Pedagogik, plats och prestationer. En etnografisk studie om en skola i förorten

This thesis is part of a Swedish Research Council financed project called The School and its Surroundings (Omvärlden och skolan: Vetenskapsrådet, 2005 – 3440) and is based on a thorough examination of the pedagogical practices that took place in a particular school in a multicultural suburb. A main aim was to analyse these prac – tices and the pupils’ responses to them in relation to de scriptions of the school and its needs, attainments and difficulties as provided by the pupils, teachers and others, including the media. The pedagogical practices of the school are based on a particu – lar kind of pedagogy, called Monroe pedagogy. This pedagogy is characterised by strong leadership and places high expectations on pupils. Using ethnographic data, obtained from fieldwork and interviews, and an analysis informed by Bernstein’ s theoretical concepts the thesis provides an analysis of the regulat ion of social interaction in the school and the pupils’ experiences and appreciations of this regulation. As a pedagogical discourse Monroe pedagogy exhibits principles of strong classification and framing (Bernstein , 2003). The thesis is composed of four articles and a kappa. Article one , “Bracketing” back grounds for an effective school, describes Monroe pedagogy in relation to the school day and pupils’ results. Article two, Pupils’ responses to a saviour pedagogy: An ethnographic study , elaborates on t he feedback that pupils at the studied school provide on their education. Article three, The significance of place and pedagogy in an urban multicultural school in Sweden, examines how the location of the school in a ‘multicultural suburb’ is used to attri bute deficiencies to pupils and the need for strong leadership and a visible pedagogy. Article four, Complexities and contradictions of educational inclusion: a meta – ethnographic analysis, describes the importance of place for educational expectations and performances in relation to the stigmatisation of the suburban reach and its residents. Collectively the articles depict, principally through an analysis of pupils’ responses, how Riverdale School sells a success concept, based on orderliness, motivation, responsibility and hard work, and how the staff and pupils at the school identify with and believe in this concept. The articles also demonstrate how the pedagogy in use actually fails to become a saviour discourse in practice, as promised, but instead str engthens exclusion and maintains the image of a failing pupil who will be saved from, her – his background and her – his place of residence