http://hdl.handle.net/10451/2882 2013-05-14T18:22:40Z http://hdl.handle.net/10451/4216 Title: Basil Bernstein as an inspiration for educational research: Specific methodological approaches Authors: Morais, Ana Maria; Neves, Isabel Pestana Abstract: The article is focused on the research that has been developed by the ESSA Group (Sociological Studies of the Classroom) and which is fundamentally based on Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic discourse. It presents the theoretical assumptions and the methodological procedures that have guided the conception of the models and instruments of analysis and the steps followed in their construction. Aspects related to validity and reliability criteria are also referred. It is clarified the epistemological positioning of the research, while discussing the extent to which that research departs from the dichotomy between naturalistic and rationalist approaches and reflects an option that rejects the strongly contextualised and idiosyncratic character of qualitative methodologies, guided by postmodernist perspectives in educational research. It is also discussed the extent to which the fundamentally rationalist positioning that has been adopted, has not coincided with an experimental design or a quantitative data analysis. The article intends to provide a basis for reflection of the potentialities and limitations of the mixed research methodology that has guided the empirical work carried out by the ESSA Group and, as a consequence, of the objectivity value of the results that have been suggested by the application of the instruments. 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10451/4214 Title: Educational texts and contexts that work: Discussing the optimization of a model of pedagogic practice Authors: Morais, Ana Maria; Neves, Isabel Pestana Abstract: This study starts from research that intended to find out answers to the major problem of improving the learning of students, especially the disadvantaged, without decreasing the level of conceptual demand. The research has been focused on family’s and school’s learning contexts, teachers’ education contexts and also on the contexts of syllabuses’ and textbooks’ construction. Various models have been constructed to direct the research and to analyse the results. Along the whole process of research, a model that conceptualises a school pedagogic practice that seems to have the potential to lead children to success at school was achieved, narrowing the gap between children from differentiated social backgrounds. Bernstein’s theory of pedagogic discourse has provided the main theoretical framework to the studies. This paper intends to: (a) present the model and describe its characteristics; (b) present the model at work; (c) explain how the model can be extended to the contexts of teacher education and curricula and syllabuses construction; and (d) discuss the optimization of the model in order that a more precise model will be tested in future research. 2010-10-01T00:00:00Z