Why sociocultural theory in education?
In short, everywhere in education leading critical thinkers draw on aspects of socio-cultural theory, and educational researchers increasingly refer to them. Theoretical spin-offs from such work in education include (i) in special education the socio-cultural construction of 'disability' and 'special' needs, (ii) in literacy notions such as 'critical literacy' and 'writing genres', and 'silicon literacies', (iii) in management the concept of 'distributed leadership', (iv) in mathematics and science education the notion of scientific 'Discourses', and the mediation of academic practices by new technology and new social structures.
However, the whole is greater than the parts: the point is that by addressing all these fields of education through the (somewhat common) lens of socio-cultural theory it becomes possible both (i) to generate creative new local concepts/conceptual frameworks, and (ii) to allow local empirical groundings of theory to contribute to the broader theoretical debates. Thus, as educational researchers with a commitment to socio-cultural theory we aspire to make global-theoretical as well as local- empirical contributions to knowledge from each study we are involved with.
The ScTIG group has a common interest in understanding practice in order to inform the solution of crucial problems for education and society, especially around the following themes:
- Social inclusion (including the inclusion of children with special educational needs)
- Learning, teaching and pedagogy (including Teacher Development) and
- School leadership, improvement and effectiveness.