Exploring exclusionary practices in education through Vygotsky’s socio-cultural activity theory
This paper draws on Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory of individual activity as a framework for thinking about exclusionary practices in education. I argue that a focus on quantitative data such as pupil progress, achievement and school attendance neglects the needs of the individual, their history and experiences outside of school. Vygotsky argues that our thoughts and activity are a product of our own history and social experiences in relation to the environment. It is this entangled nature of human activity that really matters; how we make sense of the world, respond to a situation, and how our response is then interpreted by those around us. The intra-actions that arise between educators, children, families and the environment can change the way we think about education and thus how we act. Meaning is iteratively reconfigured, and mutually constituted through activity, providing a framework for thinking that (re)positions education as so much more than statistics; that is, as a human endeavour that connects the past, present and future through relationships between individuals, their history and their environment.
