Book reviews

This is a small book on a very large topic. In a mere 150 pages, the authors identify thirteen ways in which educational discourse is shifting to re ect changes in society and the move toward a post modern world. In addition, they brie y summarize  ve of the most enduring theoretical perspectives on learning and outline seven contemporary forms of educational practice that are re ective of those social changes and theoretical orientations. There is no pretense to covering these topics in depth ; nor is this to be a ‘how to’ book. Instead, say the authors, they want to provide a little of the theoretical underpinnings that support the social changes and current practices reviewed in the book. Indeed, that is precisely what they do, at a price. But  rst, I o¶ er a brief tour of the contents, with some critical comments on the quality of that textual landscape. Finally, I o¶ er a personal assessment of the place and value of this book in today’s publishing market that proclaims, once again, that small is beautiful. Chapter one identi es thirteen discursive shifts which characterize our time – from teaching to learning, from curriculum to programme, from specialization to integration, and from institutional provision to consumer sovereignty. Chapter two brie y describes the wider social changes that contribute to those shifts, including changes in culture and lifestyle, work and domestic life, and trends that move society away from state provision of education, towards education as a competitive and market driven enterprise. Chapters three through seven provide an overview of theoretical perspectives on learning, including behavioural learning theory, cognitive learning theory, and socio-cultural and experiential orientations to learning. The overview closes with a review of several types of learning concerned with either reinforcing the status quo or changing some aspect of it. In the  nal seven chapters (8–14) the authors introduce a number of forms of educational practice and their relationship to learning, including, culture and learning, self-directed learning, learning contracts, open and distance learning, work and problem-based learning, the learning organization, and the assessment of learning. Aside from one or two production glitches that have pages 8 and 9 reversed and the occasional citation missing from the references, the  rst half of the book is rather good. The authors draw upon work of authors from around the world – including Australia, Britain, Canada, Russia, Switzerland, and the United States. In doing so they move the discussion beyond the usual con nes of American psychology as the frame for understanding learning and learner. The works of adult educators are included but they are integrated and augmented with the contributions of such notables as Chris Argyris, Jim Botkin, Paulo Freire, George Herbert Mead, Jean Piaget, Donald Schon, and Lev Vygotsky. It is refreshing to see a broader and richer characterization of learning – the most basic and social, human activity. The  nal section, of seven chapters, is at one and the same time, the most promising and the most disappointing. It is the most promising because it o¶ ers a useful compendium of practical applications of the theories discussed earlier ; it is disappointing because it is uneven in its attempt to accomplish what is promised, that is, the linking of these practices to the theories outlined earlier. In form as well as substance, the chapters are uneven. Some of the chapters, for example, explicitly address the relationship between theory and practice ; several do not. Some chapters foreground authors, as the means of organizing the review; others are organized around conceptual analysis of the practice or topic. And some chapters skim along the surface of their topic, while others probe the conceptual and social structures that buttress the particular practice or topic under review. While my general impression of this section is positive, this is tempered by the unevenness in treatment of topics, both in terms of conceptual depth and the extent to which the topics are analysed and connected to other parts of the book. For example, the chapter on Culture and Learning provided an excellent opportunity to link with earlier chapters on theory, especially those of Mead and Vygotsky, and the role of culture in our understanding of learning as a social, as much