Field theory and educational practice: Bourdieu and the pedagogic qualities of local field positions in educational contexts

Bourdieu’s version of field theory has had an impressive impact on the ways that sociologists of education conceptualize educational practices. These accounts tend to focus on the varying levels of ontological complicity established between students’ cultural dispositions and educational institutions. In this paper, the wisdom of these accounts is acknowledged but it is also suggested that Bourdieu’s field theory does not go far enough to detail the ways that positions in local educational fields embody pedagogic qualities and action trajectories. Drawing on insights from social psychology and relational sociology, a field theory for local educational action is outlined that more adequately accounts for the ways that students and educators directly experience and act upon curricular and pedagogic qualities in educational settings. An empirical example is then offered of the authors’ claims within the context of curricular tracking/streaming, and the article concludes by considering the practical and political consequences of this theoretical shift.     

Interanimation: repositioning possibilities in educational contexts

Changing discursive practices is necessary for educational social justice and is made possible through the interanimation of diverse ways of knowing that create dynamic tensions and challenge reliance on narrow views of what counts as legitimate knowledge. In this article, we accept the challenge that Reid and Valle put forth in creating new discourses of possibility through the animation of sociocultural and critical theory as they might apply to the interrogation of two aspects of the meaning-making process: (a) the interanimation of voices across systems as a condition of reculturing institutions and communities of practice, and (b) instructional activity settings in educational contexts (e.g., disciplinary apprenticeships). We conclude this article by examining possibilities for collaborative research activity.     

Students' conceptions of learning in different educational contexts

The aim of this study is to investigate students' conceptions of learning in different educational contexts, and analyze to what extent conceptions are contextually dependent. Student nurses and car mechanic students are chosen as two groups, and qualitative similarities and differences between the students are described and explained in terms of the educational contexts: nursing education and car mechanic education.The study is 'qualitative by its nature, and the phenomenographic approach and grounded theory are taken as the points of departure. Data for the cross-section study were collected through individual interviews with student nurses (n = 60) and car mechanic students (n = 54). Different groups of students were interviewed at the beginning and at the end of the educational programs.As a result of the analysis, qualitative similarities and differences in students' conceptions were found. Differences among students within a program were, however, fewer than differences among students participating in different programs. In comparing groups of students within the programs, similar trends of development could be identified. Students within both programs used more developed conceptions at the end than at the beginning of the programs. The differences found within and between the student groups could be explained in terms of educational contexts. The results thus showed that conceptions were to some extent contextually dependent.     

Historical contexts of educational reforms in present-day China

Conclusion As are structural changes in the economic sphere, educational reforms in present-day China are progressing in a period of great transition with the old system being replaced by the new. The old system is dissolving but has not completely dissolved. The new system is growing, but has not become a powerful institution. Promoting the growth of the new while accelerating the dissolution of the old without major upheaval remains a tremendous task. Recognizing that old things are not necessarily bad and new ones good, we will be careful to facilitate positive reforms in the Chinese context without repeating the mistakes of the past.     

外语教育研究中的叙事探究

叙事探究在外语教育领域得到越来越广泛的运用。本文以web of science核心合集文献为依据,梳理了该领域叙事探究的理论视角、研究主题、数据收集和分析方法。研究发现,研究者多采用实践共同体理论和定位理论,侧重身份、动机等主题;数据收集以多渠道数据、历时数据、互动中的叙事、叙事框架和多模态叙事等方式为主;数据分析常采用主题分析、内容分析、话语分析和叙事性分析。最后,对叙事探究在外语教育研究领域的未来发展给出了建议。     

Making the Rhetoric Real: perceptions of enterprise in educational contexts

Abstract

A study involving 139 educationalists examined the thoughts and feelings experienced by individuals in relation to the enterprise language and the philosophical, historical and cultural values which were challenged by enterprise initiatives in education. The outcome indicated that change is initiated by discourse rather than rhetoric and that the enterprise language, having served its purpose in bringing process innovation in education from the periphery of the system to the centre, should become increasingly redundant.     

Critical religious education: highlighting religious truth-claims in non-confessional educational contexts

In this article, a religious education, which combines a respect for relevant critical demands, when analysing religious truth-claims, and a sensitivity to the need to avoid unwarranted criteriological constraints in the analysing process, is examined. Starting with an analytical comment upon Andrew Wright’s critical realist approach in terms of a ‘pursuit of truth’, the question of how to motivate epistemological analyses within religious education is raised and discussed with reference to three relevant sceptical arguments. These arguments are made objects of critical comments, and an illustration of pedagogical and methodological consequences is presented with reference to the new syllabuses for religious education in Sweden. Finally, a constructive re-interpretation of Wright’s approach is elaborated, and a critical position in relation to it is outlined.     

Feminist theory and collaborative learning in seminar contexts

This paper describes the processes undertaken to construct more equitable and accountable evaluation procedures within seminars: that is, contexts where the salient modalities being evaluated are participation and oral expression. We describe the distinctive features of our model, including facilitation of the work of teaching assistants, ways to operationalize feminist pedagogy, and processes for evaluation. We articulate the specifics of these features as well as offering a comprehensive 'insider's' account of the actual seminar process we employ. We end by describing teaching, learning, evaluation and institutional outcomes.     

教育理论研究向教育实践活动通达的障碍消除

教育理论研究能否顺利地通达教育实践活动，其主要原因并不在于教育理论研究的个人意愿及其科研成果的品质，而在于教育体制的开放程度和理性水平。实质性地进行教育体制改革，使教育成为体现教育主体性、体现教育应然的本质和宗旨、张扬教育应然的精神和品格的真正的教育，教育理论研究向教育实践通达才具备坚实的思想和制度基础。