Reform and reaction: creating new education and training structures in Italy

Despite concerns regarding Italy’s high levels of early school‐leaving, regional differences in educational outcomes and persistent inequalities, efforts to reform the country’s complex system of senior secondary schooling have been repeatedly frustrated. Regarded by the left as contributing to the reproduction of social inequalities, Italy’s dual‐track system of academic and vocational secondary schools has been the focus of many reform efforts, for the most part unsuccessful. Recent proposals for reform, initiated by the recently deposed right‐wing Government coalition, reflected a very different approach to change, reinforcing the division between the academic and the vocational in Italy’s schools and largely devolving responsibility for vocational education and training to the regions. This article examines the proposals and concludes that, like past initiatives, they were largely ideologically driven, focusing on the structures of schooling rather than teaching and learning. The article points to the need for the current Government to base change on a strong theoretical foundation and on focused research into the outcomes of schooling for different student groups.     

The educational trajectory of Newly Arrived Migrant Students: Insights from a structural analysis of cultural capital

ABSTRACT

Background: The recent influx of Newly Arrived Migrant Students (NAMS) in Western-European societies poses important educational questions about how best to support migrant students within the education system.

Purpose: We sought to study how elements that are associated with cultural capital – namely a sense of entitlement and strategic knowledge – have relevance to NAMS’ educational trajectories. In studying the process of how cultural capital relates to educational careers, this study argues for a general shift from a resource-focused approach towards a strategy-focused approach to cultural capital.

Sample: We collected data from 33 NAMS from six secondary schools in a city in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium). A maximum difference approach was used: this allowed comparison of NAMS who followed the most academic track (general track) and the least academic track (vocational track) in secondary education in Flanders.

Design and methods: We undertook 33 in-depth biographical interviews during which the NAMS reconstructed their educational trajectories. Data were analysed qualitatively. We used structural approach analysis to identify each narrative’s core structure. These structured fragments were then thematically coded.

Results: Within the categories ‘a sense of entitlement’ and ‘strategic knowledge of the education system’, the analysis detected differences in strategies of action between pupils in the general track and in the vocational track.

Conclusion: The findings offer insights that could support the development of better strategies to guide and support NAMS in education. As NAMS’ integration in the educational system appears to be a stretched and slow process of orientation, studying their trajectory has the potential to deepen our understanding of known mechanisms of the reproduction of inequalities in education.     

Teachers’ guidance,family participation and track choice: the educational disadvantage of immigrant students in Italy

In Italy, as in other European countries, students of foreign origin are over-represented in the vocational school tracks, with relevant consequences on their limited chances of attaining a university degree. While research has long underlined the weight that a family’s social, cultural and economic capital has on a child’s school performance, educational expectations and choices, the role that school and teachers themselves play in the transition from lower to upper secondary school has been rarely explored in Italian sociological research. The present study aims to bridge this gap in the literature, showing how teachers’ orienting practices, interacting with highly differentiated patterns of family participation in the school guidance process, can play a relevant role in reproducing foreign-origin students’ segregation into the lower tracks of the school system.     

Parental background and university dropout in Italy

Using longitudinal data drawn from the European Community Household Panel, this paper examines Italian university entry and dropout rates in the context of specific parental and family characteristics. We are interested in the effects of the household’s cultural and financial conditions on shaping investment in tertiary education and its failure, at the national level. Our estimates confirm the persistence of intergenerational correlations related to education. Cultural constraints affect outcomes—enrolment in and withdrawal from tertiary education; low income negatively affects the transition from high school to college. Our results suggest that a comprehensive policy intervention is needed to ensure optimal human capital investment.     

Social capitalism and educational policy: democracy,professionalism and social justice under New Labour

Here we examine New Labour’s education policy concerning social justice and the organisation of educational provision with reference to social capital as policy vocabulary. The central focus is on policy discourses and practices in relation to networking between schools and other partners. We identify three policy phases for reducing inequalities and social exclusion, while supporting human capital formation: (1) EAZs in the late 1990s; (2) refocusing on specialisation and beaconisation, 2000–2003; and (3) transformations signalled by the diversity and choice agenda of the White Paper 2005, academies and trusts. We detect a drift in policy targets and aspirations from the early idealised ‘new and exciting’ kinds of educational participation and democracy, returning to more traditional professionalist arrangements in specialisation/beaconisation, and currently moving in the direction of post‐democratic governance in the academies programme, while doing little to challenge processes of stratification of educational institutions or outcomes. We develop the argument concerning the ‘post‐democratic’ turn in education policy by exploring the possibilities and limitations of policy‐making which deploys social capital vocabulary and mechanisms, ending with the paradox of social capital as a theory of democracy articulating with ‘post‐democratic’ educational structures.     

Educational Justice and Occupational Mobility: The Role of Civic Commitment and of Imagination

In Italy, the exploration of, and debate on, problems of educational rights and justice are not subsumed under the comprehensive rubric of “Urban Education”. They are rather studied from disciplinary realms and approaches such as social education or intercultural education that aim to understand and respond to issues of pressing social, political and educational concerns relative to migration, educational inclusion of immigrants’ and minorities’ children, recognition of cultural diversities as teaching and learning resources, among others. In this article the intercultural perspective is focused on the Italian occupational minority of the fairground and circus people, whose intensely mobile way of life impacts on their children’s school attendance and learning, and on the schools’ capacity to elaborate effective educational paths also able to valorize those people’s cultural diversity. Three relevant “bottom up” projects are here presented that mean to positively answer the mismatch between the mobility of the attractionist students and the schooling curricula, the annual teaching schedule and the attendance requirements.     

How Father’s Education and Economic Capital Impact Academic Performance—An Analysis Based on the Mediating Effect and Moderating Effect

Abstract:

This paper uses survey data from educational tracking upon graduation from middle schools in Q County, Gansu Province, and explores the mechanism in which the level of father’s education and economic capital affect academic performance. The study finds that the academic performance of male students is significantly higher than that of female students, and household registration, family capital, and school social capital adhere together to impact academic performance. Low economic income affects academic performance, and high economic income does not necessarily facilitate academic performance. School education that pays attention to academic performance has a direct positive impact, and parent-teacher relations, objectified cultural capital, and economic capital have a direct negative impact on academic performance. The level of the father’s education mainly plays a direct role in impacting academic performance. Economic capital indirectly facilitates academic performance through the mediating effect of parents’ educational expectations, educational support, and attention to school education, and objectified cultural capital has a moderating effect on the impact of economic capital on academic performance.     

家庭教育与学校教育互动的文化机理初探——基于对北京市农民工随迁子女教育活动的田野观察

借助教育人类学视角,结合田野观察和问卷调查方法,针对北京市农民工随迁子女家庭教育与学校教育互动进行调研发现,在农民工随迁子女家校互动中,存在干预性教育行为、非干预性教育行为和情境性教育三种主要实践模式,在每种模式互动中,都彰显着人们对教育目标的理解、社会资本的局限、自我经历的复制等社会文化因素对教育实践的影响。物质资本和社会资本相对匮乏的农民工随迁子女的家庭教育,需要和其学校教育一起,共同受到社会和政府进一步关注。     

Creative partnerships? Cultural policy and inclusive arts practice in one primary school

This article traces the ‘cultural turn’ in UK educational policy through an analysis of the Creative Partnerships policy (New Labour's ‘flagship programme in the cultural education field’) and a consideration of an arts project funded under this initiative in one primary school. It argues that current educational policy foregrounds the economic importance of cultural activity and its contribution to the social inclusion agenda. However, ‘creativity’ is seen as being located outside mainstream school structures, in projects rather than in the National Curriculum, and in artists rather than in teachers. The emphasis is on enjoyment and inclusion rather than cultural or social critique, or significant curriculum change. The transformative potential of involvement in the arts is marginalised in favour of a relatively weak form of social inclusion.     

未来15年中国职业教育发展模式与政策选择

一国的职业教育发展模式与政策选择建立在其现行教育制度与文化环境基础之上，需考虑经济与教育政策之间的关系及教育历史、社会基本价值、政治体制的特点。针对现实国情及未来15年所要面临的挑战，中国特色的职业教育发展模式与政策选择可表述为：建立利益相关者之间的伙伴关系与政策协调机制，在建设学习型社会框架下重新定位职业教育并纳入国家教育主流体系，建立技能认证和测试制度以保证相关质量标准，完善政府、企业、个人成本分担有关经费的保障机制。     

从政策工具特性看现行义务教育师资均衡政策

教育政策执行以政府资源投入为基础,政府教育改革以政策工具的选择为基点.本文在对政策工具选择与资源的关系、政策工具分类理论探究的基础上,从冯德尔多兰关于政策工具的两大特性即扩展性与限制性的角度分析了我国现有的师资均衡政策工具,认为,立足自身资源,寻求基于薄弱学校教师专业发展的扩展性政策工具选择,是实现教育政策优化与效能持续改进的关键.     

国际贫民幼儿教育的成功经验及其借鉴意义--蒙台梭利的“儿童之家”

意大利教育家玛莉亚·蒙台梭利(Maria Montessori)所创办的"儿童之家"教育实验,以贫民幼儿为对象,以尊重儿童、促进儿童身心和谐发展为教育理念,建立严格科学的时空管理制度以及基于自由和工作的自觉纪律;建设具有母性之美的教育环境,开展身心健康教育、生活技能训练、感觉训练、智力教育等教育活动,迈出了家庭教育社会化的第一步,使学龄前儿童在竞争激烈的工业社会中有了良好的成长,在世界范围内有着深远的影响;对我国当前工业化、城镇化、信息化、精准扶贫背景下的幼儿教育具有借鉴意义。     

What is the influence of cultural capital on student reading achievement in Confucian as compared to non-Confucian heritage societies?

Abstract

The present study compared the contribution of familial cultural capital to the reading achievement of 116,508 15-year-old students who participated in PISA 2012 in six Confucian heritage cultures (CHCs) and nine non-CHCs with comparable educational and economic development. The different states of cultural capital examined comprised institutionalised (maternal, paternal education) and objectified (educational, cultural resources) indicators. Results showed that: (1) cultural capital levels were lower in CHCs (vis-à-vis non-CHCs); (2) cultural capital was generally positively related to student achievement in CHCs and non-CHCs; (3) the relationships between all cultural capital indicators, except educational resources, and achievement were weaker in CHCs than non-CHCs; and (4) objectified (vis-à-vis institutionalised) cultural capital was more strongly associated with achievement in CHCs. These results suggest that the stronger sociocultural emphasis on education in CHCs may have moderated cultural capital effects on student achievement and enabled more students to succeed academically.     

Children’s conversion of cultural capital into educational success: the symbolic and skill-generating functions of cultural capital

Abstract

A prominent explanation of intergenerational educational inequality is Bourdieu’s cultural reproduction theory. Indeed, previous studies have frequently shown that children’s cultural capital relates to academic outcomes. However, it remains unclear how children convert their cultural capital into achievement. While Bourdieu argued that cultural capital influences academic outcomes primarily by biasing teachers’ grades, other researchers have proposed the alternative explanation that children’s cultural capital absorption directly translates into academic skills. Using survey data on 2975 fifth graders from the German National Educational Panel Study, we disentangle these two mechanisms of children’s cultural capital conversion; and argue that the main conversion mechanism depends on the cultural capital dimension examined. The results of our structural equation model suggest that both mechanisms are at work and that the main conversion mechanism depends on the dimension of cultural capital examined.     

文化资本的更新与转化：知识分子与清末民初教育改革

中国现代教育体制的建立始于晚清,是以民族主义诉求为出发点并效仿西方模式而逐渐成型的。由于据有优势文化资本,本土的知识精英在这场教育变革中起到主导性作用,并带动整个知识阶层对自身固有文化资本进行积极转化。因此,倚重西方资源,具有明显＂西化＂色彩的现代教育虽然推动了中国社会的主导性象征资本从儒家传统向＂西学＂转移,但文化资本在社会阶层和地理区域等方面的分布格局并未发生根本性的改变。     

新生代农民工城市融入的职业教育与培训体系建构

国家针对农民工子女义务教育出台了一系列政策,很大程度上解决了农民工子女义务教育的问题,提高了他们的个人素质和文化水平。现有的教育政策和制度在一定程度上造成了农民工子女后义务教育的"断裂",现有的政策在一定程度上强化了农民工融入城市社会自身条件的先天性不足。因此,注重农民工子女后义务教育公平和加快发展职业技术教育,是新生代农民工城市融入的路径选择。     

What PISA and ASPIRES studies tell us about the nuanced influence of cultural capital on student learning: Construct complexity,student outcomes and contexts

This article juxtaposes the evolving scholarship investigating the influence of cultural capital on student learning and the developing trajectory of sociologists employing quantitative research methods. It critically reviews results from 34 studies analysing PISA or ASPIRES data to generate three key insights demonstrating complexities in relationships between cultural capital and student outcomes. First, cultural capital is a complex construct with many variables (different forms of cultural capital, highbrow/non-highbrow cultural capital) varying in their association with student literacy and parents’ cultural capital affecting student literacy both directly and indirectly. Second, the influence of cultural capital may vary with types of student outcomes measured. Specifically, there are cultural variables associated with student literacy in different subjects, some cultural capital variables are more important for student literacy for a subject, and cultural capital influences student aspirations in addition to their literacy. Third, the influence of cultural capital on student literacy may vary with educational and social contexts. Cultural capital is more important in decentralised education systems, in low-achieving schools within differentiated education systems, in higher-quality schools and in more unequal, developed societies. In contrast, it matters less in high-achieving and standardised education systems, and in societies valuing education. Given the complexity in cultural capital, future research can ascertain how each cultural capital variable contributes to student learning and compare their effectiveness. It is also important to identify which cultural capital variables matter for specific student outcomes. Lastly, these insights highlight the need to recognise contextual differences in studies of social inequality.     

Teachers’ gender bias in STEM: Results from a vignette study

Gender stereotypes in the natural sciences may discourage girls from pursuing STEM fields, thus contributing to the differential STEM pathways of males and females. This paper exploits quasi-experimental data from a vignette study to investigate teachers’ gender bias in STEM at the transition to upper secondary school in Denmark—a key stage in students’ educational trajectories. I investigate if teachers have a higher probability of recommending a STEM track to a (vignette) male student compared with a (vignette) female student and if teachers’ STEM recommendations interact with their demographic characteristics. Results show that, while there is a gender gap of 10 percentage points in the likelihood of being recommended a STEM track, the difference is not statistically significant. Furthermore, teachers’ gender bias is influenced by the teacher's own gender and cultural capital. Consequently, the paper shows that teachers’ gender bias varies with teachers’ demographic characteristics and teachers with high levels of cultural capital can push back against gender stereotypes in STEM.     

跨文化交往中大学生文化主体性意识的培养——以高校思想政治教育为依托

在全球化背景下,不同国家、民族、地区发生着频繁的跨文化交往。在跨文化交往中要坚持"以我为主"的文化交往原则,这一文化原则需要通过高校思想政治教育的教育和引导,转化为大学生的文化主体性意识。大学生的文化主体性意识包括文化自信和自觉意识、文化批判和选择意识、文化整合和创造意识。高校思想政治教育应强化"我"文化的主核和表现符号,在教育内容中增加跨文化交往的意蕴,运用各种灵活的方式进行跨文化交往训练,以培养大学生跨文化交往中的文化主体性意识。