of studies in the past few decades address how the governing of educational systems are changing as a result of intensified measurement and use of statistics. This article suggests that an...
TL;DR: In this article, a memory story example is used to show the process of being a subject and of being subjected in a social context, and it is argued that the use of CBW as a methodological tool, informed by post-structural theory is useful in learning processes that aim at revealing underlying social forces.
Abstract: Teaching and learning are frequently treated as processes that are separate from each other, while teachers and learners are considered as disembodied entities with a neutral position towards the content which is negotiated. In collective biography writing (CBW), a very different approach is taken. Writing, reading and learning are seen as an integrated whole, where teachers and educators and students participate in the same practice(s) and context(s), thus learning through a collaborative approach, with a particular focus on themselves as learners (teachers as well as students). In this article, a memory story example is used to show the process of being a subject and of being subjected in a social context. The example provides opportunities to become aware of how social forces work when the individual is socially approved and positioned. It is argued that the use of CBW as a methodological tool, informed by post-structural theory, is useful in learning processes that aim at revealing underlying social forces. The method supports critical reflection and opens up space for becoming more aware of differences and the construction of our 'selving'. Introduction - the big picture - learning in higher education Nowadays, higher education is enacted in the spirit of 'being' and 'becoming' internationalised and globalised - apparently preparing people to participate as workers and citizens in the global arena. The goals of higher education are in a process of rapid transformation, and there is hardly any consensus on them (Stromquist & Monkman, 2000; Stromquist, 2002). For myself, I would say the goals of education have to do with learning, understanding and meaning-making, in some sense. Of course, this in turn raises not only moral or political questions concerning the what and wherefore, but also the didactic question of how to learn and how to teach? Frequently, teaching and learning are seen as distinct processes and dealt with in a rather dualistic manner. In too many teaching situations, the main goal for teachers is often dealt with as an issue of delivering explanations more or less effectively, for various reasons: lack of understanding concerning theories of learning and thus students' learning; cuts in budgets and little face to face time with students; cultural traditions, and so forth. If taught by given explanations, the aim for the student then becomes a matter of receiving these explanations that are transmitted.(2) Positions between students, towards each other and towards the content are thus rarely questioned. Even when power issues are raised in theory, the ways in which they can be dealt with in practice are far from obvious. How can one become involved in a collaborative participation, engaging in active constructions of meaning- making, where the experiences of the involved participants (students and teachers) are central and important parts of data? Collective biography writing (CBW) is one path in this direction, and several aspects from the method can be applied to other types of collective writing projects. The present article is based on an experience of CBW which took place over approximately one and a half years, described in the original study of Davies, Brown, et al (2006) and Davies, Gannon, et al (2006).
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss two episodes of educational change aimed at a "freer" pedagogy and society and at expanding and democratising educational power relations in the classroom: the immediate consequences of the educational provisions of the first Spanish Constitution adopted in the city of Cadiz in 1812, and the reform of drawing pedagology at primary schools in Munich at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Abstract: During the last few decades, educational research has increasingly tried to legitimise itself by its alleged capacity to contribute to the solution of certain societal problems. The article discusses this claim on the basis of historical evidence. It addresses two episodes of educational change aimed at a ‘freer’ pedagogy and society and at expanding and democratising educational power relations in the classroom: the immediate consequences of the educational provisions of the first Spanish Constitution adopted in the city of Cadiz in 1812, and the reform of drawing pedagogy at primary schools in Munich at the beginning of the twentieth century. In both cases, educational research contributed marginally, if at all, to the transformation of society and educational practices. Processes of political participation and teachers' activism seem to have played a more major role in these two transformative processes than any other activity related to educational research.
TL;DR: In Sweden, new forms of activities now shape and govern the Swedish education system, based on governance through comparison, which can be regarded as soft governance and different types of... as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: New forms of activities now shape and govern the Swedish education system, based on governance through comparison. The focus on comparison can be regarded as soft governance and different types of ...