Teachers as policy makers. Class notes
February 18, 2006
Done by Dilya Anayatova
Class discussion of Marx’s Quotation: “Humans make their own history, but they do
not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected
circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and
transmitted from the past.”
- Humans follow ideas/beliefs, but interpretation can be different.
- Research vs circumstances, structure vs agency different notions in which a teacher
-
explicitly or implicitly influence or be influenced.
Dialectical materialism: creating your own idea and breaking traditional ideas.
History is not vacuum, we relate it with our own experience and transform it.
Discussion on three articles Brown (2010), Nero (2014), Zhang& Hu (2010) in mini-groups: 20
mins.
Brown (2010)
1. In one of the introductory sections to the article, Brown states: "Despite policy
advances, schools remain problematic sites for promoting linguistic pluralism." Why is
that?
- Lack of resources (textbooks, teachers) to sustain long term HL/LUL education.
- Standardized/mandatory testing system of schools’ homogeneity which neglects
pluralism/diversity of languages and promotes national/official language learning only.
2. Key concepts used in article.
Protective erasure/covert reinscription – both terms are used as an oxymoron, they are
paradoxical and limit the revitalisation of Võro language. The author emphasized that in
this level of Võro language promotion, these terms are more appropriate, because
teachers can support the language silently and covertly to avoid conflict from
unsupportive individuals (parents, regular teachers, administrators).
3. Brown doesn't directly spell out the linguistic hierarchy (i.e., the relationship between
various languages used and taught in Estonian schools) since independence in 1991.
Produce a visual representation of that relationship based on what you inferred from
the article. Which are the most important/widespread languages? Which are the
least/most local?
Official language and the “linguistic source” developed in schools is Standard Estonian
which is used as a medium of instruction for all public schools, and mandatory language
to be a citizen (they created “Estonian citizenship test” for all people when getting a
citizenship). Also there are some Russian-medium and private schools. In curriculum,
there are international languages such as English, German, Finnish, French and Russian.
Other reginal languages including Võro, considered as dialects and lost the status in 20th
century.
Cell of Estonian languages
4. The article is premised on teachers as policy actors, that is, as local policy actors with
specific abilities/power/choice/freedom to carry out Estonia's regional language
education policy. What real choices, real power, real freedom do they have? What false
choices confront them, or, what factors limit their freedom and power as policy actors?
Real choice- there are after school and hobby Estonian classes
False choice- Võro classes are after school which means students are tired and there are
many factors (bus schedules, time, pedagogical frustration) that makes learning nearly
impossible
Real power- a teacher decides activities in class, curriculum organisation
False power- Võro teachers are not supported by parents, other teachers and
administrators.
Real freedom- ties with real choice
False freedom- conflicts with parents, irregular attendance etc
Brown (2010) connection with Mortimer (2013):
 how policy agents appropriate language policy in the way
 language as a problem/issue of national identity
 how “embedded ideology” limits people’s attitudes/possibilities/abilities
towards HL education
 contradictions: Brown’s article (2010) curriculum limits language education;
Mortimer(2013) discourse (beliefs, attitudes) limits language education.
Zhang& Hu (2010)
3-level framework of curriculum processes (Deng, in press; Doyle, 1992a, 1992b)
From “agent” perspective
-
Expectation of society from government
institutional
curriculum
intended/programmatic
curriculum
-
enachted/classroom curriculum
-
Bridge between abstract and classroom
curriculum; teachers synthesize and interpret
official documents
Social factors, philosophy/attitudes/beliefs
of teachers
From “structure” perspective
enachted/classroom curriculum
intended/programmatic
curriculum
institutional
curriculum
Objective structured framework shapes our perception ->choice -> limited choice-> false choice
Question: if there were a novel teaching method, what will be successful to use TBM than topdown method?
- Cultural mismatch:
 Teacher vs student-centered teaching
 Performance based assessment vs test based assessment
 Method vs content vs test -> what is ideal combination?
Nero (2014)
Discussion about Jamaican Creole and Standard Jamaican English.
- active agents in language policy are government and teachers.
- Attitude about JC is mostly negative (language of low socioeconomic class) and SJE is
proper way for communication.
Core questions: Is JC dialect or broken language or separate language?