EDN6001F Pedagogy, Knowledge and Society
Module outline 2012
Presenters:
Ursula Hoadley & Joe Muller
Contact:
Ursula Hoadley
Humanities Room 5.14.3
021 650 3998
uk.hoadley@uct.ac.za
Venue:
Graduate School of Humanities Building, School of Education staff room
Time:
Mondays 4pm – 7pm
Joe Muller
Humanities Room
021 650 2778
johan.muller@uct.ac.za
The course privileges the notion of curriculum as a selection and organisation of knowledge for
transmission. Being sociologically rooted, the course is also concerned with the differential
distribution of knowledge and its transmission across different groups in society. Central to the
course, therefore, are the questions of what knowledge is included in the formal curriculum, how it
is organised, and what the implications of this organisation are for different groups of learners.
Basil Bernstein provides the main theoretical resource in exploring these issues. We will consider
the development of his theory, from an investigation of curriculum forms and pedagogic modalities,
to an analysis of how knowledge is transformed for pedagogic communication, through to his
theorisation of different knowledge structures. Throughout the module, exemplars of empirical work
that address the questions of the course are considered. Further, attention will be drawn to a
particular research methodology deployed within the Bernsteinian tradition – the development of
languages of description. In short, the course focuses on the relationship between schooling and
society, and some research that has pursued questions around this within a particular theoretical
tradition.
The readings listed for the sessions below are compulsory, apart from those marked with an
asterisk which are optional. A list of additional readings will be made available. All readings are
also available on VULA.
Due date for submission of course essay: Monday 7 May 2012, 3pm
Session 1: Introduction Monday 13 February
Charlot, B. (2009). School and the pupils’ work. Educational Sciences Journal, 10, pp. 87-94.
*Young, M. (2007). What is schooling for? In Daniels, H., Lauder, H., and Porter, J. (Eds.), The
Routledge Companion to Education, Routledge.
Session 2: Why do we go to school? Monday 20 February
Holland, J. (1981). Social class and changes in orientations to meaning. Sociology, 15, pp. 1-18.
Painter, C. (1999). Preparing for school: developing a semantic style for educational knowledge. In
F. Christie (Ed.), Pedagogy and the shaping of consciousness (pp. 1-9). London & New York:
Continuum.
*Bernstein, B. (1971). A socio-linguistic approach to socialisation: with some reference to
educability. Class, codes and control, volume 3. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
*Grignon, C. (2010). Lingusitic handicap, special handicap and intellectual handicap. In Frandji, D.
& Vitale, P. (eds) Knowledge, Pedagogy & Society: International perspectives on Basil Bernstein's
sociology of education. Abingdon, Routledge
Session 3: Describing curriculum Monday 27 February
Bernstein, B. (1975) On the curriculum. Class, codes and control, volume 3. London: Routledge
and Kegan Paul.
Bernstein, B. (1975). On the classification and framing of educational knowledge. Class, codes and
control, volume 3. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Muller, J. 2006. ‘Differentiation and progression in the curriculum’, in M. Young & J. Gamble (eds),
M. Young & J. Gamble (eds), Knowledge, Curriculum & Qualifications for South African Further
Education. Cape Town, HSRC Press.
Session 4: Describing pedagogy Monday 5 March
Bernstein (1990) Social class and pedagogic practice. Class, codes and control volume IV.
London: Routledge.
Morais, A., Neves, I. & Pires, D. (2004). The what and the how of teaching and learning. In J.
Muller, B. Davies & A. Morais (Eds.), Reading Bernstein researching Bernstein, London,
RoutledgeFalmer.
*Rose, D. (2004). Sequencing and pacing of the hidden curriculum: how indigenous children are
left out of the chain. In J. Muller, B. Davies & A. Morais (Eds.), Reading Bernstein ,researching
Bernstein, London, RoutledgeFalmer.
*Hoadley, U. (2007). The reproduction of social class inequalities through mathematics pedagogies
in South African primary schools. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 39,6,pp. 679-706
Session 5: How knowledge becomes pedagogic communication Monday 12 March
Bernstein, B. (1996). The pedagogic device. Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity. London:
Taylor and Francis.
Singh, P. (2002). Pedagogising knowledge: Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogic device. British
Journal of Sociology of Education, 23, 4, 571 - 582.
Session 6: Knowledge structures Monday 19 March
Bernstein, B. (1999). Vertical and horizontal discourse: An essay. British Journal of Sociology of
Education, 20, 2, pp. 157-73.
Moore, R. (2007). Hierarchical knowledge structures and the canon: A preference for judgements.
In Sociology of knowledge and education. Continuum.
*Christie, F. & Macken-Horarik, M. (2007) Building verticality in subject English. In: F. Christie &
J.R. Martin (Eds.), Language, knowledge and pedagogy: Functional linguistic and sociological
perspectives. London & New York: Continuum.
Session 7: Bernstein and research Monday 26 March
Bernstein, B. (1996). Research and languages of description. Pedagogy, symbolic control and
identity. London: Taylor and Francis.
Moore, R. (2007). Knowledge structures and intellectual fields: Basil Bernstein and the sociology of
knowledge. In Sociology of knowledge and education. Continuum.
Session 8: Resume and discussion of assignment drafts Monday 16 April