Liberal Ideology,Radical Critiques and Change in Education: a matter of goals

This paper criticises the reproduction theory movement in education for its pessimism and its inability to conceptualise change. Both of these characteristics, it is argued, derive not from structures or cultures in the world, but from the concepts employed in such analyses. The paper then argues that liberal tenets provide room for action at the level of schools because they are oppositional. Both Right and Left unanimously condemn liberalism and in the authors’ view there is a need to reassess educational goals in this light.