Education: An Ecology

The Joy of Social Theory

Theory: Who cares?

Theories allow us to account for facts, explain relationships, make predictions, and plan.

The educational world is complex. We need a theory that helps navigate

the complexity.

Why System/Ecological Theory?

Old Paradigm: Reductionism

1. This involves breaking things down into their component parts.

2. Little emphasis on how one thing relates to another.

3. Although useful and important, you miss some crucial things

What is a System?

An arrangement of parts that interact This interaction makes systems

complex Complexity is where the action is

Characteristics of systems Systems have boundaries, but most

systems are open They resist change Changes in a system produce

unintended consequences Emergent Properties (New things) Great cliché: The whole is greater than

the sum of its parts

Examples of systems

Systems are everywhere. Almost anything you can think of has

systemic properties Kittens, people, universes, classrooms,

schools, societies, etc.

What you’re missing

The Big Picture. Events: Past, Present and Future. Relationships. This is all about understanding Context.

Thinking systemically

Complex problems that involve helping many actors see the big picture.

Recurring problems that have been made worse by past attempts to fix them,

Problems that affect many things Problems whose solutions are non-

obvious

School as a system

The school consists of a lot of systems. The school exists within the larger

systems of community and society. Communities and Societies are also

systems. Schools simultaneously affect and are

affected by these other systems.

Education as a System

Education is one of the major social institutions in our society (family, government, economy, and religion are the others.

Education affects and is affected by all of these systems. It is also affected by the culture of this society (more on culture later)