Finding the common ground: Teachers' and employers' representations of English in an assessment context

There has been a long‐standing debate about how ‘English’ can be defined. Educational policy changes have typically been driven by differing representations of the subject, and have ranged from broad ‘aesthetic’ definitions to more narrow ‘functional’ views. The present study aims to analyse areas of consensus and contention in stakeholders' discourse regarding English. A questionnaire‐based survey and focus groups were used to explore how teachers and employers viewed English as a subject. Their views were conceptualised into three themes: the importance of functional English; English as atomistic versus holistic study; and English as critical thought. These themes are discussed in relation to historical definitions of ‘English’, and their implications for the future reform of English qualifications.     

The challenge of inclusive schooling in Africa: a Ghanaian case study

This paper explores how African learners and educators work with difference and diversity in schooling populations. Using a Ghanaian case study the paper offers lessons on/about how local discourses relating to ‘inclusivity and nation building’, ‘minority’ and ‘difference’ can inform debates about educational change and guide broad policy initiatives in pluralistic settings. While difference is affirmed, in some circles it can be said Ghanaian educators have not necessarily been responsive. It is contended that Ghanaian, and for that matter, African education, since historical times, has been approached in terms of its fundamental contribution to national development. In emphasizing the goal of post‐independence national integration, ‘postcolonial’ education in Africa has denied heterogeneity in local populations as if difference itself was a problem. With this orientation education has undoubtedly helped create and maintain the glaring disparities and inequities; structured along lines of ethnicity, culture, language, religion, gender and class, which persist and grow. By pointing to how local subjects (educators, learners and policy‐makers) link identity, schooling and knowledge production this paper implicates the search for genuine educational options or alternatives for Africa.     

Left Alone: end time for Marxist educational theory?

This paper provides an external account of the demise of the ‘old’ Marxist educational theory flowing from social reproductionism/ resistance theory. Five developments are explored in terms of how they have undercut the ‘old’ educational Marxism: hyper‐academicism; dislocations/disjunctions between theory and practice; the postmodern challenge; the new liberal ‘Left’ challenge; and, the ‘death of Marxism’ syndrome. The first two elements form the basis of some important ‘lessons’ for the revitalisation of Marxist perspectives on education. It is also argued that, although the five trends and developments have posed a serious challenge for the ‘old’ Marxist educational theory, nevertheless, it will probably circulate for some time‐‐given revivals, revisits, and as a source of easy criticism for anti‐Marxists. Finally, there has been a recent flowering of new approaches to theorising education from a Marxist perspective, which this paper maps out.     

Pedagogies for social justice: did Bernstein get it wrong?

This paper explores the often‐touted incompatibility between ‘intellectual rigour’ and ‘relevance’ as this has manifested in Australian debates over Queensland’s New Basics and ‘productive pedagogies’, and associated initiatives such as the New South Wales Quality Teaching Framework. This debate can be located in longer‐standing concerns about how best to meet the educational needs of students who experience social disadvantage. In particular, we focus on the way Bernstein’s concept of ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ discourse has been used by him and others to argue against attempting to make academic knowledge more ‘relevant’ by introducing elements of students out of school lives into the classroom. Drawing on examples from the literature, we trouble Bernstein’s contention that academic and ‘everyday’ knowledge represent different, incompatible knowledge forms that cannot be successfully integrated. This troubling creates an opening for reconsidering the relationship between ‘intellectual rigour’ and ‘relevance’. We argue that we can and should pursue the bringing together of ‘intellectual rigour’ and ‘relevance’ as a means to engage better all students, but particularly those who experience social and educational disadvantage, and improve their learning outcomes. Accordingly, we call for challenging, at a theoretical, practical and policy level, the perception that learning cannot be made relevant without sacrificing intellectual rigour. We also call for more research on teachers already integrating ‘intellectual rigour’ and ‘relevance’, and for teacher professional development and scaffolding to achieve this and to moderate multiple student perspectives and claims to ‘relevance’.     

体育教师的情感素质浅析

传统体育教学受科学主义和惟理智主义教育观的影响,以发展学生认知能力为目的,因而偏重于对教师知识、能力、技能等方面的要求,而相对忽略了个体的情感层面,忽略了对教师情感素质的要求。针对传统体育教学模式,相继提出了快乐教育、成功教育、小群体教学等情感教育形式,旨在通过情感的力量增强体育教学的效果。     

A Reflection on Some Meanings of ‘Interdisciplinarity’ and ‘Integration Among the Sciences’

Summaries

English

‘Integrated science’ as an aspect of curriculum development is now well established world‐wide and has become the subject of international meetings. This article tries to put forward for discussion some ideas about the meaning of integration among the sciences.

Integration is first discussed in its relation to common culture and disciplinary knowledge. Disciplinarity, recognized as the way in which scientific knowledge has been organized, is seen as the only real possibility for the growth of knowledge. To understand the meanings and the importance of different disciplinary fields, is a didactical objective to be reached through an articulated educational process starting in the primary school. However, another objective of the same importance is the development of the capacity to recognize and utilize disciplinary knowledge for the solution of ‘real’ problems.

In this perspective, an important problem for educational research is the definition of a ‘scientific knowledge for all’ which should enable people to confront real problems with a knowledge of the meanings of science, and of where to find and how to use scientific information.     

Towards educational inclusion in a contested society: from critical analysis to creative action

This paper is written by democratic educators who stand for the idea that is it worth developing, through classrooms and schools, a socially just (egalitarian), anti‐discriminatory society where interdependent relationships are valued. This paper significantly develops some of the ideas explored in the authors’ earlier contribution concerned with progress in Northern Ireland towards educational inclusion, and how this might more effectively advance in a post‐conflict transforming society. In particular, the paper poses the ‘so what’ question, and it responds by exploring the practical implications of six key ideas thought essential for transforming learning environments supportive of cultural diversity, equity and excellence for all. In addition, it includes examples of how school staff, along with collaborating partners, might utilize these key principles in order to facilitate school improvement.     

Reply to James Muir

A kind of ‘neo‐Aristotelianism’ that connects educational reasoning and reflection to phronesis, and education itself to praxis, has gained considerable following in recent educational discourse. The author identifies four cardinal claims of this phronesis‐praxis perspective: that a) Aristotle's epistemology and methodology imply a stance that is essentially, with regard to practical philosophy, anti‐method and anti‐theory; b) ‘producing’, under the rubric of techné, as opposed to ‘acting’ under the rubric of phronesis, is an unproblematically codifiable process; c) phronesis must be given a particularist interpretation; and d) teaching is best understood as praxis in the Aristotelian sense, guided by phronesis. The author argues that these claims have insufficient grounding in Aristotle's own writings, and that none of them stands up to scrutiny.     

Putting emotion into the self: a response to the 2008 Journal of Moral Education Special Issue on moral functioning

This paper takes as its starting point the Journal of Moral Education Special Issue (September, 2008, 37[3]) ‘Towards an integrated model of moral reasoning’. Although explicitly post‐Kohlbergian, the authors in this Special Issue do not, I argue, depart far enough from Kohlberg’s impoverished notion of the role of the affective in moral life—or when they do so depart, they incorporate emotions as mere intuitive thrusts in an essentially polarised two‐system view of the moral self. Prior to that complaint, I sketch an account of two contrasting self‐paradigms: a ‘dominant’ cognitive, anti‐realist (constructivist) paradigm and an ‘alternative’ realist and emotion‐based one. I explore the implications of the latter paradigm, which I endorse, for our understanding of the ‘emotional self’: a self imbued with and constituted by (potentially rationally grounded) emotions. I finally contrast that understanding with the one permeating the Special Issue and elicit some educational implications of the alternative paradigm.     

Assessing Professional Know‐How

This article considers how professional knowledge should be assessed. It is maintained that the assessment of professional know‐how raises distinctive issues from the assessment of know‐how more generally. Intellectualist arguments which suggest that someone's giving an account of how to F should suffice for attributing to them knowledge of how to F are set out. The arguments fail to show that there is no necessary distinction between two kinds of know‐how, namely the ability to F and knowing that w is a way to F, such that the latter is more fundamental. The consequences of this failure for our understanding of professional assessment are then considered. The issue of the assessment of tacit knowledge is then addressed. It is concluded that there is no context‐dependent codifiable or articulable propositional knowledge of how to F which could be substituted for being able to F and that therefore tacit knowledge can only be assessed in performance. The parallel with Gettier cases is reviewed and it is concluded that the provenance of accounts of and justifications for the attribution of know‐how are not matters of indifference to its assessment. Finally, the question of evaluability or what Ryle would have called the applicability of intelligence epithets is discussed in relation to its relevance to our procedures for assessing practical knowledge. Once again, it is concluded that excellent performance is necessary to attribute excellence in know‐how. However, the ability to give an account of how and why an agent would do something in hypothetical circumstances is also very important for the assessment of professional knowledge.     

Education and Broad Concepts of Agency

Abstract

Drawing on recent debates about the relationship between propositional and practical knowledge, this article is concerned with broad concepts of agency. Specifically, it is concerned with agency that involves the forming and putting into effect of intentions over relatively extended periods, particularly in work contexts (called, for want of a better term, ‘project management’). The main focus of interest is thus not on ‘know-how’ in the sense of ability to perform types of tasks but on the ability to form and carry through projects. Much, although by no means all, of the limited literature on this topic assumes that such abilities are largely independent of social interaction. This article will challenge that assumption. The article concludes with a reflection on the implications of an adequate account of project management ability for contemporary debates on the relationship between propositional and practical knowledge, and examines the implications for vocational and professional education that prepares people for this type of broadly based agency for their personal development.     

‘Doing well’ and ‘being well’—secondary school teachers’ perspectives

The mental health and wellbeing of young people is increasingly a concern in schools. This study explores how English secondary school teachers perceive and engage with the concept of wellbeing. By asking teachers to reflect on their practice, we can draw out their relational experience and knowledge about wellbeing in the classroom. Twenty teachers were interviewed about their practice in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and during the academic year 2020–21. Reflexive thematic analysis reveals the challenges experienced by teachers. Specifically, we find a perceived role conflict for teachers between giving care and purveying knowledge. We draw on recent policy research and the work of Nel Noddings to account for this conflict in terms of conceptualisations of teaching practice and purpose. We illustrate how an emphasis within schools on ‘doing well’ academically undermines and marginalises a more holistic sense of ‘being well’, which contributes to a set of strains on teachers personally, professionally and relationally in terms of their interactions with students and colleagues. We propose that ‘doing well’ arises out of ‘being well’, rather than the converse, and should hence be an educational policy priority. Finally, we offer implications for how wellbeing may be woven into school culture.     

Show and Tell: Demonstration as Practical Testimony

Two classic questions in epistemology concern whether knowledge is firstly propositional or firstly practical (the know-that/know-how debate) and whether testimony is a basic source of epistemic justification (the reductionism/anti-reductionism debate about testimony). In this paper, I consider the relationship between these two classic debates in epistemology. I hold that consideration of the two questions in tandem adds perspective to both debates. Firstly, considering the question of testimony within the know-that/know-how debate makes clear the necessity of developing a concept of practical testimony within the epistemology of practical knowledge. In this paper, I draw on Hawley's work to develop such a concept and call it ‘demonstration’. Secondly, considering the know-that/know-how debate in the epistemology of testimony sheds new light on the efficacy of testimony alone in transmitting knowledge. Because demonstration is not completely efficacious in transmitting know-how, I hold that the reductionism debate itself must diverge into propositional and practical halves. In the paper, I go on to identify two imperfect alliances: between intellectualism about know-how and anti-reductionism about testimony and between anti-intellectualism about know-how and reductionism about testimony. I also sketch out the importance of the concept of demonstration to understanding practical learning and teaching.     

Reading Schwab’s the ‘Practical’ as an invitation to a curriculum enquiry

In this retrospective essay reviewing the implications of Joseph Schwab’s essay, ‘The practical: A language for education’ (2013 [1970]), 40?+?years after its first publication, I identify two ‘practicals’. The first is a comprehensive ‘Practical 1.1’ embracing ends, subject matter, problem source and methods. This ‘practical’ has radical implications for curriculum studies, and for educational theory and research more generally. However, these implications have not been recognized. On the other hand, Schwab’s deliberation-centred interpretation of the ‘practical’, the ‘Practical 1.2’, has been widely discussed but has not captured the field of curriculum studies because it fails to map onto the structures of most school systems.     

What Makes a Person British? Children's conceptions of their national culture and identity

During the past decade, the cultural restorationist wing of the New Right has sought to impose its own anachronistic and sentimental conception of ‘British culture’ on schools and colleges. This conception, which is little more than a glib celebration of quintessential ‘Englishness’, characterises the national culture in largely monolithic and ethnically undifferen‐tiated terms. Concerned about the possible pernicious effects of educational policies inspired by such thinking, we present the findings of a recently completed ethnographic study of 8‐11 year‐olds’ conceptions of British national culture. Our paper considers the extent to which children's understanding of this complex form of collective identity may vary with age, and ethnicity. We conclude by exploring the implications of the findings for anti‐racist and multicultural education.     

Working-class girls and child-centred pedagogy: what are the implications for developing socially just pedagogy?

Existing international research suggests that widespread performative pedagogy has contributed to producing educational inequalities for ‘disadvantaged’ learners. There have also been calls for alternative pedagogies, which can be characterised as child-centred. This paper analyses pupils’ hierarchical positioning in a contemporary, mixed socio-economic, child-centred classroom using Bernstein’s theory of competence pedagogy and the concept of the ideal pupil. The ideal pupil’s central characteristics were perceived ‘intelligence’ and ‘good humour’, which were closely associated with middle-class boys. Middle-class and working-class girls were positioned against a female ideal pupil, who would take on a supporting role by creating a facilitating environment for boys’ learning. While middle-class girls were moderately successful in approximating these characteristics, working-class girls were positioned at the bottom of the class hierarchy. These findings have implications for these pupils’ self-perceptions, and raise questions about the implications of child-centred pedagogy for social justice.     

Vocational education and training and the therapeutic turn

The concept of ‘therapeutic education’ is being increasingly used in contemporary education policy studies to identify learning initiatives which are dominated by objectives linked to personal and social skills, emotional intelligence and building self‐esteem. Contemporary educational goals connected with such strategies have been criticised for encouraging a ‘victim culture’ which marginalises learners and replaces the pursuit of knowledge and understanding with the development of personal values relevant to a life of social, cultural and economic risk and uncertainty. In relation to vocational education and training (VET) and post‐school policy trends in particular, Hayes has argued that preparation for work has abandoned vocational/occupational knowledge and skills in favour of providing learners with personal skills for emotional labour in low‐level service jobs. This paper interrogates such analyses and questions whether the therapeutic role of VET really is incompatible with the traditional objectives of developing knowledge, understanding and values in work environments. Links are made between new emphases on work‐based learning and the ‘caring’ conceptions of learning in post‐school education. It is concluded that—although therapy should not dominate VET—an attention to the important values dimension of learning in the field does involve a therapeutic dimension of some kind.     

What (a) to do about ‘impact’: a Bourdieusian critique

This paper presents a research‐based, theoretically‐informed contribution to the debate on ‘impact’ in educational research, and specifically a response to Gardner's 2011 presidential address to the British Educational Research Association. It begins by discussing the development of the research ‘impact’ agenda as a global phenomenon, and reviews the current state of debate about ‘impact’ in the UK's Research Excellence Framework. It goes on to argue that a radical alternative perspective on this agenda is needed, and outlines Bourdieu's sociology—including his much‐neglected concept of illusio—as offering potential for generating critical insights into demands for ‘impact’. The term illusio in particular calls us to examine the ‘stakes’ that matter in the field of educational research: the objects of value that elicit commitment from players and are ‘worth the candle’. This framework is then applied first to analyse an account of how an ESRC‐funded project that I led was received by different research ‘users’ as we sought to generate impact for our findings. Second, it is used to show that the field of educational research has changed; that it has bifurcated between the field of research production and that of research reception; and that the former is being subordinated to the latter. The paper concludes by arguing that, despite many educational researchers' commitments to ‘make a difference’ in wider society, the research ‘impact’ imperative is one that encroaches on academic freedom; and that academics need to find collective ways in which to resist it.     

Education(al) Research,Educational Policy‐Making and Practice

Professor Whitty has endorsed the consensus that research into education is empirical social science, distinguishing ‘educational research’ which seeks directly to influence practice, and ‘education research’ that has substantive value but no necessary practical application. The status of the science here is problematic. The positivist approach is incoherent and so supports neither option. Critical educational science is virtually policy‐inert. The interpretive approach is empirically sound but, because of the value component in education, does not support education research either, or account for this component. A solution to the latter problem is sought in the debate between Carr and Hirst on the relationship between philosophy and education. This shows Carr making claims that rely on a conception of philosophy that he rejects, while Hirst insists on this conception, uses it to justify practical claims, but denies that this is possible. To achieve a practically relevant analysis of educational research, both need to include second‐order, normative, conceptual enquiry into the philosophies that drive educational policy‐making and partly regulate teaching methodology. Deweyan, first‐order, ‘reflective practice’ needs, then, to be supplemented with second‐order reflection. Educational research is philosophy‐ not science‐driven, and is value‐led. Consequently, it has the status not of scientific discovery but of practical recommendation.     

Points of view: reconceptualising literacies through an exploration of adult and child interactions in a virtual world

This article explores theoretical and methodological issues in literacy studies emerging from an investigation of how children and adults make meanings when virtual worlds are embedded in classroom contexts. Drawing on the work of Law and Mol and Kwa's exploration of ‘baroque complexity’, it highlights the importance of recognising and interrogating multiplicity in examining interactions through and around texts. The implications of this, we suggest, go beyond research into literacies in digital environments to raise questions about how we theorise and research literacies more generally. In particular, this leads us to re‐examine the use of the literacy event as a unit of analysis. We argue that these issues are particularly important at a time when diverse and multiple literacies collide with educational policies that reduce literacies to ‘the basics’ and to simple models that prescribe what is learned.