The ENIRDELM Newsletter contains a half-yearly update on books, papers and reports published by members
You will also find summaries of projects and acitivites as well as reviews and links to interesting websites
Alexander, R. ed. (2009) Children, Their World, Their Education: Final Report and Recommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review London: Routledge
This is a report written by educationalists who clearly want to wrestle control of England’s primary schooling back from what they call "top-down control and edict". The report warns that schools are not in danger of subversion by 1970s ideologues; the real risk comes from an "authoritarian mindset" which may threaten our very democracy. "The principle that it is not for government or government agencies to tell teachers how to teach, should be reinstated," Politicians should release their ever-intrusive control of what goes on in the classroom.
The review regards national tests, national teaching strategies, inspection, centrally-determined teacher training and ring-fenced finance as "suspect", creating a "state theory of learning". Instead, the authors want "professional empowerment, mutual accountability and proper respect for research and experience". It calls for a shift in power: away from the centre to the local, from Whitehall to the white board: “for the responsibilities... to be re-balanced"
Throughout the 1980s and 90s, government voices criticises so-called "left-wing" teachers and their "trendy" methods, as responsible for the lack of discipline among young people. Schools became an ideological battleground with influential right-wing academics convincing key policy makers that dangerous Marxist extremists had occupied the staff room. Central government increasingly took control. This report warns of "authoritarian mindset", "the disenfranchising of local voice" and "the rise of unelected and unaccountable groups taking key decisions behind closed doors" in primary education. The main theme is that centralised authority backed up with tough accountability is not the answer. Innovation and expertise may not flourish under the dead weight of "top-down control and edict". When it comes to policy in our schools, "education appears to mirror the wider problems recorded by those who see British democracy in retreat’. It accuses government of stifling free debate with "the use of myth and derision to... discredit alternative views".
Mark Easton
Recent Publications by ENIRDELM members
Danuta Elsner has two articles in Schollaert, R & Leenheer, L (2006) Spirals of Change: Educational Change as a Driving Force for School Improvement Leuven: Lannoo Campus.
Danuta’s themes are:
“Solving the problem of student misbehavior’ and ‘Reflecting, rediscovering and reconsidering mental models in the process of change”
The anthology with 21 chapters was an outcome of a Socrates Comenius 2.1 project with the acronym BASICS – Building Agency for School Improvement, Coherence and Sustainability. Its central theme is that change efforts that do not lead to sustainable improvement are a waste of time … and only lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy that educational change is bound to fail.
See conference invitation for Szeged
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CALL FOR PAPERS
Studia paedagogica 1/2010
Topic: The Phenomenon of Time in Education
Like every year, another monothematic issue of Studia paedagogica will be published in 2010, the working title of which is The Phenomenon of Time in Education. We intend to link this issue to the previous monothematic editions devoted to “School and Location” and “People in School and their Relations” respectively. We would now like to draw the attention of the educationalist discourse to another phenomenon – time.
We propose to reflect on the so-called social time which is not continuous but defined by the rhythm of our lives. The ways in which we experience social time are highly individual, depending on the type of the social group we belong to. There is a qualitative dimension in it as we are experiencing happier and less happy times, running at different pace for all of us.
Social time has been a topical issue, reflecting the accelerated social change on the macro-social level.
How much time do teachers get to implement educational programmes? How much time do pupils need to learn everything they are expected to? How fast can reforms be at the different levels? What feedback do we get about educational reforms?
At the individual level, subjective perception and experience of time by the participants of educational processes can be explored.
How long is it for the teacher and the pupil if there are five minutes left before the end of the class? How long is it for a teacher if there are five more years to go before retirement? How long does it feel if a senior has left school fifty years ago?
The category of time is also worth examining in connection with the evaluation of the past and the assessment of potential processes in education.
How can today’s pupils compare with those of earlier times as far knowledge (and skills) are concerned? What are they better at and in which ways? Which knowledge and skills should they have acquired in view of their future lives? Is the criterion of the future adult life relevant for the assessment of education?
And, finally, can the perspective of the social time also be applied to relations among generations?
Which are the forms of cross-generational learning in the family? Is there anything like cross-generational learning among the members of the teaching staff? Can this kind of learning help to bridge the gap between generations?
We would like the above questions to indicate the width, depth and internal differentiation of the phenomenon of time in education. Empirical and theoretical papers are welcome. Please send abstracts (200 to 400 words) to studiapaedagogica@phil.muni.cz by 31 December 2009. Full-length paper submission deadline is 15 March 2010. All papers will be subjected to peer-review as basis for acceptance/non-acceptance. To be published in September 2010, the editor of the “Time in education” issue is Milada Rabušicová. For further information and instructions please visit www.phil.muni.cz/wupv/journal.
Milan Pol