Contexts of education in contemporary learning environments

Constructing & Interpreting Contexts in Modern Education

Contexts of Education

Author's note with contact information and more details on collegiate affiliation, etc.

Even from just the article titles, one can gather that these pieces want to determine factors that construct educational contexts in Australia today. There has been a shift, of sorts, in the thinking concerning this issue. The articles are dated very recently and they each make a point to reference the 21st century, and words such as "modern" and "contemporary." These article want to go behind the curtain of education and reveal its true form. The authors desire that the reader become aware of and sensitive to what goes on in education besides the actual teaching and learning. The authors desire that readers know there are numerous factors that contribute to who teaches, what is taught, who is taught, and how teaching occurs. The articles are furthermore concerned with the politics of education. They attempt to provide social, technological, and pedagogical histories in order to contextualize their main points. There are political aspects to all institutions, and education is no stranger to politics. The paper will summarize the articles, also offering criticism and reflection.

Constructing & Interpreting Contexts in Modern Education

The first article the paper will examine is "understanding education." This article wants to examine the phenomenon of mass schooling with particular attention to the 19th century and several countries' educational reforms in relation to social and political changes. The author is heavily concerned with providing the reader with a historical context to understand a contemporary issue. The author wants the reader to understand that the school experience as we know and sort of take for granted because we are so accustom to it, is not how it always was. The author wants us to also understand the shift in how children were perceived and treated in the 19th century and the 21st. The author's line of argument is to bring up three perspectives and critique each in validity and contribution to the improvement of mass schooling. The perspectives are the liberal/traditional, the revisionist or critical, and the feminist/post feminist.

The author uses the experience of compulsory mass schooling to construct childhood. The descriptions include history of politics, history of law, and history of economics in relation to the lives of children. The author's arguments are plausible. Many of the same problems that plagued the 19th and 20th centuries (at least) are still rampant today. There are biases and political agendas at work at all levels of education today, from pre-school to graduate school. So in this way, the argument that not enough information about the history and politics of education is readily available and distributed is totally valid. This is the situation for many issues at the forefront of cultures around the world: not enough of facts and contextual details to provide a clear, broad, yet specific picture of the situation. Some key words associated with this article would be mass schooling, compulsory, 19th century, perspective, and class.

Next, the paper will examine "What does economic management have to do with education?" This article is about the structures of management in education and how it contributes to the education experience. Before the article describes the present condition in education, the article describes the history of economic management in education. The author's main argument is that the outcomes of the experience in an institution are directly related to structures and shifts in management. The author describes the current trend in state education bureaucracies as devolution, or school-based management.

Again, this is another article that provides a historical overview of the issue. This is effective. The reader can gain a deeper understanding of a modern issue by tracing the history of the issue decades and centuries ago. The article's arguments are plausible. Organizational psychology is a strong, credible field. It describes how the ways people are organized in activities or settings with large group effect behavior and efficacy. Some key words associated with this article could be devolution, school-based management, standards, and centralised bureaucracies.

The standard histories of Australian education and educational administration are central in the article " 'Shoes Well Cleaned and Heels Repaired': scientific management, eugenics and teacher selection and preparation in Australia, 1910 -- 1970." The author argues that these histories have excluded the influence of eugenics and scientific management. The author goes on to say that these factors have not just been excluded, but also intentionally ignored. Though the issue is officially ignored, the author contends that eugenics and scientific management heavily influenced the processes of selection of teachers and the ways student teachers were supervised. Many of the criteria used to gauge teacher fitness and efficiency had eugenic overtones. The author presents the reader with a barrage of facts concerning this issue. The writing moves quickly and is dense at the same time.

The author wants the reader to know that many groups that advocate for education are the same parties responsible for the alteration of educational history. The author provides a critical perspective from which to review this issue. The author names several key individuals who contributed to the use of eugenics in teacher selection and supervision outright. There is also mention of the political and social climate during the years in question. These details provide an appreciated context within which to understand the data presented. There are numerous references to worldwide newspapers -- headlines and articles to support the author's statements. There is also evidence from a few university studies conducted by so-called experts. It is clear the author searched through several university archives to gather facts and supporting details. This article is evidence of diligent and fruitful research. The arguments are plausible and plentiful. I am always in favor for author's who put their energy into their writing to excite the reader. This is an energetic and ambitious piece with aims to expose readers to vital information regarding politics and history in education. Some keywords for this article could be eugenics, scientific management, Department of Education, teachers, and selection.