The Best of Times,the Worst of Times: the ‘post’ in ‘postmodern’

As teacher educators we are in perhaps one of the most demanding of professions in terms of constant upgrading of qualifications and updating of skills and knowledge, keeping abreast of new developments in education. As we question the relevance of what has become traditional discourse to inform our practice (such as Marxism on the Left of the political spectrum and various forms of discourses of the Right) we raise serious questions as well in reference to the ideological basis for academic boundaries that have become established, that have in effect structured the way in which we have been taught, the way we have engaged in learning, and in turn, the way we engage in our own practices of teaching and learning in our dealings with subject disciples and knowledge formations. It is now that we are seriously criticizing such discourses as having ignored the socially constructed nature of what is taught, how it is taught, and not only the underpinnings of the way they are evaluated, but how they are actually valued. This paper points to some of the implications of postmodernism for practioners.     

Deconstructing the ‘magnetic’ properties of neoliberal politics of education in Bahrain

This article makes contributions to questions of why international transfers of programmes do not lead to the outcomes that nations engaging in them expect to gain. Using Bahrain as an example, it is argued that tensions arising from policy borrowing are rooted in the complexities of the political incoherence between the new teaching policies, the Kingdom’s economic vision and educational aspirations of many locals that have been shaped by old political and employment settlements within the nation state. The research shows that educating for global development is not a ‘magnet’ that equally attracts everyone.     

From ‘Closing the Gap’ to an Ethics of Affirmation. Reconceptualising the Role of Early Childhood Services in Times of Uncertainty

In this article, I offer a critical enquiry into the landscape of European and international policy approaches and strategies towards young children, their families and communities in a rapidly changing global context. Early childhood has attracted unprecedented attention among policy makers and international bodies in the last two decades. The apparent consensus about the ‘need to increase participation in early childhood education and care’ has been framed mainly by a ‘human capital’ discourse that promises high returns on investment in early intervention, and social cohesion through increased educational achievement. While members of the early childhood research and practice community have welcomed (or actively contributed to) this argument in order to raise visibility and support, questions arise whether policies and practices grounded in this logic are appropriate and make a difference in the lives of children and families, especially those from marginalised backgrounds. Drawing on experiences from recent European and international research projects, this article argues that early childhood policies that aim at ‘closing the gap’ between children from marginalised and dominant groups in society are grounded in a logic of integration and assimilation into an assumed normality that no longer exists. Instead, marginalisation, hyper-diversity, inequality and fragmentation have become the defining feature of all societies. Against this background, the article explores possibilities and strategies for developing ‘competent systems’ for all children, families and communities that are based on democratic practices, recognition and affirmation.     

Between ‘enrichment’ and ‘endangerment’: ‘cultural diversity’ and the politics of belonging in the Berlin school choice discourse

Even though choice is not officially a feature in the German primary school system, some parents intervene in determining which school their child attends. Especially in urban contexts, the informal school market is growing. This demand is based on promises with respect to a certain quality of education as well as on issues that prevail in certain inner city schools. In looking at Berlin, as a global city, this article shows how contrary school choice practices gain traction in the face of ‘cultural differences’ that those practices produce discursively. Cultural semantics are activated with regard to the composition of the student body, when parents chose schools with a bilingual profile, but also when parents engage in the practice of ‘group enrolment’ into schools in inner city hotspots perceived as problematic. Our research shows how school choice practices may become acceptable despite being a public taboo, if parents argue by appeal to ‘cultural differences’.     

‘Our common world’ belongs to ‘Us’: constructions of otherness in education for sustainable development

The aim of this article is to analyse how good intentions in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) discursively construct and maintain differences between ‘Us’ and ‘Them’. The empirical material consists of textbooks about sustainable development used in Swedish schools. An analysis of how ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ are constructed and maintained is done with help from critical race theory, whiteness studies and Popkewitz’ notion of double gestures, exclusion through intentions of inclusion. The analysis departs from five dichotomies: tradition/civilisation, dirtiness/purity, chaos/order, ignorance/morality and helped/helping. We consider these dichotomies as cogwheels operating in an ‘Otherness machinery’. Through this machinery, ‘We’ are constructed as knowing, altruistic, conscious and good. The Other is simultaneously constructed as ‘uncivilised’ or as a ‘bad’ Other in need of higher moral standards. With help from these two Others, ‘Swedish exceptionalism’ is formed. The ESD project could then be understood as a colonial and excluding project, and we ask how it is possible to avoid that ‘our common world’ only belong to ‘Us’?     

Values in geographic education: the challenge of attending to learners’ perspectives

Geography as a school subject is highly infused with values and controversial issues. Much attention has been paid to the role of the (geography) teacher in dealing with values education, but the continued lack of pupil‐focused empirical work hampers conceptual, practical and policy development. Drawing on evidence from pupil‐focused research, it is argued that greater attention must be paid to three issues: (i) pupils may interpret classroom experiences in relation to unannounced or hidden values and controversies; (ii) pupils may position or locate themselves in relation to controversial issues in a variety of ways; and (iii) as a result, pupils’ engagement with values in the geography classroom may be highly individualised and complex, reflecting (i) and (ii) in combination. The challenge is to attend to learners’ perspectives, and these three issues are presented as possible starting points for future research agendas.     

The Reopening of the GCSE ‘Settlement’: recent developments in the politics of school examinations

In this paper, the authors review various criticisms of their published work on the sociology of school examinations at 16‐plus and consider how far the subsequent development and implementation of the GCSE examination necessitates a revision of their early position. Using a case study of integrated humanities, they argue that the more recent developments reflect an attempt to reopen the ‘settlement’ that their earlier work had described and to reach a new ‘compromise’. They then consider the broader economic and political context in which these developments have taken place, paying particular attention to the changing nature of the political right under Thatcherism. In conclusion, they suggest that their earlier characterisation of the politics of school examinations in terms of struggles between old humanists, industrial trainers, public educators and state bureaucrats requires some refinement if it is to remain useful in the current context.

     

‘In-between’ Asia and Australia: on the politics of teaching English as the ‘Other’

This article mobilizes story-telling to narrate my lived experience of teaching English as a minority academic in one Australian university. Positioning myself as living ‘in-between’ two cultures and as an ‘Other’, I tell my story of how I have been ‘racialized’ and ‘Othered’ because I do not look White, and my spoken English is distinctly accented; hence, my legitimacy of teaching English is held suspect. My story contributes to the theorizing of the sociology of the in-between with the argument that while living in-between culture can be a space of negativity, it can also be a space of empowerment if one exercises choice and agency by forging new spaces. I end my story-telling with a happy ending by presenting a contrasting story of how my run-away from Australia to (a new space in) Hong Kong to teach English has reaffirmed my cultural capital as I morph into a different ‘Other’.     

‘The song remains the same’: rebuttal to Sherblom's re‐envisioning of the legacy of the care challenge

Abstract:

The authors analyse and compare two of the major moral education programmes in the United States, namely, Character Education Curriculum and the Values Clarification Programme. The latter is seen to be more egalitarian and to stress the development of autonomy and choice in the child. The former tends to follow the ‘bag of virtues’ approach to moral education and is more directly instructional in its methods. The strengths and weaknesses of these two programmes are compared and it is concluded that both are significant steps towards an effective approach to moral education.     

Envisioned and enacted practices: educational policies and the ‘politics of use’ in schools

ABSTRACT

It is widely known that there is a discrepancy between educational policy on the one side, and teaching and learning practices on the other. Most studies have been focusing on the sociocultural and micropolitical frames that shape teachers’ understandings and enactments of teaching, and that cause the vast diversity of classroom practices around the world. This article wants to draw attention to the ‘politics of use’ in teachers’ work: how teachers mobilize larger political narratives when implementing curriculum reform. Arguably, these narratives provide a shortcut between the central government and street-level actors, thus circumventing the logics of these actors’ immediate institutional environments.

In order to showcase the politics of use, the article uses the case of education for creativity as it is designed for and practiced at Chinese schools. The case reveals how education for creativity is compromised by requirements emanating from larger political programs when implemented in Chinese classrooms. The article challenges the view that educational policy necessarily moves through a trickle-down process, from higher to medium to lower-level actors. In cases of strong ideological alignment between street-level actors and central state actors, educational policy may in fact sidestep and hence neutralize important institutional actors.     

The role of invitations to parents in the completion of a child’s home reading challenge

The role parents can play in supporting early reading attainment is well documented. There is still, however, a need to understand what motivates parents to become involved in reading at home with their child. Past research, based upon correlational studies, has mixed findings regarding the influence of the teacher and the child on parents’ motivation at home. Through two quasi-experiments, the present study explored the influence of teacher invitations in Kindergarten classes, and child invitations in Grade 2 classes on completion rates of a home reading challenge. The completion of the home reading among families was investigated across two metropolitan schools in Sydney, Australia. Both of the interventions resulted in significantly higher completion rates compared to control groups (teacher invitations: d = .68; child invitations: d = .73). This paper adds to existing research by providing a clearer picture of the cause-and-effect relationship between schools’ use of invitations to facilitate children’s home reading.     

The (be)comings and goings of ‘developmental disabilities’: the cultural politics of ‘impairment’

Disability should be a concern for those interested in analysing and subverting the cultural politics of education. In this paper we address this concern through connecting critical analyses of ‘developmental disabilities’ (formerly ‘mental retardation’), disability studies and poststructuralism. We target normative constructions of ‘developmental disabilities’ – and we propose alternative dynamic possibilities – through reference to narratives from our political and personal work with people with the label of ‘developmental disabilities’. Our aim is to unveil the ways in which we might understand the cultural formations of ‘impairment’ – as they relate to ‘developmental disabilities’ – in order to propel scholars, activists and practitioners towards a cultural politics of inclusion. First, we summarise some key debates from disability studies that have engaged with ‘impairment’: social model, relational and psychosocial models. We suggest that these debates benefit from a more grounded engagement with poststructuralist ideas. Second, we bring in the work of the poststructuralist thinkers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari and the poststructuralist feminist Rosi Braidotti to tackle the social, historical, cultural and political conditions of ‘developmental disabilities’ through experimentation with rhizomes and nomads. In conclusion, we appeal for the development of a cultural politics of ‘impairment’ and ‘developmental disabilities’ that draws upon a vocabulary applicable to the post-modern subject of the contemporary world: as uncertain, productive and moveable.     

The politics of ‘lifelong learning’ in post‐1997 Hong Kong

This article is concerned with the politics of lifelong learning policy in post‐1997 Hong Kong (HK). The paper is in four parts. Continuing Education, recast as ‘lifelong learning’, is to be the cornerstone of the post‐Handover education reform agenda. The lineaments of a familiar discourse are evident in the Education Commission policy documents. However, to view recent HK education policy just in terms of an apparent convergence with global trends would be to neglect the ways in which the discourse of lifelong learning has been tactically deployed to serve local political agendas. In the second part of this paper, I outline what Scott has called HK’s ‘disarticulated’ political system following its retrocession to China and attempts by an executive‐led administration to demonstrate ‘performance legitimacy’—through major policy reforms—in the absence of (democratic) political legitimacy. Beijing’s designation of HK as a (depoliticized) ‘economic’ city within greater China must also be taken into account. It is against this political background that the strategic deployment of a ‘lifelong learning’ discourse needs to be seen. In the third section of this paper, I examine three recent policy episodes to illustrate how lifelong learning discourse has been adopted and has evolved to meet changing circumstances in HK. Finally, I look at the issue of public consultation. The politics of education policy in HK may be seen to mirror at a micro‐level, the current macro‐level contested interpretations of HK’s future polity.     

The curriculum as a site of counter politics: theorising the ‘domain of the sayable’

Whilst there has been increasing focus on the impact of neoliberal education policy on the curriculum covered in schools, as well as on teacher and student subjectivities, less research has been done on the possibility, or otherwise, for teachers to challenge curriculum constraints. Arguing that these curriculum constraints are not simply imposed by an external censor, this article takes up Judith Butler’s concept of the ‘domain of the sayable’ to theorise what it is possible to imagine teaching in the primary school classroom in the first place. I draw on two different ethnographic data episodes to explore the parameters of the domain of the sayable in the space of the classroom in which I taught, mapping the silences and sudden swerving away from topics that seem to be straying close to what is impossible to say or hear. This process offers new insight into how we might conceptualise teacher resistance and counter politics within the current educational policy milieu in the United Kingdom.