Building bridges and constructing walls: Subject hierarchies as reflected in teachers’ perspectives towards student influence

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore how teachers from various academic subjects and programmes describe their pedagogic practice, particularly regarding students’ opportunities to influence what and how they learn, and whether and how their descriptions reflect subject hierarchies. The study draws on interviews with 16 upper secondary school teachers in Iceland, representing different schools and subjects.

Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic discourse was used to prepare this study. The study shows how teacher perceptions of pedagogic practice in relation to student influence in the school context reflect the constructions of subject hierarchies. Teachers in mathematics reported on rigid pedagogic practices while teachers in other subjects described pedagogic practices in which students could, to some extent, influence their learning. Furthermore, teachers in social science subjects, natural science subjects, and languages described attempts to build bridges between various subjects, while mathematics did not participate in such attempts.

Those constructions indicate an upper secondary school in which mathematics, particularly within the natural science programme, is strongly classified, as defined by Bernstein. The findings mirror stereotypical notions of students’ capacity and interest since students enrolled in programmes other than the natural science programme are perceived by the teachers as lacking the ability to succeed in mathematics. The teachers described how conceptual demands in mathematics were lowered in other academic programmes, leading to knowledge roadblocks for students and restricting their further educational opportunities.