Eszter Neumann | Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Centre for Social Sciences,

Papers by Eszter Neumann

This special issue of the European Educational Research Journal collects articles from the sessio... more This special issue of the European Educational Research Journal collects articles from the sessions organised by the newly launched sociologies of education network (network 28) of the European Education Research Association (EERA) at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) held in 2012. Scholars who contributed to the sessions as presenters or commenters from the audience argued that there is a need to reconsider the methodologies, missions and the traditional themes of the sociology of education in an era when the institutions of education and learning practices are being profoundly reshaped by the processes of globalisation. A core part of this reflection is to expand sociological imagination and to think beyond fixed and nation-state bound categories in which sociology of education had traditionally understood education, policy and society. This issue collects articles that have, to lesser or greater extent, gained inspiration from the Latourian version of actor-network theory (ANT) and experiment with socio-material understanding of educational processes because they all argue that many newly emergent education policy and practice phenomena can be better grasped as a genuinely fluid, networked and mobile process. While the articles all engage with the idea of developing a mobile sociology of education, they altogether do not attempt to offer a homogeneous programme but rather invite the readers for discussion about renewing the sociological vocabulary and for reflection on the potentials of a new perspective sensitive of mobilities and assemblages. This special issue explores the theoretical and the methodological effects of the mobility turn in sociology of education. It emerges out of a collective work of a group of researchers of the European Educational Research Association's (EERA) network 28 (named 'Sociologies of Education') interested in renewing sociological discourse, and in particular, in proposing sociological views that may contribute or complement our understanding of the unfolding phenomena in education and society. Spaces of education in Europe and all over the world are being reshaped by complex transformations. These may be partly related to the dominance of the neo-liberal agenda and to the effects of the financial crisis, and partly to inherent changes either connected to the diffusion of the new technologies of information and communication, or to the repositioning of the nation state and its modernistic education project. It seems increasingly problematic to interpret the spaces of education and learning as enclosed, embedded, or bounded to such distinct categories as the statenation, society, region, school, classroom etc. because its core features are related to mobility and transnational educational (re)configurations: to border-crossings, assembling people, technologies, policies and objects. Instead of formal qualifications, informal strategies of learning and problemsolving are gaining value in the global labour market. The challenges of Europeanisation in education (Lawn & Grek, 2012) and the new forms of the (re)production of inequalities pinpoint

Originally, the concept of resilience refers to one’s capacity to cope with unexpected shocks and... more Originally, the concept of resilience refers to one’s capacity to cope with unexpected shocks and unpredictable situations. Originating from ecological theories, the approach has gained ground in social sciences. In the context of education, the concept has been applied to explain how disadvantaged students can overcome structural constraints and become educationally successful and socially mobile (Werner, E. E., Vulnerable but invincible: a longitudinal study of resilient children and youth. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1982; Masten A. S., American Psychologist 56: 227–238, 2001; Reid, R., Botterrill L. C., Australian Journal of Public Administration 72:31–40, 2013; Máté, D., Erdélyi Társadalom 13:43–55, 2015).This paper is based on the analysis of the Hungarian National Assessment of Basic Competences (NABC) database which has been conducted annually since 2001. We created a typology of school resilience based on the schools’ social and ethnic profile as well as their performance indica...

Journal of Educational Sciences, 2021

With the sudden widespread closure of schools since February-March 2020 due to the physical dista... more With the sudden widespread closure of schools since February-March 2020 due to the physical distancing measures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital competences became a focus of attention, being of central importance to the swift and equitable transition to the various forms of emergency remote teaching implemented throughout the world as a strategy to insure continuity in education. This almost instantaneous mass shift to teaching online has made transparent great disparities in how digital competences -- particularly those of teachers -- were conceptualized, taught and assessed within various educational programs. We present a comparative analysis of the approaches to teachers' learning and professional development that state and non-state actors in four Central and East European countries have articulated in the first months of COVID-19 related lockdown. We take a Critical Frame Analysis approach to exploring the roles played by state and non-state actors in th...

Revue internationale d'éducation de Sèvres

The Journal of Quality in Education

In our paper, we will present some of the findings that we have obtained in the framework of an i... more In our paper, we will present some of the findings that we have obtained in the framework of an international research1. Although the call for papers of this conference did not exactly mention the topics we are about to introduce, we decided to present our results here since we find them rather challenging.On one hand, it is in fact important to study the different mechanisms that can be introduced in the higher educational sector in order to assure quality in research (for example, creation of a policy of quality assurance within the institutions, or make it possible to find and follow up every single research, or introducing a protocol to be followed in terms of the documentation of the scientific researches etc). But on the other hand, it is also important to investigate into the conditions of research at the macro-sociological level, so at the level of the nation-state (in fact, such investigations could deal with the role of the supra-national agencies also, these latter having...

Journal of Education Policy, Dec 10, 2017

Journal of Education Policy

ABSTRACT Informed by the ideology of ‘deliverology’, performance measurement has become a core co... more ABSTRACT Informed by the ideology of ‘deliverology’, performance measurement has become a core component of how English schools are held accountable for the quality of their provision. A wealth of research conducted in diverse national contexts where this approach has been influential has suggested that the unintended harms it generates – including a widening of inequalities, a test-driven pedagogic culture and a narrowing of the curriculum – may be outweighing its benefits. In an attempt to circumnavigate such perverse effects, the performance measures used in England have become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, giving them a prima facie plausibility that has led to them being welcomed by some progressive educators as a means of increasing access to high-status knowledge for disadvantaged students. This paper uses data from a survey of English school teachers to interrogate this plausibility. The analysis suggests that when we drill down into the daily life of schools and its underlying logic it becomes increasingly difficult to be comfortable with the progressive defence of the performance measures currently in use; and that, far from improving educational quality, the measures themselves, and the wider deliverology framework with which they are associated, are in certain fundamental respects incompatible with quality improvement.

Educatio

Az iskola nem sziget kutatásban olyan multietnikus környezetben található iskolákat keresünk fel,... more Az iskola nem sziget kutatásban olyan multietnikus környezetben található iskolákat keresünk fel, amelyek hátrányos társadalmi összetételük ellenére kimagasló eredményeket érnek el a tanulókkal. A kutatás során az iskolai és települési reziliencia feltételeiről szeretnénk mélyebb megértést szerezni. Tanulmányunkban bemutatjuk a kutatás elméleti és módszertani alapvetéseit, valamint összefoglaljuk a statisztikai elemzések és a terepmunka első eredményeit. Kulcsszavak: iskolai reziliencia, közösségi reziliencia, roma oktatás Our research titled Th e School is not an Island focuses on disadvantaged schools in multiethnic communities which have a high pedagogic added value and perform above the expected level in the national assessment. Th e research aims to gain a deeper insight on the conditions of community and school resilience in Hungary. Th e article presents the theoretical foundations and methodological approach of our study and it also gives a taste of the fi rst results of the statistical analysis and the fi eldwork.

Iskolakultúra

Az egyházi fenntartók aránya az utóbbi évtizedben jelentősen megemelkedett a magyar általános isk... more Az egyházi fenntartók aránya az utóbbi évtizedben jelentősen megemelkedett a magyar általános iskolarendszerben.Az egyházi iskolák jellemzően társadalmilag kevésbé heterogének, tanulóik magasabb társadalmi státuszúak, mint az állami fenntartású iskolák diákjai, növekvő számuk pedig szervesen hozzájárul a magyar iskolarendszer társadalmi polarizációjához. Az oktatáskutatások kevésbé foglalkoztak azonban eddig azokkal az egyházi intézményekkel, amelyek a környékbeli iskolákkal összevetve hátrányosabb társadalmi összetételűek, és roma tanulókat is fogadnak. Tanulmányunkban négy olyan református általános iskolával foglalkozunk, amelyek viszonylag magas arányban fogadnak roma tanulókat is. Részletesebben elemezzük a vizsgált általános iskolák egyházi átvételének körülményeit és beiskolázási stratégiáit, valamint a roma és hátrányos helyzetű tanulók kirekesztésének és befogadásának jellegzetes folyamatait. Végül kitérünk a roma integrációval kapcsolatos iskolai narratívákra, arra keresve...

Journal of Education Policy

ABSTRACT With the rise of accountability policies since the early nineties, the daily operation o... more ABSTRACT With the rise of accountability policies since the early nineties, the daily operation of English schools has profoundly changed. Through the in-depth analysis of ability grouping practices in one English secondary school, this paper aims to explore how the accountability shift and datafication impacted the practice of student grouping and students’ experience of education. The paper documents how an English secondary school which had fully endorsed the comprehensive ideal gradually shifted from mixed ability teaching to a rigid system of hierarchically arranged attainment-based grouping structure over a period of decades, and explores the pedagogical dilemmas that data-driven governance generates. The paper concludes that the school’s data-driven practice creates an environment of competition and an experience of incessant insecurities for the students which unsettlingly echo the culture of the late neoliberal labour market.

Sport, Education and Society

ABSTRACT This paper explores the implications of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) for secondary ... more ABSTRACT This paper explores the implications of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) for secondary school physical education (PE) departments and their teachers. The EBacc is a key performance measure that is published annually for each school, which privileges a particular set of traditional academic subjects, and in doing so, marginalises other subjects, including PE. At the same time as responding to this performance measure, secondary schools in England are required to respond to a wider set of policy reforms and innovations. This can sometimes result in overlap, collision and policy clash. For example, while PE is being sidelined and PE staffing reduced by the EBacc, there is national concern surrounding issues of fitness, health and well-being that schools are expected to address and which are often traditionally seen as the responsibility of PE departments. A reduction in their staffing will inevitably have consequences for their ability to respond in meaningful ways to such non-academic policy imperatives. Drawing on a study of the impact of recent curriculum and accountability reforms in English secondary schools (Neumann, E., Towers, E., Gewirtz, S., & Maguire, M. 2016. A curriculum for all? The effects of recent Key Stage 4 curriculum, assessment and accountability reforms on English secondary education. London: National Union of Teachers), this paper presents evidence of the marginalisation of PE and PE teachers’ ensuing concerns about their job security. It also explores changes that have been made to the PE curriculum in an attempt to make the subject more academically demanding and considers what this means for PE teachers and their students. The authors conclude that if PE is going to contribute to broader fitness, health and wellbeing agendas, then there is an urgent need for a renewed debate – that reaches beyond PE communities and constituencies – about what PE is for, why it is important and how it can be better supported.

Research Papers in Education

ABSTRACT This paper returns to a long-standing theme in education research, the ways in which ‘co... more ABSTRACT This paper returns to a long-standing theme in education research, the ways in which ‘contextual factors impact on what schools do, as well as directly on what pupils achieve’ (Lupton, 2004, 4). Drawing on a project designed to explore the early effects of reforms to national examinations, the curriculum for 14−16 year olds and school accountability measures in English secondary schools, this paper considers the perceptions and experiences of teachers currently charged with enacting these reforms specifically in the light of their situated school realities in three different settings. A case is made for a contextually sensitive approach towards policy making and policy enactment that takes account of some of the more nuanced distinctions among schools’ contextual positionings.

Journal of Educational Sciences, 2021

Revue internationale d'éducation de Sèvres

The Journal of Quality in Education

Journal of Education Policy, Dec 10, 2017

Journal of Education Policy

Educatio

Iskolakultúra

Journal of Education Policy

Sport, Education and Society

Research Papers in Education

This book collects a handful of articles in the field of the history of education that investigat... more This book collects a handful of articles in the field of the history of education that investigate how the rising relevance of statistics and standardized data collection gradually transformed our thinking about education systems. The common theoretical framings of the empirically oriented studies constructively bring together various traditions of social inquiry: (a) the strand of the sociology of knowledge that investigates the emergence of statistics as a fundamental technology of modern government: the new sociology of statistics elaborated by Desrosières (2002), Hacking (1990), Shapin (1994) and Porter (1996) among many others, as well as Foucault's work (1980) on systems of thought and governmentality and Latour's actor-network theory (2005); (b) the historical sociology of the emergence of modern mass schooling systems (e.g. Turmel, 2008); and (c) the strand of policy sociology that focuses on 'travelling policies' and the new technologies of governing 'at a distance' (e.g. Popkewitz 2005, Ozga et al. 2011). Each empirical study reconnects to the theoretical issues proposed by the above schools of thought. Altogether, the discussions of the institutional histories between the last decades of the 19 th century and the first half of the 20 th century integrate to a coherent narrative about the epistemology and genealogy of education statistics. The volume is both edited and introduced by Martin Lawn who in the last decades has focussed his research on the Europeanisation of education and the 'fabrication' of a new European education policy space (Lawn & Nóvoa, 2002). Lawn explains that the common frame of the historical investigations presented in the book is the process how numerical data gained a power of explanation in the governance of education by offering " an esoteric and unknowable set of techniques for many in the field (…) *that+ operates by excluding the values, ideas and politics " (p7). The case studies explore how the rise of numerical data had fundamentally redesigned education systems and formed a new governing paradigm that considerably affects the learning subjectivities and the aims of education practices. " The Internalization of Education Data: exhibitions, tests, standards and associations " authored by Lawn focuses on how the great world expositions produced a new demand to display and compare the features of national education systems and thus fostered the growth of numerical data. The analysis argues that the second part of the 19 th century was a transition period between paradigms of describing and assessing education systems: an elongated shift took place from the dominance of visual depictions to that of statistics which was advanced by the new demand on behalf of the state administration to quantify the economic needs and the social effects of the institutionalizing national mass education system. As a result, the first half of the 20 th century witnessed an excessive growth of data production, the construction of new testing devices and the development of complex statistical apparatuses. The context of international statistical data production was the increasing interaction of the scientific and the policy fields between the two world wars. With the lead of the USA, the 1950s and 60s brought about the first large-scale international comparative projects which have significantly shaped how education systems are governed today when data production is not any more merely administrative, but linked to audit, production and performativity. It is concluded

Fordulat, 2021

A „nyugatos”, liberális és nemzeti-konzervatív pólusok mentén kettészakadt magyar oktatáspolitika... more A „nyugatos”, liberális és nemzeti-konzervatív pólusok mentén kettészakadt magyar oktatáspolitikai mezőben az elmúlt harminc évben nem jelent meg elkötelezett, koherensen végiggondolt baloldali oktatáspolitikai alternatíva. Cikkünkben arra vállalkozunk, hogy felvázoljuk egy korszerű és átfogó baloldali oktatáspolitikai megközelítés legfontosabb alapvetéseit, egyrészt a hazai oktatásra vonatkozó kritikai meglátásokra, másrészt a baloldali oktatásról és pedagógiáról szóló nemzetközi szakirodalomra támaszkodva. Írásunk vitairat: nem elemzésekre és adatokra, hanem alapelvekre épül. A felvázolt baloldali, rendszerkritikus oktatáspolitikai megközelítés főbb elemei: makroszinten az egyenlősítő oktatás és a hozzá kapcsolódó, hosszú alapozószakasszal induló komprehenzív iskolarendszer, az iskola társadalmi beágyazottságának szemlélete, az osztályérzékeny, politikai térként működő iskola; mezoszinten az adatív, közösségi iskola; mikroszinten pedig a demokratikus pedagógiai gyakorlat. Ezeket a szempontokat kiegészíti a pedagógus mint társadalomformáló, autonóm értelmiségi hivatásképe, és a tantervben is érvényesülő osztályérzékenység.

Fordulat, 2021

A tanulmány egy, a Helyzet Műhely1 tagjai által kidolgozott kiscsoportos tréning módszertanát és ... more A tanulmány egy, a Helyzet Műhely1 tagjai által kidolgozott kiscsoportos tréning módszertanát és néhány tanulságát mutatja be. Pierre Bourdieu nyomán Szocioanalízisnek nevezett tréningünk elsősorban segítő szakmákban (szociális munkás, egészségügyi dolgozó, pedagógus, pszichológus) dolgozó leendő vagy már gyakorló szakembereknek szól. Tréningünk célja, hogy a résztvevők képesek legyenek reflektáltan érzékelni a társadalmi teret: tudatosítsák saját társadalmi helyzetükből és családi szocializációjukból származó észlelési, cselekvési, gondolkodási sémáikat; és vegyék észre, hogy más pozíciókból a társadalmi tér máshogyan észlelhető. Egyik előfeltevésünk ugyanis, hogy a segítő kapcsolat, mint minden egyéb szolidaritási viszony, a szereplők társadalmi helyzete által erősen meghatározott, és e meghatározottságoknak az érintettek csak részlegesen vannak tudatában. A társadalmi helyzetünk e reflektálatlan, vagy a szó pszichoanalitikus értelmében is tudattalan működésmódja teszi lehetővé a status quo fennmaradását. A tanulmányban tréningjeink jellegzetes tematikáját (a társadalmi világ észlelése, etnicizált osztályhelyzetek és rasszizmus, szakmai közösségek társadalmi kontextusa és belső hierarchiája) keretező elméleti belátásokat és az ezekhez kapcsolódó tréningfeladatokat mutatjuk be példákkal és elemzéssel.

Eszter Neumann | Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Centre for Social Sciences, (original) (raw)

Papers by Eszter Neumann