Contemporary school knowledge democracy: possible meanings,promising perspectives and necessary prerequisites

ABSTRACT

The basic aim of this paper is to discuss the concept ‘Knowledge Democracy’ (KD) and what it can mean in the school context, its implications on knowledge production and dissemination and on the educational practices. We try to enrich this discussion by presenting action research projects to provide case studies of how thinking about KD can reshape educational practice. We consider that the discussion on KD has to be enriched as the concept seems very promising with good prospects towards school’s democratization. On the other hand, as it is quite new, it can encompass internal contradictions that can cause problems at the level of practice. So, we consider very important any contribution to this discussion not as another theoretical sample of the debate on the ‘politics of knowledge’, but because any improvement at the thinking of the issue can be reflected on school practices. Any challenge to traditional politics of knowledge can lead to a deeper understanding of the world of schooling and to transformations through new discourses and new approaches to teaching and learning in school.     

Swedish Teacher Education at the Crossroads

This paper discusses recent moves to modernise teacher education in Sweden. It first considers reasons why teacher education has received increased attention in different countries in recent years, and then goes on to explore what implications this has had for Sweden The approach taken in Sweden to the so-called crisis of schooling in Beck's risk society has been to attempt to raise the status of teacher educators by proposing increased research possibilities and a new discipline utbildningsvetenskap . The paper discusses the likely response of teacher educators to these new conditions and their overall implications for the Swedish state.     

Responsibilities,tensions and ways forward: parents’ perspectives on children’s sexuality education

Abstract

Children’s sexuality education continues to be plagued with tensions and controversies. In consequence, children’s access to sexuality education is severely compromised, especially in terms of the time dedicated to this topic, the content addressed, how it is taught and by whom. Based on a study of 342 Australian parents of primary school aged children we explore: (i) parents’ perceptions of the relevance and importance of sexuality education to their primary school aged children and the discourses that inform their perspectives; (ii) parents’ views on who should be responsible for the sexuality education of young children; (iii) whether there are certain aspects of sexuality education considered more appropriate for the family to address with children; and (iv) what the implications of these findings are for sexuality education policy and practice in Australian primary schooling. Despite the controversial nature of the topic, the majority of parents in this study believed sexuality education was relevant and important to primary school children and that it should be a collaborative approach between families and schools. However, some parents/carers acknowledged that while that they believed that some topics should only be addressed at home they also indicated that this often does not happen.     

Education,schooling and inclusive practice at a secondary free school in England

Abstract

This paper reports the experiences of staff, parents, governors and students at a secondary free school in the West Midlands of England in relation to the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN). The paper is based on a qualitative research project carried out at a school that opened in 2015, with the explicit aim of examining the extent to which it developed as an inclusive school, particularly for children with SEN. In the paper, we draw on the classic distinction between ‘education’ and ‘schooling’ to identify tensions and overlaps between process and outcome oriented practices and examine the views of different stakeholders on how such practices impact on inclusion. By focusing on the day-to-day practices of the school and linking them to broader notions of schooling and education, we provide a complementary perspective on the current research on free schools, which is overwhelmingly quantitative and focused on admissions.     

Male Teachers in Feminised Teaching Areas: Marching to the beat of the men's movement drums?

Calls for more male teachers are prevalent in current gender debates in education. A dominant argument in this debate is that boys are often alienated from school because of a lack of male role models in feminised areas of the school curriculum and in primary schools. Little research has investigated male teachers' accounts of their work within feminised environments. Drawing on data collected in two research studies in music education, this paper focuses on accounts given by male teachers about (a) practices adopted specifically to work with boys and (b) the role of the male music teacher. Analysis of these data suggests that some male teachers working in feminised areas of the school curriculum adopt practices which, rather than challenging dominant constructions of masculinity, sometimes reinforce gender stereotypical behaviours in boys. We argue that calls for increasing the number of male teachers in feminised areas of schooling need also to be informed by open discussion of the underlying assumptions about masculinity which teachers themselves bring to their work.     

Research Abstracts and Bibliographies

ABSTRACT

In the last 15 years, social and community cohesion have become key concepts in European social, migration, and education policy. Although their definitions often remain ambiguous, social and community cohesion typically refer to harmonious coexistence of individuals of all cultural backgrounds within a community. Frequently connected with education at the elementary and secondary level, they are regarded a desirable outcome of compulsory schooling. Drawing on longitudinal data from 2 schools in England, the authors analyze the interplay between national policies of community cohesion and local level practices. In a discussion of the findings, the authors show that, despite the gaps between national policy and local practice, parental and community members’ involvement in school and family education are efficient tools to enhance community cohesion at the local level.     

I/MLEs and the uneven return of pastoral power

Abstract

Informed by the work of the work of Michel Foucault, Ian Hunter, and Ansgar Allen, this paper argues that I/MLEs are not the creation of a ‘modern’ or ‘innovative’ learning environment but rather the reclamation of an educational technique that was pioneered en masse almost two centuries ago (and based on practices many centuries older than that), where established pastoral methods were key to shaping particularly formed educated subjects. Drawing on work produced by the OECD, as well as UK and NZ education policies and school building design guidance, this argument couches two claims, the first of which is that whether or not education systems and school buildings are conforming to I/MLE models, the ubiquity of ideologically narrow conceptions of the learning subject are enforced regardless, through subtle or unsubtle means. However, the second claim is that, despite their overarching and unsurprising ideological homogeneity with other more outcome oriented forms of schooling, I/MLEs have the potential to offer a much more substantial formative experience than other schooling systems due to their implicit recovery of the traditional pastoral aspect of education.     

A Criticism of Tests Requiring Alternative Responses

ABSTRACT

Different approaches and methodologies for entrepreneurship education have been introduced for schools. However, a better theoretical and empirical understanding of the antecedents of entrepreneurship education is needed. The authors analyze what entrepreneurship education practices are used in schools and what role the school and the teacher are playing in determining the entrepreneurship education practices. The data cover school levels from basic to upper secondary education. The findings indicate that the training teachers have received in entrepreneurship seems to be the main factor determining the observable entrepreneurship education provided by the teachers. Further studies on the antecedents of entrepreneurship education are encouraged.     

Homeschooling,Virtual Learning,and the Eroding Public/Private Binary

ABSTRACT

Regulators ubiquitously dichotomize schooling into two discrete sectors: public and private. Although homeschooling is regulated in some contexts as a third sector, the general approach is to treat it as a species of private education by subjecting it to public regulation while simultaneously denying it public funds. But the public/private binary is increasingly difficult to sustain as charter schools multiply and, especially, as virtual schooling increasingly penetrates primary and secondary education. Public school systems are deploying virtual education in ways that erode once impermeable walls between public and private. Many obstacles to homeschooling will fall with those walls—particularly obstacles related to government financing of homeschooling activities.     

Marketized education: how regulatory failure undermined the Swedish school system

ABSTRACT

In a radical school choice reform in 1992, Sweden’s education system was opened to private competition from independent for-profit and non-profit schools funded by vouchers. Competition was expected to produce higher-quality education at lower cost, in both independent and public schools. This two-pronged study first examines to what extent the consequences of this reform deviate from the predicted results. It demonstrates increasing discrepancies between absolute test results and grades, suggesting grade inflation. Secondly, the study investigates whether the school choice reform was institutionally secured against school competition based on phenomena that are unrelated with educational quality, such as grading. It reveals that the architects of the school choice reform overemphasized the potential positive implications of market reforms and, therefore, did not deem it necessary to establish appropriate rules and institutions for school competition. Instead, grading and curriculum reforms had unintended consequences such as grade inflation and similar forms of school competition in dimensions other than school quality. The analysis of how the objective of raising the quality in Sweden’s schools through competition and choice was inadvertently undermined contains practical lessons for policymakers with regard to the use of privatization and co-production both in schools and in other fields.     

Toward a Future of Equitable Pedagogy and Schooling

This essay explores what it takes to work toward a future of equitable pedagogy and schooling through the presentation of a short ethnographic play entitled The Card (2004). The play is 1 of 5 critically performed ethnographies written to engage pre-service teacher education students in thinking about social justice in education. The essay begins with a discussion of how critical performed ethnography works as an example of "engaged pedagogy" and the ways in which its form and content can promote anti-oppression teacher education. This discussion is followed by the presentation of the play. The Card tells the story of Roberto Rodriguez, a high school teacher, who comes out as a gay man when he tries to help a student being bullied. Embedded in the ethnographic play are the kinds of social practices and beliefs needed to achieve an educational future that recognises social difference and strives for equity. Following the play, a short commentary discusses these practices and beliefs in a more explicit way. The essay concludes with a brief discussion of the questions and issues a recent performance of The Card raised for other teacher educators. This discussion allows for the examination of how the play encourages readers, performers, and spectators to both recognise and respond to social difference in ways that will move schools toward a more equitable future.     

‘Wading through children’s tears’: the emotional experiences of elementary school inspections, 1839–1911

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the emotional experiences of elementary school inspections, from the appointment of the first State school inspectors in 1839 to 1911 when Edward Holmes, the retiring chief inspector, signposted the prospects of a new era in elementary education. The paper is arranged in two parts: the first provides an outline of the origins and development of elementary school inspection, while the second discusses the potential contribution of emotions scholarship to inform our understanding of elementary schooling seen through the lens of inspection. Whereas previous studies have concentrated on the inspectorate’s administrative history in relation to school development, this paper’s contribution is to highlight what inspection sources reveal about elementary schools as sites of emotional expression and experience. While acknowledging the challenges a history of emotions framework presents, the paper concludes that such an approach offers a fresh perspective on inspection and school regimes in the past.     

Educational attainment in the short and long term: was there an advantage to attending faith,private, and selective schools for pupils in the 1980s?

ABSTRACT

This paper asks whether private, selective, and faith schools in England and Wales in the 1980s provided an academic advantage to their pupils, both in the short and longer term. Using longitudinal data from the 1970 British Cohort Study, we examine academic outcomes in compulsory schooling and further education, and the highest qualification gained by age 42. School sector differences are substantially attenuated by controlling for prior pupil characteristics. Nevertheless, a residual effect of private, grammar, and secondary modern schooling remains, both in the short and long term, controlling for both pupil and school characteristics. In the case of faith schools, however, the apparent advantage is restricted to the short term once pupil characteristics are controlled. A unique feature of our analysis is that we control for the individual’s faith of upbringing, which is important in reducing what could otherwise be seen as a distinctive Catholic school advantage.     

The Moral Ends of Band

This article provides a theoretical framework through which to reimagine and revitalize contemporary music education practices, using the large ensemble paradigm called band as the primary unit of analysis. Literature suggests that band places too much emphasis on teacher control and external measures of validation. Critics propose replacing this historic art form with ones that exist outside of school. It is argued in this article that band's crisis of legitimacy can be resolved by refocusing on student welfare and student well-being. Because band is the only indigenous American art form that exists in and has come into fruition through the public school, band directors are bound by a public trust to put the education of students first. Using Dewey's understanding of the role of public schooling in a democracy, a vision of moral education through music education is advanced. Band is ideally poised to illustrate what moral education can be.     

Toward a Fair Community of Scholars: moral education as the negotiation of classroom practices

Abstract

This paper reviews research on students’ concepts and theories of fair and effective educational practices and casts them as insightful critics of schooling who should be included in the negotiation of academic practices. Formal interviews show that students consider the goal or definition of the situation when evaluating the fairness of practices, and that conceptions of fairness develop differently for each type of situation. Students also hold different theories about how school should be defined and which situations should predominate. Moral education programmes could encourage students and teachers to negotiate fair classroom practices, creating a community of scholars who collaborate to build more fair and effective schools.     

Supporting students with disability in schools in Bhutan: perspectives from school principals

ABSTRACT

Bhutanese educators are facing the challenge of implementing inclusive education for students with disability throughout their schooling system. Selected schools have started to implement inclusive policies and practices, and it is timely to investigate the progress of inclusive education in these schools. In this qualitative study, 14 Bhutanese principals responded to questions regarding inclusive practices in their schools. Responses were divided into two broad categories: the current status of inclusion in their school; and, inclusion in the future. Principals described barriers such as a lack of specialised teachers, inadequate resources and facilities, and a lack of holistic inclusion. However, they also noted that students were accepted by their peers, that the schools were working well with what they have, and that there was a positive attitude for the future. Changes that are required to progress inclusive education in Bhutan from the perspective of the principals are discussed. The findings of this research will be of interest to researchers and leaders in schools and ministries of education who are working to promote more inclusive schools in less developed countries.     

Secondary Vocational Education and Earnings in Latin America[1]

ABSTRACT

Household survey data for II Latin American countries are used to assess earnings differentials by type of secondary education during the late 1980s. Introduction of the cost of the curriculum allows for the estimation of private and social rates of return to investment in education by type of secondary school curriculum. The paper documents mixed results. In some countries the private returns to vocational schooling are higher than the returns to general secondary schooling. Introducing differential cost of curriculum and estimating social returns to schooling results in much lower returns to vocational schooling.

     

What might the school of 2030 be like? An exercise in social science fiction

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the deliberately speculative question of ‘What might the school of 2030 be like?’, with a specific focus on the influences of digital technologies. The article adopts the methodological approach of ‘social science fiction’ to explore the ways in which digital technologies might be used in one Australian high school in 2030 (Lakeside), and what this might mean for the people whose lives are enmeshed with these technologies. Through the co-construction of five social science fiction ‘vignettes’ about life within Lakeside, the article considers the increasing prevalence of dataveillance, digital deskilling and the de-territorialization of schooling. The article then goes on to consider changing relationships between time/place, material and coded structures, as well as the increasingly platformized and data-driven nature of schooling in the 2020s. The article ends by considering the ways in which critical scholars can continue to use the methodological approach of social science fiction writing with regard to unpacking the politics of digital education futures.