Michael Göhlich/Sabine Reh/Anja Tervooren
Ethnography of Difference. An introduction
Isabell Diehm/Melanie Kuhn/Claudia Machold/Miriam Mai
Ethnic Difference and Inequality – An ethnographic study in institutions of early childhood education
Based on a practice-oriented research project, designed as a long-term ethnography, which examines the (re-)production of ethnically coded inequality in the educational institutions of kindergarten and (elementary) school, the authors reconstruct and discuss, within the context of guidelines of educational policy, two patterns of a potential (re-)production of inequality, exemplified by the analysis of documents and practices of a procedure of language screening. Methodological challenges of ethnographic research on inequality are addressed, too.
Keywords: Inequality, Ethnic Differences, Ethnography, Qualitative Longitudinal Study, Differentiation Practices
Pamela Anne Quiroz
African American Male Youth: An Urban Ethnography of Race, Space & Place
Student migration within U. S. urban school districts is now a central feature of policies that promote school choice to access a quality education. Policymakers also support the value of diversity in public schools, even as educational policies and legal decisions that redress racial inequities have receded into the political background. This paper draws from a four-year ethnography (2007-2011) to explore the intersections of race and the geography of school opportunity, and their impact on 15 African American male youth who leave their neighborhoods to participate in a diversity initiative [DI] at an elite public high school in Chicago. The ethnography conveys the visible and often invisible borders of race and place and the impact on youth’s perceptual cartographies of the spaces in which their daily lives occur. As the issue of social inclusion gains salience, not only in U. S. cities, but also in cities everywhere, the relevance of these processes and their impact on disadvantaged groups are important to understand.
Keywords: Race, Geography of Opportunity, School Choice, Selective Schooling, Urban Studies
Kerstin Rabenstein/Sabine Reh/Norbert Ricken/Till-Sebastian Idel
The Ethnography of Pedagogical Systems of Difference – Methodological problems of ethnographic research on the socially selective production of academic success in the classroom
For a long time now, the more or less undisputed fact that education can mark a crucial moment – both as cause and as consequence – in the societal reproduction of social inequality has led to a significant intensification and methodological differentiation of research in this field. But while some reveal diverse statistical correlations between socio-economic background and school achievement and others describe the fit of background culture and learning culture from a socio-scientific perspective, there is a remarkable lack of educational-scientific studies examining the question of how classroom practices produce which hierarchical differences among students in the form of achievement-related differences. Based on the assumption that academic achievement is not simply given and merely adequately recorded, but rather has to be created anew in each case, the authors develop a practice-theoretically oriented, methodological proposal for the investigation of pedagogical systems of difference as systems of achievement. Drawing on ethnographic studies on heterogeneity and difference, the thesis of a socially selective production of school achievement as the “re-staging” of social differences in academic achievement is sketched and its theoretical plausibility is discussed.
Keywords: School, Social Inequality, Achievement, Difference, Ethnography
Nicolas Engel/Michael Göhlich
Cultural Difference and Translation into Organization – An ethnographic study in institutions of cross-border youth work and further education
The authors discuss findings of an ethnographic study carried out in trans-regionally rooted organizations. An investigation of the question of how organizations of youth work and of further education working on a programmatic cross-border level deal with cultural differences resulting from this crossing of borders leads to two different results. The practical production and treatment of differences may, on the one hand, take the form of a process of the reproduction of cultural differences and, on the other hand, that of a process of the hybridization of cultural differences. Following the translational turn, these processes can – from an organizational-pedagogical perspective – be identified as cultural translation processes of the tradition or transformation of organization-specific knowledge and skills of border-crossing.
Keywords: Cultural Differences, Cultural Translation, Transformation, Educational Ethnography, Organizational Learning
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Christoph Michael Müller/Thomas Begert/Verena Hofmann/Felix Studer
Effects of Class Composition on Individual Problem Behavior at School – What is the role of the behavior of the entire class, the “cool” ones, the “extreme”, and the personal friends?
Problem behavior of adolescents in school can pose considerable challenges to co-students and teachers and may constitute a developmental risk for the respective adolescent. With regard to the causes for such behavior, research on the influence of peer groups shows that members of the same age group have a considerable impact on the individual development of behavioral problems. Accordingly, the composition of school classes with regard to the level of problem behavior among co-students could be of crucial importance to the development of adolescents. Therefore, it was examined in how far individual school-related problem behavior may be predicted on the basis of the manifestation of such behavior among classmates. The focus was on the effects of different social sub-groups within the class. All in all, 623 adolescents from grades 7 to 9 anonymously answered questions on their school-related problem behavior. Multi-level analyses revealed that individual behavior may be predicted statistically through the average behavior among all classmates, among the popular adolescents, among those displaying the most behavioral problems, and among the personal friends in the class. The findings are discussed against the background of processes of peer influence within school classes.
Keywords: Class Composition, Disruptive Behaviour, Antisocial Behaviour, Popularity, Inclusion
Kerstin Jergus/Sandra Koch/Christiane Thompson
May I observe you? On the ‘pedagogical status’ of observation in early education
The point of departure for this paper is that “observation” has recently become a productive and constitutive instrument for pedagogical processes and pedagogical practice in general. Assuming a plurality of educational knowledge, the paper provides a discourse analysis of German conceptual and practice-oriented texts on early childhood education about observation by reconstructing four systematic figures. These figures convey the generative structures of the educators’ interpellations in the field. In the final sections of the paper, these structures are reflected upon in light of the recent transformation in the field of early education as well as the possibility of constituting new attitudes on the side of the educators.
Keywords: Observation, Educational Knowledge, Early Education, Interpellation, Discourse Analysis
Thomas Lerche/Sabine Weiß/Ewald Kiel
The Myth of Previous Pedagogical Experience
Despite the lack of empirical evidence, previous pedagogical experience preceding a course of studies is considered to be of high relevance with regard to the choice of studies, for instance in study courses for the teaching profession, and it is often accompanied by respective benefits. Likewise, hardly any statement can be made as to whether such previous experiences are reflected in the motive structure of future teachers. The results of the present study indicate that previous pedagogical experience has no direct influence, measured by success and the joy felt because of it, on the motivation or intention related to the choice of career. The justification for the high weight given to previous pedagogical experience in university processes of selection should therefore be critically examined.
Keywords: Motive for Career Choice, Teaching Studies, Prior Knowledge in Education, Choice of Degree, Selection Procedure
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