The social theoretical perspectives

1. Normative - value-oriented; what you value defines educational value

• Definition: the term "normative" is used to describe the effects of those structures of culture which regulate the function of social activity. Those structures thus act to encourage or enforce social activity and outcomes that ought to (with respect to the norms implicit in those structures) occur, while discouraging or preventing social activity that ought not occur. That is, they promote social activity that is socially valued. While there are always anomalies in social activity (typically described as "crime" or anti-social behaviour) the normative effects of popularly-endorsed beliefs (such as "family values" or "common sense") push most social activity towards a generally homogeneous set, resulting in varying degrees of social stability.
• Application
  
  • Normative influence is inevitable - it is difficult to separate your personal norms
  • Probe the nature of personal and educational assumptions
  • Examine policy in light of values and how these policies reflect values
  • Individuals develop their own value positions
  • Deals with the question of values
    
• Examples
  
  • Portfolio initiative@BSU - policy implementation and the digital divide/gap
  • What a student from Evansville Indiana sees as normal computer use is very different from Westfield or Carmel Indiana (?)
  • The amount of work expected from student in a rural district may differ from a suburban district - and Arkansas school from a Texas school - what is normative for one may not be normative for another
    

2. Interpretive - use concepts and theories to examine education in different contexts

• Definition
• Application
  
  • Students analyze the intent, meaning and effects of educational thought and practice
  • Interpretation varies based on historical, philosophical and cultural perspectives
    
• Examples
  
  • Northern v southern view of the war between the states
  • Democratic education allows for differing viewpoints of same instance
  • Portfolios in the Netherlands v. US - they have some different values
    

3. Critical - encourages development of inquiry skills

• Definition
• Application
  
  • Encourages students to question educational assumptions
  • Encourages students to identify contradictions
  • Encourages students to use democratic values to assess educational beliefs, policies and practices while assessing the origins and consequences of the beliefs, policies and practices
  • Students develop awareness of education and schooling in light of complex relations to the environing culture
    
• Examples
  
  • Technology is powerful and how it is used by students can produce powerful learning
  • Curriculum choice should be viewed with a critical perspective - how does this effect each student?
    

Distinguish between "perspectives" (interpretive, normative, and critical) and "standards"

• Perspectives are ways to interpret; based on philosophical, epistemological (theory of knowledge) understanding of how knowledge works (e.g., what is knowledge? How is knowledge acquired? What do people know?)
• Standards are action indicators - do this to "meet" the standard
• Perspectives vs curriculum
  
  • These perspectives are different from curriculum in that curriculum is comprised of a set of knowledge, generally agreed to by a group who share common perspectives
  • Bobbit & Dewey defined curriculum as the compilation of deeds and experiences through which children learn and become successful adults in a given society
  • These experiences can be viewed from a variety of perspectives through reflection. The perspective of participants varies somewhat according to their own persoanl experience, cultural background, and reflective understanding. In social foundations, the perspectives are evidenced through demonstration of the thought processes, either through writing, verbal articulation or response to classroom assignments or conversations
  • Perspectives are ways to think about problems and issues in education. Standards are often behavioral in nature and oriented to some sort of action. Standards are used to build confidence in learning how to learn, especially in interdisciplinary ways

The field of social foundations of education is both an interdisciplinary approach to understanding knowledge and is a content-specific body of knowledge

• Field of social foundations - interdisciplinary is embedded in problems (a question for consideration, solution, inquiry), issues (must be answered yes or no, matter of dispute, ready for decision, and controversy or disagreement), claims (assertion open to challenge - stance on issue), evidences (proof, outward sign, research), and arguments (intended to persude, leads from premise to conclusion, supports claim)
  
• epistemological functions: how to accumulate, how to make sense, how to distribute - all about thinking in interdisciplinary ways
• Content-specific body includes history, sociology, philosophy primary areas, but also includes uses of all social sciences like anthropology, economics, all ways we make sense of work and apply to education questions
• Full complement of social sciences to better understand - want to know how each of various fields think about something and bring them together
• Uses content from all disciplines to make sense and communicate understanding