From the model of stable rationality to an elusive image of the subject. An application of Bernstein’s theory to Primary School Reform Acts in Italy since 1985

In this proposal, the conceptual framework developed by Bernstein (1977; 1990) is utilized to analyze the pedagogic discourses that structure the sequence of Primary School Reform Acts in Italy since 1985. In these documents, interpretations about the nature of knowledge, the appropriate organization of the curriculum, the effective process of instruction are offered, in order to give direction to the work of teachers. Each running Education Department has replaced former Official Documents with new frameworks, making apparent the implication of different social policies on schooling. Theoretical framework Bernstein’s theory of education is based on the concepts of “classification”, “framing” and “evaluation”; specific instantiations of these dimensions relate to different pedagogies: “visible pedagogy” is characterized by a strong classification among subject matters, a teacher-centred approach, an explicit criteria of instruction and a performance-oriented learning. “Invisible pedagogy” tends to give more emphasis on each child’s mode of participation in the school activities. The role of the teacher tends to shift from the simple delivering of the curriculum towards the fostering of the children’s learning, by assuming more responsibility in working out the teaching practice. In turn, the differences between pedagogies are connected to the redistribution of knowledge within a society (Apple, 2003; Bernstein 2000; Gewirtz, 2000; Walford, 2001). Objectives Through Bernstein's conceptual framework, both the preparatory Reports and the School Reform Acts are analyzed, in order to: - highlight the changes in the institutional pedagogic discourse, by recognizing the rules of knowledge recontextualization, the classification of subject-matters, the role of the teachers and the nature of the learning process; - critically analyze the stated objectives and problematize the proposed strategies to make school more effective; - connect the different pedagogical discourses to alternative political goals. Method Official documents are analyzed in order to shed light to the changes in educational policy in Italy since 1985. The 1985 “National Curriculum for Primary Schools” Act is characterized by a “visible pedagogy” and it assumes the presence of a well-established structure of knowledge, an “acquisitive” model of learning and implies a procedural vision of the teaching activity. This pedagogic discourse has been criticized from different perspectives and the following Reform Acts has moved the scope of the official documents from a full-fledged curriculum to a list of recommendations the schools can work out autonomously (L 59, 15 marzo 1997; L. 28 marzo 2003, n. 53; D.M. 31 luglio 2007). Although the documents call for a shift in the discursive focus from the knowledge to be learned towards the students’ competencies to be fostered, they differ over the objects of the teaching process (Alexander, 2001; Hartley, 2007). Expected results The analysis reconstructs the epistemologies that underlie different pedagogic discourses; more specifically, it recognizes the alternative “invisible pedagogies” and relates them to different ideas of society.