Ebook Education And The Struggle For Democracy

During the past decade there has been a series of radical changes to the educational system of England and Wales. This book argues that any serious study of these changes has to engage with complex questions about the role of education in a modern liberal democracy. Were these educational changes informed by the needs and aspirations of a democratic society? To what extent will they promote democratic values and ideals? These questions can only be adequately addressed by making explicit the political ideas and the underlying philosophical principles that have together shaped the English educational system. To this end, the book provides a selective history of English education which exposes the connections between decisive periods of educational change and the intellectual and political climate in which it occurred. It also connects the educational policies of the 1980s and 90s to the political ideas of the New Right in order to show how they are part of a broader political strategy aimed at reversing the democratic advances achieved through the intellectual and political struggles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The book proposes that a democratic educational vision can only effectively be advanced by renewing the 'struggle for democracy' - the historical struggle to create forms of education which will empower all citizens to participate in an open, pluralistic and democratic society.

The Struggle for Democracy in Education extends the insightful arguments Michael W. Apple provided in Can Education Change Society? It provides detailed examinations of both local and system-wide struggles around conflicting versions of democracy. Grounded in a key set of ethical and political responsibilities for those who care deeply about education, Apple and his co-authors interrogate conflicting models of democratic education, one interested in the common good and the creation of critical citizens, the other market-oriented and meant to meet a set of more conservative economic needs. Through a series of powerful international case studies, this volume explores the contested terrain, combining powerful theory with the "stuff" of schools, political and pedagogical actions, and the lives of individuals. These detailed examinations provide the reader with a more nuanced understanding of how policy, history, and varied actors with varied agendas come together, and the very real people and systems that are impacted by these conflicts. The Struggle for Democracy in Education asks us to face and understand these myriad forces and actors—both progressive and retrogressive—and to ask what we can do to ensure that the education that is created is worthy of its name. In the process, the book gives us real examples of critically democratic education and what we can learn from these struggles.

Considering how practices and processes of research and education can create fundamental, radical social change, Democracy, Education and Research assesses the meaning of ‘public impact‘ by rethinking what is meant by ‘public‘ and how it is essential to the methodologies of education and research. Focusing on empirical illustrations of the use of research and educational processes in contemporary and emergent forms of social organisation, this book: Covers the traditional forms to be found in education, health systems, community, business and public institutions, as well as emergent forms arising from innnovation in technologies. Explores the forms of learning and knowledge creation that take place across the everyday interactions in places of learning, communities or workplaces Discusses how learning and knowledge can be intentionally shaped by individuals and groups to effect social and political change Considers the research strategies required to forge new practices, new ways of working and living for a more socially just world Including practical examples of research that has created real change, Democracy, Education and Research will be a vital resource to professional researchers in their roles as teachers, educators and activists as well as students of education, sociology, politics, cultural studies.

In this volume the author analyzes the relationships of concepts such as socialization and political education, explains those aspects of the theory and practice of democracy that are especially relevant for schools, and suggests ways in which teachers can better provide for the political education of their students.