28. Sociologies of Education
Ignite Talk (20 slides in 5 minutes)
A Tale of Two Systems: European and Traditional Public Schools in Luxembourg - What Narratives Are Told, and Which Students Benefit?
Elif Tuğçe Gezer, Susanne Backes, Ulrich Keller, Thomas Lenz
University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Presenting Author: Gezer, Elif Tuğçe
After decades without major structural changes in Luxembourg's school system, it was in 2009 that extensive school reforms were introduced, which intend to reduce educational inequalities. A variety of further reforms since 2013, under the slogan 'Different schools suited to different pupils' (MENJE, 2020), aimed at diversifying the educational landscape as a direct response to the increasingly heterogeneous student body – with more than 60% of students speaking a language other than Luxembourgish at home (Eurydice, 2022). As the public education system has a trilingual nature (MENJE, 2020; n.d.), this diversity accounts for a source of inequality due to the high demanding language requirements.
In this context, the recent development of state-funded Accredited European Schools (AES) that follow the European curriculum instead of the Luxembourgish curriculum is noteworthy. Like the ‘original’ model of the European schools established for children of European Union institutions’ staff in 1953 – with its first site in Luxembourg – the AES, which are open to local children, offer different language sections from which students can choose the language of instruction.
AES were established based on the suggestions of the European Parliament and the ‘open up’ initiative starting in 2009 (ibid.). They are required to meet the pedagogical requirements of the European curriculum. Each Member State is responsible for the administration and funding. AES are also characterized by integrating skills such as critical thinking that are clearly identified within primary education syllabi (Lombardi et al., 2021). Thus, the program is also of interest regarding the need for 21 century skills.
The development of a European education system in parallel to the traditional school system in Luxembourg raises many social, political, and educational questions. An evaluation study that analyses the genesis and ethos, and functioning of the entire European school system, states that “European schooling is a particular, exportable, and replicable type of education” (Leaton Gray et al., 2018). However, under which patterns of reasoning such a school system is imported as an addition to a decades-old, persistent, stratified school system is one of the research questions.
One can argue that global models of education are not simply implemented on a national level but are transformed and adapted to national and local circumstances. Robertson (1994) calls this the “glocalisation of social problems”. With regards to education this means that there must be a group of people or an institution that on the one hand absorbs international ideas and on the other hand translates and changes them to make them usable for the national education context. Even in the 1950s and 1960s, long before the globalization era of the 1990s, global networks were very influential in Luxembourg, and knowledge producers like social scientists and politicians served as agents to translate international ideas into national policies. However, national traditions remained strong. Teachers, politicians, and researchers served as agents of change, transforming international ideas to make them acceptable for the national context. Ideas from a trans-/international context (like the European Schools) were accepted and adopted at a local level.
The study aims to understand the genesis and outcomes of the implementation of an additional curriculum in public schooling in Luxembourg by asking:
- What patterns of legitimation accompany the emerging parallel school system, and what hopes, fears, and myths underlie these narratives?
- Which student groups benefit from the AES? How do different student groups in traditional schools versus AES perform in terms of educational achievement and well-being?
To understand the legitimization patterns and the ascribed role of AES in public and political discourses, social constructivism (Hacking, 1999) is used as the European public curriculum is understood as practices, material, and emotions (Parker, 2011).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis paper is embedded in an ongoing study on ‘Managing Diversity and Tackling Educational Inequality through the European Curriculum’ consisting of (1) a document analysis (corpus: political and public debates, school websites), (2) secondary data analysis of administrative student panel data and large-scale competence tests gathered in autumn 2022 in the national school monitoring 'Épreuves Standardisées' (ÉpStan); and (3) fieldwork including semi-structured interviews with school principals and teachers as well as classroom observations (planned for 2024). The presentation will rely on parts 1 and 2 and present (1) preliminary findings of the content analysis via multicyclic coding (Saldaña, 2009; VERBI Software, 2017: MAXQDA18). The coding scheme used in the first cycles of the analysis is based on heuristics from previous research (e.g., Parker, 2022). The quantitative analysis of (2) math competence tests, as well as the well-being of students following the European Curriculum versus students following the Luxembourgish curriculum, is mainly conducted by making use of descriptive analyses as the small percentage of students in the recently established European schools does not (yet) allow for complex regression models for particular student groups (in the school year 2021/22, 3.3% of the students in public schooling are enrolled in an AES, n=3,606). Despite this limitation, the results are very valuable because Luxembourg's school monitoring (ÉpStan) is based on a full sample as all students in grades 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 are tested annually in mathematics and other competencies and surveyed about their school well-being and attitudes towards school.
Thus, the "case of Luxembourg" can be used as an example to discuss which transformations in the education system seem to offer solutions to current challenges and demands. Multiple findings on educational inequalities and underperformance in competency tests by international standards have been replicated for Luxembourg despite its large resource expenditure (Lenz et al., 2021; Fischbach et al., 2022; Backes, 2020). The effects of the changes in population structure observed in many other European countries for some time can be observed in Luxembourg as if through a lens.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsParker (2011) analyses the discourses of International Education (IE) in US public schooling and reveals different patterns: strong and predominant discourses (IE legitimized by national economic competitiveness and national military readiness) and minor discourses (such as Cosmopolitanism and International student body). For Luxembourg, the preliminary analysis suggests that the main discourse accompanying the rise of AES is based on the discourse of diversity. The main narratives follow the argument of the international student body – closely linked to educational inequalities. But there is evidence for some underlying argumentations on a second layer. First, the issue of educational inequalities is linked to the loss of cognitive potential as the study titled “Matière Grise Perdue” (1968) constates. Nowadays, this argument includes a shortage of highly qualified workers resulting in a high share of cross-border commuters and international migrants who currently account for around 70% of the Luxembourg labor force (Alieva & Hartung, 2021). Further underlying debates on AES is the controversial discussion of social cohesion which, according to supporters, is strengthened due to the European idea, and which, according to opponents, seems to be severely threatened due to the segregation of students into language sections (Leaton Gray et al., 2018). Interestingly, in Luxembourg, AES does not seem to be exceedingly discussed under the framework of Europeanisation or transnational government of education (cf. Carlos, 2012).
Preliminary statistical comparisons of traditional public schools vs. AES point to a socially selective privileged student body of AES (ONQS, 2022). To what extent this raises fears, that have been revealed in other studies, i.e., International Schools might “cream off” (Bunnell, 2022) the best students, will be analysed. Based on the presented findings, the discussion reflects the (potential) role AES might have in managing diversity and transferring good practices to the traditional public system - in Luxembourg and internationally.
ReferencesAlieva, A., & Hartung, A. (2021). Künftige Arbeitsplätze und Verteilung gegenwärtiger Qualifikationen. In LUCET & SCRIPT, Nationaler Bildungsbericht Luxemburg (p. 204-210). LUCET & SCRIPT Luxembourg.
Backes, S. (2020). Uncommon Pathways through Luxembourg’s Stratified School System. The Findings of a Mixed-Methods Study on Educational Upward Mobility. In McElvany, N., Holtappels, H. G., Lauermann, F., Edele, A., & Ohle-Peters, A. (Eds.), Against the Odds – (In)Equity in Education and Educational Systems. Münster: Waxmann.
Bunnell, T. (2022). The crypto-growth of “International Schooling”: emergent issues and implications. Educational Reviews, 74(1), 39-56.
Carlos, S. (2012). Governing Education in Europe: a ‘new’ policy space of European schooling. European Educational Research Journal, 11(4), 487-503.
Eurydice. (2022). Luxembourg overview. https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/luxembourg_en
Fischbach, A., Colling, J., Levy, J., Pit-ten Cate, I. M., Rosa, C., Krämer, C., Keller, U., Gamo, S., Hornung, C., Sonnleitner, P., Ugen, S., Esch, P. & Wollschläger, R. (2022). Findings from the ÉpStan National Education Monitoring against the Background of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Luxembourg Centre for Educational Testing (LUCET) & Service de la Recherche et de l’Innovation pédagogiques (SCRIPT). https://doi.org/10.48746/BB2021LUEN-34
Hacking, I. (1999). The social construction of what? Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Leaton Gray, S., Scott, D., & Mehisto, P. (2018). Curriculum Reform in the European Schools. Towards a 21st Century Vision. Cham, Palgrave.
Lenz, T., Heinz, A., & Backes, S. (2021). Orientierungen im luxemburgischen Schulsystem. In LUCET & SCRIPT, Nationaler Bildungsbericht Luxemburg (p. 84-85). LUCET & SCRIPT Luxembourg.
Lombardi, L., Mednick, F.J., De Backer, F., & Lombaerts, K. (2021). Fostering Critical Thinking across the Primary School’s Curriculum in the European Schools System. Educ. Sci. 2021, 11, 505. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090505.
MENJE. (n.d.). School offer. Retrieved from https://men.public.lu/en/secondaire/offre-scolaire-organisation/offre-scolaire.html
MENJE. (2020). The Luxembourg education system. https://men.public.lu/dam-assets/catalogue-publications/divers/informations-generales/the-luxembourg-education-system-en.pdf
ONQS. (2022). Orientations pour une réduction de l’impact des inégalités d’origine sociale dans le système éducatif. Walferdange: ONQS.
Robertson, R. (1994). Globalisation or glocalization? The Journal of International Communication 1(1), 33–52.
Saldaña, J. (2009). The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Parker, W. C. (2011). ‘International education’ in US public schools. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 9(3-4), 487-501.
VERBI Software. (2017). MAXQDA 2018 [computer software]. Berlin, Germany: VERBI Software. Available from maxqda.com.
28. Sociologies of Education
Paper
Higher Education as a Problem Space: Neo-Nationalism in Central-European Higher Educational Settings
Gyöngyvér Pataki
Centre for Social Sciences, HAS Centre, Hungary
Presenting Author: Pataki, Gyöngyvér
Higher Education is increasingly seen to be a problem space where governing rationales with contradictory logics clash partly due to the history of modern nation building and partly to emerging state languages that might cause novel forms of authorial power; a situation that creates paradoxes for those who work or study in the sector (Dillabough 2022; Coman and Volintiru 2021)).To identify what causes democratic deficit at the micro level of the polity and how they can be mitigated under the recurrent wave of the current crisis UNESCO has called for a new social contract in education whereby learning for democracy can be reimagined or retooled (UNESCO. 2021). Within this framework, this action research aims to address the question of how education can contribute to “resilient recovery” and shift the axis of politics through the interplay of political actors, institutions, and communities to produce regenerative practices which de-polarize political and social relations. The paper focuses on the potential role universities can have in promoting resilience through pedagogical practices which involve their publics in learning ‘for democracy’.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedIn seeking to provide an account of how citizenship is currently sensed, conceived and envisioned in higher educational settings and also the way it has been institutionally maintained the project looked at past, present and future expectations of Eastern and Central European international students in Eu and non-EU member states (Beckert 2016;Beech 2014; Borup et al. 2006; Bussey, Inayatullah, and Milojevic 2008; Facer 2013; Milojević and Inayatullah 2015; Mische 2009). 6 focus groups and 36 narrative biographical interviews were carried in 6 different countries (Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova, Georgia, Latvia, Russia) with an aim to understand students’ sense of civic self in a global higher educational environment, their imaginaries of citizenship as well as their vision of what the future holds for them.
Revisiting the UNESCO (2021) report the project underscores the pivotal role of universities in resilient recovery in ”radically reconfiguring our place and agency” in the face of recurrent crises of various kinds. Our findings show that the fairly successful Europeanization process in the higher education sector reported in the narratives seems to be challenged by the fact that institutions are sensed not to be able to respond to students' expectations of self-development during the pandemic and ever since. Covid-19 seems to have influenced how civic connectedness and civic self are envisaged in the higher educational environment, however, civic principles and preferred patterns of participation are mainly reported to remain untouched. Cultural cosmopolitan visions appears to be prevalent with a strong belief in institutional transformation and neoliberalism in the narratives. While neo-nationalism is omnipresent in various forms of nostalgia, resentment and struggle of identity, students, nevertheless, are actively looking for opportunities in the system of higher education to forge entirely new ways of relating, rather than contributing to existing institutional structures. The way neo-nationalism reappears in narratives both in support of neoliberalism and in supply of institutional operation seems to be of considerable value. Therefore,, the paper reveals the forms of neo-nationalistic sentiments in communication with cultural cosmopolitan and neoliberal considerations and in turn portrays how these constructs involves their publics in learning for democracy .
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings
In brief, the profession-based vision of citizenship within the framework of nation states, that the current institutional base in the European higher education space offers, felt rather insufficient. There is an explicit need for engaged universities operating in a wider cultural ecological environment; for institutions engaged outside the boundaries of nation states or nation building (Oxley and Morris 2013; Pashby et al. 2020; Rhoads and Szelenyi 2020). Still neo-nationalism has its function, prevalence and historical legacies. Thereby, our data and methodology by highlighting students’ sense of civic self in a global higher educational environment help to understand how higher educational governance can provide viable learning trajectories and plan for the future by interpreting social, political or cultural tensions of the post Covid 19 period from the perspective of emerging professionals in Central Europe (Bozkurt 2022; Chankseliani 2018; Davies 2020).
ReferencesBeckert, J. (2016). Imagined Futures: Fictional Expectations and Capitalist Dynamics. Harvard University Press.
Beech, S. E. (2014). Why place matters: imaginative geography and international student mobility. Area, 46(2), 170–177. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12096
Borup, M., Brown, N., Konrad, K., & van Lente, H. (2006). The sociology of expectations in science and technology. Technology Analysis and Strategic Management 18(3–4), 285–298. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537320600777002
Bozkurt, A. (2022). Resilience, Adaptability, and Sustainability of Higher Education: A Systematic Mapping Study on the Impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and the Transition to the New Normal. Journal of Learning for Development, 9(1), 1–16.
Bussey, M., Inayatullah, S. & Milojevic, I. (Eds.) (2008). Alternative educational futures: pedagogies for emergent worlds. Sense Publishers.
Chankseliani, M. (2018). The politics of student mobility: Links between outbound student flows and the democratic development of post-Soviet Eurasia. International Journal of Educational Development, 62, 281–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2018.07.006
Coman, Ramona, and Clara Volintiru. 2021. “Anti-Liberal Ideas and Institutional Change in Central and Eastern Europe.” European Politics and Society 1–17.
Davies, I. (2020). Civic and citizenship education in volatile times. Preparing students for citizenship in the 21st century. BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES, 68(1), 125–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2019.1676009
Dillabough, J.-A. (2022). Higher education, violent modernities and the ‘global present’: the paradox of politics and new populist imaginaries in HE. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 20(2), 178–192.
Facer, K. 2013. “The Problem of the Future and the Possibilities of the Present in Education Research.” International Journal of Educational Research 61(Achievement Goals and Achievement Goal Orientations in Education):135–43.
Milojević, Ivana, and Sohail Inayatullah. 2015. “Narrative Foresight.” Futures 73:151–62.
Mische, Ann. 2009. “Projects and Possibilities: Researching Futures in Action.” Pp. 694–704 in Sociological forum. Vol. 24.
Oxley, Laura, and Paul Morris. 2013. “Global Citizenship: A Typology for Distinguishing Its Multiple Conceptions.” BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES 61(3):301–25.
Pashby, Karen, Marta da Costa, Sharon Stein, and Vanessa Andreotti. 2020. “A Meta-Review of Typologies of Global Citizenship Education.” Comparative Education 56(2):144–64.
Rhoads, Robert, and Katalin Szelenyi. 2020. Global Citizenship and the University. Stanford University Press.
28. Sociologies of Education
Paper
Training and Territorial Specificities : Making Results From the Construction of the Data Sample
Philippe Gabriel1, Elodie Roebroec2, Sabrina Labbé3, Nelly Gaudefroy-Demombynes4
1LIRDEF, Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3, Université de Montpellier, Avignon Université, France; 2LIRDEF, Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3, Université de Montpellier, France; 3UMR EFTS, Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, ENSFEA, France; 4LIRDEF, Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3, Université de Montpellier, France
Presenting Author: Gabriel, Philippe;
Labbé, Sabrina
The specificity of territorial needs in terms of professionalisation constitutes a challenge for vocational and continuing training throughout Europe. The specificities of the territories are indeed more than ever a determining factor for the organisation and deployment of training actions in the context of societal changes leading to transformations in the relationship to training. In particular, the implementation of training is now aimed 'less at guaranteeing prerogatives dictated by national guidelines and defending margins of manoeuvre and local autonomy' than at 'accompanying transitions and the capacity of territories to adapt to major ecological, economic and digital changes' in these contexts and for different sectors of activity (Lebreton, 2013; Besson and Brouillard, 2018; Landel and Vigné, 2021; Chaze et alii., 2021).
Although the adaptive challenge posed by territorial characteristics has long been understood by a number of structures (public and private, secondary and higher education) in charge of vocational training, agricultural training in sparsely populated areas being a notable example (Guerrier, 2014), the fact remains that the production of scientific results likely to specifically guide the training engineering approach is not available when the question arises of training modalities adapted to remote areas, where actors are faced with organisational constraints limiting their ability to reach regional agglomerations for training. This global problem is particularly sensitive in the field of health training (Dywili et al., 2012; Rourke, 2010) and the challenges are nothing less than exacerbated by the increasing use of digital tools, the increased isolation that this use may imply in terms of training resources in rural or remote communities, and the failure to take into account territorial specificities (Correa & Pavez, 2016; Spiers & Harris, 2015; Townsend et al., 2013).
The lack of academic production is also all the more significant when it comes to training courses that are emerging at the same time, such as medico-technical training to promote home care for people losing their autonomy.
The ACSADOM project was born in this scientific and societal context, with the support of the Occitanie Region, 90% of whose territory is considered rural according to a criterion of population density per spatial unit, and with the objective of improving, through research and development, the adequacy of medical-technical training systems in rural areas. The communication presents the way in which the research team has operationalised a selection of sub-sets within this space. In doing so, the research aims to produce a result, to support training engineering and to contribute to the improvement of knowledge in the face of the questioning raised by the diversity of ways in which the literature tends to construct rurality, a diversity which, by the same token, refers to different ways of questioning its heterogeneity (Blanc 1997).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedA geographical mapping approach was implemented in the line of the work of Chaze and alii (Chaze M., Langlois E., Meriade L. and Rochette C., 2021). The team selected representative indicators of differentiation of rurality in Occitania by taking into consideration both population density (i.e. communal density), the strength of urban attraction, spatial characteristics and the political-administrative units to which they belong (i.e. the department, as a geographical division and territorial authority). The approach thus articulates a gravitational model of attractiveness, i.e. the pattern of a centre-periphery gradient from urban centres to the most isolated communes, and zoning criteria which often outline particular spatial structures and organisations (Kaddouri L., 2004). All the data used are public data (INSEE and Occitanie Region).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsIn order to determine the existence of a possible structuring of the sample, a multi-referential analysis was carried out with the REINERT method made possible with Pierre Ratinaud's IRAMUTEQ software (2014). The analysis brings out six profiles of territories highlighting that the production of results can take place well upstream of the data collection. This approach leads us to the hypothesis of a distinct training modality for each type of territory.
ReferencesBesson, R. et Brouillard, J. (2018). L'innovation dans les territoires périurbains ou ruraux : Pour un changement de paradigme ! Nectart, 7, 110-121. https://doi.org/10.3917/nect.007.0110
Blanc M. La ruralité : diversité des approches. In: Économie rurale. N°242, 1997. pp. 5-12; doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/ecoru.1997.4892
Chaze, M., Langlois, É., Mériade, L. et Rochette, C. (2021). Intérêts et limites d'une approche cartographique et géographique pour le management des parcours de soins en santé : l'exemple de l'Auvergne. Revue d'Économie Régionale & Urbaine, 397-420. https://doi.org/10.3917/reru.pr1.0027
Correa, T., & Pavez, I. (2016). Digital Inclusion in Rural Areas : A Qualitative Exploration of Challenges Faced by People From Isolated Communities: Digital inclusion in rural areas. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 21(3), 247‑263. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12154
Dywili, S., Bonner, A., Anderson, J., & O'Brien, L. (2012). Experience of overseas‐trained health professionals in rural and remote areas of destination countries: A literature review. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 20(4), 175-184.
Guerrier, F. (2014). Ingénierie de la demande de formation dans le territoire : Témoignages de l'enseignement agricole. Éducagri éditions. https://doi.org/10.3917/edagri.guerr.2014.01
Lahouari Kaddouri. Structures spatiales et mises en réseaux de villes pour la régionalisation des territoires. Géographie. Université Paul Valéry - Montpellier III, 2004. Français. fftel-00137931f https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00137931
Landel, P. et Vigné, F. (2021). Penser les futurs des ruralités françaises. Pour, 239, 197-204. https://doi.org/10.3917/pour.239.0197
Ratinaud, P. (2014). IRAMUTEQ: Interface de R pour les Analyses Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires -0.7 alpha 2.Recuperado de: http://www.iramuteq.org.
Rourke, J. W. H. O. (2010). WHO Recommendations to improve retention of rural and remote health workers-important for all countries. Rural and Remote Health, 10(4), 1-4.
Spiers, M. C., & Harris, M. (2015). Challenges to student transition in allied health undergraduate education in the Australian rural and remote context: A synthesis of barriers and enablers. Rural and Remote Health, 15(2), 176–192. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.203304368024672
Townsend, L., Sathiaseelan, A., Fairhurst, G., & Wallace, C. (2013). Enhanced broadband access as a solution to the social and economic problems of the rural digital divide. Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit, 28(6), 580‑595. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269094213496974
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