Hans-Christoph Koller
Education as Text Affairs – On the knowledge potential of literary texts for educational science
Based on a critique by Klaus Prange regarding the use of literary texts in educational-scientific contexts, the author inquires into the question of which significance the analysis of novels and stories has for theory formation in educational science. Having specified the question more closely, he sketches the more recent development in attempts at using literary texts as a source for theory formation in educational science. He then explains the positions evident in those studies regarding the knowledge potential of literary texts for educational-scientific reflection. Finally, a discussion of the objections regarding such a use of literary texts aims at showing why literary texts can in fact be more than a mere “illustration of educational concepts” (Prange).
Keywords: Theories of Education, Literary Texts, Transformative Processes of Bildung, Philosophy of Science, Research Methodology
Markus Rieger-Ladich
Sources of Knowledge Sui Generis ? – Literary texts as incentives for educational-scientific reflection
Can literary texts be deemed a source of knowledge for pedagogical reflection ? Or does the pursuit of knowledge have to be considered the privilege of philosophy and empirical science ? What supports the assumption that dealing with literature (and art) stimulates our cognitive skills and provides access to pedagogically relevant experience ? To be able to discuss these questions, the author specifies what constitutes a literary text and what characterizes aesthetic experience. Referring to concepts of analytical aesthetics, he differentiates theoretical and practical forms of knowledge, working with examples. In this context, literature proves to be an archive of aggregated experience which does not only stimulate the pedagogical discourse in various ways, but also promotes its self-reflection – as is illustrated by boarding school novels.
Keywords: Literature, Aesthetics, Cognition, Aesthetic Experience, Boarding School
Frederick de Moll/Markus Riefling/Stefan Zenkel
“I must have been somewhat naïve.” – On the public reception of empirical research on education – The example of ELEMENT
The authors inquire into the rules and patterns of the public discourse on the results of empirical educational research as illustrated by the public response to the Berlin ELEMENT-Study. 37 press articles published during the first six months after publication of the study’s results are analyzed on the basis of the knowledge-sociological discourse analysis. The press well reflects the many-facetted public discourse on the ELEMENT-Study. The results of this discourse analysis provide information on the dissemination to the public of research results and on their transformation in the sense of specific modes of trivialization. Thus, for instance, two conflicting interpretations of the political-public role of educational research are revealed: the concept of evidence-based policies vs. a division of tasks among science and politics. Furthermore, it can be shown that the discourse on the ELEMENT-Study orients itself mainly by the demands of the upper milieus. The results of the analysis provide impulses for a target-oriented input of research results into the public debate. Some of the initial conclusions are discussed.
Keywords: Educational Policy, Discourse Analysis, ELEMENT, Educational Research, Public Relations
Jens Oliver Krüger
By Hearsay – The significance of rumors in parental discourse on the choice of elementary school
Parents who are looking for an appropriate, a good, or the best elementary school for their child are faced with the challenge of having to collect information about school environments and having to define criteria for the identification of good elementary schools. In this context, rumors in the communication with other parents play an important role. The author examines the productivity of rumors in discourse on the choice of school. The explicit reference to rumors or to hearsay allows parents to specifically talk about the choice of school. Based on a discourse-analytical investigation of interviews with parents, the present contribution focuses on this communicative process as a special issue in the choice of elementary school.
Keywords: School Choice, Primary School, Parenthood, Rumour, Discourse Analysis
Ulrich Binder
The Pedagogization of Law – Educational aspirations of the state as established in legislation and the resulting strategies
The state does not only administrate socio-cultural, -political, -economic, or -moral structures, it also intervenes formatively. Pedagogical institutions and modes play an important role in this context, in that they influence the prerequisites that are meant to ensure its existence. The educational system is the foremost medium in exerting an influence on citizens; just as semi-pedagogical state agitation allows influencing their attitudes, opinions, or beliefs. In addition, however, there is a third possibility of the state acting as educator: influence through legislation. Hardly any research has been done on this aspect. This contribution tries to fill that gap by looking at the junction between the sciences of law, politics, and education and by analyzing which pedagogical impetus is embedded in laws as a control instrument of the state.
Keywords: State, Policy, Legislation, Law, Pedagogization
Gunther Graßhoff
Education or Agency – Vanishing points of socio-pedagogical research in youth welfare ?
The socio-pedagogical debate reveals an increasing interest in decidedly actor-oriented research. In the field of child and youth welfare, the focus has thus been shifted to biographical processes of change among young people within the support system. Categorically these processes of transformation are defined in different ways: the education discourse and the agency discourse constitute the central vanishing points of research. The author identifies the main premises of these differing discourses and embeds them in the pedagogical discourse in the style of a reflexive analysis.
Keywords: Educational Research, Agency, Youth Services Research, Youth Work, Non-Formal Education
Marcus Pietsch/Nike Janke/Ingola Mohr
Does School Inspection Lead to Better Student Performance ? – Difference-in-differences studies on the effects of the school inspectorate Hamburg on growth of knowledge and performance trends
School inspectorates are meant to improve student performance on the level of both the individual school and the school system. Whereas, in this context, there are no empirical findings on the efficiency of school inspectorates in Germany, international studies show that, as a rule, school inspectorates do not succeed in bringing about an improvement in performance. However, these findings are usually not very reliable due to problems with the random samples chosen for the studies. The present contribution for the first time examines for the German context which effects on student performance are empirically verifiable, using the school inspectorate Hamburg as an example. The investigation is based on trend data on Hamburg’s central school leaving exam and on longitudinal data provided by the study “Students’ competencies and attitudes” (German abbreviation: KESS). Possible problems with random samples are explicitly taken into account in the analyses in order to be able to come up with empirically reliable findings on the effects of school inspections on student performance.
Keywords: Difference-in-Differences, Student Achievement, School Inspection, Selection Bias, Effectiveness
Marc Kleinknecht/Nina Poschinski
Personal and Third-Party Videos in Further Teacher Training – A case study on cognitive and emotional processes in viewing two different types of videos
The effects expected of video-analyses of lessons differ depending on whether videos of one’s own lessons or videos of other teachers are being watched. The present study aims at systematically comparing the cognitive and emotional processes occurring when viewing these two types of videos. On the basis of key questions, ten math teachers commented on sequences from personal and third-party videos within the framework of a web-based learning environment. The case studies carried out subsequent to the qualitative and quantitative content analyses point to a stronger emotional involvement of teachers who were analyzing a third-party video. The emotions are positively correlated to an in-depth analysis of situations considered to be critical. Among those teachers analyzing personal videos self-worth-related emotions, in particular, impeded an in-depth reflection on such situations.
Keywords: Video Technology, Professional Learning, Observation, Teacher Emotions, Teacher Reflection
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