Vygotsky and Special Needs Education Rethinking Support for Children and Schools

by Daniels, Harry; Hedegaard, Mariane

• ISBN13: 9781441191724
• ISBN10: 1441191720
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-21
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

After Piaget, Vygotsky is perhaps the most important educational theorist of the twentieth century. Support for schools and pupils with additional needs has been theorised in a number of ways over the last 100 years and much interest has been shown in the development and relevance of Vygotsky's ideas. It is ironic, therefore, that so little has been written about the practical application of such a perspective to the field. This book brings together researchers working in the UK and Denmark to reflect on the benefits to be had from taking such a stance on support for children and schools. All the contributors are connected with work that has been done at PPUK and CSAT research centres at the universities of Copenhagen and Bath. Both centres enjoy strong reputations for their contributions to cultural historical theory. The authors pursue issues raised by a post-Vygotskian approach and which make important contributions to the development of the fields of policy and practice.

Author Biography

Harry Daniels is Professor of Education culture and Pedagogy and Directoe of the center for Sociocultural and Activity Research Theory at the University of Bath, UK. Mariane Hedegaard is Professor of Developmental Psychology, and the Head of the Person Practice, Development and culture Research Centre at the University of Cooenhagen, Denmark. she is also Associate of the Department of Education, University of Oxford, UK.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	p. x
Introduction Mariane Hedegaard and Harry Daniels	p. 1
Reframing problems in schools	p. 1
Developmental pathways	p. 3
Learning and development through entering institutional practices	p. 4
How practice may be understood in institutions	p. 5
References	p. 8
Children with Special Needs
Cognitive Impairments and Cultural-Historical Practices for Learning: Children with Cerebral Palsy in School	p. 11
Vygotsky's idea of developmental disontogenesis	p. 12
The brain lesion functions as neurobiological constraints on cognitive processes	p. 13
Executive dysfunction as a particular neurobiological constraint	p. 15
Empirical study	p. 16
Different learning activities within the samesetting	p. 19
Learning activities in two different school settings	p. 22
Motives in relation to learning practices and learning impairments	p. 24
Conclusion	p. 25
References	p. 28
The Challenge of using Multiple Methods to Gather the views of Children	p. 30
Introduction	p. 30
Choosing Methods	p. 32
Using multiple methods	p. 34
Details of the study	p. 35
Focus groups	p. 35
Questionnaire	p. 38
Findings	p. 39
Making sense of diverse views	p. 41
Contextualizing the findings	p. 43
Conclusion	p. 44
References	p. 45
Failing to Learn or Learning to Fail? The Case of Young Writers	p. 48
Introduction	p. 48
Literacy learning from a socio-cultural perspective	p. 49
Talk to text	p. 52
Discussion	p. 60
References	p. 63
Educational Psychological Pedagogical Practice
Cooperation between Professionals in Educational Psychology - Children's Specific Problems are Connected to General Dilemmas in Relation to Taking Part	p. 67
Introduction	p. 67
Theoretical challenges in relation to practical support	p. 69
Participation as a key concept	p. 72
Methodological considerations	p. 74
'Where do I belong?'	p. 75
The organizational gap between 'special help' and the school'	p. 78
Cooperation between the grown-ups	p. 79
Conclusions	p. 82
Notes	p. 83
References	p. 83
Supporting Children and Schools: A Development and Practice-Centred Approach for Professional Practice and Research	p. 86
The consultation tradition and an argument for its extension through inclusion of a cultural-historical theory of development	p. 88
A development and practice-centred approach to support children and schools with problems	p. 91
Using the development and practice-centred approach for supporting refugee children in difficult positions in school	p. 8
Using the development and practice-centred approach in research activities	p. 103
Conclusion	p. 106
Notes	p. 106
References	p. 107
Developing Educational Psychological Consultative Practice in Schools Framed within Cultural-Historical Theory of Child Development	p. 109
Cultural-historical theory of child development that includes the perspective of the child	p. 112
Consultation framed within cultural-historical theory of child development	p. 115
A teaching experiment with educational psychologists working as consultants in schools	p. 117
Evaluation of the teaching experiment	p. 121
Notes	p. 125
References	p. 125
Change and Development in the Professional Practice of Educational Psychologists in the UK	p. 128
Introduction	p. 128
A century of professional educational psychology in the United Kingdom	p. 129
Activity theory	p. 130
A chronological, activity theoretical analysis of the work of educational psychologists	p. 133
Summarizing changes in practice in activity theoretical terms	p. 142
Current and future possibilities	p. 144
References147
Support That Transcends Borders
Support for Children and Schools through Cultural Intervention	p. 153
introduction	p. 153
Collaboration between agencies	p. 155
Intervention at the cultural level: teachers' collaborative problem solving	p. 160
Conclusion	p. 168
Note	p. 169
References	p. 169
Relational Agency in Collaborations for the Well-Being of Children and Young People	p. 173
Evolving concepts: social exclusion and prevention	p. 173
The implications of preventative work for practitioners	p. 175
Expertise for child-centred practices	p. 179
Negotiating expertise	p. 181
Relational agency	p. 184
Wording with service users	p. 186
The lmplications for the strategic development of children's services	p. 187
Notes	p. 188
References	p. 188
Diverse Needs, Different Provision: How Differences in Preschool Settings Support Children to Learn How to be Learners	p. 191
The diversity of the UK preschool sector	p. 192
Investigating differences in preschool culture	p. 195
The four settings	p. 196
Category defence	p. 198
Use of personal pronouns	p. 201
Ways of speaking	p. 203
Implications of differences between settings	p. 204
References	p. 206
Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training	p. 207
The engaging youth enquiry	p. 208
The English patient	p. 210
Schooling as a thinking space	p. 213
Can we dismantle the 'NEET' problem?	p. 215
Conclusion	p. 220
References	p. 1
Index	p. 225
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