SOCIAL COHESION AND SCHOOL CULTURE IN AUSTRIAN SCHOOLS

How Do Austrian Schools Use School Culture to Foster Social Cohesion?

Julie Gonzalez
ELISA Program
5 May 2015

SOCIAL COHESION AND SCHOOL CULTURE IN AUSTRIAN SCHOOLS

Social cohesion is a term that many people might believe to only have an effect on an
international level, when in fact it has a great influence in the school systems. Social cohesion at
its most basic level is the willingness of the members of a society to cooperate with each other in
order to survive and prosper. According to the reading, Dr. Heyneman defines social cohesion
with these four components: curriculum content, perception of fairness to ones children, school
culture, and adjudication. As well as being used in schools in the U.S., the four components of
social cohesion can also be seen in schools at an international level.
Social cohesion can be seen as a group of people that are bound together for a common
purpose (Heyneman). Each of the four components has a key role in the building of societies and
social groups in schools. The first mentioned is Curriculum Content, showing how different
teaching opinions can affect peace and tolerance. An excellent example comes from the reading
where, the content of the social studies curriculum can foster tolerance for different cultures
(Heyneman). This means that the way a certain culture or country is described in a textbook will
affect the way those reading the book will react towards the culture or country. For example, if
Japan were to write in its history books that the Unites States had bombed Hiroshima for unfair
reasons, and if the U.S. were to perpetuate the story by instilling beliefs that the Japanese were
wrong to bomb Pearl Harbor, there would be an extreme lack of tolerance and there would be
tension between the two countries and their people. This is why it is important for textbooks,
especially history textbooks to be well written, without championing one culture over another,
but providing unbiased facts on what occurred.
The second is Perception of Fairness to Ones Children, which explains how different
ethnic groups or identifiable social groups can distinguish biased and unfair treatment and will
become less willing to cooperate with the larger group (Heyneman). However the key word in
this title is perception, meaning that although the perception or outlook may be wrong and

SOCIAL COHESION AND SCHOOL CULTURE IN AUSTRIAN SCHOOLS

differing from reality, the perception of a person will inform their behavior. For example, there
may be a parent who is not highly educated, that may feel like his/her child is being unfairly
treated and placed in a lower mathematical or foreign language grouping. Due to their perception
that their child is being unfairly treated in comparison to the children in these higher-level
groupings who have highly educated parents. When in reality it is because the child is not doing
the work to be placed in these high level groups. In this example, the perception is wrong and
there is not an unfair action, however the perception is all that matters in situations like this.
School Culture, refers to the rituals embedded in social relationships, ceremonies, and
traditions that attach members to the school and to the norms and beliefs that guide the actions
of members (Heyneman). An example for this component can be seen in many schools when
students are able to behave in situations in positive manners according to what has been instilled
in them. The example from the reading focuses on a child unknowingly enforcing school rules
regarding telephone use, this example displays that if a school is positively enforcing its rules,
the students will display this in autonomous behavior. A clearer example might be that of a
private Catholic all girls high school, this school might believe that all the girls should have a
certain GPA before being allowed to play sports, if a student graduates and moves onto college
with the mindset that she must do well in academics before succeeding in athletics, then the
school did its job to institute its belief on the student. Also attached to this component is a
discussion of social settings that might increase tolerance among a widely differing social group.
Referring back to the high school example, although the school is a Catholic school, there may
be students of differing faiths in attendance, however if the school has properly taught an
acceptance and understanding of those of a different faith, then the students should display
tolerance towards students of another religion belief.

SOCIAL COHESION AND SCHOOL CULTURE IN AUSTRIAN SCHOOLS

The fourth and final component is Adjudication, meaning the formal and informal
methods that a community has of surfacing and addressing grievances (Heyneman). According
to our reading, grievances can be such things as, how to teach a particular sensitive issue, access
to scarce resources, or organizational efficiency (Heyneman). An example that has become
popular due to its controversy in the states is how public schools are teaching sexual education to
young children in early grade levels. A teacher had tried to share an image of what was in the
sexual education books to another teacher over Facebook and soon the image was removed and
her account deactivated for posting pornographic content. This occurrence shows that the new
sexual education curriculum that is unsuitable for the Internet will be extremely unsuitable for
young children in grades 4-6. There are schools that are trying to understand and find different
ways to teach the sensitive issue of sexual education and gender selection. This however is a very
broad and general example in comparison to other examples that have been specific to the
components of social cohesion. Little seems to be known about this component, however it
seems that this is a component that requires more in depth research than a simple survey or
interview.
There has been an increase in interest in social cohesion because of its unique abilities to
possibly be able to reduce tensions worldwide. With public school education holding social
cohesion as its central purpose, it has been interesting to see what social cohesion is like on an
international level. Each of these components can be observed in the schools in Austria, however
in the Facshule, school content seemed to be the most apparent.
The first example is about how the Facshule has different school rituals and ceremonies
that attach the girls to the school. The Facshule being an all girls vocational school is very
specific to what these girls want to do for the rest of their lives. It has different classes such as
textiles, gardening, cooking, computer, and English classes to name a few. From what I

SOCIAL COHESION AND SCHOOL CULTURE IN AUSTRIAN SCHOOLS

understand there is a ceremony that happens when the girls pass to another grade level and when
they graduate. The girls I spoke to did not know enough English to explain the process to me, but
it sounded as if it was very similar to a high school graduation in the U.S. After the girls graduate
they are specially trained in whatever field they want to continue going to school for or they can
find a job.
A school culture that embeds positive norms can be seen in an example that is similar to
that of a researchers observations of students regarding phone usage on page 89, except the
young women in my class were left alone by their teacher as she needed to run an errand
(Heyneman). By the time that I had arrived, she still was not there but they spoke to me as their
teacher would have, if she had been there to welcome me. They said hello and one of the girls,
mimicking their teacher stood at the front of the classroom and introduced me to the students as
if it was my first day. She told them to sit at their desks, to pull out their notebooks, and to ask
me questions if they had any. I saw this as an example of how the students were learning how to
positively influence their peers into following the rules.
A third example was when I discovered, through a cooking lesson that I was invited to,
there were a few girls who were Middle Eastern. Part of the reading on social cohesion in
reference to school culture mentions that equality helped increase a tolerance in the treatment of
differing racial groups. While I was observing in the school kitchen, the teacher had picked the
groups by random assignment; each girl was given a slip of paper that grouped them into a
different food group. After each group had been formed the group then decided who they wanted
to be the head chef and out of the six groups, two of them had the Middle Eastern girls as the
head chefs. I listened as to how one of the groups picked their leader and they said they picked
the Middle Eastern girl because she enjoyed cooking and was the best at it. By the random

SOCIAL COHESION AND SCHOOL CULTURE IN AUSTRIAN SCHOOLS

assignment it allowed for an unprejudiced choice of who would lead the group, which also
applies to one of the mission statements of the school, which is to be accepting of all cultures.
The reading references that usually Catholic schools have individual classrooms with
similar classroom rules, which in turn leads to less of a variance causing a greater potential for
social cohesion. For example in my school, the girls are broken up into two groups and each
group stays together for the whole year. During the different semesters these groups stay together
with each teacher for about a week or so, before they switch to another teacher and they will stay
with them for about another week. I feel like this allows a considerable amount of time for the
students to become acquainted with the rules of the classroom for each teacher, and that while
being at a Catholic school with similar classroom rules the rules are held in high regard and
allows for a greater chance of social cohesion with the students in each class. However not only
is there a greater chance of social cohesion, it also fosters a tolerance among the different social
groups within the class and in each grade.
The past four examples show how the young ladies in the Facshule, are willing to
cooperate with each other and are fostering an environment of social cohesion. Their unique
Austrian culture shows how even at an international level social cohesion is evident in its four
components. Although I only discussed a few examples for school culture, there were many
opportunities for me to observe the other three components. Overall, I enjoyed my time at the
Facshule and the girls have taught me so much about Austrian culture, and how important it can
be to foster tolerance throughout the school systems.

SOCIAL COHESION AND SCHOOL CULTURE IN AUSTRIAN SCHOOLS

References
Heyneman, Stephen P. (2003/03). Defining the Influence of Education on Social Cohesion.
International Journal of Educational Policy, Research, and Practice, 73-97.