Access to knowing : competence to Bernstein in a higher learning context

The work of Basil Bernstein is complex and challenging to researchers and scholars alike. This research aimed to put the theory of Basil Bernstein into practice, using his methods to describe how academic knowledge is recontextualized into pedagogic practice. This qualitative paper centres on an auto-ethnographic study where, as a participant observer, I was invited to assist in a Basil Bernstein course at the University of Iceland. Bernstein's pedagogic discourse was analyzed using his coding instruments classification and framing. The timeline of the project was between April and July 2021, during the time of COVID-19. Class sessions were designed in person and online. Technological access was managed through subscriptions under the University of Iceland, such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and the University's most recent online course management platform, Canvas. Findings showed that a lack of technological support from the institution as an English speaker during the pandemic resulted in superficial and untimely access to creating a Canvas course webpage. A lack of course structure stalled acquisitions of the appropriate learning outcomes intended upon course completion. Technological complications further added to the complexities in legitimizing course materials before, during, and after class sessions. However, findings also showed that knowledge recontextualization was unpacked through various invisible and visible pedagogic modes between participants in-class sessions. Studies such as this can provide educators in diverse fields with an empirical understanding of Basil Bernstein to identify pedagogic conflicts and challenges within higher educational settings for future reference