Stephen R. Stoer

Education, knowledge and the network society

The ‘development of individual capacities’, in addition to the ‘education of responsible citizens’ and the ‘preparation for work’, constitutes one of the most important objectives to be achieved by education systems and, in this sense, makes up one of the main planks of that which Dale terms ‘mandates for the education system’, i.e. projects for education based on ‘conceptions of what it is desirable and legitimate for the education system to bring about’. In a previous work we tried to map out, on the basis of the objectives ‘preparation for work’ and ‘education of responsible citizens’, the outlines of a new mandate for European education policy that appears to be in the making in accord with recent socio‐economic, political and educational developments. In this article, we centre our attention on the ‘development of individual capacities’ in an attempt to map out the effects of the simultaneous pressure, top‐down and bottom‐up, that has been increasingly brought to bear on the nation state and on the education system. With regard to the first, it is argued that what is at stake is the transformation of knowledge itself into money (i.e. pure performance), while with regard to the second, there appears to be taking place a movement of knowledge from the school (national level) to the local community in which this latter is interpreted as the ‘educative city’ (where a ‘transparent’ communicational pedagogy holds sway). This work aims at challenging the dichotomy constructed by way of an analysis of the implications, for both pedagogy and the development of individual capacities, of the development and consolidation of a network state and society.

Action-research and the Production of Knowledge in a Teacher Education based on Inter/Multicultural Education

This paper proposes that the teacher, on the basis of action-research methodology, can produce two types of scientific knowledge: one based on the teacher as researcher (the teacher as ethnographer), and another based on the development of pedagogic action (the teacher as educator). The education of such a teacher, simultaneously a researcher and an educator, is carried out through the concretisation of that which has denominated the interface of intercultural education. The development of this interface renders possible the management of diversity by the teacher. This diversity is present both in the school, as well as, more specifically, in the classroom. It can also be seen as a source of wealth for the further deepening of the democratic nature of both the school and the education system.

Critical inter/multicultural education and the process of transnationalisation: a view from the semiperiphery∗

Abstract In the first part of this paper the claim that education is the privileged mechanism for the preservation and affirmation of national identity is questioned in light of the transnationalisation process and some of the specificities of Portugal as a semiperipheral country (in the European context). In the second part, critical inter/multicultural education is considered in an epoch of globalisation as a challenge to the formation through schooling of national and minority identities. ∗ An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 13th World Congress of the International Sociological Association, Bielefeld, July 1994.

Educação, conhecimento e a sociedade em rede

RESUMO: Neste trabalho centramos a nossa atencao no “desenvolvimento de capacidades individuais” numa tentativa de mapear os efeitos da simultânea pressao “de cima para baixo” e de “baixo para cima” a que, quer o Estado-nacao, quer o sistema educativo, tem vindo a estar sujeitos. Quanto a primeira, pode defender-se (cf. Bernstein, 1996) que o que esta em causa e a transformacao do proprio conhecimento em moeda (isto e, em performatividade pura); quanto a segunda, parece haver em curso uma deslocacao do conhecimento da escola (nacional) para a comunidade (local) em que esta ultima e interpretada como “a cidade educativa” (onde reina uma pedagogia comunicacional “branca”). Este trabalho pretende por em causa a dicotomia construida por meio da analise das implicacoes, para a pedagogia e para o desenvolvimento de capacidades individuais, do desenvolvimento e da consolidacao de um Estado (e sociedade) em rede (Castells, 1996). Palavras-chave: Educacao. Conhecimento. Rede. Competencias. Politicas. EDUCATION, KNOWLEDGE AND NETWORK SOCIETY

Inter/Multicultural Education on the European (Semi)periphery: notes on an action‐research project in four Portuguese schools

Abstract This article aims firstly at providing information on the historical and social context in which an action‐research project in inter/ multicultural education is being carried out in four Portuguese state‐schools. Secondly, it aims at providing information on the project itself. It is affirmed that the project, in addition to arguing for the importance of action‐research methodology in bringing together teachers/researchers from different sectors of the education system, attempts to counteract a ‘monocultural’ education tradition in Portugal through developing the concept of the inter/multicultural teacher.

Perceptions of health and well-being in transition societies: some results of a qualitative study carried out in the Ukraine

This article reports on research carried out within the scope of the Inco-Copernicus Programme, from 1999 to 2002, on ‘Health and Well-Being in Transition Societies’. In particular, it presents the results of a qualitative study carried out in the Ukraine. On the basis of in-depth interviews and two biographical interviews, data are analysed on the following topics: employment situation, informal economy, perception of health and well-being, perception of social services, perception of social exclusion, crisis and low expectations, coping strategies, and perceptions of citizens’ rights. It concludes that transition has meant important change that has had a significant effect upon the Ukrainian population.

The State, Curriculum and Teacher Education in Portugal: 1926‐1981

Summary This article looks at the contribution that education in Portugal has made to national development, particularly during the period 1926‐1981, through teacher education. In order to carry out this task, the article traces the changing relationship between the state and the curricula of teacher education and also characterizes generally changes in the education system during the aforementioned period. Finally, additional attention is given to changes in the organizational characteristics of the teacher education process particularly during the decades of the 1970s and the 1980s.