Actividades de desarrollo

In this subsection Bernstein‘s (1996) concept of

classification is applied to an examination of the organisation of secondary schools in New Zealand. Hargreaves (1994) considers secondary schools the ―prime symbols and symptoms of modernity‖ (p.9). He describes modernity as a social condition driven and sustained by Enlightenment beliefs in rational scientific progress and the triumph of technology over nature. According to Hargreaves, modernity begins with the separation of family and work and culminates in systems of mass production; ―In modernist economies expansion is essential to survival‖ (p. 8). Politically, modernity concentrates control at the centre which is

reflected in ―large, complex and often cumbersome

bureaucracies arranged into hierarchies, and segmented into specialisations of expertise‖ (p. 8). Hargreaves argues that secondary schools, in their scale, specialisations and bureaucratic complexity reflect the values and processes of modernity (p. 9).

In Doing Cultural Studies: Youth and the Challenge of Pedagogy (1994), Giroux maintains that ―narrow, technocratic models dominate educational reform‖ (p. 94). The problem, as

he sees it, lies in the relationship between pedagogy and power. Those who hold the power control the discourse around education and so shape pedagogical practice. Gilbert (2005) suggests that modern Western education systems are directly descended from the philosophy of Plato and are, therefore ―elitist, hierarchical, conservative and closed‖14 _{(p. 49).}

She argues that the education system uses traditional curriculum subjects for two different purposes: to prepare future ruling classes, and to decide who will enter that class. Gilbert cites Bourdieu‘s hypothesis which posits that

cultural capital15 _{is not taught directly but picked up}

through immersion and so is not easily accessible to another social group (p.61):

The educational institution, which plays a critical role in the reproduction of the distribution of cultural capital and thus in the reproduction of the structure of social space, has become a central stake in the struggle for the monopoly on dominant positions. (Bourdieu, 2008, p. 33)

The social hierarchy is maintained through access to the education available to the elite, by which a student gains not only academic rewards but is immersed in the social mores of the dominant caste. Moore (2006) posits that school curricula often reflect this dominance:

It is argued that, though school curricula are often presented and understood in terms of selections from the knowledge and culture of a nation, what is typically selected continues to draw almost exclusively on the cultural skills and preferences of already privileged social groups. (p. 87)

14 _{See also chapter 2 for information on Plato‘s attitude to the arts in general}

The point, though, is not that these intrinsic ideological processes exist in school curricula but how they are transmitted. Traditionally, secondary school subjects have been what Bernstein (1996) terms singularities. Where classification is strong, each department in a school will have strong insulation, ―its unique identity, its unique voice, its own specialised rules of internal relations‖ (p. 21). When classification is weak the school may take a more integrated approach to teaching and learning but Bernstein argues that ―classifications, strong or weak, always carry power relations‖ (p.21). In the case of drama education, the historic marginalisation of drama in schools, and the relative novelty of having it included as a mainstream subject, means that it still often carries less status than the more traditional subjects.16 The sense of identity of the academic subjects has evolved over time and, even in more integrated schools, they remain well insulated. By its nature, drama education has a less firm insulation, partly because it was traditionally taught as part of English but also because the evolution of the subject fostered a sense of openness and experimentation.

If, as Hargreaves (1994) states, secondary schools remain modernist institutions, the practical reality is that all school managers and teachers understand the recognition rules of regulative discourse, which is why they will endeavour to work within the bounds of curriculum and assessment models despite any personal misgivings they may have. They may also be hesitant in naming their misgivings, especially in schools where classification and/or framing are particularly strong. There is a hierarchy of power in education which, over time, has become integral to the very

16 _{See chapter 2, section 2.3}

concept of schools so that those within the education system generally take it for granted:

The arbitrary nature of these power relations is disguised, hidden by the principle of classification, for the principle of the classification comes to have the force of the natural order, and the identities that it constructs are taken as real, as authentic, as integral, as the source of integrity. (Bernstein, 1996, p. 21)

This would suggest that if drama is to forge its identity as an established academic subject in the secondary school it has no option but to strengthen its insulation by constructing a singular vocabulary and specialised rules. The tensions inherent in approaching drama education in this way, and the impact of this approach on drama practitioners in New Zealand, is of significance to the examination of teachers‘ perceptions of the impact of the NCEA contained in this thesis.

In this subsection Bernstein‘s (1996) concept of

classification is applied to an examination of secondary schools in New Zealand. It discusses the hierarchical nature of schools and the relationship between pedagogy and power. The conformation of secondary schools into subjects or singularities, insulated by a specialised language and procedures, is considered in relation to the relay of power in education. The situation of drama as one of the newer academic subjects is examined in this context.

The means of maintaining this power through the control of educational process lies in the establishment of national curricula and assessment schedules. For arts teachers, the curriculum in question is The Arts in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2000). The following

section, therefore, examines the structure of the arts curriculum document and the subsequent introduction of NCEA assessment, in regard to their significance for drama educators.