Reforms in higher education: The case of Chile in the 1980s

The impact of the 1981 reforms on the system of higher education in Chile is described and analyzed. The system has been diversified by the encouragement of private universities, the creation of professional institutes and the establishment of centers for technical formation. Changes in the funding system have, however, led to problems with student loan recovery and to private universities concentrating on subjects with low costs. Though the participation rate has greatly increased, the existence of empty places, especially in the newer private universities, is evidence of over-provision.     

Education and countering violent extremism: Western logics from south to north?

Abstract

This paper explores the way education and conflict have become entangled during the post-9/11 ‘war on terror’ response to ‘radical Islam’ at home and abroad. The paper charts the complex ways that education has been deployed to serve Western military and security objectives in multiple locations in the global south and how these strategies have now returned to the ‘ West’ in the form of ‘countering violent extremism’ interventions. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of the ‘boomerang effect’ I will explore whether and how education techniques and strategies deployed abroad in pursuit of imperial interests return to the West and are deployed to monitor, control and suppress marginalised communities in a form of ‘internal colonialism’. Finally, the paper brings the two sections together in the Findings to explore commonalities and divergences.     

Le portrait professionnel de l'enseignant et la fonction enseignante

Les projets pilotes pour la transition de l'école à la vie active, organisés par la Commission des Communautés Européennes (1978‐1982), nous ont donné la possibilité de définir la fonction enseignante autrement que par la simple compétence disciplinaire. En particulier, la projet réalisé à Milan a permis d'élaborer une méthodologie pour la définition du portrait professionnel de l'enseignant: il s'agit de considérer le “produit” terminal de son activité, c'est‐à‐dire les compétences que doit avoir l'élève à la fin d'une formation donnée; ces compétences seraient analysées par un groupe formé par les enseignants et les experts du monde du travail qui sont intéressés par l'utilisation de telles compétences. On parvient ainsi à déterminer le curriculum et par là on arrive aux qualités professionnelles que l'enseignant doit avoir pour le développer.

C'est par cette méthodologie que l'analyse comparée de l'ensemble des projets pilotes nous a conduit à différencier la fonction enseignante en six niveaux: modérateur du travail de groupe, “tutor” pour la transition, expert d'une discipline, programmateur curriculaire, analyste de systèmes et d'institutions d'enseignement, évaluateur des processus de formation. A ces niveaux opérationnels, s'ajoutent deux dimensions intentionnelles: la dimension collégiale de l'exercice de la profession et la dimension éducative qui permet à l'enseignant d'être l'interprète du “Sujet historique”.     

Twenty-Five Centuries of Quantum Physics: From Pythagoras to Us,and from Subjectivism to Realism

Three main theses are proposed. The first is that the idea of a quantum or minimal unit is not peculiar to quantum theory, since it already occurs in the classical theories of elasticity and electrolysis. Second, the peculiarities of the objects described by quantum theory are the following: their basic laws are probabilistic; some of their properties, such as position and energy, are blunt rather than sharp; two particles that were once together continue to be associated even after becoming spatially separated; and the vacuum has physical properties, so that it is a kind of matter. Third, the orthodox or Copenhagen interpretation of the theory is false, and may conveniently be replaced with a realist (though not classicist) interpretation. Heisenberg's inequality, Schrödinger's cat and Zeno's quantum paradox are discussed in the light of the two rival interpretations. It is also shown that the experiments that falsified Bell's inequality do not refute realism but the classicism inherent in hidden variables theories.     

Philosophy,philosophy of education,and the education of teachers

The role of philosophy of education has become seriously blurred with constant cries for practical and immediate answers. The nature of the discipline is such that when practical solutions are demanded of it, it loses its vitality. Philosophy is an intellectual and contemplative exercise; it is a true activity of leisure, one which needs to be enjoyed for its own sake. This intellectual and contemplative activity is of service to the practical concerns of education because choice, action, and judgment — the concerns of the practical realm —depend upon intellectual knowledge. Philosophy of education is, therefore, an essential discipline in the education of the student-teacher.