- Email: [email protected]
School experiences and teacher socialization: A longitudinal study of pupils who grew up to be teachers
Ttwchrq Printed
& Teacher Educarron. Britam
Vol
8, No. 516, pp. 465470.
1992
0742+351X/92 $5.00+0.00 Pergamon Press Ltd
in Great
SCHOOL EXPERIENCES AND TEACHER SOCIALIZATION: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF PUPILS WHO GREW UP TO BE TEACHERS
SVERKER
LINDBLAD Uppsala
and HfiCTOR University,
PI?REZ
PRIETO
Sweden
Abstract-In this paper it is argued that experiences as a pupil are of importance for socialization into the teaching profession. Schooling experiences of pupils that turned to the teaching professions are compared with their school fellows who turned to other careers. Our data are based on a longitudinal study carried out in a Swedish medium-sized community where pupils were followed from the school start (at age 7) into adulthood (to age 23). Out of 671 pupils 34 later turned to teacher careers. During primary school the group of pupils who later became teachers were more well-adjusted and stimulated students compared to the other pupils. And as adults they have specific perspectives of schooling close to those predominant in middle-class positions and distant from those frequent in working-class positions, according to our data. Based on these findings it is argued that teachers and student teachers have to reflect upon and to analyze their own school experiences in order to understand differences in experiences and rationalities among their own students.
When you talk with Swedish primary school teachers about their career and why they picked teaching as their profession you will unfailingly get answers like this: It just happened.. .I have always liked to take care of children.. even when I was very young I thought it was fascinating to make children listen __. I never thought about another profession.. .I just continued after secondary school to teachers’ college. (female teacher. 47 years old)
Or another
story of a male school
teacher:
I played school with my cousins when I was a little kid...1 played the teacher. And my aunt who was a teacher told me to become a teacher. In secondary school I was quite focused on becoming a teacher.. .and continued directly to teachers’ college. (male teacher. 51 years old).
around the lector..and stood..and I loved school (female, 55 years old). Of course, in teachers’ narratives other determinants were in play as well - for example, the current situation of the labor market or patterns of gender discrimination (‘ ‘ . . .the counselor told me that there are no women who are female 52 years old). meteorologists.. .“, Nevertheless, at least in retrospect, many experienced teachers give detailed descriptions of their own schooling experiences. Considering this, such experiences might be very influential not only as purported reasons for picking the career of teaching but also for teachers’ thinking about their teaching and conceptions of their students. Is there something special about teachers’ own schooling experiences in comparison with those of their school mates?
In several stories we hear about teachers’ experiences as pupils. They had teachers they liked or disliked and who they still are using as examples for their own teaching: “She started every morning.. .come here girls...and we sat
Background To understand teaching it is of considerable interest to know the actors - who they are and
The current study was carried out with the support of the Swedish Sciences and the Swedish National Board of Education. 465
Council
for Research
in the Humanities
and the Social
466
SVERKER
LINDBLAD
and HfiCTOR
how they conceive of their task. This has been an ambition for research on teacher thinking (Clark & Peterson, 1986) with a focus on the teaching process. In this study we have a more “biographical” interest, which we have in common with Butt (1983), and Connelly and Clandinin (1983). However, we are dealing with comparative characterizations of those who later became teachers - what did their school experiences as pupils look like, what are their perspectives on their own education - in relation to their school fellows pursuing other careers? Our study was of a group of Swedish teachers and preschool teachers - their own school history and perspectives on schooling - based on a reanalysis of a previous longitudinal study. We hope that this will serve as a basis for discussions about selection and socialization into the teaching profession and the implications of this for teacher education.
The Context
of Teaching and of Teacher Socialization
The social conditions of teacher thinking have been recognized (e.g., Clark & Peterson, 1986) though only slightly elaborated in empirical studies. However, there are studies on social aspects of teaching: Waller (1932) dealt with social determinants on teaching. Charters (1963) reviewed studies on the social background of teaching. Lottie (1975) analyzed the specific ethos of American school teachers related to the recruitment and socialization to teaching in comparison with other professions. Lindblad (1986) studied the social class orientations of Swedish teachers in comparison with different social classes and strata. In studies such as those presented, one conclusion is that teachers have specific orientations as members of a specific profession and as a distinctive group in their respective societies. To understand this we will turn to the socialization of teachers. Socialization into the teaching profession is hard to trace in terms of a specific technological culture (e.g., Lortie, 1975) or in terms of a distinct professional role (cf. Wilson, 1962). Lot-tie (1975, p. 79) refers to the self-
PeREZ
PRIETO
socialization into the teaching profession. “. . .one’s personal predispositions are not only relevant but, in fact, stand at the core of becoming a teacher.” From a perspective of cultural reproduction, Muel-Dreyfus (1985) studied the constrained relations between teachers’ dispositions and tasks in relation to social and cultural developments in France. From her study we can learn that these school teachers’ dispositions had a cultural determination linked to their families’ strategies of reproduction. Stated briefly, upbringing and schooling experiences seem to be of specific importance for teachers considering their social position and professional culture. Based on such considerations, it was deemed important to study the schooling experiences and perspectives of pupils who later became teachers in comparison with the experiences of pupils who later on chose other careers. Furthermore, relations between social position and perspectives on schooling were regarded to be of importance from a cultural point of view (e.g., Willis, 1977). To what extent have teachers developed perspectives on schooling that are close to and different from various other groups in society? Have they internalized the dominating paradigm of schooling in a way that perhaps leads to a miscognition of other cultural responses to schooling and teaching?
Purpose With this study we aimed to elucidate answers to the following questions by means of a reanalysis of a longitudinal study: 1. How did the pupils who later became teachers and preschool teachers perform in school and how did they conceive of schooling when they were pupils, in comparison with other groups in other careers? 2. What are the perspectives on schooling among teachers and preschool teachers in comparison with other groups with different careers in the social structure? Based on answers to these questions we will discuss some implications of the findings for teaching and teacher education.
School
Experiences
and Teacher
Methods The Careers The longitudinal study is based on a previous study concerning the effects of learning English as early as grade 1 in the comprehensive school. All 1970 beginners (n = 1029 subjects) in a medium-sized Swedish town participated from grade 1 to grade 9 in a number of investigations in the 1970s. They were then followed up in two further waves during the 1980s. Careers were defined in terms of positions of occupations in the social structure (Therborn, 1973). A rough distinction in respectively working- and middleclass positions was used and related to social origin (parents’ position) and destiny (own position in the social structure). School
Performances
School performance was measured by various tests during the primary school (grades l-6; in 1970 - 1976) where no organizational differentiation was present in the school. We used tests in Swedish, mathematics, and Intelligence (School Readiness Test and DBA - Differential Aptitude Analysis) as indications of what are regarded as knowledge and intellectual skills. The development of achievement is presented in diagrams based on standardized scores (mean = 0 and deviation = 1) for the tests in focus. Perspectives
A follow-up study (1986) showed us scales of different perspectives on schooling experiences in retrospect, This study was performed as a survey with an answer ratio (disregarding Table
Socialization
467
technical non-responses) of just over 70% (n = 671), without any systematic bias according to class, gender, and earlier attitudes toward school.
Results In Table 1 we find the cohort distributed in terms of origin and destiny - at this stage of their life trajectory. There is an empirical correlation between social background and career. Working-class children have one chance in three to pursue a middle-class career. The reverse chance holds true for middle-class children. Among the persons who turn to teaching professions - which is a middle-class occupation - one-third (10 out of 34) have a workingclass background. A very large share are women (27 out of 34). The findings are consistent with other studies on recruitment to teaching professions. When the Teachers
were Pupils
Figure 1 illustrates school performances and experiences grade by grade in primary school among pupils of different origins and careers. Swedish is used as an example. Mean for the whole cohort is standardized to 0. Results are presented for each career and for those who later become teachers as deviations from the total mean. The pupils who later became teachers and preschool teachers present rather ordinary achievement results. Nevertheless, they find their schooling much more experiences stimulating than do their fellows. In addition,
1
Parrr~ts Chss
Positior~ a/ Age 10 and Own Class Position
at Age 23. Numbers
Own class position Parents
class position
Working-class Middle-class Total Class
position
Working-class 203 149 352
is based
on classification
Middle-class (minus teachers) 91 194 285 of occupations.
Teachers 10 24 34
Total 304 367 671
SVERKER
468
LINDBLAD
and HlkTOR
0.6
PkREZ
PRIETO
075
0.6 04
-
02
-
-
Teachers
-
Teachers
-.-
Middle-class
-.-
,M,il;lll;class
---
Middle-class stayers
-..-
Working-class leavers
kWWS ---
-.‘-
-
-04
-
-‘-.-‘_._.__C__._._._._._
om; 025
+ /Q c_
Working-class leavers
0
..... Working-class stayers
-0.25
0 -0.2
Middle-class stayers
,_._.-LL_,____ cc*-u.<; . . . . . . . . ...’
-.-._
..,,,, ,,,,y7-.:“.. ,L . . ....”
-
-“-“I
../“
.‘.. . . . . . . .._......_ .. ._..............~., I Swgrl
I Swgr2
I Swgr3
-050
.._. Swgr4
Swgr6
’ 9r 1
’ 9r 2 Swedish:
I 9r3
Work
in comparison
Discussion
At the age of 23 the teachers and student teachers, as well as the other subjects in the cohort, presented their perspectives on schooling. As a group, teachers were close to perspectives from middle-class positions and distant from the working-class perspectives as is shown in Figure 2, where mean values for the whole cohort is equal to 0. Their criticisms concerning the unfairness of education are due to the fact that in this study females in middle-class careers are often critical concerning the fairness of schooling. The ways our teachers conceived of their own teachers are illustrated in Figure 3. We here see a well-developed understanding of
The study showed that the pupils who later became teachers are of a specific kind - as a group they could be characterized as welladjusted overachievers in primary school. As adults they have specific perspectives on schooling - close to those predominant in middle-class positions and distant from those prevailing in working-class positions. The teachers are - according to our studies (Lindblad & PCrez, 1990) very remote from a resistance perspective (Willis, 1977) on schooling. A tentative conclusion from this finding is that among teachers there are tendencies based on own schooling experiences - to
Own teachers
Acceptance
participation
Fellows
careers
their own teachers compared to the other groups in the cohort.
Perspectives on Schooling in Retrospect
Resistance
I gr6
boring-engaging
in and attitudes to Swedish as a school subject. Different with pupils who turned into teachers. Z-values (N = 655).
they to some extent seem to be overachievers if their test results and grades are compared to each other, according to our findings.
Strategic
I gr5
I. Students’ performances
Figure
Active
I gr4
Did care
and fun Kept order
behaviour
instrumental Not too determining
Schoo\ is unfair -04
-02
0
02
04
06 Z-values
Z-values Figure
2.
Perspectives
and among
on
teachers.
schooling
Z-values
in different (N = 65.5).
careers
3. Perspectives students in different
Figure
on own teachers careers. Z-values
among former (N = 655).
School
Experiences
and Teacher
misunderstand or misrecognize actions and rationalities predominant among students making working-class careers - for example, in encoding classroom communication (e.g., Hall, 1980). However, teachers are not uncritical perhaps due to the increased interest in women’s liberation among female teachers. These results that refer to Swedish teachers can furthermore be related to Leiulfsrud and Lindblad (1991), who found that teachers in the Swedish and Norwegian welfare societies were more distant to workers in their orientations than their colleagues in the U.S., Canada, and West Germany. Thus, the current findings concerning teachers’ perspectives might be of regional character. It is argued that experiences as a pupil are important for socialization into the teaching profession. Thus, an implication for teacher education is to penetrate such experiences - for example, in terms of a biographical approach (Butt, 1983 - in order to prepare an understanding of different perspectives and experiences in teaching and learning among students. The same conclusion was drawn when considering the particular perspectives on schooling among those who have turned to the teaching professions. We have treated here some aspects of the social context of teacher thinking in terms of school experiences and perspectives on schooling in relation to positions in the social structure. If one conceives of communicative action as a vital part of teaching, an important task for teacher education and in-service training is to relativize the professional perspective on teaching and to discuss different rationalities in pedagogical processes. Let us give the floor to an experienced teacher born in a small village in the Northern part of Sweden: . .we worked on our own, and we helped each other in quite a different way...we were in that kind of school. Well, I was privileged in the way that...1 had some kind of status due to my parents’ occupation. I had no problems with teachers for instance or...that. Today, I have a positive perspective on teachers.. though there was . . . I might have been treated in a specific way. (female teacher, 57 years old)
She is telling a story about her school career in relation to her parents’ social position. From
Socialization
469
her reflections on these experiences we listen to a story of a traditional - perhaps patriarchal society where teachers and students did what was possible within the existing frames. Such stories as hers tell us about the formation of the school as a societal institution as well as the social construction of teachers. Education based on an idea of understanding students’ perspectives and reasoning requires teachers who reflect upon their own particular experiences of schooling (as students and later as parts of cultures of teaching, e.g., Hargreaves & Woods, 1984) and who recognize the impact of different experiences and rationalities among their students. References Butt, R. (1983). Arguments for using biography in understanding teacher thinking. In R. Halkes & J. Olson (Ed), Teacher thinking: A new perspective on persisting problems in education (pp. 95 - 102). Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger. Charters, W. W., Jr. (1963). The social background of teaching. N. L. Gage (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 715-813). Chicago: Rand McNally. Clark, C., & Peterson, P. (1986). Teachers’ thought processes In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (3rd ed., pp. 225-296). New York: Macmillan. Connelly, M., & Clandinin, J. (1983). Personal practical knowledge at Bay Street School: Ritual, personal philosophy and image. In R. Halkes & J. Olson (Ed.), Teacher thinking: A new perspective on persisting problems in education (pp. 134- 148) Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger. Hall. S. (1980). Encoding-decoding. In S. Hall, D. Hobson, A. Lowe, & P. Willis (Eds.). Culture, media, language. Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 1972 -79. London: Hutchinson. Hargreaves, A., & Woods, P. (Eds.). (1984). Classrooms and staj,lYooms. The sociology of teachers and teaching. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Leiulfsrud, H., & Lindblad, S. (1991, March). Teachers and societies: A comparative study of teachers ‘positions and orientations in the social structure. The cases of Canada, Norway, Sweden, the US, and West Germany. Paper presented at the CIES Conference, Pittsburgh. Lindblad, S. (1986). Teachers and social class orientation: An empirical note based on comparison with different social classes in Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 30. I 8 I - 192. Lindblad, S., & Perez, H. (1990. April). Careers and perspectives on schooling in the welfare state. A longitudinal study on students’ origin, destiny and experiences of schooling. Paper presented at the AERA 1990 meeting, Boston. Lortie. D. C. (1975). School teacher. A sociological study. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
470
SVERKER
LINDBLAD
and HECTOR
Miiel-Dreyfus, (1985). Utbildning, yrkesforvantningar och grusade forhoppningar. In D. Broady (Ed.), Ktthur och uthiklning. Om Pierre Bourdieus snciologi. Skriftserie 19X5:4. Stockholm: UHA. G. (1973). Drr .\,wuktr klmsatnhiillet Therborn. 1930- 1970 [The Swedish class society]. Lund: Zenit.
PEREZ
PRIETO
Wailer, W. (1932). 77te .coc~iolo~~~~ ofteac~/7i17g. New York: Wiley. Willis. P. ( 1977). Learning to labour. How working-class kids gel working-c1rr.s.sjobs. Farnborough: Saxon House. Wilson. B. R. (1962). The teacher’s role - A sociological analysis. British Jom7r1l of Sociology. 13. 137 - 158.
& Teacher Educarron. Britam
Vol
8, No. 516, pp. 465470.
1992
0742+351X/92 $5.00+0.00 Pergamon Press Ltd
in Great
SCHOOL EXPERIENCES AND TEACHER SOCIALIZATION: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF PUPILS WHO GREW UP TO BE TEACHERS
SVERKER
LINDBLAD Uppsala
and HfiCTOR University,
PI?REZ
PRIETO
Sweden
Abstract-In this paper it is argued that experiences as a pupil are of importance for socialization into the teaching profession. Schooling experiences of pupils that turned to the teaching professions are compared with their school fellows who turned to other careers. Our data are based on a longitudinal study carried out in a Swedish medium-sized community where pupils were followed from the school start (at age 7) into adulthood (to age 23). Out of 671 pupils 34 later turned to teacher careers. During primary school the group of pupils who later became teachers were more well-adjusted and stimulated students compared to the other pupils. And as adults they have specific perspectives of schooling close to those predominant in middle-class positions and distant from those frequent in working-class positions, according to our data. Based on these findings it is argued that teachers and student teachers have to reflect upon and to analyze their own school experiences in order to understand differences in experiences and rationalities among their own students.
When you talk with Swedish primary school teachers about their career and why they picked teaching as their profession you will unfailingly get answers like this: It just happened.. .I have always liked to take care of children.. even when I was very young I thought it was fascinating to make children listen __. I never thought about another profession.. .I just continued after secondary school to teachers’ college. (female teacher. 47 years old)
Or another
story of a male school
teacher:
I played school with my cousins when I was a little kid...1 played the teacher. And my aunt who was a teacher told me to become a teacher. In secondary school I was quite focused on becoming a teacher.. .and continued directly to teachers’ college. (male teacher. 51 years old).
around the lector..and stood..and I loved school (female, 55 years old). Of course, in teachers’ narratives other determinants were in play as well - for example, the current situation of the labor market or patterns of gender discrimination (‘ ‘ . . .the counselor told me that there are no women who are female 52 years old). meteorologists.. .“, Nevertheless, at least in retrospect, many experienced teachers give detailed descriptions of their own schooling experiences. Considering this, such experiences might be very influential not only as purported reasons for picking the career of teaching but also for teachers’ thinking about their teaching and conceptions of their students. Is there something special about teachers’ own schooling experiences in comparison with those of their school mates?
In several stories we hear about teachers’ experiences as pupils. They had teachers they liked or disliked and who they still are using as examples for their own teaching: “She started every morning.. .come here girls...and we sat
Background To understand teaching it is of considerable interest to know the actors - who they are and
The current study was carried out with the support of the Swedish Sciences and the Swedish National Board of Education. 465
Council
for Research
in the Humanities
and the Social
466
SVERKER
LINDBLAD
and HfiCTOR
how they conceive of their task. This has been an ambition for research on teacher thinking (Clark & Peterson, 1986) with a focus on the teaching process. In this study we have a more “biographical” interest, which we have in common with Butt (1983), and Connelly and Clandinin (1983). However, we are dealing with comparative characterizations of those who later became teachers - what did their school experiences as pupils look like, what are their perspectives on their own education - in relation to their school fellows pursuing other careers? Our study was of a group of Swedish teachers and preschool teachers - their own school history and perspectives on schooling - based on a reanalysis of a previous longitudinal study. We hope that this will serve as a basis for discussions about selection and socialization into the teaching profession and the implications of this for teacher education.
The Context
of Teaching and of Teacher Socialization
The social conditions of teacher thinking have been recognized (e.g., Clark & Peterson, 1986) though only slightly elaborated in empirical studies. However, there are studies on social aspects of teaching: Waller (1932) dealt with social determinants on teaching. Charters (1963) reviewed studies on the social background of teaching. Lottie (1975) analyzed the specific ethos of American school teachers related to the recruitment and socialization to teaching in comparison with other professions. Lindblad (1986) studied the social class orientations of Swedish teachers in comparison with different social classes and strata. In studies such as those presented, one conclusion is that teachers have specific orientations as members of a specific profession and as a distinctive group in their respective societies. To understand this we will turn to the socialization of teachers. Socialization into the teaching profession is hard to trace in terms of a specific technological culture (e.g., Lortie, 1975) or in terms of a distinct professional role (cf. Wilson, 1962). Lot-tie (1975, p. 79) refers to the self-
PeREZ
PRIETO
socialization into the teaching profession. “. . .one’s personal predispositions are not only relevant but, in fact, stand at the core of becoming a teacher.” From a perspective of cultural reproduction, Muel-Dreyfus (1985) studied the constrained relations between teachers’ dispositions and tasks in relation to social and cultural developments in France. From her study we can learn that these school teachers’ dispositions had a cultural determination linked to their families’ strategies of reproduction. Stated briefly, upbringing and schooling experiences seem to be of specific importance for teachers considering their social position and professional culture. Based on such considerations, it was deemed important to study the schooling experiences and perspectives of pupils who later became teachers in comparison with the experiences of pupils who later on chose other careers. Furthermore, relations between social position and perspectives on schooling were regarded to be of importance from a cultural point of view (e.g., Willis, 1977). To what extent have teachers developed perspectives on schooling that are close to and different from various other groups in society? Have they internalized the dominating paradigm of schooling in a way that perhaps leads to a miscognition of other cultural responses to schooling and teaching?
Purpose With this study we aimed to elucidate answers to the following questions by means of a reanalysis of a longitudinal study: 1. How did the pupils who later became teachers and preschool teachers perform in school and how did they conceive of schooling when they were pupils, in comparison with other groups in other careers? 2. What are the perspectives on schooling among teachers and preschool teachers in comparison with other groups with different careers in the social structure? Based on answers to these questions we will discuss some implications of the findings for teaching and teacher education.
School
Experiences
and Teacher
Methods The Careers The longitudinal study is based on a previous study concerning the effects of learning English as early as grade 1 in the comprehensive school. All 1970 beginners (n = 1029 subjects) in a medium-sized Swedish town participated from grade 1 to grade 9 in a number of investigations in the 1970s. They were then followed up in two further waves during the 1980s. Careers were defined in terms of positions of occupations in the social structure (Therborn, 1973). A rough distinction in respectively working- and middleclass positions was used and related to social origin (parents’ position) and destiny (own position in the social structure). School
Performances
School performance was measured by various tests during the primary school (grades l-6; in 1970 - 1976) where no organizational differentiation was present in the school. We used tests in Swedish, mathematics, and Intelligence (School Readiness Test and DBA - Differential Aptitude Analysis) as indications of what are regarded as knowledge and intellectual skills. The development of achievement is presented in diagrams based on standardized scores (mean = 0 and deviation = 1) for the tests in focus. Perspectives
A follow-up study (1986) showed us scales of different perspectives on schooling experiences in retrospect, This study was performed as a survey with an answer ratio (disregarding Table
Socialization
467
technical non-responses) of just over 70% (n = 671), without any systematic bias according to class, gender, and earlier attitudes toward school.
Results In Table 1 we find the cohort distributed in terms of origin and destiny - at this stage of their life trajectory. There is an empirical correlation between social background and career. Working-class children have one chance in three to pursue a middle-class career. The reverse chance holds true for middle-class children. Among the persons who turn to teaching professions - which is a middle-class occupation - one-third (10 out of 34) have a workingclass background. A very large share are women (27 out of 34). The findings are consistent with other studies on recruitment to teaching professions. When the Teachers
were Pupils
Figure 1 illustrates school performances and experiences grade by grade in primary school among pupils of different origins and careers. Swedish is used as an example. Mean for the whole cohort is standardized to 0. Results are presented for each career and for those who later become teachers as deviations from the total mean. The pupils who later became teachers and preschool teachers present rather ordinary achievement results. Nevertheless, they find their schooling much more experiences stimulating than do their fellows. In addition,
1
Parrr~ts Chss
Positior~ a/ Age 10 and Own Class Position
at Age 23. Numbers
Own class position Parents
class position
Working-class Middle-class Total Class
position
Working-class 203 149 352
is based
on classification
Middle-class (minus teachers) 91 194 285 of occupations.
Teachers 10 24 34
Total 304 367 671
SVERKER
468
LINDBLAD
and HlkTOR
0.6
PkREZ
PRIETO
075
0.6 04
-
02
-
-
Teachers
-
Teachers
-.-
Middle-class
-.-
,M,il;lll;class
---
Middle-class stayers
-..-
Working-class leavers
kWWS ---
-.‘-
-
-04
-
-‘-.-‘_._.__C__._._._._._
om; 025
+ /Q c_
Working-class leavers
0
..... Working-class stayers
-0.25
0 -0.2
Middle-class stayers
,_._.-LL_,____ cc*-u.<; . . . . . . . . ...’
-.-._
..,,,, ,,,,y7-.:“.. ,L . . ....”
-
-“-“I
../“
.‘.. . . . . . . .._......_ .. ._..............~., I Swgrl
I Swgr2
I Swgr3
-050
.._. Swgr4
Swgr6
’ 9r 1
’ 9r 2 Swedish:
I 9r3
Work
in comparison
Discussion
At the age of 23 the teachers and student teachers, as well as the other subjects in the cohort, presented their perspectives on schooling. As a group, teachers were close to perspectives from middle-class positions and distant from the working-class perspectives as is shown in Figure 2, where mean values for the whole cohort is equal to 0. Their criticisms concerning the unfairness of education are due to the fact that in this study females in middle-class careers are often critical concerning the fairness of schooling. The ways our teachers conceived of their own teachers are illustrated in Figure 3. We here see a well-developed understanding of
The study showed that the pupils who later became teachers are of a specific kind - as a group they could be characterized as welladjusted overachievers in primary school. As adults they have specific perspectives on schooling - close to those predominant in middle-class positions and distant from those prevailing in working-class positions. The teachers are - according to our studies (Lindblad & PCrez, 1990) very remote from a resistance perspective (Willis, 1977) on schooling. A tentative conclusion from this finding is that among teachers there are tendencies based on own schooling experiences - to
Own teachers
Acceptance
participation
Fellows
careers
their own teachers compared to the other groups in the cohort.
Perspectives on Schooling in Retrospect
Resistance
I gr6
boring-engaging
in and attitudes to Swedish as a school subject. Different with pupils who turned into teachers. Z-values (N = 655).
they to some extent seem to be overachievers if their test results and grades are compared to each other, according to our findings.
Strategic
I gr5
I. Students’ performances
Figure
Active
I gr4
Did care
and fun Kept order
behaviour
instrumental Not too determining
Schoo\ is unfair -04
-02
0
02
04
06 Z-values
Z-values Figure
2.
Perspectives
and among
on
teachers.
schooling
Z-values
in different (N = 65.5).
careers
3. Perspectives students in different
Figure
on own teachers careers. Z-values
among former (N = 655).
School
Experiences
and Teacher
misunderstand or misrecognize actions and rationalities predominant among students making working-class careers - for example, in encoding classroom communication (e.g., Hall, 1980). However, teachers are not uncritical perhaps due to the increased interest in women’s liberation among female teachers. These results that refer to Swedish teachers can furthermore be related to Leiulfsrud and Lindblad (1991), who found that teachers in the Swedish and Norwegian welfare societies were more distant to workers in their orientations than their colleagues in the U.S., Canada, and West Germany. Thus, the current findings concerning teachers’ perspectives might be of regional character. It is argued that experiences as a pupil are important for socialization into the teaching profession. Thus, an implication for teacher education is to penetrate such experiences - for example, in terms of a biographical approach (Butt, 1983 - in order to prepare an understanding of different perspectives and experiences in teaching and learning among students. The same conclusion was drawn when considering the particular perspectives on schooling among those who have turned to the teaching professions. We have treated here some aspects of the social context of teacher thinking in terms of school experiences and perspectives on schooling in relation to positions in the social structure. If one conceives of communicative action as a vital part of teaching, an important task for teacher education and in-service training is to relativize the professional perspective on teaching and to discuss different rationalities in pedagogical processes. Let us give the floor to an experienced teacher born in a small village in the Northern part of Sweden: . .we worked on our own, and we helped each other in quite a different way...we were in that kind of school. Well, I was privileged in the way that...1 had some kind of status due to my parents’ occupation. I had no problems with teachers for instance or...that. Today, I have a positive perspective on teachers.. though there was . . . I might have been treated in a specific way. (female teacher, 57 years old)
She is telling a story about her school career in relation to her parents’ social position. From
Socialization
469
her reflections on these experiences we listen to a story of a traditional - perhaps patriarchal society where teachers and students did what was possible within the existing frames. Such stories as hers tell us about the formation of the school as a societal institution as well as the social construction of teachers. Education based on an idea of understanding students’ perspectives and reasoning requires teachers who reflect upon their own particular experiences of schooling (as students and later as parts of cultures of teaching, e.g., Hargreaves & Woods, 1984) and who recognize the impact of different experiences and rationalities among their students. References Butt, R. (1983). Arguments for using biography in understanding teacher thinking. In R. Halkes & J. Olson (Ed), Teacher thinking: A new perspective on persisting problems in education (pp. 95 - 102). Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger. Charters, W. W., Jr. (1963). The social background of teaching. N. L. Gage (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 715-813). Chicago: Rand McNally. Clark, C., & Peterson, P. (1986). Teachers’ thought processes In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (3rd ed., pp. 225-296). New York: Macmillan. Connelly, M., & Clandinin, J. (1983). Personal practical knowledge at Bay Street School: Ritual, personal philosophy and image. In R. Halkes & J. Olson (Ed.), Teacher thinking: A new perspective on persisting problems in education (pp. 134- 148) Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger. Hall. S. (1980). Encoding-decoding. In S. Hall, D. Hobson, A. Lowe, & P. Willis (Eds.). Culture, media, language. Working Papers in Cultural Studies, 1972 -79. London: Hutchinson. Hargreaves, A., & Woods, P. (Eds.). (1984). Classrooms and staj,lYooms. The sociology of teachers and teaching. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Leiulfsrud, H., & Lindblad, S. (1991, March). Teachers and societies: A comparative study of teachers ‘positions and orientations in the social structure. The cases of Canada, Norway, Sweden, the US, and West Germany. Paper presented at the CIES Conference, Pittsburgh. Lindblad, S. (1986). Teachers and social class orientation: An empirical note based on comparison with different social classes in Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 30. I 8 I - 192. Lindblad, S., & Perez, H. (1990. April). Careers and perspectives on schooling in the welfare state. A longitudinal study on students’ origin, destiny and experiences of schooling. Paper presented at the AERA 1990 meeting, Boston. Lortie. D. C. (1975). School teacher. A sociological study. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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SVERKER
LINDBLAD
and HECTOR
Miiel-Dreyfus, (1985). Utbildning, yrkesforvantningar och grusade forhoppningar. In D. Broady (Ed.), Ktthur och uthiklning. Om Pierre Bourdieus snciologi. Skriftserie 19X5:4. Stockholm: UHA. G. (1973). Drr .\,wuktr klmsatnhiillet Therborn. 1930- 1970 [The Swedish class society]. Lund: Zenit.
PEREZ
PRIETO
Wailer, W. (1932). 77te .coc~iolo~~~~ ofteac~/7i17g. New York: Wiley. Willis. P. ( 1977). Learning to labour. How working-class kids gel working-c1rr.s.sjobs. Farnborough: Saxon House. Wilson. B. R. (1962). The teacher’s role - A sociological analysis. British Jom7r1l of Sociology. 13. 137 - 158.