THE WEB OF POWER RELATIONS AND THE SCHOOL REGULATIVE DISCOURSE DURING PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS’ TEACHING PRACTICES

Authors

  • Anna Asimaki Department of Education and Social Work, University of Patras, Greece
  • Vasiliki-Eleni Selechopoulou School of Education, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
  • Gerasimos Koustourakis Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education, University of Patras, Greece

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v8i2.3567

Keywords:

teacher education, teaching practice, power, regulative discourse, knowledge

Abstract

The purpose of this paper, which utilises Foucault’s theoretical framework, is to study the effect the existent web of power relations and the school regulative discourse have on the formation of the students as teacher-subjects, during their teaching practice organised by a Department of Primary Education in Greece. The data were collected using two research tools: the interview and observation. The research findings showed that power relations are formed between the mentors and the students. Moreover, the mentors’ action unfolds on three levels. They simultaneously act as supervisors and evaluators, as lead-teachers in the classroom and as role-models for the students. It is through their action that the students become familiarized the school regulative discourse. The majority of the students conform to the norms of the school regulative discourse and obey the controls exercised by the mentors, during their practicum.

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Author Biographies

  • Anna Asimaki, Department of Education and Social Work, University of Patras, Greece
    Anna Asimaki (PhD) is Associate Professor at the University of Patras, Department of Education and Social Work, Greece. She is also a tutor in the postgraduate studies programme in the same Department, teaching professional development for teachers. Among her publications is the article entitled “Regulative discourses of primary schooling in Greece: memories of punishment”, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Vol. 26, no 1: 82-97 (2017, with Gerasimos Koustourakis and Dimitris Vergidis) and “A Foucauldian disciplinary theorization of inmate education in the Second Chance Schools in Greek prisons: A case study”, Studies in the Education of Adults, Vol. 52, no 1: 101-118 (2020, with Gerasimos Koustourakis and Nikolaos Nikolakakos). E-mail: asimaki@upatras.gr Website: http://www.edu-sw.upatras.gr/faculty/asimaki/
  • Vasiliki-Eleni Selechopoulou, School of Education, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
    Vasiliki-Eleni Selechopoulou is PhD Student at the University of Nottingham, School of Education, Nottingham, U.K. She holds an M.Ed. in Educational Sciences and her scientific interests lie in the field of Sociology of Education, mainly focusing on teachers' education and their formation as teacher-subjects. Her empirical studies have been published in the proceedings of international and panhellenic conferences. E-mail: vasiliki.selechopoulou@nottingham.ac.uk
  • Gerasimos Koustourakis, Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education, University of Patras, Greece
    Gerasimos Koustourakis (PhD) is Professor at the University of Patras, Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education, Greece. He is also a tutor in the postgraduate studies programme, Master in Education, in the Faculty of Humanities of Hellenic Open University teaching open and distance learning. E-mail: koustourakis@upatras.gr Website: http://www.ecedu.upatras.gr/koustourakis

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Published

2021-02-06

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2021)

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