VII: Educating for citizenship and employment in Australia

Abstract

There is a long held belief in the teaching profession—a belief approximating the status of folklore—that when a teacher stays in a school for an extended amount of time, the enthusiasm for the job wanes and becomes less effective, turning into the ‘living dead’, awaiting retirement. In this folklore, then, teacher mobility is positioned as desirable—with positive outcomes for the profession and for students. Two recent studies and faculties in NSW government schools, however, suggest to us a need to problematise the notion of teacher mobility as an automatically desirable aspect of the profession. We think these studies suggest a greater degree of complexity around the issue of teacher mobility than simply viewing the ‘over stayer’ as a cynical quasi‐retiree or ‘shell back’. In fact, these studies of teachers who achieve outstanding outcomes in the NSW Higher School Certificate (HSC) and of faculties and programs achieving outstanding outcomes in years 7–10, suggest that length of time in a school may be directly correlated with outstanding outcomes (by underpinning a range of other factors probably more directly causative of those outcomes).     

Educating for citizenship—the emerging relationship between religious education and citizenship education

The introduction of citizenship education to school in England (and Wales) in 2002 has generated interest and concern among religious educationalists, some of whom welcome the opportunities this new educational territory opens up for religious education and some of whom suspect it augurs religious education's demise. This article reports findings of a school‐based study of the early implementation of citizenship education and its impact on religious education. It discusses those findings in the context of the current debate about the future relationship between the two subjects, noting a similar ambivalence toward citizenship education among religious education heads of department, as there is among religious educationalists. The discussion includes an examination of the Crick Report, noting its lack of interest in religious education, and argues that its conceptualization of citizenship leaves it open to two quite different broad interpretations of what might be meant by an education for citizenship, one of which religious education practitioners appear to endorse and associate with religious education, and one of which they reject and associate with citizenship education.     

Educating for citizenship: Freeing the mind and elevating the spirit

An earlier version of this paper was delivered as a keynote address at the annual meeting of the Association for General and Liberal Studies, Memphis, TN, October 15, 1993.Patrick T. Terenzini is a professor and senior scientist in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Penn State University. He is the associate director of the National Center on Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment. His Ph.D. is from Syracuse University. His major research interest focuses on how college affects students.     

The unfinished assignment: Educating Moroccan women for development

Western theories of development, and the resulting strategies and planning represent major structural barriers to Moroccan Women's Liberation. The author advocates a shift from current anti-participatory strategies to a new people-oriented approach, emphasizing the multiple roles of women within an integrated strategy. This involves linking educational projects with other parts of the infrastructure.Morocco's way out of exogenous development, the author contends, is contingent upon an adequate management of the educational system both at the institutional and personal levels. Therefore, educating women can be considered asine qua non in optimizing conditions leading to endogenous development. The foundation is the establishment or strengthening of a whole infrastructure for the creation, transmission, and application of alternative methods likely to sustain socio-economic opportunities leading to Morocco's self-reliance.

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Zusammenfassung Westliche Entwicklungstheorien und die darauf aufbauenden Entwicklungsstrategien und -planungen sind die hauptsächlichen strukturellen Barrieren für die marokkanische Frauenbefreiung. Die Verfasserin befürwortet eine Abkehr von den derzeitigen anti-partizipatorischen Strategien zu einem neuen volksorientierten Ansatz, indem sie die Vielzahl der Rollen der Frauen innerhalb einer integrierten Struktur betont, d.h. daß pädagogische Projekte mit anderen Teilen der Infrastruktur verknüpft werden.Die Verfasserin behauptet, daß Morokkos Ausweg aus seiner exogenen Entwicklung von einer adäquaten Leitung des Erziehungssystems sowohl auf den institutionellen als auch auf den persönlichen Ebenen abhängig ist. Die Frauenbildung ist daher eine unerläßliche Voraussetzung für die Optimierung der Bedingungen, die zu einer endogenen Entwicklung führen; ein tragender Bestandteil ist die Errichtung bzw. Stärkung einer ganzen Infrastruktur, die zur Schaffung, Übertragung und Anwendung alternativer Methoden überleitet, welche die zu Marokkos Unabhängigkeit führenden sozio-ökonomischen Möglichkeiten aufrecht erhält.

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Résumé Les théories occidentales de développment, et les stratégies de développement et de planification qui en découlent représentent les principaux obstacles structuraux à la libération de la femme marocaine. L'auteur préconise le passage des stratégies actuelles anti-participatoires vers un nouveau paradigme orienté vers le peuple en traduisant une nouvelle approche holistique en une stratégie intégrée: c'est-à-dire en liant les entreprises éducatives aux autres environnements de la société.La sortie du Maroc du développement exogène, affirme-t-elle, est dépendante d'une gestion du système d'éducation aux niveaux institutionnel comme idiographique (personnel). Par conséquent, l'éducation des femmes est la conditionsine qua non de l'optimalisation des circonstances conduisant à un développement endogène; l'établissement et le renforcement de toute une infrastructure pour la création, la transmission et l'application de nouveaux outils intellectuels capables de soutenir les occasions socio-économiques qui favoriseront l'auto-développement au Maroc.

     

The Rationality of Educating for Wisdom

Sternberg's call for an educational focus on teaching wisdom can be viewed as part of a nascent trend to reorient educational psychology away from exclusive focus on the so-called algorithmic level of analysis. The thrust of his research program on wisdom, like those emphasizing rationality as a critical construct in educational psychology, is on aspects of cognition heretofore backgrounded: the goals and beliefs of the learner, thinking dispositions, values, morality, cognitive styles, and the evaluation of cognition in terms of normative criteria.     

Education for citizenship

ABSTRACT

It is increasingly maintained that cost–benefit analysis (CBA) should play a greater role in educational policy-making. This article critically examines the rationale guiding CBA and its compatibility to educational settings. Drawing on philosophical discussions, it argues that the rationale guiding CBA has some fundamental limitations that render the use of it in education beneficial only under certain restrictive circumstances.     

Learning for democracy: The politics and practice of citizenship education

It is now two decades since the Advisory Group on Citizenship, commissioned by the newly elected Labour government, recommended the introduction of statutory citizenship education. On the twentieth anniversary of the eponymously named ‘Crick Report’, this article presents the findings of a rigorous mixed‐methods study of citizenship educators in the UK. This research suggests that teachers continue to lack a shared understanding of citizenship, conceptually and pedagogically, and also reveals an emphasis amongst teachers upon individualistic notions of good citizenship that are reflective of national, and increasingly global, political discourse. The findings are analysed using a new conceptual framework—the declarative–procedural paradigm—which is developed here to understand the relationship between political and normatively driven visions of democratic citizenship and classroom pedagogy. In doing so the article adds, theoretically and substantively, to the specific research pool of citizenship studies and broader debates about political disengagement.     

Consensus projects: teaching science for citizenship

In the first part of this article it is argued that knowledge of social aspects of science are of importance and relevance for science education for citizenship. The focus is on the importance of debate, criticism and evaluation of knowledge claims, within the scientific community. Knowledge of the nature and the limits of science are necessary as tools to interpret and debate statements with a science dimension occurring in debates over socio-scientific issues. The second part of this article presents a teaching model for engaging students in thoughtful decision-making on controversial socio-scientific issues. The main features of the teaching model are the evaluation and criticism of knowledge and opinions and the establishing of a consensual conclusion that includes a recommended action. Using the consensus project model implies an introduction to important social aspects of science concerning evaluation and validation of knowledge claims.     

Educating Our Own: The Historical Legacy of HBCUs and Their Relevance for Educating a New Generation of Leaders

Providing a brief history of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs)??including how and why they were founded, funding sources and needs over time, and an examination of mission statements??the author considers the relevance of HBCUs in the current twenty-first century context. He makes an argument that the educational opportunities HBCUs offer continue to be strongly needed in the contemporary U.S. economic and sociopolitical climate. Finally, he offers HBCU faculty and administrators some suggestions for consideration as they face significant challenges ahead.     

Educating for innovation

In the last several decades many of the world's most developed countries have shifted from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy, one based on the creation of knowledge, information, and innovation. Educational researchers have paid very little scholarly attention to this economic shift, although it has substantial implications. After all, educational historians have repeatedly shown how today's schools were designed in the first half of the 20th century to meet the economic needs of the industrial economy; if that economy is a thing of the past, then many features of contemporary schools may become obsolete. In today's knowledge society, creativity always occurs in complex collaborative and organizational settings. Teams and organizations innovate using open-ended, improvisational group processes. I argue that education should be structured around disciplined improvisation, and I advocate the use of situated, collaborative knowledge-building activities. I argue that creative collaboration in classrooms aligns with the social nature of innovation in today's economy.     

Educating for diversity

A noted scholar explains why achieving cultural diversity on campus requires nothing less than a complete transformation of our institutions of higher learning. This means reinventing everything, from the canon to the classroom and beyond.     

Educating for Commitment: Insights from Postmodernity

Abstract

Secular pluralism in contemporary culture and current theological divisions within churches have important implications for Christian education. This paper addresses the question of how religious commitments can be made and convictions held outside of polarizing and exclusionary understandings of truth, and without the presence of uncontested doctrines. What habits, practices and dispositions should Christians cultivate in this context? It brings resources from postmodern theology and philosophy into conversation with the Anglican tradition, in order to propose ways that Christian education can foster faith commitment in the midst of pluralism and disagreement.

The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.—W. B. Yeats, The Second Coming

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there.—Rumi     

Education for citizenship: The role of progressive education and interdisciplinary studies

Critiques of education from both the left and right conclude that educational institutions hold the key for involving more citizens in the political process. While neither progressive nor interdisciplinary education is sufficient by itself to prepare students for what we identify as the chief requirements for citizenship in the 21st century-civic literacy, critical thinking, social conscience, tolerance and respect for diversity, global citizenship, and political action-a combination of the two can meet all six requirements. We propose an action agenda for high education that includes promoting student involvement in off-campus political projects and on-campus governance, modifying mission statements and promotion/tenure criteria, and offering interdisciplinary general education courses at the beginning and end of college that are progressively taught, and registering students to vote.Newell was the founding president of the Association for Integrative Studies, author ofInterdisciplinary Undergraduate Programs and several articles on interdisciplinary higher education, and a veteran of 19 years of interdisciplinary teaching.Dr. Davis has administered progressively taught institutions for college students, high school students, and the elderly. He is currently Executive Director of the United Way of Franklin County, Massachusetts, applying the same principles to community service agencies.     

Keeping company: Educating for online friendship

The possibility of online Aristotelian virtue friendships via social network sites continues to be raised by philosophers, but as yet this has not been positioned within the realm of children or adolescents, who are known to be amongst the largest users of social media. Governmental agencies across the globe still struggle to define the boundaries of online usage for children, often depending on school-based curricula highlighting ‘safe-guarding’ online or some form of character education. This, however, often leaves the philosophical thinking behind virtual relationships as incompletely addressed in educational theory, policy and practice, despite there being some very real difficulties for children. Utilising the insights of Aristotle on friendship, I offer a view that may hold potential for a philosophically based policy. I outline three different ways this philosophical literature could have implications for education and indicate the types of policy that each might entail. I will contend that there are three distinct stakeholders here that can be identified as having a significant role to play in what we should do: the schools themselves, educational researchers and policy writers. Finally, I suggest ways in which research, policy and practice might link together.     

Measuring learning for citizenship

Over the past two hundred years or so, there has been a remarkable growth in the professionalization of occupations. This article identifies a range of social theories that may be used as maps and compasses to gain a deeper understanding of the processes of professionalization and the roles of professional education and particularly continuing professional education (CPE) in these processes. Underlying the article is the notion that educators working in this field are poorly served by the lack of adequate social theory. The article discusses limitations inherent in technicist and instrumentalist theories and various forms of liberal functionalist theory of professionalization and CPE. It then goes on to suggest the beginnings of an alternative critical social theory that may inform our thinking about professionalization and CPE. It suggests that sites of continuing professional learning and education may usefully be conceptualized as sites of struggle, and identifies a number of areas of tension and contradiction that, it is argued, must inform debates about the aims, purposes and structure of CPE, about who should gain access to what forms of knowledge, and about which forms of knowledge should be seen as most valuable. It suggests that these questions are primarily political and cannot be resolved in instrumental and technical terms alone. The contradictions and tensions identified give rise to ethical issues, issues of competence, excellence and mediocrity, issues surrounding the role of the state, professional self-regulation and monopolization, the links that may or may not be developed with wider political and industrial struggles of working people, issues concerned with occupational imperialism vs. the legitimation of occupations, professionalization and bureaucratization, and issues concerning professionalization and globalization. The hope is that this article will provoke further theorizing. In particular, I hope that it will stimulate critical research, which will look historically at the professionalization of a range of occupations and the role of CPE in this process.