Essentials of disability studies, lecture 2
Objects:
Functionalist approach in practice
Interpretivist (humanistic) approach

Homework: Whistleless as an example of functionalist approach
•Which moments of the film show following functions of whistle:
•Whistle as an instrument of social control
•Whistle as the array of competencies for being integrated (can you precise which competencies are
mentioned)

Mapping the space of pink town
•There are three main groups: birds, people, and mammals. Are they equal in terms of freedoms and
the access to rights?
•What is the main difference among them in terms of boundaries and frontiers?
•Which definition is better in terms of recognising the social landscape of the town:
•they live together;
•next to each other;
•they share some common places, but live separately from each other

Methods of teaching
•Who applies:
•Observation
•Modelling
•Imitation
•Other ways of teaching
•Why do all teachers not have any doubts regarding the necessity to teach whistling?

General conclusions to the movie:
the theory by Karl Polanyi
•Whistle is an economical value of individuals, his or her usability, its measure •Two types of
connections between people: reciprocal and redistributive. Who among film characters establishes
each of the connections?
•The absence of market-focused instruments
•Preindustrial town or authoritarian society? The apology of naturalness
•

Education&disability
Utilitarian vs. humanistic view on
•Children and childhood
•Education and the impact of teaching
•Disability

Main elements of approaches
•The notion of child (in terms of childhood, development, child participation, child being and
child becoming) •The mission of education (the conflict between the interests of authorities
&society &public and the interests of individuals) •The interpretation of disability (medical,
social, cultural)

Functionalist approach:
the notion of child
•Theorised pre-sociological concept of child:
•Innocent child or child-angel
•Child as tabula rasa (blank slate)
•Child as a source of evil or child-devil
•Child as naturally developed
•What do you think which of discourses were recruited by functionalist approach?
•Introduction to childhood studies / ed.by Kehily M. J. London: Open university press, 2009
•James Al., Jenks,  Ch., Prout, Al. Theorizing childhood, London: Polity, 1998
•

The notion of developmentalism
•The focus on the transfer towards adulthood, independence, and socialisation •The priority of
development as utilitarian aim-centered process •Teachers and helping professionals as main experts
regarding the content and methods of education

The variety of theories and practices
•Behaviorism as the core scheme for motivating and keeping focus on learning •Social learning by
Bandura: observation, imitation, and modeling •Psychoanalisis as the grounds for interpreting
deviation

Functionalist approach: two main tracks of education, special education and quasi-special education
•The mode of forming psychic •The monopoly of external sources for forming psychic
•Individualization of education
The mode of correction
•Education as an instrument of social control
•The universal set of competencies and strategies

In the terms of which discourse is the disabled child described:
•“The psyche of a mentally retarded [‘oligophrenic’] child is completely different to that of a
normal child … immature higher intellectual processes in combination with extremely rigid behaviour
create … a distinctive type of mental development”

The school for
multisensory deprived children
in Zagorsk
C:\Users\Victoria\Desktop\image008.jpg C:\Users\Victoria\Desktop\image002.jpg
Teacher as a demiurge of child development who takes all  “leading reins” of child development
Consistent individual approach to teaching child
Effort to achieve the highest level of performance

Questions to the quotations
•How does the author define the child?
•How is disability constructed?
•Which educational methods are recruited?
•Further information the documentary movie by BBC The Butterflies of Zagorsk

The consistent critique:
Flowers for Algernon
http://inkslingerblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/algernon.jpg?w=241&h=363
The eponymous Algernon is a laboratory mouse who has undergone surgery to increase his intelligence
by artificial means. The story is told by a series of progress reports written by Charlie Gordon,
the first human test subject for the surgery, and it touches upon many different ethical and moral
themes such as the treatment of the mentally disabled

Three adaptations
Flowers for Algeron
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Main strands of critique
•Utilitarian approach, predominance of usability as a main trait for evaluating people •Ignorance
of emotional life, its subordination to cognitive processes
•Overvaluing professional knowledge
•Obvious connotation between the level of IQ and the social status

Interpretivism or
Person-centered teaching
•The child as an agent and participant, prioritising child being  •Disability as the neutral array
of characteristics •Education as a way to Self-concept, to learn to be in coherence with self
•
•

Humanistic education
•Teacher as a facilitator between the child and ??? (and the child, networks) •Integrative
approach: connections between social prescriptions, feelings and reflections (interpretations) •The
mission of educational process: better recognition and own personal aims of students (better
understanding)

Cultural model of disability
•Disability as a type of culture
•Resistance to both medical and social models of disabilities as prescriptions to people with
disabilities •Recognising mode of life and accomodating it by other peoples
•

Culture of disability
•
•
•
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Sudbury schools’ network
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The task
•Arguments pro et contra of such approach in terms of integrating children with disability


Other examples of
humanistic approach to education
•Waldorf education •Storyline project •St Trinian’s school as a fictional example
C:\Users\Victoria\Desktop\220px-Sttrinians.jpg C:\Users\Victoria\Desktop\St_ Trinian's (2007).jpg

Storyline project
•Storyline is a strategy and method for active learning, adapted education and partnership. The
learning process is built up through episodes which form a story line. The process is directed by
key questions and well planned activities focusing on learning experiences and outcomes.
•Further information: http://www.storyline-scotland.com/tag/published-article/
•