Session Information
19 SES 02, Parallel Paper Session
Paper Session
Contribution
Like many other countries globally and in Europe, Sweden has in recent decades undergone a neoliberal restructuring of the public sector. This applies not least to the education sector and adult education; the focus of this paper via a study of language courses for immigrants – Swedish For Immigrants (Sfi). In the Swedish context a shift from governance according to rules to governance based on defined goals, and a complex system of public procurement with comprehensive competitiveness has taken place. A school market has developed and Sfi and municipal adult education are more and more often being carried out under more or less commercial forms (Beach & Carlson, 2004; Lindberg & Sandwall, 2007). This means that the proportion of students in municipal education is decreasing as other educational organisers are entering into the market of tendering. One of the big winners in the procurement market for Sfi, a company called ABF Vuxenutbildning (ABF Adult Education) with roots in the Swedish WEA – Workers’ Educational Association – (ABF, Arbetarnas Bildningsförbund), is studied in this paper from an ethnographic approach. We have focused on a course aimed at trade, commerce and civics. The study is a sub-study belonging to the project Gender and ethnicity in text and practice – interpretation and interaction in three educational settings. The overall aim of the sub-study has been to study how the educational organiser forms teaching practice within the framework of neoliberal development and with a strong focus on what is known as “work orientation”. We have been interested in interpretations, negotiation, tensions and various consequences for teaching practice itself as well as for the course participants and other relevant actors. The main research questions in the sub-study have been:
• How is the teaching organisation formed within the given framework?
• How is the content of the teaching formed/affected?
• Which consequences stand out with regard to the pedagogical mandate of the teaching role?
• What are the consequences of the teaching and organisation for the students?
Theoretically, the project – within education of sociology – is based on critical discourse analysis (e. g. Fairclough, 1992) in combination with research on organization as well as on professions. In the discussion and analysis of the developments in the educational system and schools as a kind of economism leading to ”post-professionalism”, we make use of for example of the Stephen J Ball’s research (e. g. 1998, 2004, 2006). In the case of the understanding of different teachers’ reactions and negotiations in the confrontation with a neoliberal course of development, we also utilize e.g. Troman’s typology (1996), but also of analysis of change for the professions within the welfare state (e. g. Evans, 2008; Evetts, 2005, 2006; cf also). Research on governance (e. g. Rose 1996) is also used in the analysis as is the sociology of emotions (e.g. Scheff, 1990).
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Ball, S. J. (1998) Big Policies/Small World: an introduction to international perspectives in educational policy. Comparative Education, 34, pp. 119-130. Ball, Stephen J. (2004) Education For sale! The Commodification of Everything? (King’s Annual Education Lecture 2004, Institute of Education, University of London) Ball, Stephen J. 2006. Education, Policy and Social Class. The selected works of Stephen J. Ball. London & New York: Routledge. Beach, D. & M. Carlson (2004) Adult Education Goes to Market: an ethnographic cas study of restructuring of adult education. European Educational Research Journal, Volume 3, Number 3, 2004. Evans, Linda (2008) Professionalism, professionality and the development of education professionals. British Journal of Educational Studies 56 (1), sid. 20-38. Evetts, Julia (2005) The Management of Professionalism: a contemporary Paradox. King’s College, London (opublicerat konferensbidrag) http:// www.klc.ac.uk/content1/c6/01/41/71/paper-evetts.pdf Evetts, Julia (2006) Introduction: Trust and Professionalism: Challenges and occupational changes. Current Sociology 2006:54, sid. 515-531. Fairclough, N. (1992) Discourse and Social Change, Cambridge: Polity. Fitzsimons, Patrick (2002) Neoliberalism and education: the autonomous chooser. Radical pedagogy. http://radicalpedagogy.icaap.org/content/issue4_2fitzsimons.html Lindberg, I. & K. Sandwall (2007) Nobody’s darling? Swedish for adult immigrants: A critical perspective. Prospect Vol. 22, No. 3 2007:79–95. Robertson, Susan L. (2008) ”Remaking the World”. Neoliberalism and the Transformation of Education and Teachers’ Labor. In Mary Compton & Lois Weiner (eds.), The Global Assault on Teaching, Teachers, and their Unions. Stories for Resistance. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Rose, Nikolas S. (1996) Inventing our Selves. Psychology, Power, and Personhood. Cambridge Studies in the History of Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Scheff, T., J. (1990) Microsociology. Discourse, Emotion, and Social Structure. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Troman, G. (1996) The Rise of the New Professionals? The restructuring of teachers’ work and professionalism. British Journal of Sociology of Education 17 (4): 473-487.
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.