ABSTRACT
One of the main arguments of this book is that human development is always positioned within social, emotional and cultural spheres and that these spheres need to be considered as part and parcel of how we think and act in the world. Another argument is that human development is also neurobiological development. People are inextricably cultural and biological. Building on the arguments about a sociocultural perspective on learning in the previous chapter, and in particular on the introduction to pedagogy towards the end of that chapter, this chapter focuses more specifically on pedagogy in schools. In doing so, it elaborates on the cultural dimension of learning (as opposed to the biological) with reference to common educational concepts such as ability, intelligence, giftedness, accomplishment, expertise, competence, knowledge, success, and so on. These are words that are redolent with meanings in educational contexts and in school contexts in particular. They are used liberally in educational and everyday discourse, not always in the same way, to be sure, as exemplified in the work of Michael Hand (2007) who, from a philosophical perspective, seeks to distinguish intelligence from other related concepts such as competence. While such work as Hand's is interesting, the linguistic and conceptual distinctions among and between these concepts are not what the focus is here. Rather, what is of interest is how these concepts are made meaningful, how they are performed, and how they are made manifest with consequences for people's living. They can be used, tacitly as well as intentionally and explicitly, to position, identify, control, empower, exclude, include, affirm, undermine, reward, punish, promote and demote-and this is not an exhaustive list. In other words, how they are deployed and understood in particular situations can have major consequences for who people are and what they can become.
