Structured Looseness: Everyday Social Order at an Israeli Kindergarten

Abstract

In this article, I address notions of social order as these are conveyed to young children in an early education setting. On the basis of an ethnographic account of an Israeli kindergarten, I describe the routine structuring of everyday life at the kindergarten, as well as the ways in which this routine structuring was consistently undermined, primarily by the teacher herself. Specifically, the study shows how the relatively enfeebled routine structuring of daily life facilitated the emergence of alternative models of social order, namely, collective order and personal order embodied by the teacher. The interplay of structure and looseness discerned at the kindergarten is addressed in terms of the institutional distinctiveness of early education settings, as well as with reference to the Israeli sociocultural context. It is suggested that the study of the organization of daily life in early education settings may enrich our understanding of socialization into enduring perceptions of social order and of the sources of its legitimacy. [education, classroom ethnography, children, Israel, kindergarten]

On the Alert in an Unpredictable Environment

“…Framing her study in terms of the individual-collective dialectic, Furman claimed that Israeli children learn to be assertive, even aggressive, on the individual level, at the same time that they learn passive obedience to dictates of the collective, via ritual ceremony. In a previous paper, the first author (Golden, 2006) looked at the way in which daily life is structured at an Israeli kindergarten with a view to examining notions of social order conveyed to children. In that paper, she described two alternative sources of social order, namely, collective order and personal order, embodied by the teacher.…”

Interview with Tommaso Pardi: «New Geopolitics of Automobile Industry» (translated by Olessia Kirchik)

“…Согласно их исследованию, в начальных школах, где эти характеристики менее выражены, у учителей есть возможность подстраиваться под индивидуальное поведение учеников и развивать у последних независимое мышление [Bishop, George 1973]. Подобную мысль другими словами выражает Д. Голден: рутинизация и структура работы дошкольной организации подготавливает детей к дальнейшему участию в бюрократиях, в том числе в школе и по месту работы [Golden 2006 [Meier, Mastracci, Wilson 2006]. Несмотря на иррациональность и обезличенность, возникающие в процессе организации, бюрократия нужна образовательной системе как раз потому, что берёт на себя практически всю административную работу, тем самым разгружает учителей и позволяет им заниматься только педагогической деятельностью.…”