Contemporary Educational Theory Research Articles

Playing with Our Understandings

The world becomes our representation as we solemnly become the singular representatives of all things. We become, here, the grand colonizers. We become the ones that savage those whom we consider unorganized, uncivilized, illogical, immoral, immature, by rendering them in our own image. We don’t allow them a face (difference, here, must be fixed, for to be different is to fail to be at the center); we give them a facade of our own making. Deep in our Western heritage, and threading lines into contemporary educational theory and practice, there is a pleasant, attractive name for this colonization—we wish to understand. (Jardine, 1992/2004, p. 270)

Exploring social constructivism: theories and practicalities

In the drive to improve standards, the collection and dissemination of numerical data still directs much contemporary educational policy. However, recent publications and debates seemingly attempt to reorient discussion from performance to learning. In support, constructivism is often referenced as a contributor in this endeavour. However, constructivism is not a single unified theory either of knowledge or pedagogy. This article identifies one version of constructivist thinking, social constructivism, both in terms of its underlying epistemology (theory of knowledge) and related pedagogy. Contemporary educational theories are then outlined to demonstrate that many practical solutions and theoretical ideas now presented as ‘good learning and teaching’ have much in common with social constructivist thinking. Finally, the article concludes by identifying two issues that require further discussion and debate if pedagogy of a social constructivist nature is to be considered.

Spiritual Reflective Practice in Preservice Art Education

Spirituality is becoming an increasingly significant aspect of contemporary art education theory. The manner in which one conceives of holistic art education curricula is partially shaped by one's understanding of a more spiritual approach to reflective thinking and practice in teacher education. Definitions of reflective practice and spirituality, as they are interwoven in art, are provided. Focally, the results of research on artist/teachers and the manifestation of spiritual reflective practice are presented in conjunction with the implications of those research results for preservice art education.

The Work of Power and the Power of Work: Teaching for Class Consciousness in the Neo-Liberal Age

As workers throughout the globe struggle to gain control over the conditions in which they labor as well as the means by which capital is produced, the importance of understanding class struggle, class formation and class consciousness as they relate to education and schooling takes on a new urgency. In the early part of the twenty-first century, neo-liberal ideology persists in normalizing relations of capital, just as contemporary educational theory has tended to subrogate class struggle for social movement. As such, the category of class as a potent historical actor with specific temporal qualities suffers for legitimacy in an age characterized by end-of-history prophets and profiteers; ‘bio-identity’ movements; neo-corporate hegemony; quasi-sovereign nation-states; global financiers monetarily and ideologically supported by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization; increasing local and global disparities between wealth and poverty; and violence. A more comprehensive understanding of social class and education will not eradicate or transform all of these social realities. However, by erasing class as a historical actor, social and educational theorists as well as other political workers miss significant pedagogical opportunities to heighten class consciousness, create class formations, and enliven class struggle so that the future has an opportunity to become something other than what the present suggests it will be. But in an age characterized by a fear of freedom, radicalizing our thinking is a necessary step in imagining the possibility of collective struggle over a future that has yet to be determined.

Curriculum Studies and the Problem of Knowledge: Updating the Enlightenment?

This article argues that, contrary to widespread views in the philosophy of education, the acquisition of knowledge, and therefore the nature of the knowledge to be acquired at school, is central to any debate about a future curriculum. It illustrates this argument with examples from recent policies for the 14–19 age group but suggests that the neglect of knowledge reflects more basic flaws in contemporary educational theory. The article reviews recent developments in terms of the principles of ‘insularity’ and ‘hybridity’ and goes on to argue for an alternative institutional or social realist approach. It concludes with some brief observations on how in framing a curriculum for the 21st century we might relate to Enlightenment ideas of reason truth and knowledge.

Teaching pleasure

•This article evaluates pedagogical debates on reconciling critical cultural studies with the increasingly vocational demands of students. The approach is experiential and describes teaching `popular pleasure' at the University of East London, UK. Highlighting a reflexive approach whereby students questioned the partialities of cultural studies in light of their own experience and pleasures, the article draws on student assignments to reach two findings: a failure of reflexivity (coursework was conventionally theoretical or uncritically autobiographical); and sharp discrepancies in student satisfaction. Concluding, then, that the vocational—critical split permeates student culture itself, the essay considers how to reconcile these two constituencies — identifying opportunities in both contemporary higher education and cultural theory (for example, proposing students as cultural intermediaries) — before diagnosing remaining obstacles (from cultural studies' failure to discuss popular culture `authentically' to difficulties in drafting assessment criteria for reflexive assignments). It concludes with some recommendations for future courses. •

From object to subject: pastoral supervision as an intersubjective activity.

The author sketches the development of psychoanalysis in terms of its trends from notions of objectivity to intersubjectivity and how this movement can inform contemporary pastoral supervision. The article argues that these same trends may be noted in the development of contemporary educational and theological theories.

Developing Children in New Zealand School Physical Education

This paper critically examines the assumptions about 'childhood' and 'child development' that inform curriculum construction in school physical education. Drawing on insights from poststructuralist social theory and critical psychological perspectives, the paper argues that developmental discourses have a material life embodied in the institutional practices of school physical education. A New Zealand physical education syllabus is used as an illustrative exemplar of the ways in which developmental imperatives shape the construction of learning goals, design of curriculum experiences and teachers' observations of their students. It is argued that the construction of a normative, hierarchical trajectory for child development categorises, classifies and marginalises groups of children whose developmental patterns differ from those mapped out in the syllabus. The paper concludes by examining the conditions of possibility present in more contemporary physical education syllabi and theory that afford opportunities for thinking about physically educated children differently.

Reference, Mental Models and Teaching Technology

Summary It would be easy to say that technology is complicating things for reference, but things are more complicated than that. Technology should be a system for solving problems, but for many people, both librarians and users, it is the problem. But in some ways it hides an even older problem-understanding things from the user's point-of-view. Contemporary cognitive and educational theories note that we are not paying enough attention to the user/learner, that we do not understand the mental models of those who use libraries, library systems and reference. As more technology is used and complicates systems for users, we should focus more on what users bring to the reference/learning interaction.

Teacher Turnover and Teacher Shortages: An Organizational Analysis

Contemporary educational theory holds that one of the pivotal causes of inadequate school performance is the inability of schools to adequately staff classrooms with qualified teachers. This theory also holds that these school staffing problems are primarily due to shortages of teachers, which, in turn, are primarily due to recent increases in teacher retirements and student enrollments. This analysis investigates the possibility that there are other factors—those tied to the organizational characteristics and conditions of schools—that are driving teacher turnover and, in turn, school staffing problems. The data utilized in this investigation are from the Schools and Staffing Survey and its supplement, the Teacher Followup Survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. The results of the analysis indicate that school staffing problems are not primarily due to teacher shortages, in the technical sense of an insufficient supply of qualified teachers. Rather, the data indicate that school staffing problems are primarily due to excess demand resulting from a "revolving door"—where large numbers of qualified teachers depart their jobs for reasons other than retirement. Moreover, the data show that the amount of turnover accounted for by retirement is relatively minor when compared to that associated with other factors, such as teacher job dissatisfaction and teachers pursuing other jobs. The article concludes that popular education initiatives, such as teacher recruitment programs, will not solve the staffing problems of such schools if they do not also address the organizational sources of low teacher retention.

Education and emancipation: theory and practice in the new constellation

This work reconceptualizes the landscape of contemporary educational theory. Based on philosophical assessments of liberalism, critical theory, postmodernism and care-theory, it aims to provide a framework for understanding and guiding school practice.

Promoting professional knowledge, experiential learning and critical thinking for medical students.

It has been recognized internationally that undergraduate medical education must adapt to changing needs, as illustrated by the Tomorrow's Doctors recommendations from the General Medical Council. This paper aims to relate contemporary educational theory to under-graduate medical educational requirements, specifically highlighting conditions (e.g. experiential learning) for: professional knowledge acquisition; critical thinking, problem-solving and clinical problem-solving; and lifelong professional learning. Furthermore, problem-based learning (PBL) is highlighted as potentially providing such conditions. There are lessons from contemporary educational theory for the reform of undergraduate medical education. These include valuing prior knowledge and experience; promoting learner responsibility through facilitating rather than directing learning; encouraging learners to test out and apply new knowledge, and using small-group work to foster explicitly the elusive skills of critical thinking and reflection. Contemporary educational theory contributes valuable insights, but cannot dictate the ultimate 'mix'; at best it provides some principles for reflective analysis of the learning experiences created for tomorrow's doctors.

How proficient IT teachers integrate computers into the curriculum

This article describes a study of proficient computer-using teachers in New Zealand elementary and middle schools. It addresses the problem that in the past there has been a tendency by policy makers and researchers to ignore the voice of classroom teachers in their efforts to integrate the computer into the regular curriculum. Accordingly, the research documents the experiences, perceptions and practices of a purposive sample of proficient computer-using teachers. The intention was to learn from practising teachers’ valuable experience and collective wisdom. A systematic research methodology was adopted over three phases involving: (a) questionnaires, (b) interviews, and (c) micro-ethnographic case studies.Information gained from the research together with an analysis of related literature is used to identify ways to create better conditions for learning with information technology (IT). A distinguishing feature of the proficient computer-using teachers is that they sought to establish a socially interactive and reflective ‘community of practice’ within their classrooms. This learning environment can be understood as a collective zone of proximal development (ZPD) in which all students can work to achieve their optimal potential. The article concludes that new theories of practice are required which are more responsive to the demands of using IT in the regular classroom. However, teachers still have much to gain from a better understanding of contemporary educational theory as it relates to the computer learning environment.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CATHOLIC PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION?

The purpose of this article is to describe the eclipse of a distinctive Catholic philosophy of education. The article presents an analysis of the neo‐Thomistic philosophy of education. Second, it speculates on the reasons for its rapid decline in the past three decades. The article concludes with a sketch of a contemporary Catholic educational theory, based on the work of Bernard Lonergan, a Jesuit philosopher‐theologian, and Paulo Freire, the Brazilian Catholic educator.

The Percussion Band – Mere Noise or Music?

The Percussion Band method is part of our methodological heritage. The method was carefully based on contemporary educational theory and its advocates argued convincingly for its inclusion in kindergarten and school curricula. Critics of the method were heard from the first. This article seeks to examine the arguments for and against the method, the educational beliefs that underlie these positions and to note the influence of the method in the Australian school curriculum.

Towards Developing Contemporary Education Theory

With the increased interest in Islamic countries to adopt a way of lifebased on Islamic law, the need has intensified for practical and scientificIslamic alternatives to social and economic problems facing the world ingeneral and the Islamic nations in particular.Most countries of the world are undergoing severe education crises andreform is especially needed in education. The education systems in manycountries have failed to develop the individual in relation to social andhumanistic goals. Educational systems in the Islamic countries have beenmostly modeled on those of Western countries. As a result, these Islamiccountries are undergoing dual crises. First, the adopted education systemshave had a severe impact on many aspects of daily life in the Islamic countries.Second, the adopted education systems frequently counter Islamic goals andideals.Numerous thinkers and intellectuals in Muslim countries have emphasizedthe role of education in building a balanced and integrated individual personalityin society. Hundreds of books were written discussing these issues. Variousconferences were held to restore educational thought from the Islamic heritage.The effects of these efforts has resulted in emphasizing the successful roleof Islamic education in shaping the person, rebuilding society, and contributingto civilization.Education in modern society plays an important role in training humanresources to bridge the economic gap between the developed and developing ...

Awakening from Descartes' nightmare: On the love of ambiguity in phenomenological approaches to education

This paper is an exploration of the Cartesian paradigms of clarity and univocity and how these inform contemporary educational theory and practice. Phenomenology is discussed as a way of disrupting Descartes' visions of clarity and distinctness as paradigms of knowledge and as a return of inquiry to life as it is actually lived. Analogical discourse is examined as a way of giving a voice to this sort of inquiry. Heidegger's notions of inquiry as obedience and thanksgiving are discussed.

The Politics of Childhood: Wordsworth, Blake, and Catechistic Method

It is not coincidental that authors of eighteenth century's two most influential educational treatises-Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education and Rousseau's Emile-were also major political theorists of their age. The interrelation between political and educational discourses-the constitution of state and construction of its citizens-runs back at least to Plato's Republic, which Rousseau called the most beautiful educational treatise ever written, but during modern era Europe, with schooling less and less confined to an elite and with informal spread of literacy among an increasingly mobile population, education and indeed childhood itself were politicized as never before.' The ongoing debate on uses and dangers of literacy and popular (if not yet mass) education became during later eighteenth century what Raymond Williams has called most central issue in history of our culture.2 And as concept of childhood became defined (if not fact produced) by education, new children's literature and literary representations of childhood, including Romantic idealizations of child, reflected no less than did contemporary education theory politics of literacy.3 As education broadened later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, its methods and function shifted significantly. The Renaissance emphasis on dialectical argument, related to rise of an entrepreneurial class requiring intellectual flexibility, yielded to mechanical production of set answers, obedient behavior within educational setting, and (for lower classes) passive literacy.4 Catechism replaced dialectic as exemplary mode of a process which Michel Foucault describes as disciplining of society, as school became a machine for learning analogous its functions of regulating and observation to prison and factory.5 While this shift affected even schooling for elite-eighteenth-century grammar schools, for example, emphasized formal training by drill and repetition, and oral

Bantock on Newman: A nineteenth‐century perspective on contemporary educational theory

(1986). Bantock on Newman: A nineteenth‐century perspective on contemporary educational theory. British Journal of Educational Studies: Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 66-78.

G. H. Bantock's Conceptualization of the Relationship between the Expressive Arts and Education

The point of departure for this paper is the well-known analytic requirement of R. S. Peters, more fully expounded in epistemic and curriculum terms by P. H. Hirst, that any activity claiming to be must also be, in some minimal sense of the word, rational-that is, concerned with the development of mind. This requirement is usually taken to mean that educational and curriculum activities must be justified in relation to recognizable public criteria. Because in a social and economic climate which is increasingly rationalistic and accountability-oriented the expressive and performing arts either do not meet these criteria or do not acknowledge their validity, the expressive and performing arts become ready-made targets for the efficiency experts. It is against this context that G. H. Bantock's articulation of 'expression' in the arts has some relevance. Although Bantock was one of the first English educational theorists to assess what has become, arguably, the dominant movement in contemporary educational theory,1 there are nevertheless some salutary features about his conceptualization of the status of 'expression' in the arts which strengthen their case in terms of the ground marked out by educational philosophers of the so-called London school. This paper is limited in scope to analyzing and elaborating these general features. The precise extent to which Bantock's articulation strengthens the case for a rational justification of the arts will be left unanswered, if only because of the complexity of the task and the accompanying difficulty in confining the discussion to a short, exploratory type of paper. However, it is hoped that some general appreciation of the educational importance of Bantock's position will emerge.