Jordi Collet-Sabé

What Do Families of the "Professional and Managerial" Class Educate Their Children For? The Links between Happiness and Autonomy.

Based on a qualitative study involving 124 professional and managerial class families in Catalonia (Spain), this paper describes the aims and objectives these families have for the education of their children. During the fieldwork, when asked what they were aiming for in the education of their children, almost all of the parents replied ‘for them to be happy’. But what kind of happiness are they talking about? What kind of education might lead to happiness? Drawing principally on the work of Kellerhals and Montandon and their ‘contractual model of education’ and Bauman’s concepts of ‘secondary security’ and ‘homo eligens’, although also taking into account the related contributions of Lareau, Vincent and Ball, Stefansen and Aarseth, and Kusserow, the paper aims to demonstrate the strong connection these families make between happiness and ‘absolute’ autonomy, understood as two sides of the same coin and seen, by the participants, as the guiding principle that should shape the way they bring their children up.

‘I do not like what I am becoming but…’: transforming the identity of head teachers in Catalonia

Abstract The aim of this article is to elucidate how a new system of school and teacher assessment in Catalonia is transforming the conceptions, practices and identity of head teachers, especially younger ones. It begins by considering the impact of global neoliberal policies on educational practices, highlighting their Foucauldian productive nature. It then examines the educational context of Catalonia during the last 30 years, emphasising the changing role of head teachers and the impact of neoliberal governance. This is followed by an account and analysis of in-depth interviews with four head teachers, focusing especially on how the head teacher’s objectives, practices and identities are being transformed, or produced, as a result of the new neoliberal ‘assessment regime’. It ends with a discussion on the importance of refusal and resistance to this process and the need to reconsider basic educational and social questions.

Can schools become an inclusive space shared by all families? Learnings and debates from an action research project in Catalonia

ABSTRACT This article discusses a 2-year action research project carried out in Catalonia using a sample of seven schools with varying degrees of social and ethnic diversity, focusing on the debate and critical perspectives surrounding the question of family–school relationships. It underlines four considerations, which are seen as symbolic, practical and probable barriers to this partnership: unequal power relationships, diversity and inequality of families, the grammar of schooling and how teachers view their professional identity. We present an action research project that involved the critical participation of the teaching staff in these seven schools and designed to answer the following question: under what conditions could family–school relationships be improved with and for all families, pupils and teachers? The conclusion discusses both the limitations of the critical action research and the lessons learnt from it: (a) the true transformation of the grammar of schooling is a slow and complex process; (b) this process is positive for teachers and makes their work better and easier; (c) the evaluation of constructive critical support is relevant and highly valued; and (d) the assessment of improved daily actions is key to making them visible and sustaining the change process.

Bridging boundaries with Bernstein: approach, procedure and results of a school support project in Catalonia

Abstract This article presents the theoretical foundations, methodological approach and results of a school support project involving 154 primary school pupils, with low academic performance, in a region of Catalonia (Enxaneta Project). Drawing on the later work of Basic Bernstein, specifically his notion of pedagogic device, the project is based, on a theoretical level, on the use of the notions of classification and framing and of distributive, recontextualising and evaluative rules to analyse the dominant pedagogic practice and propose alternatives. Methodologically, the project works through an intense, professional mentoring with children and families. It is based on mixed pedagogies with four objectives: a) to question the current school pedagogic practice characterised by a regulatory discourse that generates inequalities in its link between power, knowledge, pedagogic identities and forms of consciousness; b) to enable families to enter the school physically and symbolically and share it with mentors and teachers; c) to improve teacher expectations towards children and families; d) to reduce or subvert, as the final goal, initial inequalities. The results obtained (quasi-experimental design) enable us to affirm that the Enxaneta children improve significantly more than the non-Enxaneta children in linguistic and mathematical tests, but not in school marks.