Neoliberalism and Pedagogical Practices of Alienation: A Case Study Research on the Integrated Curriculum in Greek Primary Education

ABSTRACT

In this article, we present insights from an ethnographic research that investigated the concept of citizenship in primary schools in Greece. We explored children’s experiences of citizenship in school approaching citizenship as a set of habits that prescribe what is considered ‘legitimate’ in the public sphere. We focused on structures and agents inside and outside the school classroom and the way they may interfere with pedagogical practices and relationships. This work reveals a vicious circle of asymmetrical relationships and hierarchical structures between the society and the school that entrap teachers in assessment-oriented pedagogical practices. We argue that the emergent loyalty of the educational system to traditional pedagogical approaches premised on competition fosters pupils’ incomprehension of the importance of social solidarity. It also contributes to their withdrawal from the public sphere, undermining the transformative potential of education. With the use of a diverse sample, we highlight the shortcomings of the integrated curriculum introduced in 2001, in successfully promoting critical thinking and participatory learner-centred pedagogy, and we discuss the implications for the transformative potential of education arising from the adherence to the implementation of European education policy that is discerned in the text of the newly introduced Curriculum of the ‘New School’.

Keyword:

• neoliberalism
• citizenship
• critical pedagogy
• Greek education
• curriculum
• ethnography

Acknowledgement

This research has been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund – ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Programme ‘Education and Lifelong Learning’ of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) - Research Funding Programme: Heraclitus II. Investing in knowledge society through the European Social Fund.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ DEPPS is the transliteration for the Greek acronym ΔΕΠΠΣ (Διαθεματικό Ενιαίο Πλαίσιο Προγραμμάτων Σπουδών).

² In the integrated curriculum, subjects remain distinct but at the same time, various ways of knowledge correlation are being promoted in two axes: the vertical and the horizontal. In particular, the vertical axis links subjects in a spiral way from stage to stage and from level to level; the horizontal axis brings together themes and processes of individual curricula from a range of angles, contributing to the enhancement of knowledge and its interface with reality. This kind of approach is called [cross-curricular], and the interface between among subjects is achieved through eight [cross-curricular] concepts: interaction, dimension (e.g. space-time), communication, change, system (structure, classification, organisation), similarity and difference, unit and the sum.

³ ‘The Flexible Zone [was] a two hours curricular innovation introduced with the cross-curricular approach where students and teachers can design, develop and implement projects using cooperative, problem-solving and synergistic methodologies with themes, issues and problems of everyday life that interest them. Flexible Zone project was introduced in a pilot phase during the years 2001–2002 in 11 kindergartens, 176 elementary schools and 52 secondary schools. It was experimentally applied for four years and generalised from 2006ʹ (Spinthourakis et al., 2007).

⁴ We define here as ‘pedagogical orientation’ teachers’ expressed ideal pedagogical scenarios and desired pedagogical practices as opposed to their actual pedagogical practices.

⁵ ‘Frame refers to the strength of the boundary between what may be transmitted and what may not be transmitted, in the pedagogical relationship. Where framing is strong, there is a sharp boundary, where framing is weak, a blurred boundary, between what may and may not be transmitted. Frame refers us to the range of options available to teacher and taught in the control of what is transmitted and received in the context of the pedagogical relationship. Strong framing entails reduced options; weak framing entails a range of options. Thus, frame refers to the degree of control teacher and pupil possess over the selection, organisation and pacing of the knowledge transmitted and received in the pedagogical relationship’ (Bernstein, 2003, p. 159).

^{6 ʹ}Classification refers to the nature of the differentiation between contents. Where classification is strong, contents are well insulated from each other by strong boundaries. Where classification is weak, there is reduced insulation between contents, and the boundaries between contents are weak or blurred. Classification thus refers to the degree of boundary maintenance between contents. Classification focuses our attention upon boundary strength as the critical distinguishing feature of the division of labour of educational knowledge. It gives us, as I hope to show, the basic structure of the message system, curriculum’ (Bernstein, 2003, p. 158).

Additional information

Funding

This research has been co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program ‘ Education and Lifelong Learning’ of the National Strategic Reference Framework – Research Funding Program: Heraclitus II. Investing in knowledge society through the European Social Fund.