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Project

The “grammar of schooling” in the Chilean school system during the second half of Twenty century

In my research I came across the notions, proposed by professor Marc Depaepe and his collaborators, of “grammar of schooling,” “grammar of pedagogizing,” and “educationalization,” which can operate, as these scholars have stated, as “container concepts” (Depaepe and Smeyer, 2008, p. 3; Depaepe et al, 2008, p. 13,). As to the first of these concepts, for instance, the authors have explained: 'Hence, we have conceived the concept ‘grammar of schooling’… in our study of the Belgian primary school as a didactic exposition structure that, at the very least, had to be related to the pedagogical semantic (here moral, ethical and thus also social finality) in which it functioned” (Depaepe and Smeyer, 2008, p. 17). The final goal of these scholars, as they have expressed it, is “[to expose], as it were, the morphology of the school. This has become ‘genealogical’, the pillars around which the everyday action patterns of education have taken form in the course of the years and made the school into a ‘school’: a theoretical model that thus encloses at the same time a structure (in the sense of isolated factors) and dynamic (in the sense of processes that flow out of the conjunction of these factors) and moreover also offers space for statements on the identity of the school that are both horizontal-generalizing (in casu rising above the history) and vertical-diachronic (in casu related to chronological development). 19. Such “container concepts” filled with meaning the voids in the existing analytical framework –and other traditions such as the Anglo-Saxon didactic method (Wineburg, for instance) and Fench sociology (for example, Dubet). First, these concepts offer the possibility of merging political dimensions with pedagogical ones; second, they allow for an analysis of the interaction between discourse and practical variables; and third, they give us opportunity to focus our attention on the educational experience proper, albeit without leaving aside its links with the broader social context (which can well be illustrated by the notion of “pedagogization” of society). In this sense, in my thesis I want to analyze the “grammar of pedagogizing” (and its possible transformations) operating in Chile’s school life in the second half of the twentieth century. This objective requires answering a few questions: What specificities took on the “the grammar of pedagogizing” in the case in study? Does such situation suggest a direct relation with processes of pedagogization of society, if it existed in this particular case? To answer these questions, it must be kept in mind that, as was also the case in Europe, since the 1960s the reality of education in Chile underwent a process of “psychologization,” which was accompanied by a “scientificization” of the processes of teaching and learning. Nevertheless, it seems that in Chile processes of politicization (and later depoliticization) have influenced deeply the direction and perspectives of the school system. In fact, the Ministry of Public Education of the government of Popular Unity (1970-1973) forcefully questioned the “scientific” interpretation given to education by previous administration, arguing that it was a way of naturalizing a political project aimed at the reinforcement of the social status quo. Even though the educational project of Popular Unity failed as a consequence of the overthrow of the Allende government and the imposition of a military dictatorship (1973-1990), it has had a significant impact, either as a counter-model or a landmark that reminds society of the “excesses” of the politicization of education, on the education policies of the subsequent administrations. In this context, analyzing the “grammar of pedagogizing” means analyzing the conflictive equation between “psychologization” and “politicization” of education in Chile in the second half of the twentieth century. At any rate, an analysis of the “morphology of the school” requires the integration of such variables into the analysis of the proper experience of school life. As professor Depaepe has suggested, “Up to now, the rather stringent application of the normalization paradigm in the history of education has led to a negative colouring of educational history. All too often in Foucaultian approaches, the masses are seen as passive group over wich the work of civilization flows. I have tired to demonstrate how one-side this is” (Depaepe, 1997, p. 218). Insofar as it is necessary to study the foundations of school practice as much as the the practice itself, my thesis requires an analytical effort that draws from the contributions of the analysis of discourse and those provided by ethnography as well. As to the sources, they must be gathered from academic discussions and official policies, but also from archival research. Bibliography DEPAEPE, Marc, “Demythologizing the Educational Past: An Endless Task in History of Education”, Historical Studies in Education, vol. 9, n° 2, 1997, 208-233. DEPAEPE, Marc and SMEYERS, Paul (Eds.), “Educational research: the educationalization of social problems”, Heidelberg: Springer, 2008. DEPAEPE, Marc, “Vieja y nueva historia de la Educación. Ensayos críticos”, Barcelona: Octaedro, 2006.

Date:1 Feb 2018 →  1 Feb 2022
Keywords:“grammar of schooling”, Educationalization, Chilean school system
Disciplines:Biological and physiological psychology, General psychology, Other psychology and cognitive sciences
Project type:PhD project