DOCUMENT RESUME ED 316 910 EA 021 068 AUTHOR Hamilton, David TITLE Towards a Theory of Schooling. Deakin Studies in Education Series, Volume 4. REPORT NO ISBN-1-85000-481-1 PUB DATE 89 NOTE 193p. AVAILABLE FROMFalmer Press,c/o Taylor and Francis, 79 Madison Avenue, Suite1110, NewYork, NY 10016-7892 ($20.00). PUB TYPE Books (010) --Reports -Research/Technical (143) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC08 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Educational Change; *Educational History; Educational Philosophy; *Educational Theories; Elementary Secondary Education; *School Organization ABSTRACT This book examines long-term changes in the form and function of schooling. The work falls into three sections: an introductory chapter; five historical essays; and a concluding chapter. Chapter 1 unfolds the theoretical and practical considerations that governed the selection and organization of the historical essays. The historical essays in chapters 2 through 6 address notable and pivotal episodes in the history of school organization. Their titles are as follows: "On the Origins of the Educational Terms Class and Curriculum"; "Schooling to Order: Jean Baptist de la Salle and the Pedagogy of Elementary Education"; "Adam Smith and the Moral Economy of the Classroom System"; "On Simultaneous Instruction and the Emergence of Class Teaching"; "The Recitation Revisited." Chapter 7 builds upon the preceding essays by advancing a range of general propositions about the relationship among "schooling," "society," and "educational change." 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"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." 5.4V", 4f BEST COPYAVAILABLE TOWARDS A THEORY OF SCHOOLING 3 Deakin Studies in Education Series General Editors: Professor Rob Walker and Professor Stephen Kemmis, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia 1 CURRICULUM: PRODUCT OR PRAXIS? Shirley Grundy 2 CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON DISTANCE EDUCATION Edited by Terry Evans and Daryl Nation 3 CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP Edited by John Smyth 4 TOWARDS A THEORY OF SCHOOLING David Hamilton Deakin Studies in Education Series: 4 TOWARDS A THEORY OF SCHOOLING David Hamilton The Falmer Press (A member of the Taylor & Francis Group) London New York Philadelphia UK The Falmer Press, Falmer House, Barcombe, Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 5DL USA The Falmer Press, Taylor & Francis Inc., 242 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19105-1906 '© 1989 David Hamilton All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or other- wise, without permission in writing from the Publisher. First published 1989 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data is available on request ISBN1 85000 480 3 ISBN 1 85000 4811 (pbk.) Typeset in 12/13 Garamond by The FD Group Ltd, Fleet, Hampshire Jacket design by Caroline Archer Printed in Greai Britain by Ta;lor & Francis (Printers) Ltd, Basingstoke Contents Preface vii Chapter 1 Setting the Agenda 1 Chapter 2 On the Origins of the Educational Terms Class and 35 Curriculum Chapter 3 Schooling to Order: Jean Baptist de la Salle and the 56 Pedagogy of Elementary Education Chapter 4 Adam Smith and the Moral Economy of the 75 Classroom System Chapter 5 On Simultaneous Instruction and the Emergence of 97 Class Teaching Chapter 6 The Recitation Revisited 120 Chapter 7 Notes Towards a Theory of Schooling 150 Bibliography 157 Index 174 Domestic education is the institution ofnature; public education the contrivance of man. (Smith, A. (1759) The Theory of Moral Sentiments) The great proliferation of historical writing has servednot to illuminate the central themes of western history butto obscure them. (Bailyn, B. (1982) The challenge of modern historiography) The concept of a historically based (investigation)is misun- derstood by most researchers. For them,to study something historically means, by definition, to studysome past event. Hence, they naively imagine an insurmountable barrier between historic study and study of present day behavioural forms. To study something historically means to study it in theprocess of change. Thus, historical study is notan auxiliary aspect of theoretical study, but rather forms itsvery base. (Vygotski, L. (1932-33) Problems of method) Pedagogical instruction should propose,not to communicate to future practitioners a certain number of procedures and formulae, but to give them full awareness of their function. (Durkheim, E. (1905) The evolution and role of secondary education in France) vi 8 Preface Schooling is not the same as education. Schooling isan extensive and elaborate human institution. It began to take its present shape in the Middle Ages, and it has been repeatedly reformed since that time. In the process, schooling has emerged as a malleable instrument of the political state an agency charged with the transformation of immature human beings into appropriately-socialized adult citizens.Itis perhaps no exaggeration to say that, on an international scale, schoolingwas conceived by christianity and raised by capitalism. This book, then, is about schooling. Inspired by works written by two non-historians Emile Durkheim's The Evolution (I. Educational Thought (a course of lectures originally delivered in 1904-05) and Maurice Dobb's Studies in the Development of Capitalism (originally published in 1946) it examines long-term changes in the form and function of schooling.In summary,the workfallsintothreesections:an introductory chapter; five historical essays which can oe read on their own; and a concluding chapter. Chapter 1 (Setting the Agenda) unfolds the theoretical and practical considerations that governed the selection and organization of the historical essays. The historicalessays (chapters 2-6) address notable and pivotal episodes in .the history of school organization (for example, the introduction of classes and class teaching). And chapter 7 (Notes Towards a Theory of Schooling) buildsupon the essays by advancing a range of general propositions about the relationship between 'schooling', 'society' and 'educational change'. The manuscript for this book was largely prepared between 1977 and 1986. I regret, therefore, that it doesnot profit more fully from recent publications such as Connell (1987) Gender and Power; Corrigan and Sayer (1985) The Great Arch: State Formation, Cultural Revolution and the Rise of Capitalism; Courtenay (1987) Schools and Scholars in Fourteenth Century England; Goodson (1988) The Making of Curriculum; Kliebard vii 9 Towards a Theory of Schooling (1986) The Struggle for the American Curriculum 1893-1958; Maynes (1985) Schooling in Western Europe: A Social History; and Morgan (1986) Godly Learning: Puritan Attitudes Towards Reason, Learning and Education. Just as schooling did not evolve in an ideological vacuum, so this book owes much to an unfinished dialogue that I have shared with colleagues and friends. For their forebearance, counsel and support, I would particularly like to thank Clem Adelman, Richard Aldrich, Susan Bain, Leo Bartlett, Wilf Carr, Anne Currie, Donald Broady, Margot Cameron Jones, Michael Clanchy, Bruce Curtis, Mary Finn, Simon Frith, David Gough, Nigel Grant, Elisabet Hedrenius, Keith Hoskin, Walter Humes, Ervin Johanningmeier, Stephen Kemmis, Ulf Lundgren, Andrew McPherson, Philip McCann, Kerstin Mattsson, Margaret Nieke, Hamish Paterson, Tom Popkewitz, Margaret Reid, William A. Reid, Richard Selleck, Harold Silver, Brian Simon, Joan Simon, James V. Smith, Louis Smith, Robert Stake, Lawrence Stenhouse, Rob Walker, Gaby Weiner, Ian Westbury, Jack Whitehead, Donald Withrington and Michael F.D. Young. And just as schooling did not evolve in an economic vacuum, so this book also owes much to the supplementary financial support I have received from the British Council, the Social Science Research Council (grant No. HR/5127), the Swedish Institute and the University of Glasgow. David Hamilton Glasgow October 1988 viii 10 C bapter 1 Setting the Agenda Any description of classroom activities that cannot be related to the social structure and culture of the society isa conservative description. (Walker (1970) The Social Setting of the Classroom)' To explain any educational process we must havea conceptual apparatus that relates the economic and social structure of society to the teaching process. (Lundgren (1979) School Curricula: Content and Structure)'` Educationisnot simply shaped in a general way by the imperacives, arrangements and logic of the capitalist system. Education is specifically artimlated with this system in certainvery definite ways, (Hall (1981) Schooling, State and Society)3 I This book has its own history. Its origins lie in the study ofa new open planschoolthatIconductedin1975-76.4