Reforming the Grammar of Schooling Again and Again

2020 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 665-671
Author(s):  
Larry Cuban
Keyword(s):  
Grammar Of Schooling

Alternative Education

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Mills ◽  
Glenda McGregor
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Education ◽  
Alternative Schools ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Governance Structures ◽  
Democratic Schools ◽  
Alternative Schooling ◽  
Grammar Of Schooling ◽  
Traditional Grammar ◽  
Over Time

Alternative schooling has a long history. However, defining alternative schooling is difficult because it necessitates an answer to the question: “alternative to what?” It suggests that there is an accepted schooling archetype from which to differentiate. However, just what that model might be is likely to vary over time and place. In one perspective, alternative schools challenge what Tyack and Tobin, in 1994, referred to as the traditional grammar of schooling as it pertains to conventional forms of schooling developed in Western societies since the Industrial Revolution. Alternative schools challenge the taken-for-granted grammar of schooling variously through their organization, governance structures, curriculum, pedagogy, type of students, and/or particular philosophy. Certain types of alternative schools, including democratic schools, developmental and holistic alternative schools (e.g., Montessori and Waldorf/Steiner), and flexi schools, might offer lessons to the educational mainstream on how to be more inclusive and socially just. However, there are also ways in which they can work against such principles.

scholarly journals De-schooling Well-being: Toward a Learning-Oriented Definition

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Rincón-Gallardo
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Global South ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Compulsory Schooling ◽  
Robust Learning ◽  
The Past ◽  
Grammar Of Schooling

Purpose: (1) Critique conventional schooling as detrimental to student well-being and learning. (2) Articulate an alternative that is more conducive to learning and well-being in classrooms, schools, and educational systems. Design/Approach/Methods: I review the historical functions of compulsory schooling, the main critiques to conventional schooling developed over the past century, emerging knowledge on the neuroscience of learning and well-being, and cases of large-scale pedagogical transformation from the Global South. Findings: I argue that conventional schooling is detrimental to well-being, that deep learning is a precursor of well-being, and that compulsory schooling is not designed to cultivate it. Well-being has to be de-schooled so that students thrive in schools: The grammar of schooling has to be replaced with the language of learning. This requires deep and widespread cultural change, and some movements of pedagogical renewal from the Global South offer important lessons on how to accomplish this. Originality/Value: Expanding the scope of existing debates about student well-being by questioning the assumption that compulsory schooling is inherently good and pointing out that unless the default culture of schooling is replaced with cultures of robust learning, student well-being efforts will simply reproduce the very problems they seek to solve.

Educational Change by Design: Creating a School of the Future

2020 ◽  
pp. 155545892097983
Author(s):  
Lisa G. Wyatt ◽  
Benjamin S. Scragg ◽  
Jennifer Y. G. Stein ◽  
Punya Mishra
Keyword(s):  
Educational Change ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Educational Leaders ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
New School ◽  
Managing Change ◽  
The Future ◽  
Grammar Of Schooling ◽  
Traditional Grammar

This case study, framed within a school–university partnership, highlights the tensions inherent to employing design-based approaches for educational change. The case illustrates core tensions between an abductive, open-ended, design-based approach to change versus more traditional (deductive/inductive) approaches to managing change in schools. The design process serves as a way to break away from the traditional “grammar of schooling” (Tyack & Tobin) in a system unaccustomed to radical change. The case highlights the challenges of maintaining fidelity to the design process within a range of logistical and resources constraints, such as the time available to participants to engage in the process, and the difficulty of rapidly prototyping a new school model within an existing educational ecosystem. In the teaching notes, we recommend a theoretical lens and set of questions for educational leaders to reflect on as they consider approaches to educational change in their own settings.

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