Basil Bernstein at the Micro Level of the Classroom

Abstract

This paper focuses on questions related to pedagogic practices in the classroom and is fundamentally based on Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse. It discusses the interplay of the characteristics of pedagogic practice which former studies have indicated contain the potential for a better scientific understanding. It also discusses the importance of a mixed pedagogic practice with strong or weak values of classification and framings, depending on given aspects of that practice. The paper continues with a discussion of some aspects of the methodologies used, and a discussion of education as a horizontal structure of knowledge with science educators' common reluctance to accept ways of teaching based on horizontal structures of knowledge with weak grammars (e.g. sociology). The paper suggests how this can be reversed if Bernstein's theory, with its high conceptual structure, is considered.