Utopian totalism versus utopian realism: a reply to Darren Webb

Debate continues about the relationship between schools divided on ethno-religious lines and their implications for social cohesion. One argument against the existence of separate schools is that they limit opportunities for children from different groups to engage with each other, promoting intergroup suspicion and sectarianism. Using intergroup contact theory we examine the impact on outgroup attitudes of pupils attending mixed and separate post-primary schools in Northern Ireland. Data were collected through a survey of more than 3,500 pupils and analyses show that, irrespective of school type, intergroup contact at school is strongly associated with more positive orientations to the ethno-religious outgroup. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

Utopian spaces and the promise of education: a conceptual analysis

Abstract

This paper states that modern education and utopian discourse share one common trait, that of being structurally founded on the promise of human betterment. The changing relations between concepts of education and utopianism will be developed through conceptual analysis of the dynamics of the promise in their interweaving process. This shall be discussed through three main topics. The first is the appropriation of space in early modern education (sixteenth century onward), with particular emphasis on the influence of print technology on framing a new conception of educational spaces and practices. Second, the promise of the idea of progress in the Enlightenment period, which will become the further technological promise of a society-to-come, no longer spatially but temporally presented. Finally, the promise of autonomy through and against the modern subject, in which such autonomy is presented like the end of the journey through education, supposed that there is an end to such a journey. The key frame uniting the three topics is that utopian discourse journeying towards a normative conception of human society, as well as modern educational schemes journeying towards a normative conception of adulthood, are limited insofar as their respective promises, which are more impatient than the slow project of creation, more than often outruns it. The paper thus inquires whether or not there is a way to uphold the creative and imaginative possibilities of utopia in education, by acknowledging the pervasive effects of the promise on the social imaginary.     

发展全纳教育的理论与实践构想

开展全纳教育,促进有特殊教育需要学生有效参与学习,需要以多元智能、因材施教、建构主义理论为基础,运用平等、参与、合作、迁移的实施原则.当前我国发展全纳教育面临挑战.     

Standpoint theory,realism and the search for objectivity in the sociology of education

This paper evaluates the contribution of ‘social realism’ in resolving questions of knowledge and curriculum in the sociology of education. Social realists argue that, in the interests of educational equality, all pupils should have access to ‘powerful’ knowledge produced by specialist intellectual communities. Social realism relies upon a critique of standpoint theory, taking it to be irrealist, relativist and ignorant of the post-empiricist revolution in the philosophy of science. This paper argues however, that social realists fail to appreciate the critical realist response to the post-empiricist revolution and thereby end up critiquing a caricatured version of standpoint theory. The paper concludes that if we are concerned with restoring objectivity, in a manner that avoids both relativism and cultural elitism in school curricula, a turn away from standpoint theory in the sociology of education is not warranted and may be obstructive.     

Inclusive education: a critical perspective

The Gulliford Lecture 2002 was given by Professor Geoff Lindsay, Director of the Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR) at the University of Warwick. Professor Lindsay's lecture, on which this paper is based, addressed a number of key topics, including the development of inclusion and inclusive practices; models of special educational needs and disability; and the values that underpin our thinking about these matters. Basing his argument on the research evidence, Professor Lindsay provides a searching critique of prevailing notions about inclusion and of current approaches to research. His conclusions will be of interest to everyone concerned with the education of children and young people with special educational needs.     

特殊教育课程理论的发展趋势

我国基础教育课程改革发展的轨迹是在社会变革与发展的大背景下．课程逐步走向学生、走向学生学习与发展需要的过程。新一轮的基础教育课程改革实行必修课与选修课相结合、学科课程与活动课程相结合、分科课程与综合课程相结合的课程实践模式和国家课程、地方课程、学校课程三级课程管理结构。无不在为学生适应社会发展需要的、[第一段]     

Dynamics in higher education politics: a theoretical model

This article presents a model for analysing dynamics in higher education politics (DHEP). Theoretically the model draws on the conceptual history of political contingency, agenda-setting theories and previous research on higher education dynamics. According to the model, socio-historical complexity can best be analysed along two dimensions: the political situation and political possibilities. Politics as a situation connotes the idea of an opportune moment when politics can be changed, and political possibilities concern the different alternatives the actors see in different situations. Depending on whether the situation is favourable or unfavourable to change, and on whether the possibilities are politicised or settled, the DHEP model introduces four types of dynamic: reform, gridlock, consensual change and friction. On the empirical level the model has been tested and developed in the context of Finnish higher education by means of interviews and documentary material. It was found, in the Finnish context, that four policy threads functioned according to each of the dynamics. It appears from the empirical findings that dynamics in higher education politics are strongly related to changes that are external to the higher-education system, the changing positions of the actors in different policy threads and the unexpected nature of the dynamics. The DHEP can also be used to shed light on the effects of the silent, settled possibilities that may enable or disable other policy threads within a higher education system.     

Abandonment: The new realism of the eighties

She is the author ofThey Wrote for Children Too (Greenwood Press, 1989),Elizabeth George Speare (Twayne, 1992), and has co-authoredNonsense Literature for Children (Library Professional Publications, 1989) with Celia Catlett Anderson.     

Advocating and administering critical realism in a study of transnational educational collaborative partnerships

ABSTRACT

Transnational higher education is an increasingly important and essential part of the internationalisation of higher education. As the number of global educational institutions and international students participating in these types of initiatives increases, it becomes of paramount importance that research methodologies that investigate the phenomenon are developed and shared within transnational research communities. This article seeks to contribute to transnational education research by exploring a paradigm that has the potential to generate alternative forms of knowledge concerning transnational collaborative partnerships. By exploring functionalist and interpretivist approaches, often applied in partnership research, this article argues that neither approach, when applied in isolation, can fully articulate the notion of a TNE collaborative partnership. The article therefore champions the application of critical realism when investigating these partnerships and provides an empirical example of two Chinese-British case studies to illustrate the application of the paradigm, followed by a vignette of the type of findings generated, and its value to research and practice.     

Emotion theory in education research practice: an interdisciplinary critical literature review

Educational technology research and development - In this critical literature review, we seek to understand why multidimensional, psychological measures of human emotion that have been popular in...