scholarly journals «Freinet Chimneys»: Experimenting with Emancipatory Public Education (Geneva in the 60s to 80s). Piaget’s Dream of an Active School?

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-115
Author(s):  
Rita Hofstetter
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Education Reform ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
New Education

The emancipatory potential of the 1960s had a particular resonance in Swiss education in the French-speaking part of the country. Teachers, parents and unionists, all advocating Freinet pedagogy, demanded that the demonised public education be reformed. Retracing the main steps of their successes and setbacks in the sector of Geneva public education, this article enquires into the rhetorical strategies and tactical alliances the reformists mobilised in order to promote «schools open to life», respectful of the natural longing to learn thanks to educational streams in primary schools dedicated to their cause (the «Freinet chimneys» implemented for a while at the turn of the 1980s). Inputs address the way the leaders of the reform historicised their initiatives so as to establish rightful filiation, calling upon some major figures whilst neglecting others. The scientific approval of Jean Piaget and Élise Freinet, as well as part of the left-wing party in power, might have endorsed the project; nonetheless, the leading figures of Geneva New Education were rarely invoked. How should we interpret these twists and turns? How were the narratives being scripted, and by whom? How were the innovations tested by others and integrated elsewhere so as to support the public education reform? Analysis of the underlying dynamics of this experiment reveal how «everyday» people rose up in a crisis and seized the opportunity to open up a world of possibilities; this can be highlighted through the lenses of the notion of «protagonism», which brings together «ordinary» people and their «extraordinary» politicisation (Bantigny, 2018; Deluermoz & Gobille, 2015).

No Child Left Behind: The Ongoing Movement for Public Education Reform

2006 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROD PAIGE
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Education System ◽  
Academic Skills ◽  
Public Education System ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Public Education Reform ◽  
Original Goal

In this essay, former secretary of education Rod Paige depicts the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) as the culmination of more than half a century of urgent but largely unheeded calls for reform of the nation's public education system. He explains the rationale for the design of NCLB and responds to several criticisms of the legislation, including the notion that it is a one-size-fits-all mandate and that its improvement targets are unrealistic. He further argues that the nation's public schools must become more responsive to the needs of students and their families in order to remain viable. Finally, he contends that subsequent reauthorizations should stay true to NCLB's original goal of holding school systems accountable for equipping all students with the academic skills on which America's future depends.

Philanthropic emotional work: Papering over the cracks of unprecedented public education reform

2021 ◽  
pp. 174114322110546
Author(s):  
Matías Sanfuentes ◽  
Matías Garretón ◽  
Juan Pablo Valenzuela ◽  
Rocío Díaz ◽  
Claudio Montoya
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
High Stress ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Emotional Work ◽  
Municipal Schools ◽  
Public Education Reform ◽  
New Institutions

Chile is undertaking an ambitious public education reform, re-centralising the administration of municipal schools in larger territories. This reform is unprecedented, both for the size of the new intermediate-level services ( Servicios Locales de Educación Pública) and the escalation of their bureaucratic complexity, facing widespread organisational problems that cause high stress and labour suffering. We argue that improving emotional working conditions is necessary to accomplish pedagogical goals, but this dimension has received little attention. This article presents a follow-up study focused on school principals and professionals’ emotional and occupational experiences that have worked in the initial two-and-half years of one of the first Servicios Locales de Educación Pública created in the country. The qualitative analysis of interviews reveals how they make sense of organisational dilemmas while crafting solutions for facing structural shortcomings of new institutions. We understand their extraordinary commitment as ‘philanthropic emotional work’, driven by genuine care for children and the nation's future. However, in this effort, they also experience labour suffering and work overload, which may compromise their well-being and the long-term accomplishment of this reform's goals. These observations highlight the need for a reflexive improvement of this reform, recognising emotional work as a valuable resource but unsustainable without appropriate institutional support.

The Nativity scene in a shared religious space: The case study of Saint-Pierre’s Church in Montreal

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-371
Author(s):  
Monica Grigore-Dovlete ◽  
Lori G Beaman
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
The Public ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Major Transformation ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Material Religion

Once called “the priest-ridden province,” the transformations brought about by the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s left the churches in Quebec deserted, while the idea of a secular Quebec became part of the public discourse about Quebec identity. Lacking the financial support of an active community, many Catholic churches were demolished or repurposed. They were thus transformed into residential or institutional spaces, entering what might be conceptualized as a secular order. Some churches managed to delay this major transformation by sharing their space with another religious community. This is the case of a Catholic church located in Montreal that we call Saint-Pierre’s Church. Today, the old building of Saint-Pierre’s Church accommodates two Christian communities: one is French-speaking Catholic and the other is Romanian Orthodox. At first glance, no tensions seem to trouble their coexistence. However, people’s perspectives of religious artifacts depict a slightly different image. Starting from participant observation and interviews carried out in 2016 and 2017 with members of both communities, we use the material religion framework to examine the power of materiality to invoke people’s emotions and to tell a story. The material religion framework allowed us to explore how the understanding of the shared place is linked to the dynamics and the contingencies of each community, and how the transformation of religious space happens in a rapidly changing context to which traditional majoritarian religion is attempting to adjust.

scholarly journals La participación social en educación: entre el habitus comunitario y la obligación administrativa

2014 ◽  
pp. 86-119
Author(s):  
Dr. Felipe De Jesús Perales Mejía
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Social Participation ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Urban Neighborhood ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Secondary School ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
The Way

Con la intención de comprender la participación social en la educación, se presentan los resultados de un estudio en caso desde la perspectiva cualitativa, con una orientación etnográfica. El caso,[1] a manera de texto descriptivo-interpretativo, reconstruye la forma en que participan las educadoras, la directora, los padres y madres de familia en la vida cotidiana de un jardín de niños; la participación está articulada de acuerdo con la propuesta de la Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP). Se hace énfasis en las voces y visiones de los participantes, en la manera en que estos se implican en diversos eventos, en contraste con las disposiciones administrativas sobre las que no se sabe con claridad por qué ni para qué se cumplen. El estudio se realizó durante dos ciclos escolares en una comunidad que fue hacienda, después ejido y finalmente fraccionamiento urbano. Se afirma que la participación social es un proceso complejo, relacionado con la historia, la cultura y las tradiciones de la comunidad, las cuales son disposiciones estructurantes, que necesitan tomarse en cuenta para impulsar la participación de manera activa y democrática, y no de una forma meramente administrativa.AbstractWith the goal of understanding social participation in education, we present the results of a case study from a qualitative prospective with an ethnographic orientation. The case,[2] as a descriptive-interpretative text, reconstructs the way teachers, director, and parents participate in the daily life of a kindergarten. Their participation is spelled out according to the guidelines of the Public Education Secretariat (SEP, for its acronym in Spanish). The study emphasizes the participants’ voices and visions as well as the way they involve themselves in various events compared with the administrative dispositions whose reason and purpose remains unclear. The study was carried out during two academic years in a community that was first a plantation, then an ejido’ shared land common land, and finally an urban neighborhood. The text argues that social participation is a complex process that has to do with history, culture, and community traditions, which shape the way it is brought to life. These aspects need to be taken into account so participation can be fostered in an active and democratic way, and not only in a merely bureaucratic way.Recibido: 21 de junio de 2013Aceptado: 04 de diciembre de 2013[1] El caso forma parte de una investigación más amplia conformada por tres escuelas primarias y una secundaria públicas, apoyada por el CONACYT-SEP/SEB 110286, administrado por la UPN-Ajusco. Agradezco a la Lic. Ana María Gallegos su colaboración en el trabajo de campo.[2] The case is part of a wider research conducted in three public primary schools and one public secondary school supported by CONACYT-SEP/SEB 110286, managed by UPN-Ajusco. I want to thank Lic. Ana María Gallegos for her contribution to the fieldwork.

Barack Obama and the Fight for Public Education

2009 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 385-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Ayers
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Education System ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Alternative Discourse ◽  
Public Education System ◽  
Complex Needs ◽  
Democratic Principle ◽  
Public Education Reform

In this essay, William Ayers calls for a more vital and effective public education system,one guided by the basic democratic principle that all human beings are of incalculable and irreducible value. Ayers argues that to achieve such a system we must reclaim schools from the industrial model of the twentieth century and build classrooms that respond to the broad and complex needs of the actual students who arrive at the schoolhouse door. Stories of the 2008 election punctuate his argument about the urgency of seizing this moment to disrupt the dominant framework defining public education reform. He calls on each of us to promote an alternative discourse as we simultaneously challenge and assist the Obama administration in envisioning and creating schools that more authentically reflect the ideals of a democracy.

The Impact on Student Achievement of Replacing Principals in District of Columbia Public Schools

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 518-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elias Walsh ◽  
Dallas Dotter
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
District Of Columbia ◽  
School Year ◽  
Public Education Reform ◽  
Standard Deviations ◽  
The Impact

The 2007 Public Education Reform Amendment Act led to 39 percent of the principals in District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) being dismissed before the start of the 2008–09 school year, and additional principal exits over the next few years. We measure the impact of replacing these principals on schoolwide student achievement by measuring the changes in achievement that occurred when principals were replaced, and comparing these changes to achievement in comparison schools within DCPS that kept the same principal. We find that after a new principal's third year in a school, average schoolwide achievement increased by 4 percentile points (0.09 standard deviations) compared with how students in the school would have achieved had DCPS not replaced the previous principal. For students in grades 6 to 8, the gains were larger and statistically significant in both math and reading.

scholarly journals The Effect of the Amendments of the Public Education Act on the School Activity of Physical Education Teachers

2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gábor Elbert
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Physical Education Teachers ◽  
Educational Work ◽  
The Public ◽  
Education Act ◽  
School Activity

The Effect of the Amendments of the Public Education Act on the School Activity of Physical Education TeachersAs a result of the legal regulations in the period after the 1989-1990 transition, teachers working in public education, in our case physical education teachers, were engaged in several activities which were not directly related to the competence of in-school educational work. Consequently, there has been a shift in their scope of activities. The author of this paper is interested in the experience of physical education teachers during the period. The objective of the paper is to reveal what effects such a comprehensive and permanent change had on the teaching of physical education in schools, and on the life of physical education teachers. In order to investigate the subject of research the analysis of legislative documents, in-depth interviews and the survey method were applied. The results show that in the period after the 1989-1990 transition, the work of teachers was not only hindered by the structural changes in accordance with educational legislation and the permanent amendment of documents, but the lack of consistency in pedagogical work as well. For the teachers taking part in the preparation of curricula, the extension of their activities resulted in a double workload. The decision that marks were replaced with textual evaluation in grade 1 of primary schools was not received positively on the part of physical education teachers. Based on the results it can be concluded that the efficient work of physical education teachers would be greatly assisted by more predictable legislation, which would ensure the possibility of planning in advance. Olympism, Olympic culture, sports education, pedagogy of sport

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