Educational Change: a model for its analysis

This article is concerned with theorising educational change. Working within a Marxist reproduction problematic, power and domination are theorised in terms of Social Forms—wage, state and civil‐forms—which are the product of capitalist social relations. Since these forms are a feature of the social formation, including the education system, a ‘translation effect’ between different levels of analysis can be identified. This approach entails recognition of the fact that reproduction is contested and has a political aspect, which is revealed by a ‘content‐theoretical’ model of educational change. This model delineates the relationship between the economic and political (the wage and state‐forms) as the dynamic for change, thereby demonstrating how the political makes possible the reproductive role of the education system. The utility of this model, and in particular its capacity to account for unintended consequences of educational change, is illustrated by reference to the recent introduction of the ‘new vocationalism’ into Further Education.     

Does social justice count? ‘Lived democracy’ in mathematics classes in diverse Swedish upper secondary programmes

This article analyses what students attending four Swedish upper secondary school programmes with different social class profiles tried and wanted to influence in relation to mathematics teachers’ pedagogic practice and responses during the year 2008/2009. The theoretical framework is based on Bernstein’s theories regarding power and control. The analyses draw on ethnographic observations of classes taking the Natural Science and Social Science academic programmes, and the Vehicle and Child and Recreation vocational programmes, at two Swedish upper secondary schools. Students attending different programmes tried to influence the teaching. However, what the students taking the academic and vocational programmes were able to influence considerably differed. Generally, the vocational students exerted influence more successfully when they wanted to reduce the pace and difficulty of teaching, than when they wished to get more out of their education, while the opposite applied to the academic, especially Natural Science, students. Thus, the power relations reflected the programmes’ social class profiles and the students’ expected positions in society, despite policies at the time to promote democracy and reduce social reproduction in education. The findings support the importance of analysing not only students’ voices, but also their voices in relation to the pedagogic practice they encounter.     

Creating Gender Equality at Professorial Level: A review of the Swedish government's approach

In the spring of 1995 the Social Democrats, the party of government in Sweden, introduced legislation on gender equality in education as part of its commitment to equal opportunity for both genders in Swedish society. Part of the proposal behind the legislation related to the creation of a more equal division of professional positions between the genders. This paper examines the Social Democrats' policy on the creation of a better division between the genders for professors. There appears to be no-one active in the debate who claims that there ought not to be female professors, although how this ought to be achieved is an issue of dispute. The central issues examined in the paper are the factors that influenced the design and implementation of the policy and whether the Social Democrats' policy goals are being achieved.     

Creating Citizens

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the content of citizenship education in Swedish schools during the twentieth century. Its origin and content is analysed in relation to predominant ideas in society at different times and is seen as the outcome of a struggle between social forces representing different power groups. The shift of meaning of democracy and equality is related to changes in political and economic conditions. Recent trends and changes in the Swedish educational system are discussed in relation to changing power groups in society and considerations made for the implications of citizenships, democracy and equality.     

Justice through higher education: Revisiting White Paper 3 of 1997

Interrogating the White Paper 3 of 1997 which upholds academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability, I make the case for justice through higher education using public accountability. I argue that the higher education system in South Africa is capable of fulfilling such a role in the context of extreme injustices but not without a critical engagement of the extent and causes of these injustices and an understanding of their implications for academic curricula, practices and deeply embedded conceptions of knowledge. A redefinition of higher education institutions' public accountability in terms of responsibility to their ‘institutional locale’ or community (the populations whose needs they should be meeting) can be an effective ‘proactive tool’ with which higher education can redress social injustices. This requires an interrogation of the social, political and economic conditions of possibility that either inhibit or aid educational desire and attainment. An investigation of this nature entails a rigorous reappraisal of all three of the key principles within which higher education systems operate—academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability—if they are to guard against the continued perpetuation of epistemic and social injustices.     

THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN A PROGRAM TO TREAT DEPRESSION IN OLDER WOMEN

This article reports on the crucial role of education in the Social Health Outreach Program (SHOP), a social network intervention designed to treat clinically depressed older women. The role of education in current psychological and medical therapies for depression is discussed, as is the educator's view that education is interventionist by nature and indispensable in transformative programs that aim to strengthen personal, economic, and social resources. The evolution of the role of education in SHOP'S social therapy is outlined, and its modalities—information‐sharing, skills training, and intellectual stimulation—are described. We show how, as a result of participant demand, the educational content of SHOP has gradually expanded during the program's four‐year history. We point out that, in SHOP, education functions as a tool for perspective transformation, during which participants are sensitized to “blame‐the‐victim” biases inherent in psychological and medical approaches to treating depression. Participants learn they are not the problem; rather, they suffer from a role‐determined, social identity deficit. SHOP'S current format is described, and the program is recommended to adult educators for use in a variety of settings. We conclude that, though not therapeutic in and of itself, education acts as an “enabling tool,” playing a crucial role in implementing SHOP'S social‐change therapy.     

Hope, Confidence and Democracy

ABSTRACT Social hope, shared hope which relates to the future of communities, is distinguished from personal hopes. Democrats, it is claimed, cannot entertain the kind of social hope found in the Marxist and Christian traditions. However, they do need hope in democracy. Social hope depends on the closely related value of social confidence. Therefore democrats need confidence in democratic values to support their democratic hopes. In school social confidence in democratic values can be promoted by the process of framing whole school policies, as well as by the policies themselves.     

In other words: queer voices/dissident subjectivities impelling social change

This essay emerged from the authors’ presentation at an invited session of the 15th Annual Conference on Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies (QUIG) at the University of Georgia, Athens, 3–5 January 2002. They presented on the conference theme, ‘Vision, Voice & Virtuality: (Re)Conceptualizing Qualitative Representation.’ Their work here encompasses their response to the conference organizers’ invitation to grapple with (re)conceptualizing qualitative representation. Their goal is to explore the (re)presentation of voices and subjectivities that are engaged in Queer processes for social change. First they question whether Queer can be adequately articulated. They then posit that emerging Queer theory and the actions it invigorates are significant, galvanizing contemporary intellectual and political forces that power social change. Blurring the lines of bounded, intact, stable and essential identity categories—such as straight, lesbian, and gay—they give examples from their qualitative research, including autoethnographic accounts that indicate that the Queer movement has shifting, multiple and overlapping sites of education and resistance. These sites textualize everyday life; contest hetero‐hegemony; resist readings that exclude or defame Queers and non‐normative identities; allow the development of oppositional practices; and make commitment to social change in an environment of hope and possibility. Finally, they explore some characteristics of Queer qualitative research, and suggest future directions for infusing theory with ‘justice to come.’     

社会工作:中职学校思想道德教育的新探索

当前我国的中职学校德育教育中,存在着教学方式单一、教学内容脱离实际、教育方法封闭、教育内容不够全面、教育评价机制偏向就业等问题。社会工作与中职学校德育工作在价值理念上具有一致性、在内容方法上具有可借鉴性、在实施效果上具有互补性,这为社会工作在学校德育工作的开展提供了有力支持。社会工作可以根据学生面对的不同问题及需求选择个案、小组、社区三种社会工作方法介入学校的德育工作。     

论英国社会保障制度与社会经济发展的互动关系

社会保障制度是工业社会发展到一定阶段的产物,它与社会经济的发展具有密切的关系。英国社会保障制度与社会经济发展之间存在着辩证互动关系。英国社会经济发展对社会保障制度产生了重要影响;反过来,英国社会保障制度也对社会经济发展产生了一定的影响。社会保障制度必须由社会经济发展提供物质基础,同时必须与社会经济发展相适应。     

民族地区社会主义核心价值体系的社会工程建构

民族地区经济文化发展的关键是社会稳定,社会稳定的关键在于意识形态建设,意识形态建设的关键在于形成社会主义核心价值体系的主导地位;而该目标的实现必须体现民族地区特色,应采取坚定不移、循序渐进、先易后难、由点到面的社会工程方式予以实现。     

高职院校媒介素养教育的独特性分析

在大众传媒业飞速发展的社会背景下,高职院校积极开展媒介素养教育直接关涉自身软实力的提升、办学特色的凝练和教学模式的改善,高职院校重视实践教学及与社会经济发展紧密联系的特色构成了开展媒介素养教育的独特优势。高职院应从加强师资队伍建设,完善具有高职特色的媒介素养课程体系,积极开展合作,培育高职院校媒介素养教育的良好氛围,建构高职院校媒介素养教育的科学评估体系等方面,加强媒介素养教育。     

中国社会阶级、阶层问题探析

改革开放后,我国的基本经济制度由计划经济体制下单一的公有制转变为以公有制为基础,多种所有制经济共同发展。经济领域发生的巨大变革也使我国社会阶级、阶层状况发生了显著变化,这一变化总体上看是与我国社会主义建设相适应的,但也存在着很多问题。对此我们必须坚持以历史唯物主义的方法和以维护社会的安定和谐、发展繁荣为出发点来认识和分析社会阶层的这些新变化,并采取有效措施解决存在的问题。     

中国高等教育资源配置转型程度指标体系研究 ——以中国高等教育学术治理变迁为例

改革开放以来,特别是1992年确立了社会主义市场经济体制框架后,我国高等教育资源配置方式开始向适应市场经济体制改革的方向转变,其显著特点表现为高等教育资源不断由中央集中计划配置转向受市场约束的分散性配置的方向过渡.学术治理作为高等教育资源配置的一部分也具有这个特点.从宏观角度来看,我国高等教育学术治理变迁始终受到传统制度安排和外部社会大背景的影响.因此,研究中国高等教育学术治理的变迁必须放在整个经济社会转型的格局之中进行考虑,既要考虑初始状况,也要从历史分析的角度考虑模型的起点格局和演变过程,及其为制度变迁设定的可能演变路径.     

高职公共基础课程功能与定位的探索

与专业技术课程开发相对应,公共基础课程的开发应遵循人的全面发展的原则。高职生的社会生活素质是他们胜任职业岗位及其社会生活过程所需要的主体机能。因此,必须从高职生的素质养成出发,重新思考高职公共基础课程体系,才能实现高职教育高素质高技能的人才培养目标。     

机械工程实训中心建设问题研究

我国高校人才培养模式一直存在着重理论、轻实践的倾向,为了适应社会对人才实践能力的要求,对这一倾向必须加以重视和改变.因此高校必须更新教育教学理念,对传统的课程体系进行整合与优化,要实施理论与实践一体化的教学,机械工程实训中心的建设要进行改革与创新,提升实训中心对就业的促进作用.     

Some Antecedents of Educational Philosophy in Britain with Particular Reference to Social Science

It would be convenient to pretend that the histories of educational philosophy in Britain and, by extension, the USA and Australia, were responses to a common social and intellectual history but convenience in this case could only be accomplished at the expense of explanatory power. The history of educational philosophy in these three places is parallel but not in common. Philosophy of education in Britain is more closely related to philosophy than is philosophy of education in the USA. Philosophy of education in the USA appropriated the lead of the American Social Science Association and initially retained closer connections with social science than did its English counterpart. Nevertheless, it is argued here that educational philosophy's reference to social science—Victorian and modern—is the missing explanatory element in modem histories of the discipline. The appropriation of education by social science—a common feature of the intellectual history of education in Britain, Australasia, and the USA—leavened the research agenda of educational philosophy in Britain. Peters’ educational work can be best understood as an attempt to reunite education with moral philosophy such that the study of education would resume a profile similar to its nineteenth‐century counterpart, when it was moral philosophy that provided the most interesting discussions of human nature, primitive customs, and social institutions—education among them.     

Integrated water resource management: a platform for higher education institutions to meet complex sustainability challenges

Higher education institutions in Sweden are increasingly exposed to international market conditions and rising competition from a more mobile student body. This increases the need for universities to adapt to their social and economic environment and to their clients, including the political trends and financial opportunities in Sweden and EU, if they are to successfully implement sustainability reforms. In this regard, we examine the barriers faced by a ‘post-normal’ education for sustainable development (ESD) inherent within the structures of a ‘normal’ University. We pose the question whether Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) as a post-normal process can contribute to increased capacity of normal higher education institutions to address complex sustainability problems? IWRM is conceptualised as an interactionist process of social learning and adaptive management to reflect on the experiences from one particular case, namely the Master Programme in IWRM at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. We illustrate how IWRM can contribute to address conflicts of interests in education arising from competing claims of stakeholders in real life management situations, but also to reconcile the conflicts associated with institutional adaptation under conditions characterised by a new international educational regime and rapidly changing market conditions. The paper brings together the discourse on ESD with lessons from IWRM and contends that the interactionist approach might offer a useful alternative to realist conceptions of ESD in learner-centred and institutional systemic approaches. Contrary to other reports on IWRM education, this paper reflects on this role of IWRM within higher education per se.     

论经济体制改革与经济法的转变

作为上层建筑的法必须反映一定社会客观经济条件的要求,并且在社会经济关系发生变化时,法又必须为适应这种变化而就其自身作出相应的调整,对于经济法而言,这一点尤为关键。计划经济向市场经济的转变直接带动了我国经济法在过去二十多年的变动,而社会主义市场经济体制目标的确立也必将影响我国经济法未来的发展。     

Agency, Identity, and Social Justice Education: Preservice Teachers’ Thoughts on Becoming Agents of Change in Urban Elementary Science Classrooms

Using multiple theoretical frameworks, reflective writings and interviews, this study explores preservice elementary teachers’ emerging identities as science teachers and how this identity is connected to notions of critical agency and a stance toward social justice. The study addresses two central questions pertaining to preservice teachers’ conceptions as “agents of change” and how their perceptions as change agents frame their science teacher identities and understanding of teaching science in urban elementary classrooms. Their identity in the moment as elementary preservice teachers—not yet teachers—influences how they view themselves as teachers and how much agency or power they feel they have as agents of change in science classrooms. Findings suggest that science teacher education must play a more immediate, fundamental and emancipatory role in preparing preservice teachers in developing science teacher identities and a stance toward social justice.