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Education As Social Construction: Contributions to Theory, Research and Practice WorldShare Books Education as Social Construction: Contributions to Theory, Research and Practice Thalia Dragonas, Kenneth J. Gergen, Sheila McNamee, Eleftheria Tseliou Editors A Taos Institute Publication Education as Social Construction Contributions to Theory, Research and Practice Thalia Dragonas, Kenneth J. Gergen, Sheila McNamee, Eleftheria Tseliou Editors Education as Social Construction Contributions to Theory, Research and Practice Thalia Dragonas, Kenneth J. Gergen, Sheila McNamee, Eleftheria Tseliou Editors Copyright ©2015 Taos Institute Publications/WorldShare Books © 2015 – Editors: Thalia Dragonas Kenneth J. Gergen Sheila McNamee Eleftheria Tseliou All rights reserved. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher. In all cases, the editors and writers have made efforts to ensure that the text credits are given to appropriate people and organizations. If any infringement has been made, the Taos Institute Publications will be glad, upon receiving notification, to make appropriate acknowledgement in future editions of the book. Inquiries should be addressed to Taos Institute Publications at [email protected] or 1-440-338-6733. Taos Institute Publications A Division of the Taos Institute Chagrin Falls, Ohio USA E-Book Format Only ISBN: 978-1-938552-33-5 (e-book version) Taos Institute Publications The Taos Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of social constructionist theory and practice for purposes of world benefit. Constructionist theory and practice locate the source of meaning, value, and action in communicative relations among people. Our major investment is in fostering relational processes that can enhance the welfare of people and the world in which they live. Taos Institute Publications offers contributions to cutting-edge theory and practice in social construction. Our books are designed for scholars, practitioners, students, and the openly curious public. The Focus Book Series provides brief introductions and overviews that illuminate theories, concepts, and useful practices. The Tempo Book Series is especially dedicated to the general public and to practitioners. The Books for Professionals Series provides in- depth works that focus on recent developments in theory and practice. WorldShare Books is an online offering of books in PDF format for free download from our website. Our books are particularly relevant to social scientists and to practitioners concerned with individual, family, organizational, community, and societal change. Kenneth J. Gergen President, Board of Directors The Taos Institute Taos Institute Board of Directors Harlene Anderson Mary Gergen Ginny Belden-Charles Sheila McNamee David Cooperrider, Honorary Sally St. George Robert Cottor Jane Watkins, Honorary Kenneth Gergen Diana Whitney, Emerita Dan Wulff WorldShare Books Senior Editors - Kenneth Gergen, Dan Wulff and Mary Gergen Books for Professional Series Editor - Kenneth Gergen Taos Institute Tempo Series Editor - Mary Gergen Focus Book Series Editors - Harlene Anderson Executive Director - Dawn Dole For information about the Taos Institute and social constructionism visit: www.taosinstitute.net Table of Contents List of contributors iv Education as Social Construction: An Introduction ix Thalia Dragonas, Kenneth J. Gergen, Sheila McNamee, Eleftheria Tseliou Section I: Constructionist Theory in Education 1. The Social Construction of Identities: Reflections on 21st Century Education in Light of the Charlie Hebdo Slaughter 3 Jim Cummins 2. Being well: Educated 30 Tim Corcoran and Tom Billington 3. From Propositions to Practice: Pedagogy for Life as Process 49 Kenneth J. Gergen 4. Dialogic Learning: Talking our Way into Understanding 62 Gordon Wells Section II: Educational Practice 5. Working with Youth at Risk: an Appreciative Approach 92 Bjørn Hauger and Ingebjørg Mæland 6. Losing the “Lie”: Teaching “Intro” from a Social Constructionist Position 108 Mary M. Gergen 7. Relational Learning in Education 121 Anne Morrison and Kristen Chorba 8. Co-Creating Joyful Learning and Augmenting Social Skills in Children by Employing Creative Drama 140 Charru Sharma 9. Changing the World one Verb at a Time: Collaborating with Teachers in Schools in Mexico City Sylvia London 156 10. Practicing Relational Thinking in Dealing with Bullying in Schools Gitte Haslebo and Gro Emmertsen Lund 168 Section III: Systems Change 11. Sowing Seeds of Synergy: Creative Youth Workshops in a Multi-Cultural Context 192 Anni Vassiliou and Thalia Dragonas 12. Educational Change: A Relational Appoach 213 Loek Schoenmakers 13. School Principals: Problem Solvers and Appreciative Leaders Xinping Zhang 227 14. Culture Change in Educational Contexts 242 Susan Kay Mossman Riva Section IV: Research and Evaluation 15. Discourse Analysis and Educational Research Challenge and Promise 263 Eleftheria Tseliou 16. Negotiating the ‘3Rs’: Deconstructing the Politics 283 of ‘Rights, Respect and Responsibility’ in one English Primary School Rebecca Webb 17. Communicative Methodology of Research and Evaluation: 297 A Success Story Aitor Gómez 18. Evaluation as Social Construction 315 Peter Dahler-Larsen 19. Evaluation in a Relational Key 336 Sheila McNamee 20. Assessment and Pedagogy 350 in the Era of Machine-Mediated Learning Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis List of contributors Tom Billington is a Professor of Educational and Child Psychology in the School of Education at the University of Sheffield, UK where he belongs to a community of critically inclined psychologists and educationists, practitioners and also students from around the globe. He regularly works internationally and his single-authored books are Separating, losing and excluding children: Narratives of difference and Working with children: Assessment, representation and intervention. Tom’s current research projects concern the development of critical approaches to ADHD, autism and also neuroscience. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. Kristen Chorba is an Instructional Designer at Kent State University (Ohio, U.S.A), where she received Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and a M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration. Kristen's dissertation explored a peer-mentoring project which supports undergraduate teacher education majors. Kristen incorporates reflecting processes, photo elicitation, and interviewing in her research to describe the experiences of mentors and to continue the conversation around what it is to be a mentor. Bill Cope is a Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois. He is co-author of The Future of the Academic Journal, (with Angus Phillips) Elsevier, Oxford, 2nd edition 2014; and Towards a Semantic Web: Connecting Knowledge in Academic Research, (with Kalantzis and Magee), Elsevier, Oxford, 2011. He has led the development of the innovative web writing and semantic publishing environment, Scholar, with the support of R&D grants from the Institute of Educational Sciences in the US Department of Education and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Tim Corcoran is a Senior Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Critical Psychology at the Victoria Institute, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. He has extensive experience in educational psychology at both applied and academic levels. His academic career has involved posts in Australia, Singapore and the UK. In 2014 he edited Psychology in education: Critical theory~practice (Sense), an international collection of contributions on critical approaches to educational psychology. Jim Cummins is a Professor Emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. His research focuses on literacy development in educational contexts characterized by linguistic diversity. In numerous articles and books he has explored the nature of language proficiency and its relationship to literacy development with particular emphasis on the intersections of societal power relations, teacher-student identity negotiation, and literacy attainment. He is the author (with Margaret Early) of Identity Texts: The Collaborative Creation of Power in Multilingual Schools (Trentham Books). v Peter Dahler-Larsen is professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, where he is leader of CREME (Centre for Research on Effects, Measurement and Evaluation). His research interests are focused on cultural and institutional aspects of evaluation, including the constitutive effects of evaluation on politics and practice. He is the author of "The Evaluation Society" (Stanford University Press 2012). Thalia Dragonas is a Professor of Social Psychology at the School of Educational Sciences, University of Athens, Greece. She has written extensively on psychosocial identities, intercultural education and ethnocentrism in the educational system. She has worked extensively for the reform of the education of the Muslim Minority in Western Thrace. She co-edits a book series on Social and Historical Studies in Greece and Turkey (I.B. TAURIS) and she edited with N. Bozatzis Discursive Turn in Social Psychology (2014) at WorldShare. She was member of Greek Parliament (2007-2009) with the Socialist Party (PASOK) and Special Secretary of Intercultural Education at the Ministry of Education (2010). Gro Emmertsen Lund received a B.A. degree in Educational Science with teaching experience in
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