Home Education and Social Integration

Author(s):

Christian W Beck

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

14 SES 09, Learning - Outside the School

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-12

10:30-12:00

Room:

A1 318

Chair:

Linda Mary Hargreaves

Contribution

INTRODUCTION The paper is an analysis and discussion, based on regional data from a norwegian survey used in my dr. thesis (2006). The analysis in the conference-paper is extended from the dr. thesis (chapter 12). The norwegian survey results from different regions and empirical results from international studies on how different groups of home education students socialize and social intergrate in society, are discussed up to theory of socialization (Anton Hoëm) and theory of social order (Mary Douglas). The issue home education, generally and specially: "home education and social integration", is new and little researched. Therefore I add to this introduction the summary of my: DR. PHIL. THESIS. FACULTY OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, UNIVERSITY OF OSLO, NORWAY. DECEMBER 2006. MODERN HOME EDUCATION IN NORWAY – DESCRIPTION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION (213 p) Definition: Home education is obligated education parents take responsibility over, given outside school and otherwise education given in public schools. The discussion on home education interject the core question in education: To which degree is education an individual particular or a responsibility for the society? Who has the authority in children`s education, the parents or the state represented by school authorities? The over all issue is to describe, analyze and discuss practised modern home education in Norway. The purpose is with data from two research investigations (2002), the first an attempt to estimate the numbers of home educated children in Norway and the second a survey answered by parents for 128 of the estimated 365 home educated pupils and also based on letters in home education cases, to find out: Who are the home educators? How many are they? Why have they started? How are their relations to the school authorities? How is home education practised? What are the results and how do they evaluate their own home education? From the over all issue four questions are formulated and tried given answers: Are home educators one universal group or are their different groups classified by motives, social background and pedagogical approach? (chapter 9, 10 and 11) Are home educators individual actors who can fight borders for a new development with more free choice in education inside and outside school? (Chapter 4, 10, 11 and 13). To which degree are home educated pupils and their families integrated in to or segregated out of society and to which degree does home education challenge school and society? (chapter12). Are there manifest or latent functions school have in relation to society, which are threatened by home education? (chapter13). Some conclusions: 1. There are four main groups of home educators: a) Structured home education – conservative middleclass. b) Unschooling – radical cultural middleclass. c) Practical home education – working class and lower middleclass, most in rural areas. d) Unknown home education – roman-people, unknown immigrants and special social problems families. 2. Home educators have different degree of conflicts with school authorities. 3. Home education in spite of its particulars and variation is an increasing universal international educational movement, which move international education in direction of more free choice and more individualised pedagogical practice inside and outside school. ABSTRACT OF THE CONFERENCE-PAPER If school attendance is important to social integration, then home education (HE) could represent a threat to social integration. Most registered and supervised HE in Norway appears to yield well-socialized pupils. Societal pressures could exacerbate fears that HE entails social segregation. The findings of a Norwegian research project that surveyed socialization among HE- students from different regions, are discussed in terms of socialization theory and a theory of cultural order.

Method

Survey, questionairre

Expected Outcomes

Among the conclusions: Pragmatic motivated HE-students generally integrate better than those motivated out of religion. Religious motivated HE-students with value distance to society, is not necessarily social isolated HE-students. HE-students would better meet criteria as to social integration if educational authorities changed their approach to include openness toward HE-students, greater freedom to open private schools, and more access by HE-children to school classrooms and other activities.

References

References: Apple, M. W. (2000): The Cultural Politics of Home Schooling. Peabody Journal of Educational research. Volume 75, numbers 1 & 2, 2000. pp. 256-271. Bauman, Z. (1997): Postmodernity and its Discontents. Cambridge. Polity Press. Bauman, K. J. (2002): Homeschooling in the United States: Trends and Characteristics. Educational Policy Analysis. Archives. Beck, C. W. (2006): Den moderne hjemmeundervisning i Norge - beskrivelse, analyse og drøfting. Thesis. Dr philos UV-fakultetet. Universitetet i Oslo Bernstein, B. (1977): Class, codes and control. Vol. 3. London. Routledge. Blok, H. (2004): Innsatsen i heimeundervisninga: Eit argument mot obligatorisk undervisning i Nederland. I: Beck, C. og Straume, M. (ed): Hjemmeundervisning – starten på en ny utdanningsrevolusjon? Oplandske bokforlag. Vallset. s.177-189. Brabant, C., Bourdon, S. og Jutras, F. (2003): Home Education in Quebec: Family first. I: Evaluation and Research in Education. Volume 17, no 2&3 2003. s. 112-131. Brabant, C., Bourdon, S. and Jutras, F. (2004): Home education in Quebec: particular context and motivation. Universitè de Sherbrooke. Paper presented at BERA conference, Manchester, UK, 15 – 18. September 2004. Den europeiske menneskerettsdomstol (2006): Fritz Konrad and Others against Germany. Application no. 35504/03. 18 September 2006. Douglas, M. (2004): Purity and Danger. Routledge. London. Glenn, C. L. (2006): Homeschooling and Compulsory State Schooling. In: Cooper, B. S. (ed): Home Schooling in Full View. IAP. Greenwich. Grunnskolens informasjonssystem (GSI), 2002-03. Internet Gullestad, M. (1985): Livsstil og likhet. Universitetsforlaget, Oslo Hoëm, A. (1978): Sosialisering. Universitetsforlaget, Oslo Leis, Tiia (2005): Home education in Estonia. Internet article: http://folk.uio.no/cbeck/Estonia.htm Mayberry, M.(1988): Why homeschooling? A profile of four categories of homeschoolers. Home School Researcher, 4 (3), 7-14. Medin, R. G. (2000): Home Schooling and the Question of Socialization. In: Peabody Journal of Education. Volume 75, Numbers 1 & 2. Opplinger, D. and Willard, D. J. (2004): Claims of academic rely on anecdotes, flawed data analysis. The Bacon Journal. Nov 15, 2004. Ohio.com Princiotta, D., Bielick, S., and Chapman, C. 2006. Homeschooling in the United States: 2003. Statistical Analysis Report. National Center for Educational Statistics Priesnitz; W. (2002): Home-Based Education in Canada. An investigation and profile. Internet. Rothermel, P. (2003): Can we classify motives for home education? In Evaluation and Research in Education, Volume 17, No 2&3. 2003. pp. 74-89. Slagstad, R. (2001): De nasjonale strateger. Pax. Oslo. Spiegler, T. (2004a): Education as part of faith. Paper presented at BERA conference, Manchester, UK. September 2004. Spiegler, T. (2004b): Home Education In Germany – an Overview of the Contemporary Situation. Paper presented at BERA conference, Manchester, UK. September 2004. Stevens, M. (2001): Kingdom of children: Culture and Controversy in the homeschooling movement. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Statistics Norway (Statistisk sentralbyrå). (2004): Fylkestingsvalget 2003. Straume, M. .B. (2004): Mosviksaka og den nye heimeundervisninga i Noreg. In: Beck, C. W. and Straume, M. B. Hjemmeundervisning – Starten på en ny utdanningsrevolusjon. Oplandske bokforlag, Vallset. Telhaug, A. (1994): Utdanningspolitikken og enhetsskolen. Didakta. Oslo. Telhaug, A. (2004): Morgendagens gode skole. In: Petter Aasen et al. (ed): Pedagogikk og politikk. Cappelen, Oslo. Tveit, K. (2004): Skolen i Nord-Norge på 1700-tallet. In: Årbok for utdanningshistorie. Stiftelsen Skolen – Årbok for norsk utdanningshistorie. Van Galen, J. A. (1988): Ideology, curriculum, and pedagogy in home education. Education and Urban Society 21(1), 52-68. Welner, K. M. & Welner K. G. (1999): Contextualizing homeschooling data: A response to Rudner. Educational Analysis Archives 7(13). Wuthnow, R., et al. (1987): Cultural Analysis. Chapter 3. Routledge. London.

Author Information

Christian W Beck

University of Oslo

Institute for Educational Research

Oslo

158

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