The Historical Experience of Liberal Studies for Vocational Learners in Further Education

This paper revisits the liberal studies movement – an important if under-researched episode in the history of education. It examines the lived experience of a set of former vocational students, the great majority of whom eventually went on to teach in further and higher vocational education. All participants had undertaken a course of liberal studies alongside a programme of work-related learning at an English college of further education at some point between the mid-1960s and the late-1980s. The paper presents two key findings: first, whilst participants’ experiences were varied and uneven, most seemed quite agnostic about liberal studies in their youth; second, the great majority of those who took part in the research were substantially more positive about their learning in retrospect.     

精英教育与大众教育之间的大学品格

古典的大学传统以完整的人的培养作为大学理念的核心。当高等教育从精英教育走向大众教育之时,大学必然要适应普通个人对职业教育的需求,使得古典大学教育传统难以为继,导致大学品格的俯就。我国大学品格的建设不仅面临着高等教育大众化的冲击,还面临着自身大学人文传统的重建问题。当前大学品格的建设,应注重大学自身的定位,甄定大学培养目标,并确立不同类型大学教师的发展方向。     

CREATIVITY, KNOWLEDGE AND CURRICULUM IN FURTHER EDUCATION: A BERNSTEINIAN PERSPECTIVE

ABSTRACT:  This paper draws on the work of Basil Bernstein to offer a (re-) conceptualisation of creativity for the English further education (FE) sector. It begins by locating creativity within the political economy of FE and argues that teaching and learning is constrained by an instrumental remit for the sector, which prioritises perceived economic needs over broader conceptions of education and training. The paper goes on to analyse the FE curriculum, relating Bernstein's work on generic modes to critiques of competence. It proposes a central role for knowledge and broad conceptions of skill in FE in order to contest an instrumental approach to teaching and learning arising from official discourse on competitiveness. The paper uses Bernstein's typology of vertical and horizontal discourse to argue that creativity needs to be re-defined in a way that recognises the value of principled, conceptual knowledge in vocational education whilst acknowledging the socially constructed nature of creativity and knowledge.     

Integrating media education into liberal studies: a positive response to curriculum reform in Hong Kong

Media education has been around for quite some time in the West (Bazalgette et al. 1990 Bazalgette, C., Bevort, E. and Savino, J. 1990. New directions: Media education worldwide, London: BFI.  [Google Scholar]), but it only started to gain acceptance in Asia (Cheung 2005 Cheung, C. K. 2005. Media education in Hong Kong: From civic education to curriculum reform. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 14(1): 27–45.  [Google Scholar]), particularly in Hong Kong, in the last decade. Recently, it has been gaining more attention in Hong Kong thanks to the curriculum reform in which liberal studies will become one of the four core subjects to be taken by students in the New Senior Secondary Curriculum and media is one of the six themes to be studied in the subject of liberal studies. This article argues for the need for teaching media education in liberal studies and shows the many connections between the two subjects that facilitate this integration.     

The strange death of UK civil defence education in the 1980s

In the cold war, the United Kingdom government devised a number of public education campaigns to inform citizens about the precautions that they should undertake in the event of a nuclear attack. One such campaign, Protect and Survive, was released to the general public and media in May 1980. The negative publicity this publication received is considered to be a reason why a successor publication was never released despite the increased risk of nuclear attack. Using recently released records from the UK National Archives the paper considers that, aside from this explanation, interlocking institutional objectives, rather than simply inertia, provide an explanation for this hiatus.     

自由教育的现实价值

历史证明,自由教育是大学的一颗童心。自由教育是普通教育的古典先驱,是通识教育的灵魂。自由教育对大学具有特别重要的历史和现实意义,然而,中国缺乏自由教育的传统。     

A history of the future of higher education for sustainable development

Thirty years of academic dialogue and reinvention about environmental and sustainability education conceals the consistency of rhetoric that literature holds. This paper argues that higher education for sustainable development does not call for the invention of anything disconcertingly new. In fact, four simple, long‐standing concepts contribute most of the philosophy, disciplinary content and pedagogy required: liberal education, interdisciplinarity, cosmopolitanism and civics. A review is undertaken of the literature behind these ‘ideas neither young nor mature’ and a sustainability canon is derived that features integrated sciences, humanities and social sciences theory, engaging, active pedagogy and authentic external experiences.     

Social changes and the revival of liberal education in China since the 1990s

China’s higher education placed exclusive emphasis on narrowly specialized education and neglected liberal education before the 1990s. However, along with the dramatic social changes since the 1990s, liberal education has revived in China. This paper first examines the characteristics of higher education in China before the 1990s, and then explores the ideas, policies, and specific measures in higher education reform since the 1990s within the larger social context, and thirdly, with a case study on the “liberal education curriculum” introduced by Peking University in 2000, it investigates the ideas, contents and characteristics of liberal education. Finally, it reveals the rationale for the liberal education revival in China.     

关于继续教育的价值思考

随着经济的发展和社会的进步，继续教育已成为进入21世纪的关键所在。因为每个人都需要在自己的一生中抓住和利用各种机会，进一步充实自己，以适应不断变化的世界。由此，继续教育从一种理念逐渐过渡为一种客观事实。在社会多元化的今天，如何对继续教育予以价值确认并进行正确的价值导向就成为一个不容回避的问题。     

自由教育的历史演变及当代特征

始于古希腊时期的自由教育思想，直到今天仍然在教育理论和实践领域发挥着影响力，考察自由教育的历史演变及当代特征，有助于准确地理解和把握自由教育思想。     

当代教育改革视野中的教育史研究

在大力提倡教育改革的今天,很多人认为教育史研究巴失去其生存价值.其实不然,教育史研究不仅可以使我们以历史的视角去审视今天的教育改革,而且可为教育改革提供智力支持.因此,越是在教育改革进行得如火如荼的时代,我们越需要冷静地反思过去,总结经验,充分认识教育史研究在当代教育改革中的独特功能,使其更好地为教育现实服务.     

学习型组织与图书馆员的继续教育

面对知识经济时代的挑战,图书馆建立学习型组织十分必要。所以,必须加强图书馆员的继续教育,实现馆员内在素质的提高,为图书馆建立学习型组织创造条件。     

The salient history of Dalton education in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands there are 400 Dalton schools, while Dalton education has all but disappeared elsewhere, including in its country of origin: the USA. Following a brief period in the 1920s in which it enjoyed strong international interest, it disappeared from the scene. How can it be that the Dalton Plan still exists only in the Netherlands? This article compares the history of Dalton education in the Netherlands with that in Britain and the USA. Circumstances were more favourable in the Netherlands in the 1920s, although the growth was modest. Factors that inhibited the increase of Dalton education in the Netherlands in these early days are similar to those that presumably hastened its disappearance elsewhere. There was a growth spurt in the Netherlands from the 1980s onwards. This seems to be a side effect of the introduction of a new Education Act and the pressure on schools to market themselves.     

图书馆在进行继续教育中的价值及前瞻性思考

图书馆为人们接受继续教育提供了良好场所。利用图书馆进行继续教育具有很高的社会、经济及个人发展价值。有效地利用图书馆进行继续教育，以保证其价值更好地实现，是一个不容忽视的问题。     

Further education outside the jurisdiction of local education authorities in post-war England

This article revisits the three decades following the end of World War Two – a time when, following the 1944 Education Act, local education authorities (LEAs) were the key agencies responsible for running the education system across England. For the first time, there was a statutory requirement for LEAs to secure adequate facilities for further education (FE), and the post-war era is generally remembered as a period when they dominated FE. Yet this is not the full story of FE in post-war England: it is often forgotten that a significant amount of FE existed outside the municipal framework. This article returns to the post-war decades and begins to uncover the largely forgotten history of FE outside local authority control at that time. It highlights how voluntary and private organisations offered various forms of post-compulsory education outside the municipal framework, and how they contributed to the eclectic and diverse nature of FE across England. This, I argue, not only reflected the expedience, compromise and inertia that characterised FE in post-war England but was rooted in a capture of educational policy more generally by a privileged elite intent on maintaining a social order characterised by social, economic and cultural divisions.     

浅析蒙学教育的历史沿革

在璀璨夺目的中华五千年文化史中,古代教育,无疑要占据较为重要地位。传统蒙学是古代教育中的重头戏,批判地继承和借鉴蒙学中的合理、科学成份,对于今天的教育,特别是中小学教育,也是大有裨益的。本文从三个方面对蒙学教育进行了探讨,力求为本领域的研究尽自己的绵薄之力。     

The sociology of education as the history of the present: fabrication,difference and abjection

The paper explores the fabrications of human kinds in pedagogical research. It examines the social and psychological sciences of education as producing independent spaces for the study of people in order to act on them and as a cultural thesis for people to act for themselves. Further, it explores the principles generated about who the child is and should be. It is argued that the making of human kinds embodies particular historically generated modes of representing the possibilities of life; and these modes function to divide, differentiate and abject particular qualities of people and populations into unlivable spaces. This comparativeness produces inequality as it strives for equality. The analysis engages educational studies in a conversation with history, philosophy, political and cultural studies that draw on particular European studies brought into the US to challenge its philosophical, analytical and social/psychological traditions.     

Social capital and the evaluation of inclusiveness in Scottish further education colleges

Educational establishments are now legally bound to create inclusive learning environments. However, successful implementation will depend on changes in the culture and ethos of these institutions, as well as shifts in the attitudes and practices of staff. This article reports on the findings of an evaluation of staff development sessions led by the Scottish Further Education Unit (SFEU). The social model of disability developed by disabled people was used to analyse the barriers to inclusiveness as identified by staff and students. Through the concept of ‘social capital’, which focuses on the networks, norms and trust between individuals, the extent to which SFEU staff development activities had led to more inclusive practice was assessed. An example of the way in which SFEU staff purposefully encouraged the establishment of social capital is given. Finally, the possibilities for the development of more inclusive further education contexts are discussed.