Doctoral Candidate Brochure: Emily R. Fein

Doctoral Dissertation Defense
of
Emily R. Fein

For the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy
Cultural Foundations of Education

Beyond the Bell: The Educationalization, Schoolification, Professionalization of Afterschool Programs

June 11, 2025
12:30 P.M.
Microsoft Teams
Meeting ID: 287 626 617 566 1
Passcode: Tn374Vo9

Beyond the Bell: The Educationalization, Schoolification, Professionalization of Afterschool Programs

Millions of school-age children and their families rely on afterschool programs to bridge the gap between the end of the school day and the end of the workday (Afterschool Programs, 2023). Afterschool programs’ “mixed or in-between quality” has kept them flexible over time, allowing them to adapt quickly to changes in practice, research, and culture (Halpern, 2003, p. 3). Even without an overarching governing body, afterschool programs have continued to expand and evolve as they work toward establishing their distinct domain. 

Using a humanities-oriented approach to education, my research explores five significant periods in the evolution of afterschool programs: (a) the Progressive Era (1890s–1920s), (b) World War II (1939–1945), (c) postwar through the 1980s, (d) the 1990s and early 21st century, and (e) from 2020 through the present. Within each period, I provide historical context and analyze afterschool programs through the lenses of educationalization, a term that describes when government and society hold education responsible for curing large societal problems (Bridges, 2008; Depaepe & Smeyers, 2008); schoolification, which indicates a movement towards the aims and goals of schooling, using school teaching methods and the requirement for children’s learning to be measured and scored (Gunnarsdottir, 2014; McNerney, 2016); and professionalization, a social process in which an occupation transforms through the development of formal qualifications, the emergence of regulatory bodies, and the ability to apply knowledge subjectively through the use of their unique expertise (Abbott, 1988; Bureau & Suquet, 2009; Moore, 2013). This research also identifies how educationalization, schoolification, and professionalization are inextricably linked and how their complex relationship has both impacted and challenged afterschool education’s varied and complicated relationship with schools and society.