Overcoming Barriers: The Local and the Innovative Dimensions of Inclusive Socio-Educational Practices

Authors

Fátima Antunes CIEd - Research Centre in Education, University of Minho
Joana Lúcio CIEd - Research Centre in Education, University of Minho

https://doi.org/10.17583/remie.2019.4200

Keywords:

Socio-educational practices

School failure and dropout

Place-based education

Socio-educational innovation

Barriers to school participation and learning

Abstract

This paper discusses some results of a broader research, focusing on a set of eleven socio-educational practices aiming to overcome school failure and dropout, developed in Portugal, giving particular attention to the local and innovative dimensions. This research aims to understand the point of view of the several actors involved, about which factors, processes and relationships contribute the most to building such practices. Data was gathered through documental analysis and semi-structured interviews with those (institutionally) responsible for each practice under study, and was analysed using two instruments. From the point of view of the people responsible, the practices that contribute the most to overcoming school failure and dropout fall into one of four categories: Study Support (4 Practices), Student Grouping (3), Mediation (3) and Pedagogical Differentiation (1). Some practices mobilise resources; others interfere with learning and life contexts, in order to confront institutional, situational and dispositional barriers to participation and learning. Those practices seem to have an impact on school-family communication. Formal schooling, as well as the socio-cultural inclusion of youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, are seen as relevant; yet, we can observe a somewhat fragile involvement of families and communities in practices aimed at promoting their youth’s educational success.

Author Biographies

Fátima Antunes, CIEd - Research Centre in Education, University of Minho

Researcher at CIEd – Research Centre in Education and an Associate Professor for the Department of Social Sciences of Education at the Institute of Education of the University of Minho (Portugal). Her research interests include: socio-educational practices for overcoming school failure and early school leaving; diversities, educational policies and students’ pathways; educational policies, globalization and the European Union; lifelong and adult education. She regularly publishes in European and Lusophone journals and books: (2015, with Virgínio Sá), À la recherche d’une autre éducation. Professeurs et élèves en difficulté : voix et récits d’expériences au Portugal, Education et Sociétés, 36/2, pp. 143-158 ; (2016), Economising education: From the silent revolution to rethinking education. A new moment of Europeanisation of education?, European Educational Research Journal, vol. 15(4), pp. 410–427; (2016, with Paula Guimarães), Lifelong education and learning, societal project and competitive advantage: tensions and ambivalences in policy and planning of educational change in Portugal. In Marcella Milana, John Holford, Vida A. Mohorčič Špolar (Eds), Adult and Lifelong Education: Global, national and local perspectives (pp. 71-91). Oxford: Routledge.

Joana Lúcio, CIEd - Research Centre in Education, University of Minho

Research fellow at CIEd – Research Centre in Education (University of Minho, Portugal) within project EDUPLACES – Practices, voices and pathways of inclusive education (PTDC/MHC-CED/3775/2014). Her post-doctoral research project focuses on the local and innovative dimensions of socio-educational practices aimed at overcoming school failure and dropout. She holds a Doctorate in Education Sciences by the University of Porto (Portugal), with a thesis focused on the Educating City’s movement, through the lenses of socio-educational mediation. She has participated in research-intervention projects in the field of Local Development, with a particular interest for non-formal and informal educational dynamics, and the role of associations, companies and local government. She has developed training in the field of mediation and conflict management for teachers and other professionals. Since 2010, she has been an active collaborator of EERA – European Educational Research Association through its Network 14 – Communities, families and schooling in Educational Research (for which she served as Link Convenor in 2012-2015). She has authored several international publications, having recently co-edited a special issue of the European Educational Research Journal on the subject of ‘Children as Members of a Community: Citizenship, participation and educational development’.

References

Abellán, Cecilia M. A. 2016. “Cómo hacer que las escuelas sean más inclusivas”. In Libro de Actas CIMIE16 de AMIE licenciado bajo Creative Commons 4.0 International License. In http://amieedu.org/actascimie16/2016/06/29/t9-educacion-inclusiva/, accessed 3 August 2017.

Google Scholar Crossref

Author A and Virgínio Sá. 2014. “Cursos de educação e formação, política e pedagogia da educação universal: histórias em torno do saber e do poder na escola”. In O Social e as Políticas Educacionais na Contemporaneidade: das Desigualdades à Violência no Espaço Educacional, edited by Mª de L. P. de Almeida, L. W. Boneti and Th. Pacievitch, 207-245. Campinas, SP: Mercado de Letras (ISBN 978-85-7591-332-1).

Google Scholar Crossref

Balbín, Miguel A. D. 2016. “Comunidades de aprendizaje como modelo de atención a la diversidad”. In Libro de Actas CIMIE16 de AMIE licenciado bajo Creative Commons 4.0 International License. In http://amieedu.org/actascimie16/2016/06/29/t9-educacion-inclusiva/, accessed 3 August 2017.

Google Scholar Crossref

Bernstein, Basil. 1996. A Estruturação do Discurso Pedagógico. Classe, Códigos e Controle. Petrópolis: Vozes.

Google Scholar Crossref

Canário, Rui; Natália Alves and Clara Rolo. 2001. Escola e Exclusão Social. Para uma análise crítica da política Teip. Lisboa: Educa.

Google Scholar Crossref

Candeias, António. 2009. Educação, Estado e Mercado no século XX. Apontamentos sobre o caso português numa perspectiva comparada. Lisbon: Edições Colibri/FCSH-UNL.

Google Scholar Crossref

Correia, José A. and João Caramelo. 2003. “Da mediação local ao local da mediação: figuras e políticas”. Educação, Sociedade & Culturas, 20: 167-191.

Google Scholar Crossref

Costa, Isabel; Armando Loureiro; Sofia M. Silva and Helena Araújo. 2013. “Perspectives of Portuguese municipal education officers on school disengagement”, Educação Sociedade & Culturas, 40: 165-185.

Google Scholar Crossref

Coughlin, Christine A., and Susan Kirch. 2010. “Place-Based Education: A transformative activist stance”. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 5: 911-921.

Google Scholar Crossref

Council of the European Union. 2002. “Detailed work programme on the follow-up of the objectives of Education and training systems in Europe” (2002/C 142/01). Official Journal of the European Communities of 14.6.2002, pp. C142/1-C142/22.

Google Scholar Crossref

Dale, Roger. 2010. Early School Leaving. Lessons from research for policy makers. In http://www.nesse.fr/nesse/activities/reports, accessed 1 january 2015.

Google Scholar Crossref

Dias, Mariana. 2013. “Education and Equality in Portugal: The role of priority Education policies”, Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences, 8 (1): 132-143.

Google Scholar Crossref

Edwards, Anne and Paul Downes. 2013. Alliances for Inclusion. Cross-sector Policy Synergies and Interprofessional Collaboration in around Schools. In http://www.nesetweb.eu/resource-library, accessed 15 January 2015.

Google Scholar Crossref

Ekstrom, Ruth B. 1972. "Barriers to Women's Participação in Post-Secondary Education. A Review of the Literature". In https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED072368, accessed 20 July 2017.

Google Scholar Crossref

European Commission. 2018. Education and Training Monitor 2018 Portugal Country reports. In https://ec.europa.eu/education/resources-and-tools/document-library/education-and-training-monitor-2018-portugal-report_en, accessed 21 november 2018.

Google Scholar Crossref

Ferguson, Bruce; Kate Tilleczek; Katherine Boydell and Joanna A. Rummens 2005. Early School Leavers: understanding the lived reality of student disengagement from secondary school. Final Report. Toronto (ON): Community Health Systems Resource Group of the Hospital for Sick Children for the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training. Special Education Branch.

Google Scholar Crossref

Ferreira, Fernando I. 2005. O Local em Educação. Animação, Gestão e Parceria. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.

Google Scholar Crossref

Figueiredo, António; Paulo Feliciano; Ana C. Valente; Ana Simões; Filipa Santos; Mª Lurdes Cunha and Sónia Trindade. 2013. Avaliação Estratégica do QREN – Lote1 Relatório Final. In http://www.qren.pt/np4/np4/?newsId=3886&fileName=file999.pdf, accessed 8 January 2015.

Google Scholar Crossref

Flecha, Ramon (ed.)/Include-Ed Consortium. 2015. Successful Educational Actions for Inclusion and Social Cohesion in Europe. London: Springer.

Google Scholar Crossref

Flecha, Ramón, and Marta Soler. 2013. “Turning difficulties into possibilities: engaging Roma families and students in school through dialogic learning.” Cambridge Journal of Education, 43 (4): 451-465. doi: 10.1080/0305764X.2013.819068

Google Scholar Crossref

Ford, Maureen. 2005. “Quandaries of Place (-Based Education)”. Philosophy of Education: 221-224.

Google Scholar Crossref

Frandji, Daniel ; Jean- Marie Pincemin ; Marc Demeuse ; David Greger, and Jean-Yves Rochex 2009. "EuroPEP" Comparaison des Politiques d’Éducation Prioritaire en Europe. Papper scientifique, Vol. 2, Eléments d’une Analyse Transversale: formes de ciblage, action, évaluation. In https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/123456789 /267047/1/Europep+volume++final+2, accessed 28 January 2015.

Google Scholar Crossref

Fullan, Michael and Alan Boyle. 2014. Big-city School Reforms. New York: Teachers College Press.

Google Scholar Crossref

Gomes, Carlos A. 1987. “A interacção selectiva na escola de massas”. Sociologia, Problemas e Práticas: 35-49. Lisboa: Europa-América.

Google Scholar Crossref

Hargreaves, Andy and Dennis Shirley. 2012. The Global Fourth Way: The quest for educational excellence. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

Google Scholar Crossref

Hargreaves, Andy; Alan Boyle and Alma Harris. 2014. Uplifting Leadership: How Organizations, Teams and Communities Raise Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Google Scholar Crossref

Keddie, Nell. 1980. “O mito da privação cultural: escola e cultura”. Análise Psicológica, 1: 119-126.

Google Scholar Crossref

Klein, Juan-Luis; Jean-Marc Fontan ; Denis Harrisson and Benoît Lévesque. 2013. “The Québec Model: a social innovation system founded on cooperation and consensus building”. In The Internation Handbook on Social Innovation: Collective action, social learning and transdisciplinary research, edited by Franck

Google Scholar Crossref

Moulaert, Dianna MacCallum, Abid Mehmood and Abdelillah Hamdouch, 371–383. UK/USA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Google Scholar Crossref

Lawless, Paul. 2006. “Area-based Urban Interventions: Rationale and Outcomes: The new deal for communities programme in England”. Urban Studies, 43 (11): 1991-2011.

Google Scholar Crossref

Long, Leroy L. and Joel Alejandro Mejia. 2016. "Conversations about Diversity: Institutional Barriers for Underrepresented Engineering Students." The Journal of Engineering Education 105 (2): 211-218.

Google Scholar Crossref

Lynch, Kathleen and Claire O'Riordan. 1998. “Inequality in Higher Education: a study of class barriers”, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 19 (4): 445-478, DOI: 10.1080/0142569980190401.

Google Scholar Crossref

McCulloch, A. 2004. “Localism and its neoliberal application: A case study of West Gate New Deal for Communities in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK”, Capital & Class, 83, 133-165.

Google Scholar Crossref

Moulaert, Franck; Dianna MacCallum and Jean Hillier. 2013. “Social innovation: intuition, precept, concept, theory and practice”. In The Internation Handbook on Social Innovation: Collective action, social learning and transdisciplinary research, edited by Franck Moulaert, Dianna MacCallum, Abid Mehmood and Abdelillah Hamdouch, 13-24. UK/USA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Google Scholar Crossref

Moulaert, Franck; Dianna MacCallum; Abid Mehmood, A. & Hamdouch, A. 2013. "General introduction: the return of social innovation as a scientific concept and a social practice". In F. Moulaert, D. MacCallum, A. Mehmood and Abdelillah Hamdouch (Eds.), The Internation Handbook on Social Innovation: Collective action, social learning and transdisciplinary research. UK/USA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 1-6.

Google Scholar Crossref

Neves, Tiago; Hélder Ferraz and Gil Nata. 2016. “Social inequality in access to higher education: grade inflation in private schools and the ineffectiveness of compensatory education”, International Studies in Sociology of Education, DOI: 10.1080/09620214.2016.1191966.

Google Scholar Crossref

Oliver, Esther and Rosa Valls. 2004. Violencia de Género. Investigaciones sobre quiénes, porqué y cómo superarla. Barcelona: Hipatia Editorial.

Google Scholar Crossref

Osam, E. Kobena; Matt Bergman and Denise M. Cumberland. 2017. "An integrative literature review on the barriers impacting Adult Learners’ return to college." Adult Learning 28 (2): 54-60.

Google Scholar Crossref

Perrenoud, Phillippe. 1995. Ofício do Aluno e Sentido do Trabalho Escolar. Oporto: Porto Editora.

Google Scholar Crossref

Perrenoud, Phillippe. 2000. Pedagogia Diferenciada. Das Intenções à Acção. Porto Alegre: Artmed Editora.

Google Scholar Crossref

Power, Sally; Gareth Rees, and Chris Taylor. 2005. “New Labour and Educational Disadvantage: The limits of area-based initiatives”, London Review of Education, 3(2): 101-116.

Google Scholar Crossref

Raffo, Carlo; Alan Dyson and Kirstin Keer. 2014. Lessons from Area-based Initiatives in Education and Training. In http://nesetweb.eu/en/library/library-item-2/, accessed 27 November 2015.

Google Scholar Crossref

Ramirez, Francisco O., and John Boli. 1987. "The political construction of mass schooling: European origins and worldwide institutionalization." Sociology of Education: 2-17.

Google Scholar Crossref

Resor, Cynthia W. 2010. “Place-Based Education: What is its place in the social studies classroom?” The Social Studies, 101: 185-188.

Google Scholar Crossref

Rhodes, John; Peter Tyler and Angela Brennan. 2003. “New Developments in Area-based Initiatives in England: The experience of the single regeneration budget”. Urban Studies, 40 (8): 1399-1426.

Google Scholar Crossref

Rhodes, John; PeterTyler and Anne Brennan 2005. “Assessing the Effect of Area Based Initiatives on Local Area Outcomes: Some thoughts based on the national evaluation of the single regeneration budget in England”. Urban Studies, 42 (11): 1919-1946.

Google Scholar Crossref

Rochex, Jean-Yves. 2011. “As três idades das políticas de educação prioritária: Uma convergência europeia?” Educação e Pesquisa, 37: 871-882.

Google Scholar Crossref

Rosenthal, Robert & Léonore Jacobson. 1976. “Pigmalion en clase”. In Sociologia de la Educación, edited by Alan Gras, 212-220. Madrid: Narcea S. A. ediciones.

Google Scholar Crossref

Ross, Alistair. 2009. Educational Policies that Address School Innequality. Overall report. In http://www.epasi.eu, accessed 16 January 2015.

Google Scholar Crossref

Ruitenberg, Claudia. 2005. “Deconstructing the Experience of the Local: Toward a radical pedagogy of place”, Philosophy of Education Archive, 212-220.

Google Scholar Crossref

Sá, Virgínio and Author A. 2012. “Uma outra educação? Um lugar de exclusão? Sobre os Cursos de Educação e Formação na voz de alunos e professores”. In Educação: História e Política. Uma Discussão sobre Processos Formativos e Socioculturais, edited by Nilson Thomé and Maria L. P. Almeida, 57-99. Campinas, SP: Mercado de Letras.

Google Scholar Crossref

Salvà-Mut, Francesca; Miquel Oliver-Trobat and Ruben Comas-Forgas. 2014. “Abandono escolar y desvinculación de la escuela: perspectiva del alumnado”. magis, Revista Internacional de Investigación en Educación, 6 (13): 129-142.

Google Scholar Crossref

Smith, Gregory A. 2005. “Place-Based Education: Learning to be where we are». Clearing – Teaching Resources for Ecology”. Sustainability and Community, 118: 6-43.

Google Scholar Crossref

Stevenson, Robert B. 2008. “A Critical Pedagogy of Place and the Critical Place(s) of Pedagogy”. Environmental Education Research, 14 (3): 353-360.

Google Scholar Crossref

UB/CREA and UM/UEA. 2006. Responses to Challenges of Youth Training in the Knowledge Society. Case Studies of Promising Practice. Barcelona: University of Barcelona/Centre of Research in Theories and Practices that Overcome Inequalities.

Google Scholar Crossref

Vallee, Daniel. 2017. “Student engagement and inclusive education: reframing student engagement. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 21 (9): 920-937. doi: 10.1080/13603116.2017.1296033.

Google Scholar Crossref