Chapter 2 Surveying the educational landscape of teachers’ self-directed
2.2 Section A: Towards an understanding of how teachers learn
2.2.2 Sociological discourses that shape learning
The sociological discourses that shape learning are examined in this sub-section. If
Chapter 2 Surveying the educational landscape of teachers’ self-directed learning and change
(Borko, 2004, p. 4). Sociological theories offer the tools with which to understand learning as a social phenomenon. Sociologists maintain that learning takes place in an interaction between us and others in the context of the prevalent attitudes and beliefs of society (Bourdieu, 1990). In South Africa, apartheid shaped and continues to shape teachers’
experiences in public schools in post-apartheid South Africa. These experiences are shaped by what theorists describe as the dominant discourses (Foucault, 1984) and practices (Bourdieu, 1990) of race, class, and gender.
In understanding the dominant social discourses of race, class and gender at play in teachers’ lives in this study, it is vital to briefly examine the socio-historical lives of South African teachers. Two important questions that must be addressed when discussing the socio- historical lives of South African teachers are: “How does our past experience play into who we are and how we teach, learn and change? How can we revisit or use that past to study and reinvent ourselves as teachers?” (Mitchell & Weber, 1999, p. 4).
Discourse on race and learning
For the purpose of this research, it is important to note that race is a social construct,
“with no rational basis in biology” (Francis, Hemson, Mphambukeli & Quin, 2003, p. 139).
Race has to be understood within the context of gender, sexuality and social class (Francis, Hemson, Mphambukeli, & Quin ,2003). Race has a “formative” power in that it can form and shape both individual and collective identities (Connolly, 1998, p. 11). Race is produced and reproduced at schools through symbolic discourse (Foucault, 1984) and practice (Bourdieu, 1990). Discourses on race are constantly changing and have serious consequences as they give rise to the stereotypical way in which people are labelled and treated (Francis , Hemson, Mphambukeli & Quin, 2003; Bourdieu, 1990).
During apartheid, South African schools were divided by race through the enforcement of the following laws: the Bantu Education Act No.47 of 1953; the Coloured Persons Education Act No. 47 of 1963 and the Indian Education Act No 61 of 1965 (Mothata
& Lemmer, 2002). The Bantu Education Act in particular led to a racially divided teacher training system. Teachers were trained at different teacher training institutions, which were racially segregated, and were posted to racially segregated schools (Sayed, 2004). Adler
Chapter 2 Surveying the educational landscape of teachers’ self-directed learning and change
(2002, p. 7) maintains that “apartheid education had been grossly unequal: black education was inadequately funded and thus of poor quality, and designed to produce acquiescence.”
Although South African schools have been desegregated for more than a decade after apartheid, problems related to race, class, culture and gender still manifest (Jansen, 2004a; Ndimande, 2009). Granting that the main aim of the South African Schools Act (DoE, 1996) is to eliminate a race-based educational system by equalising government funding across all public schools in South Africa, there is still inequity in resources and staffing at the formerly “black” schools (Lam et al., 2011). As a result, schools struggle to fulfil their educational mandate of teaching, learning and management (Hoadley, 2007). Teachers are expected to teach under these difficult circumstances.
Bornman (2010) argues that South Africans in post-apartheid South Africa still feel the need to align themselves closely with their racial and ethnic groups in order to emphasise
“social borders[…]and to confirm their ethnic, cultural, and/or racial identities[…]which gives rise to new ways in which ‘us’ and ‘them’ are defined (Bornman, 2010, p. 241).
Schools in post-apartheid South Africa are supposed to be free from discrimination based on race, class and gender. However, “there is an ongoing conflict within the individuals between the construction of ‘the other’ (in terms of race and culture) [and] the desired perception of self (as race-less and universal)” (Chisholm, 2008, p. 231).
If schools are segregated along race, class and gender lines then they also reproduce class inequalities and feelings of powerlessness in learners and teachers, which they may experience elsewhere since there are links between the economy, education and class structure (Bernstein, 2003; Sadovnik, 2001; Bowles & Gintis, 1976, 1986, 2002; Jansen, 2004a; Chisholm, 2008). Teachers are faced with a crisis and may experience a sense of powerlessness because they are seen as “reproducers of the state’s agenda and as implementers rather than formulators of policies” (Carrim, 2003, p. 318).
Discourse on class and learning
South African schools are still socially stratified. Sociological theorist Basil
Chapter 2 Surveying the educational landscape of teachers’ self-directed learning and change
experiences. These codes shape our identity and our aspirations thus determining the various occupations that the different social classes occupy (Bernstein, 2001, 2003). Schools select knowledge that they want to transmit to their learners, thus contributing to social reproduction (Bernstein, 2003; Bowles & Gintis, 2002).
Schools perpetuate particular social identities and learners are prepared to occupy particular occupational positions according to their present social class position (Bowles &
Gintis 1976, 1986, 2002). Bowles and Gintis (1976, 1986, 2002) do, however, add that the ideals of personal development in relation to education can be achieved if people can control the conditions of their own lives and develop their talents and abilities of self-expression.
According to Bourdieu (1987) different cultural practices peculiar to the dominant culture, exist in a class-based society. Bourdieu (1987) speaks of these cultural practices as
“cultural arbitraries” which he says are representations of our cultures and are acquired through socialisation. South African schools have their own set of cultural arbitraries where the cultural practices of the dominant class are imposed on learners (Bowles & Gintis, 1976, 1986, 2002). Both Bowles and Gintis (1976, 1986, 2002), and Bourdieu (1987) argue that learners are also taught content that is decided upon by the dominant class and that this practice, coupled with the rituals practised at the school, places children from different classes at a disadvantage. Bernstein (2001, 2003) adds that success is difficult for these learners as they don’t have the “cultural capital” that is required to succeed. These biographical experiences at school and in the community also play a crucial part in teachers’
choices as adult learners. Gender reproduction is included in the social reproduction that takes place at schools (Lorber, 2007; Coole, 1995)
Discourse on gender and learning
Gender is another dominant discourse when studying teachers’ lives and their learning. As Lorber (2007, p. 276) explains, gender is constantly “being created and re- created” as people interact with each other. Lorber (2007, p. 278) adds that “individuals are born sexed but not gendered, and they have to be taught to be masculine or feminine”. The gendered self is a product of socialisation; as individuals, we learn particular gendered roles (Coole, 1995). These gendered roles are reinforced through the media, the gender roles we see enacted on a daily basis and modelling the behaviour of others. Coole (1995, p.134)
Chapter 2 Surveying the educational landscape of teachers’ self-directed learning and change
maintains that “gender is not an identity, but a fabrication or performance, sustained by signs or rituals. Different acts create gender and without these acts there would be no gender at all.”
The gendered self is shaped at home and entrenched when learners attend school.
“Children learn by observing and imitating adult roles[…]; they learn their own sex- appropriate behaviour through positive and negative sanctions” (Ballantine, 1993, p.104) Children watch the behaviour of adult role models who can be parents, teachers and other significant people in their lives (Ballantine, 1993; Coole, 1995).
Teachers' learning
The sociological and psychological discourses that shape learning discussed in this section are vital for this study if we are to understand how teachers learn and how the socio- cultural contexts shapes their practice as teachers. The psychological theories of humanism, social learning theory and holistic learning are particularly useful in enriching my understanding of how teachers in public schools learn. The sociological discourses, on the other hand, highlight important issues for understanding teacher learning within particular socio-cultural contexts. These discourses also scrutinise the “multiple contexts” within which teachers live and work. Sociologists view learning as a social phenomenon that occurs in the interaction between us and others within particular social contexts. The dominant discourses of race, class and gender are crucial in understanding who South African teachers are and how they learn and change as self-directed learners.
In understanding how the self directs the learning it is imperative to understand the development of teachers’ identities. In the next section I will discuss the fluid identities of teachers as they define and redefine themselves as teacher-learners.
Chapter 2 Surveying the educational landscape of teachers’ self-directed learning and change