Title: From Teaching to Studenting in Sweden 1968-2003? On the Politics of Learning Compared in Recordings of Classroom Interaction.
Author(s):
Martin Harling Sverker Lindblad
Conference:
ECER 2008
Network:
23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Format:
Paper

Session Information

23 SES 01C, Understanding Education Policy

Paper Session

Time:
2008-09-10
09:15-10:45
Room:
B1 132
Chair:
Terri Seddon

Contribution

1. RESEARCH PROBLEMATIC AND FRAMEWORK This paper deals with the intersection of classroom interaction and politics of learning. By being so it points to two mostly different research communities – those who are trying to develop ideas on “the political” (Mouffe, 2005) and the politics of education (Popkewitz, 2007) and those doing research on teaching and classroom interaction (e.g. Nuthall, 2000) with a background in curriculum theorising (Bernstein, 2000). To further underline its specific focus we are having a comparative approach in mind – primarily dealing with international comparisons of classroom interaction. More precisely our paper is to be conceived of as more or less a starting point for research trying to develop a conceptual and methodological framework for studies on the politics in pedagogical processes. Our basic research problem here concerns the making of schooling and school careers– dealing with: a. Repeating relations on origin and destiny and social and cultural reproduction and contestation related to the political in interaction [we have here a broad range of traditions, e.g. Halsey, Heath & Ridge (1980), Bourdieu (1977)]. b. Constructing identities referring to looping (Hacking, 2000), labelling (Goffmann, 1961), governance (Foucault, 1977) as well as social inclusion/exclusion (Popkewitz & Lindblad, 2000) and curricula (Bernstein, 2000). c. Comparing cultural and social matrices in the making of classroom interaction over time and space.

Method

2. DATABASE AND NOTIONS OF METHODOLOGY: Our approach is micro-ethnographic, dealing with detailed studies on interaction by means of video- and audio-recordings (e.g Erickson, 1986) with a focus on the construction (e.g. Hacking (2004) rather than the outcomes of teaching and learning. We are having access to a large database of video-recordings of classroom interaction from the 1960s up to now in Sweden (for a set of preliminary analyses, see e.g. Sahlström & Lindblad 1999,) with a focus on maths education. Furthermore, we are part of a large research programme “The Learners’ Perspective Study” of advanced video recordings in 15 countries (Clarke, 20xx) combined with interviews and different kinds of tests related to the TIMSS and TIMMS-R studies (Stiegler & Hiebert, 1999). Here we are referring to central issues in comparative studies – variable vs case comparisons (Ragin, 1994). Here we are advocating a third alternative in comparisons, that is comparisons based on and aiming to develop conceptual frameworks. In a word, the comparative studies are conceptual. Thus, our basic methodological ambition is theoretical as well as empirical.

Expected Outcomes

3. EXPECTED OUTCOMES: Based on the work presented here we have two main ambitions: (i) to contribute to a more developed understanding of the politics of learning in institutionalised settings, and (ii) to contribute to the methodological aspect of comparative studies with a focus on processes rather than outcomes. In addition we will discuss the potential of international comparisons on interaction and the making of identities in contemporary societies.

References

4. REFERENCES Bernstein, B. (2000) Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity. London: Taylor and Francis Bourdieu, P. (1977) Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture. London: Sage Clarke, D., Keitel, C.,& Shimizu, Y. (Eds.) (2006) Mathematics Classrooms in Twelve Countries: The Insider's Perspective Rotterdam: Sense Erickson, F. (1986) Handbook of Research on Teaching. Macmillan Library Reference Goffman, E. (1961) Asylums: Essay on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. New York: Doubleday Hacking, I. (2004) Between Michel Foucault and Erving Goffman: between discourse in the abstract and face to face interaction In Economy and Society 33:3, 277-302 Hacking, I. (2000) Social konstruktion av vad? Stockholm: Thales Halsey, A.H. Heath, A.F. & Ridge, JM. (1980) Origins and destinations: family, class, and education in modern Britain Oxford: Clarendon Lindblad, S. & Popkewitz, T. (2000) Educational Governance and Social Inclusion and Exclusion: some conceptual difficulties and problematics in policy and research 1. In Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 21:1, 5 – 44 Lindblad, S. & Sahlström, F. (1999) Gamla mönster och nya gränser Om ramfaktorer och klassrumsinteraktion In Pedagogisk Forskning i Sverige Årg 4 nr 1 s 73–92 Mouffe, C. (2005) On the Political. London: Routledge Nuthall, G. (2000) Understanding what Students Learn in School. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education Popkewitz, T.S. (2007) Alchemies and Governing: Or, questions about the questions we ask. In Educational Philosophy and Theory 39 (1) , 64–83 Ragin, CC. (1996) Constructing Social Research Thousand Oakes: Pine Forge Press Stiegler, j. & Hiebert, J (1999) The Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from the World’s Teachers for Improving Education in the classroom. New York: The free press

Author Information

Martin Harling
Göteborg university
Dep. of education
Göteborg
186
Sverker Lindblad
University of Gothenburg
Education
Gothenburg
186

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