Obama and the ‘Arab Spring’: desire,hope and the manufacture of disappointment. Implications for a transformative pedagogy

For a period, in the run up to the election (2007–2008) and the months after the election, the name ‘Obama’ signified hope for millions, not just in America but across the world. As the hope turned to disappointment, the financial crisis deepened and the Arab Spring renewed a call for a ‘humanity’ that could transcend the differences of nations and faiths. What can be learnt from such events about the pedagogies of hope, disappointment and public action? Are there lessons for a transformative pedagogy, an education that could underpin and continuously create the conditions for a politics of freedom and social justice? A range of print, broadcast and digital/Internet news media is analysed to explore the political/rhetorical/pedagogical strategies already set into play that ‘manufacture disappointment’ in order to undermine and negate the transformative, transgressive symbolic significance of ‘Obama’ and thus manage the theme of change to reassert the same.     

从教育学史到教育学术史

以“用”为目的、向西方倾斜而自我否定的学术心态、公式化的创作方式和形式化地追逐西方学术新潮以便迅速在中国加以运用等的结合,是中国现代教育学的重要传统,它导致了中国教育学在文化上的双重隔绝:既隔绝于中国文化历史传统,也隔绝于西方文化历史传统。要改变这一状态并使教育学保持必要的文化张力,理应把传统教育学术纳入研究视野,从教育学史拓展到教育学术史的研究。     

Urban Poetics: Poetry, Social Justice and Critical Pedagogy in Education

Posing an alternate view to high stakes educational models, the thoughts, opinions and practices of four poetry educators are used to provide critical insights as how to infuse creative outlets in the educational process. In gathering the motivations of these poetry educators, a goal of this project is to encapsulate their philosophies through researcher observation and participation. Engaging such work with social justice at the center creates a particular disposition. It can be subjective in the sense that an understanding of improvement requires an explicit commitment to the improvement of the lives of young people in education through a participatory process.David Stovall is an Assistant Professor of Policy Studies.     

建构关系社会资本：有效学校建设的重要路向

有效学校最根本的内涵是学校教育的有效性与学校管理的有效性。学校关系社会资本是指学校通过与其内外部的各种个人或组织在合作性交往互动中形成和积累起来并具有生产性的一系列网络关系。学校关系社会资本,能提升学校教育的有效性与学校管理的有效性。建构学校关系社会资本对有效学校建设至关重要。     

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.     

学校教育社会风险:本质内涵与评估指标

学校教育面临着各种社会风险,同时学校教育中的一些风险因素演变成的风险事件也给社会带来风险。因此,我国学校亟待实施学校教育社会风险管理。学校教育社会风险是指社会上的各种相关因素、自然灾害以及学校教育活动与管理本身等因素变量演化成的风险事件给学校教育带来某种危险的可能性或后果,以及学校教育本身的一些风险因素演变成的风险事件给社会带来的某种危险的可能性或后果。据此,学校教育社会风险指标体系,是一个由学校面临的教育社会风险评估指标体系和学校教育对社会的风险评估指标体系构成的指标群。