D.12. The Encounter Between Educational Institutions and Families in the 21st century: Educational Inequalities, New Conflicts and Social Changes

Despite the democratic ideal of equal opportunities that motivated post-war European educational reforms and the rise of new pedagogies, social inequalities persisted, resulting in waves of massification. In fact, as analysed by conflict theorists (Bourdieu & Passeron 1964, 1970; Bernstein 1971), the school transforms social inequalities into educational ones by dissimulating the affinities of the implicit norms of educational methods with the capitals and codes of middle- and upper-class families and, as well as their divergence with lower-class family socialization.

Likewise, while the contemporary increased diversity of the school population indicates greater opportunities for social groups that were previously invisible, inequalities and discrimination based on migration, gender, sexuality, non-traditional family structures, ableism, etc., remain widespread. To what extent do educational institutions promote educational codes and culture that diverge from the socialization of students from these diverse backgrounds? How do these students and their families navigate the school system? Furthermore, if modelled upon the codes and capitals of dominant social groups, the diversification of educational methods, driven by the rise of new technologies, artificial intelligence, and inclusive pedagogies, potentially widens the gap between institutions and students from the most diverse social backgrounds.

This panel explores how encounters between educational institutions and different forms of socialization reproduce or challenge inequalities, whether based on class, gender, migration, ableism etc. The panel welcomes both empirical and theoretical contributions that address all stages of educational processes, and that incorporate conflict theories alongside other critical perspectives, such as feminist, queer, postcolonial, and intersectional approaches.