Educational narratives: educational history seen from a micro‐perspective

Abstract

Taking the point of departure in three different narratives concerning training as a cabinet maker, the article shows how the choice of a particular education is ascribed different significance, depending on the period and the individual’s social background. In order to grasp the intersection between factors connected to the concepts of generation and class position the article draws on the German sociologist of knowledge Karl Mannheim’s theory of generations and the French sociologist and anthropologist Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and field. The article concludes that the decision to become an apprentice is not as obvious a choice in the 1980s or today as it was in the 1960s. The article also concludes that the choice was less legitimate for young people who did not have a working‐class background. It shows how this dilemma was handled by those whose habitus would urge them to choose a more academically oriented pathway. In short, the article illustrates how both habitus and generation influence not only educational choices but also how these choices are legitimised.

Keywords:

• narratives
• vocational education and training
• youth
• generation
• class
• Denmark

Notes

¹ C. Kruchov, “Socialdemokratiet og folkeskolen. Vejen mod den udelte skole 1900–1984” [Social Democracy and Primary and Lower Secondary Education: The Path to an Undivided School 1900–1984], in Bidrag til den danske skoles historie [Contribution to the History of Danish Schools], ed. C. Kruchov (Copenhagen: Unge Pædagoger, 1985). S. Wiborg, Uddannelse og social samhørighed. Udvikling af enhedsskoler i Skandinavien, Tyskland og England. En komparativ analyse [Education and Social Cohesion: The Development of Comprehensive Schools in Scandinavia, Germany and England] (Copenhagen: Danish University of Education, 2004).

² H. Fonsmark, Kampen mod kundskaberne. Et kritisk essay om en hovedstrømning i dansk skolepolitik. [The Fight against Knowledge: A Critical Essay on the Dominant Trends in Danish School Politics] (Århus, Gyldendal, 1996). M.C. Nielsen and N.C. Nielsen, Verdens bedste uddannelsessystem [The Best Educational System in the World] (Copenhagen: Fremad, 1997).

³ J. Frykman, Ljusnande framtid! ‐ skola, social mobilitet och kulturell identitet [A Brighter Future!: School, Social Mobility and Cultural Identity] (Lund: Historiska Media, 1998).

⁴ E.J. Hansen, En generation blev voksen [A generation grows up] (Copenhagen: Socialforsknings instituttet, 1995) and, Andersen, 1997, T.P. Jensen, A. Holm, & K.B. Mogensen, Valg og veje i ungdomsuddannelserne [Choices and Paths in Upper Secondary Education] (Copenhagen: Amternes og Kommunernes Forskningsinstitut, 1997).

⁵ K. Mannheim, “The Problem of Generations,” in Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge, ed. K. Mannheim (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1952), 276–322.

⁶ P. Bourdieu, Udkast til en praksisteori [Outline of a Theory of Praxis] (Copenhagen, Hans Reitzels forlag, 2005).

⁷ P. Bourdieu and L.J.D. Wacquant, Refleksiv sociologi – mål og midler [An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology] (Copenhagen: Hans Reitzels Forlag, 1996).

⁸ P. Alheit, Gebrochene Modernisierung – Der langsamme Wandel proletarisher Milieus. Eine empirische Vergleisstudie ost‐ und westdeutcher Arbeitermillieus in den 1950er Jahren, Bd. 1: Socialgeshichliche Rekonstructionen [Broken modernisation–the slow transformation of a proletarian culture. A comparative case study of the East and West German working class culture in the 1950s, Vol 1. A social historical reconstruction] (Bremen: Donat Verlag, 1999).

⁹ For more detail on the three life stories, see I. Juul, “Between dreams and realities: similarities and differences in narratives told by three different generations of cabinet makers,” In Divergence and Convergence in Education and Work, ed. V. Aakrog, and C.H. Jørgensen (Bern: Peter Lang, 2008). Emphasis here is on the narratives themselves, thereby completing the present article’s focus upon the methodological and theoretical problems in the use of narratives in studies of the history of education.

¹⁰ Arbejdsmarkedskommissionen, Betænkning om: De store fødselsårgange ‐ med særligt henblik på uddannelsesproblemet [White Paper on: Baby Boom Cohort – With Special Reference to the Problem of Education]. Betænkning nr. 143 (Copenhagen: Schultz, 1956).

¹¹ Undervisningsministeriet, De unges vej gennem uddannelsessystemet. Uddannelsesprofiler 1980–98 [The Path of the Young through the Educational System: Profiles in Education 1980–98] (Copenhagen, 2001).

¹² F.L. Hansen, I lovens tid [The Era of Law] (Århus: Danmarks Handelsskoleforening, 1998).

¹³ Ungdomskommissionen, Ungdommen og arbejdslivet, [The Youth Commission White Paper nr. 17: Youth and Work Life]. Betænkning nr. 17 (Copenhagen, Schultz, 1952).

¹⁴ The Danish dual training system is based on an alternation between school‐based learning and workplace learning. It is primarily up to the students themselves to find an apprenticeship.

¹⁵ I. Mærkedahl, Uddannelsesmønstre og erhvervsstruktur i Danmark. [Educational Patterns and Occupational Structure in Denmark] (Copehagen, Socialforskningsinstituttet, 1978).

¹⁶ E.S. Matzon, Erhvervsuddannelsesreform 2000 [Reform of Vocational Education and Training 2000] (Odense: Erhvervsskolernes Forlag, 1999).

¹⁷ E.J. Hansen, En generation blev voksen [A Generation Grows Up] (Copenhagen: Socialforskningsinstituttet, 1995), M. Pless and N. Katzenelson, Unges veje mod ungdom suddannelserne. [Young peoples’ paths towards upper secondary education]. Center for Ungdomsforskning LLD (Copenhagen, Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitet, 2007).

¹⁸ G.G. Iggers, “The Role of Professional Historical Scholarship in the Creation and Distortion of Memory,” in Historical Perspectives on Memory, ed. A. Ollila (Helsinki: Societas Historica Finlandiae [Finnish Historical Society], 1999), 49–67.

¹⁹ U.‐M. Peltonen, “The Return of the Narrator,” in Historical Perspectives on Memory, ed. A. Ollila (Helsinki: Societas Historica Finlandiae, 1999), 115–137.

²⁰ P. Alheit, Gebrochene Modernisierung ‐ Der langsamme Wandel proletarisher Milieus. Eine empirische Vergleisstudie ost‐ und westdeutcher Arbeitermillieus in den 1950er Jahren, Bd. 1: Socialgeshichliche Rekonstructionen (Bremen: Donat Verlag, 1999).

²¹ I. Mærkedahl, Uddannelsesmønstre og erhvervsstruktur i Danmark [Educational Patterns and Occupational Structure in Denmark] (København: Socialforskningsinstituttet, 1978).