What does an education involve, where does it take place, and who decides?

ECS Year 1The Curriculum: Historical and

Philosophical Perspectives

Social Capital and Educational Outcomes Social Capital

The creation of human capital (James Coleman, 2000)

Benefits accruing to individuals or families by virtue of their ties to others

Access to institutional resources (Bourdieu, 1986)

Social capital is made up of social obligations or connections

Coleman’s (1988) Definition of Social Capital

Level of trust as evidenced by obligations and expectations

Information channels Norms and sanctions that promote

the common good over self-interest

Educational Outcomes

Measured by achievement and attainment

Coleman (1988)—greater amounts of social capital lead to higher educational success

Bourdieu (2000)—power and control translates into principles of communication (class, gender, ethnicity)

What does education involve?

How a society selects, classifies, distributes, transmits, and evaluates the educational knowledge it considers to be public reflects both the distribution of power and the principles of social control. (B. Bernstein, 2003)

Societal Interpretation of Education Mechanical Solidarity

Each unit in the society is functionally equivalent

Everyone is independent of anyone else Individuality is at a minimum and social

roles are ascribed Common set of values, collective

consciousness to which all individuals give allegiance and which regulates behaviour

Individual personality is absorbed into collective personality

Consider….

What society fits the description of “Mechanical Solidarity”?

Why do you think so? What would education look like in

this society?

Organic Solidarity

Units are functionally dependent on each other

Division of labour is well developed Individuality is stressed Personal differences valued Each unit has a distinct and valued

personality

Consider…

What society fits the description of “Organic Solidarity”?

Why do you think so? What would education look like in

this society?

Where does education take place?

Classroom? In the “field”? Community? Elsewhere?

Who decides where education takes place?

Individuals? Government? Governing Educational Body? Others?

Seminar ALEC—building on paragraph structure Consider—using your “mind web”,

discuss what you defined as education and what/who influenced your definitions

Consider—what/who influences how the definition of education alters, who has access to education, and what is offered in education