Minimal utopianism in the classroom

Abstract

In this paper, we build on recent work on the role of the ‘utopian pedagogue’ to explore how utopian thinking can be developed within contemporary higher education institutions. In defending a utopian orientation on the part of HE lecturers, we develop the notion of ‘minimal utopianism’; a notion which, we suggest, expresses the difficult position of critical educators concerned to offer their students the tools with which to imagine and explore alternatives to current social and political reality, while acknowledging the contingent ethical constraints of the system within which they and their students are working. While agreeing with utopian theorists such as Darren Webb who have defended the need for ‘blueprint utopias’ in education in the face of the reduction of the idea of utopia to a purely process-oriented pedagogy, our focus here is on the prior educational task of providing the conceptual and communicative tools for utopian thinking to emerge. The collaborative nature of this paper is reflected in the interdisciplinary sources on which we draw in developing our ideas, including moral philosophy, literary theory, political philosophy, anarchist theory and utopian studies.     

Developing essay writing skills: an evaluation of the modelling behaviour method and the influence of student self-efficacy

Social cognitive learning theory has shown that observational learning positively influences essay writing development in high-school students, and that self-efficacy impacts on motivation. This study investigated the relative contribution of model observation, model evaluation, post-submission feedback, and factors relating to self-efficacy, as measured through academic confidence, in the essay writing development of 142 university students. The research compared students’ essay marks between two semesters in order to explore whether observational learning had an impact on the development of the complex skills involved. The results revealed that all students benefit from traditional feedback and higher levels of self-efficacy when developing their essay writing performance. Underperforming students particularly benefited from actual essay writing. However, contrary to the predictions drawn from the literature, students in this study did not appear to benefit from observational learning when developing their skills. Limits to social learning theory are discussed.     

Foreign Systems of Communication

Gunnel Rikardsson's The Middle East Conflict in the Swedish Press: A Content Analysis of Three Daily Newspapers 1948-1973 (Stockholm: Esselte Studium, 1978—price not given, paper)

Ron Sanders' Broadcasting in Guyana (London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978-13.95 or$9.50, paper)

Charlotte Brunsdon and David Morley's Everyday Television: 'Nationwide' (94 pp.)

Revue Francaise de Communication (CEEPP 38, rue de Bassano, 75008 Paris, France—various rates from different regions: about $38.00 to the USA/quarterly)

A Comparison of Commercial Television in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Japan and Australia (Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, 153 Walker St., North Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia—apparently free on request, paper with spiral binding)

Dean T. Jamison and Emile G. McAnany's Radio for Education and Development (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1978—$15.95/7.95)     

How teaching world religions brought a truce to the culture wars in Modesto,California

Despite a growing consensus among scholars and activists about the importance of religion, proposals for teaching about it have often been a source of division rather than unity in American public school districts. Faced with familiar cultural conflicts, Modesto, California, chose to become the first public school district in the USA to require all high school students to take an extended and independent course in world religions. The results of the first, large‐scale empirical research on the effects of teaching about religion in USA public schools provides evidence that Modesto’s bold approach was worth the risk. Surveys and interviews administered to students show statistically significant increases in students’ knowledge about other religions, and levels of passive tolerance – willingness to refrain from discrimination – and active tolerance – willingness to act to counter discrimination. The course has not been the subject of lawsuits or complaints by parents and has gained acceptance among all of Modesto’s religious groups.     

I/MLEs and the uneven return of pastoral power

Abstract

Informed by the work of the work of Michel Foucault, Ian Hunter, and Ansgar Allen, this paper argues that I/MLEs are not the creation of a ‘modern’ or ‘innovative’ learning environment but rather the reclamation of an educational technique that was pioneered en masse almost two centuries ago (and based on practices many centuries older than that), where established pastoral methods were key to shaping particularly formed educated subjects. Drawing on work produced by the OECD, as well as UK and NZ education policies and school building design guidance, this argument couches two claims, the first of which is that whether or not education systems and school buildings are conforming to I/MLE models, the ubiquity of ideologically narrow conceptions of the learning subject are enforced regardless, through subtle or unsubtle means. However, the second claim is that, despite their overarching and unsurprising ideological homogeneity with other more outcome oriented forms of schooling, I/MLEs have the potential to offer a much more substantial formative experience than other schooling systems due to their implicit recovery of the traditional pastoral aspect of education.     

Learning‐disabled children and normally‐achieving children solve visuo‐spatial problems1

ABSTRACT

In order to compare the performance of learning‐disabled and normally‐achieving children (of between nine and 11 years of age) on visuo‐spatial tasks, the Raven's Progressive Matrices, the Children's Embedded Figures Test and three self‐designed visuo‐spatial tasks were administered. The study has been conducted within the theoretical framework of a human information‐processing approach.