School Subject Change. The Contested Introduction Of Linguistics In The Subject Dutch In Upper Secondary Education.

Author(s):

Maria Van Der Aalsvoort(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2013

Network:

03. Curriculum Innovation

Format:

Paper

Session Information

03 SES 10 B, Changing School Subjects

Paper Session

Time:

2013-09-12

15:30-17:00

Room:

D-401

Chair:

Wout Ottevanger

Contribution

In my presentation I will discuss analyses and preliminary results of my historical curriculum study on the genesis and justification of ‘linguistics’ as a new part of the school subject Dutch in upper secondary education. This particular case offers a perspective on curriculum change and curriculum policy in general and can provide as such new knowledge for curriculum development in Europe in general.

Linguistics in this context refers not only to the structure of language (such as grammar) but especially to the teaching and learning of general language and culture topics such as: language variation, language acquisition, language change, language history (Tol-Verkuyl, 2011).

The study is carried out against the historical background of the discussions on the subject of Dutch (i.c.Mother Tongue Education) and the changing emphasis on inguistics over the last thirty years and the contemporary possibility to incorporate linguistics as an optional part of Dutch in the upper phase of secondary education.

According to Goodson & Marsh, (1996:131): “The secondary school curriculum far from being a stable and dispassionately constructed unity, is in fact a highly contested, fragmented and endlessly shifting terrain."

My central research question is: Who decided (at what moment, with what arguments and against what educational-political background) about incorporating linguistics as a subject in the secondary school curriculum?

Important questions in my analysis are: What are historical and political dimensions of introducing linguistics? What is the relationship between school knowledge and academic knowledge in the subject Dutch? And what about the relationship between knowledge and skills in this school subject in relation to linguistics?

The scientific aim of the study is to present, for the first time, an empirically based understanding of (the discussion on) incorporating linguistics. As such, it will provide new knowledge and perspectives regarding changes in the content definition of the school subject of Dutch in particular and curriculum change in general.

The school subject Dutch is a socially and politically constructed phenomenon and its advocates as well as adversaries develop a range of ideological resources as they pursue their individual and collective missions (Ball, 1987 / Apple ,1993).

The relationship between a school subject and the related academic discipline is seldom problematized in curriculum development. The discussion on a subject element linguistics makes it clear however, that the choice for a strong or loose connection with the related academic discipline can be a dilemma and that different perspectives on the (desired) relationship between the school subject and the academic discipline can influence the decision-making (Goodson, 1990).

There's neither not much discussion, and even less research, in curriculum development about the balance between knowledge and skills in the school subject Dutch. As I will elaborate in my presentation however: one of the themes in curriclum policy for the school subject of Dutch, and an argument against lingusitics, appears to be the growing empahisis on skills in this school subject nowadays. The preliminary results and recent discussions however, even in parliament, make it clear that this emphasis on skills is problematic and needs to be more evidence-based.

Method

My study is a (recent) historical curriculum study on the macro level in which I focus on three periods in the last twenty five years. This historical curriculum study can be defined as a form of reconstructive ethnography based on an analysis and interpretation of three kinds of sources in which the research instrument of oral history, next to sources as archives and public dicussions, has an important role. The ministry of Education installed two committees (CVEN and VOG-N) to advice her about the school subject Dutch and initiated a development task for linguistics. So the three research distinguished periods are: 1. The work of the CVEN (1988-1991). 2. The work of the VOG-N (1994-1996). 3. The development task of the ministry of Education (2003-2007). In the data triangulation the most important sources are: 1. Primary documents (official documents, advices, Parliamentary papers, such as the CVEN-report or an account of a Parliamentary inquiry into the second stage of secondary education). 2. Oral history (various interviews with key-players in the decision making on the macro-level such as the chairmen and committee members of the CVEN and the VOG-N). 3. Secondary documents (specialist journals, dissertations and contributions to congresses or newspapers).

Expected Outcomes

The preliminary results of my study show that there have been important changes in curriculum policy in the Netherlands which are in some aspects quite simular to changes elsewhere in Europe. For example the more democratic 'open' debate changed into a higly political and more closed decision making in which far less (and other) parties are involved. It seems that conflicting interests between the involved parties in the decision making on the macro level can be traced back to different views on the relationship between the academic discipline and the school subject and to different perspectives on the balance between knowledge and skills in the school subject . These different perspectives have to do with different views on the school subject and were intensified by the social context in each period. For example the aftermath of a wave of democratization in the first period fed a resistance by some parties against the dominance of academic knowledge. So the history of the introduction of the subject element linguistics in secondary education forms a perfect illustration of the statements by Ball, (1991: 59) that “school subjects in whatever area, are the product of and a reflection of interest group conflicts”.

References

Aalsvoort, M. van der & Kroon S. (2012), Schoolvak en vakwetenschap: de geschiedenis van het onderdeel taalkunde in het schoolvak Nederlands. In: Papers of the Anéla 2012 (255-266). Eds. Nel de Jong a.o. Eburon. Akker, J. van den (2005), Curriculaire uitdagingen bij autonomievergroting van scholen. In: De strijd om het curriculum. Onderwijssociologische perspectieven op inhoud, vorm en zeggenschap. Red. Wiel Veugelers en Rie Bosman. Garant. Apple, M.W. (1993), Official knowledge, democratic education in a conservative age, London: Routledge. Ball, S. (1987), English teaching, the state and forms of literacy, in S. Carpay, T. (2010) Anders kijken naar het studiehuis. Een analysemodel voor onderwijsvernieuwing. Nijmegen: Garant. Commissie Parlementair Onderzoek Onderwijsvernieuwingen (2008). Eindrapport: ‘Tijd voor Onderwijs’. 'Gravenhage: SDU. CVEN (1991), Het CVEN-rapport. Eindverslag van de Commissie Vernieuwing Eindexamenprogramma’s Nederlandse taal en letterkunde v.w.o. en h.a.v.o., Den Haag: SDU. Goodson, I.F. (1983), School Subjects and Curriculum Change. London, Camberra: Croom Helm. Goodson, I.F. (1990), Studying Curriculum: towards a social constructionist perspective, Curriculum Studies 22, 4: 299-312. Goodson, I. & C.J. Marsh (1996), Studying School Subjects, London, New York: Routledge. Kroon & J. Sturm (Eds.). Research on Mother Tongue Education in an International perspective, 19-36, Enschede: VALO-M. Kuhn, T. (1972) [1962], De structuur van wetenschappelijke revoluties, Amsterdam: Boom. Knippenberg, H. en Van der Ham. W. (1993) Een bron van aanhoudende zorg. 75 jaar ministerie van Onderwijs [Kunsten] en Wetenschappen. 1918-1993. Van Gorcum, Assen. Ricoeur P. (2004). Memory History Forgetting. The University of Chicago Press. Tol-Verkuyl, E.M., (2001). Fundamenten voor taalbeschouwing. Een synthese van opvattingen over het gebruik van taalkundige kennis in het taalonderwijs. Coutinho. Thompson P. (1978, 2009). The voices of the past. Oral history. Oxford University Press. Stuurgroep Profiel Tweede Fase (1995). Advies Examenprogramma's havo en vwo Nederlands. Ven, P.-H. van de (1996), Moedertaalonderwijs: interpretaties in retoriek en praktijk, heden en verleden, binnen- en buitenland, Groningen: Wolters Noordhoff.

Author Information

Maria Van Der Aalsvoort (presenting / submitting)

Radboud University Nijmegen (The Netherlands)

Institute for Teacher and School

Rosmalen

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