Abstracts
Abstract
Discourses of children as deficient and deviant are common within the education system and shape the ways in which educators interact with and respond to children. To illustrate this, we conducted a critical discourse analysis of a provincial policy document that directs schools in the development of Codes of Conduct. Drawing on poststructural theory, we demonstrate the ways in which the discourses within policy construct and reify particular identities of the child and of misbehaviour and how these discourse influence conceptions of behaviour “management.” We argue for a reconceptualization of the identity of the child as a contextualized and socially embedded being. In doing so, we articulate an opening for ethical engagements with children that rely on our responsibility for the other.
Résumé
Les discours sur les enfants déficients et déviants sont courants dans le système éducatif et façonnent la façon dont les éducateurs interagissent avec les enfants et y réagissent. Pour illustrer cela, nous avons effectué une analyse critique d’un document de politique provinciale qui oriente les écoles dans l’élaboration de codes de conduite. En nous appuyant sur la théorie poststructurelle, nous montrons comment les discours au sein des politiques construisent et réifient des identités particulières de l’enfant et des comportements répréhensibles et comment ces discours influencent les conceptions de la « gestion » du comportement. Nous plaidons pour une reconceptualisation de l’identité de l’enfant en tant qu’être contextualisé et socialement intégré. Ce faisant, nous ouvrons la voie à des engagements éthiques avec les enfants qui s’appuient sur notre responsabilité envers l’autre.
Appendices
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