Beyond Normativity in Sociocultural Reproduction and Sociocultural Transformation

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this article is to examine the contributions, gaps, and normativity problems in mainstream sociocultural theories, curriculum theory, and educational leadership studies, considering reflective education theories that provide a less normative alternative. Framework: Our framework introduces reflective education for social change as a less normative perspective, contrasted with two dominant sociological perspectives: social reproduction and social transformation. Within each of these perspectives, we consider consonant curriculum theories and educational leadership studies that have developed in disparate fields. Research Methods/Approach: This study utilized data from a previous qualitative study that examined a high-performing high school/district in a working-class, increasingly diverse community. Data sources featured field

“Part of Their Chemistry”: The Reproduction of Neoliberal Governmentality in Principal and Teacher Subjectivities

“…Principals who support socially just approaches to curriculum soften curricular or assessment pressures (Jean‐Marie 2008). Therefore, leading beyond the goals of the neoliberal policy regime requires resistance to the pressure to conform to normative approaches to schooling (Ylimaki et al 2016). Although Eleanor demonstrated dispositions outside of the neoliberal, she simultaneously conformed to the demands placed upon her.…”

The subjectivity of false hope and the possibility for critical hope among novice teachers

“…However, while critical hope may provide an opportunity for teachers to feel more efficacious and challenge the neoliberal policy regime that contradict their values and professional expertise, I do not suggest it as a policy to be applied to teachers or schools. As Ylimaki et al. (2016) caution, socially just leadership theories can also be normative and prescriptive visions of schooling.…”

Exploring Cross-Cultural Perspectives of Teacher Leadership Among the Members of an International Research Team: A Phenomenographic Study

“…However, teacher leadership research has been criticized for failing to adequately conceptualize teacher leadership as being situated in and subordinate to sociocultural communities beyond the school setting -that is, the school as an organization and the school community or district. These broader social and cultural contexts include, for example, nation states and their cultural, economic and political contexts and histories (Dimmock & Walker, 2000;Hallinger, 2018), globalized cultural communities (Litz, 2011) and the macro context of society more broadly seen from a sociological perspective (Ylimaki et al, 2017).…”