The future of higher education and the future of higher education research

Abstract

Higher education research is closely linked to the debates on higher education policy and practice. It provides the information basis for decisions about the future of higher education. As the themes of the public debate on problems and reform needs in higher education change quickly, higher education research has to anticipate future problems and themes of debates in order to develop concepts and to generate knowledge well in advance. Future‐conscious higher education research might aim to identify likely future changes in thematic areas which are already in the limelight of public attention, as trends in the areas of expansion of higher education, diversification of structures of the higher education system, system steering and institutional management as well as internationalisation and globalisation suggest. Moreover, future‐conscious higher education research should try to identify thematic areas not frequently discussed at present but likely to be major issues in the future. For example, professionalisation of higher education in terms of the emergence and expansion of new administrative and service professions in higher education institutions might have far‐reaching implications in the future and is worth to be paid attention by higher education researchers.     

Defining the future: an interrogation of education and time

This paper examines notions of ‘educational time’ with particular reference to the work of Basil Bernstein. It focuses closely on the 1967 Plowden report as a particularly appropriate policy case study to demonstrate how different constructions of time can exist within the same document. It then develops educational models originally mapped out by Bernstein, arguing that a full understanding of the areas of consensus and conflict among these models is vital if we are to understand how teaching professionals think about the future. The paper addresses the following questions: How does time affects education? What influence does this have on educational outcomes? How does this relate to public policy initiatives? Assuming a tacit, collective understanding of time and the future can undermine the very policy intentions a government might be seeking to promulgate.     

Presidential Address: Culture and the future of education research

Recent changes in higher education have confronted education research with a conundrum: how our traditionally multidisciplinary field can refine itself as a unified discipline. In this address I sketch out what this conundrum may mean for education research, both substantively and methodologically, in the future. I propose that one starting point is for education researchers to consider what unites rather than divides us. One common, unifying conceptual concern is with the operation of culture/s in educational settings. I use the narratives of two teachers from different places and times to illustrate how culture analysis can be a fruitful tool for understanding the experience and practice of Education. In my conclusion, I extend the theme of culture to education research itself. I suggest that the challenge of disciplinary identity confronting education research requires a culture change in the modus operandi of our practice, and that this will involve an articulated focus on methodological pluralism, interdisciplinarity, and the use of new modes of communication as key unifying elements of the discipline of education research.     

Sustainable learning and education: A curriculum for the future

International Review of Education - This article introduces sustainable learning and education (SLE), an emerging philosophy of learning and teaching founded on principles of sustainability. SLE is...     

Ideas and the future of higher education

Travellers who begin their pilgrimage to the uncertain future by attending colleges or universities need an educational experience characterized by specific consideration of ideas as ideas and overt attention to the process of challenging assumptions. Effective higher education in the future may be recognized by its participants' focus on ideas in general as the foundation of the curriculum and their simultaneous willingness to challenge any particular idea. To the extent to which these two activities do not presently characterize American higher education, the most critical innovation for the future may be a change of mind.     

Adult education and the future of work

This paper puts forward the proposition that in times of fiscal stringency adult educators have relied on two basic responses: either align programs to suit current political imperatives or bring pressure to bear to maintain the status quo. However, neither of these may be adequate to cope with what now appears to be a more fundamental change in our economy resulting in permanently high unemployment and the increasing importance of work in the informal economy. These two factors emphasise the difficulty of continuing to accept the current work‐leisure dichotomy that underlies much of our thinking and presage a dramatic change in the ways some people may have to gain their livelihood. Adult educators have had a significant role to play in individual and community economies but this is largely unrecognised due to the fact that adult education practitioners have tended to justify their work on quality‐of‐life or numbers grounds. Such justifications may no longer be adequate. If adult educators wish to maintain their programs in hard financial times they certainly have the capacity to do so but they will have to rethink their rationale, reject outmoded beliefs and patterns and justify their work through the outcomes of their programs and not just the outputs.     

Non-place and the future of place-based education

Abstract

Augé defined non-place as space lacking meaningful relations with other spaces, historical presence, or concern with identity—space divorced from anthropological place. Rather than space as historically-centered, marked and fashioned by social bonds, Augé’s non-place represents a de-centering of space, a movement away from cities, dwelling places and dwelling-in-places, and even embodied experiences, into capitalist, often technologically-mediated, spaces of “circulation, consumption, and communication.” Non-place presents fundamental and existential challenges to the field of place-based education, an educational approach dedicated to instilling place-consciousness and, correspondingly, pro-ecological attitudes and behaviors, by rooting education within the local environment. But how can education become “rooted” in place when place itself is increasingly ephemeral, non-existent, or untethered to a geolocation? This question is a defining ontological and epistemological question for place-based education in supermodernity.     

Diversity,adult education and the future: a tentative exploration

Diversity in its many guises is strongly championed in the adult education literature. To conceive a future for adult education that is not diverse and does not try to address the needs of diverse learners seems absurd. Yet, diversity is not a unitary concept, having many definitions and paradoxical effects. Questions arise about its future in a globalizing world. It is not obvious that all facets of diversity in adult education can thrive into the future. This paper attempts to explore the future of diversity in adult education. It applies two methodologies used in futures research to do so. One, causal layered analysis (CLA), enables the present to be analysed critically in order to explore possible futures. In this paper CLA is used to identify possible effects of globalization on diversity in adult education. The other methodology used is visioning. The adult education literature is examined for its visions of diversity. Four different visions are identified. Each theorizes diversity differently. One aims for individual personal development within an accommodating, non‐critical context. A second emphasizes personal development but within a context that is critical, striving for a more just society. A third envisions social learning facilitating change towards a critical, more just society. A fourth focuses on social learning but within an accommodating, non‐critical context. CLA and visioning enable some tentative statements to be made about the future of diversity in adult education. Chief among them is that diversity, when valued in the market place, will prosper, while diversity that is intended to act as an agent for social change will not.     

Citizenship education and the reparation of future teachers : A study

This study examines the views of future teachers of social studies regarding significant global trends, required citizen characteristics, and necessary educational strategies to develop the said characteristics. The study builds upon the landmark work of the nine-nation Citizenship Education Policy Study (CEPS I) carried out in the late 1990s that resulted in the model calledmultidimensional citizenship. The original work focused on the views of policy makers and scholars. The present research, CEPS II, is a follow-up study that seeks to determine the views of the next generation of those who will teach citizenship and civic education through social studies programs in seven participant societies: China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, The Netherlands, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States of America. The results suggest that the future teachers, when compared with the policy experts and scholars in the original CEPS I study, are more optimistic about the future and are more oriented towards personal development and participatory behaviors that will positively impact the common good.     

Age, Gender, and Ethnicity of Counsellor Trainees and Corresponding Counselling Self-Efficacy: Research Findings and Implications for Counsellor Educators

This study explored the counselling self-efficacy of students in a counsellor education programme, in regard to age, gender, and ethnicity characteristics. To assess counselling self-efficacy, the Counselling Self-Estimate Inventory (COSE) of Larson et al. (Counsellor Education & Supervision 41: 120–130, 1992) was administered at the end of a semester to counselling students engaged in different stages of a counsellor training program. No significant differences were found in regard to gender and age-group categories, but significant differences were found among ethnic groups. It was found that Asian and White students generally had similar and also lower counselling self-efficacy means than the other ethnic groups in the sample in regard to several counselling-specific categories. Implications for counsellor educators in training counselling students of diverse characteristics are discussed.     

Counsellor supervision In Zimbabwe: A new direction

This paper examines theneed for a new paradigm of counsellor supervision in Zimbabwe andprovides components for a new paradigm. The article identifiesissues that need to be considered in order to develop counsellorsupervision practice in an appropriate cultural and social contextfor the country. The issues that are examined are: counsellortraining in Zimbabwe; sociohistoric and present racial themes inZimbabwe; the impact of Eurocentric counselling theory, research andpractice in Zimbabwe; and the basic tenets of indigenous culture inZimbabwe that impact on the counsellor supervision process.