Organizational regulations of transmission. A study of adult secondary education institutions in Buenos Aires.

Abstract

At the most general level the study focuses on the relations between transmission, external and internal regulations, pedagogic identities (futures) and the possibilities of change in the sampled schools. The empirical study was done in seven adult secondary educational institutions in the City of Buenos Aires. This work allowed, through a specific methodological design, the production of a conceptualization over the object of study as well as over the process of construction of the description. The final outcomes of the thesis are: a theoretical elaboration and a methodological elaboration for the study of educational organizations. The theoretical framework selected for the development of the thesis is based upon the work of the English sociologist Basil Bernstein. <br/><br/>The work attempts to describe the external and internal forms of regulation of the realization of the pedagogic code in the studied schools. For this description we considered the forms of code realization in pedagogic practices and the principles of social order that regulate them, its relations with the Official Pedagogic Discourse. We tried to identify the tensions in the local realization of the Pedagogic Discourse, what we called the Organizational Pedagogic Discourse. <br/><br/>These configurations are expressed in the forms of control and power relations that give orientation to the produced meanings at the organizational level, both in relation with the created pedagogic identities, as well as the potential conflicts and spaces for potential change produced by such tensions. In this sense, at the same time that the code modality of the schools is described (in its external and internal values) and their realizations compared, the relation with the Official Pedagogic Discourse is studied. In doing this, the forms that the Discourse takes at the local level are considered in the light of the social order regulated by the tension with the specific Regulative Discourse of the institution, as Context of Reproduction. <br/><br/>From the framework of Bernstein's theory, the research seeks to describe the regulations over the pedagogic code realizations, particularly in relation with sources, principles and its realizations. The study is an attempt to approach the problem of how realizations of a given pedagogic code are regulated at the level of the school, understood as an organization. Thus external and internal regulations of the code modality are inquired. In order to describe those regulations it is necessary to analytically distinguish what is regulated, the realization of the regulation, the regulative criteria and the biases that are produced over the regulated. A specific area of research is the relations between the realizations of the code modalities, the regulations of the official and local pedagogic discourses. <br/><br/>The research methodology was designed in order to be capable to produce what was called a "topology" of the educational organization. This "topology" should rise information that allows to build a specific "language of description" (Bernstein, 2000). This language of description was employed to understand the organization rules and regulations, its principles and the strategies from which the pedagogic practices are realizations. The method was constructed to facilitate the search of similarities and differences amongst the sampled schools. It is focused on the description of pedagogic codes and discourses, its production, transmission, reproduction and change potential.

Al nivel más general el estudio hace foco sobre las relaciones entre las prácticas pedagógicas, las regulaciones (externas e internas) de las organizaciones del contexto de reproducción, las identidades pedagógicas (futuros) y las posibilidades de cambio en las escuelas de la muestra. El estudio empírico se realizó en siete instituciones educativas de nivel secundario de adultos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Este trabajo permitió, a través de un diseño metodológico específico, la producción de una conceptualización tanto sobre el objeto de estudio cuanto sobre el proceso de construcción de la descripción. Los productos finales de la tesis son: una discusión y elaboración teórica y una elaboración teórico-metodológica, para el estudio de organizaciones educativas. El marco teórico seleccionado para el desarrollo de la presente investigación se basa en los trabajos del sociólogo inglés Basil Bernstein. <br/><br/>En términos de la teoría bernsteiniana, el trabajo pretende describir las formas de regulación externa e interna en la realización del código pedagógico en las escuelas estudiadas. En esta descripción se contemplan las formas de expresión del código en prácticas pedagógicas y los principios de orden social que las regulan, sus relaciones con el Discurso Pedagógico Oficial y, más específicamente, identificar las tensiones en la realización local del Discurso Pedagógico Organizacional. Estas configuraciones se expresan en las formas de control y relaciones de poder que dan orientación y sentido a los significados producidos a nivel organizacional, tanto en relación con las identidades pedagógicas creadas como con los potenciales conflictos y espacios de cambio producidos en dichas tensiones. En este sentido, a la vez que describir la modalidad de código de las escuelas (en sus valores externos e internos), se comparan dichas realizaciones y se las estudia bajo la perspectiva de su relación con el Discurso Pedagógico Oficial. En esta tarea, las formas que este discurso adquiere a nivel organizacional se estudian en función del orden social regulado por la tensión con el Discurso Regulativo Específico de la organización, en tanto Contexto de Reproducción.