title: Education’s ‘inconvenient truth’: Part two- The middle classes have too many friends in education

authors: Thrupp, Martin

subjects: education

abstract: This is the second part of an article about how schooling, long geared to the concerns and interests of the middle classes, remains so, and is becoming increasingly so in some ways. In Part One, published in the last issue, I drew a parallel with Al Gore’s well-known film about climate change to argue for middle class advantage as education’s ‘inconvenient truth’. This is because while it is now pretty clear that education policies of recent decades have benefited the middle classes rather than the poor, there is at various points public, practitioner and policy denial of the problem. This denial reflects the self-interest of the middle classes and those who serve them. I focussed in Part One on the likely advantages provided by predominantly middle class school settings and how the middle classes have long targeted such schools for their children. This problem continues: indeed Part One showed how the New Zealand middle classes have been able to secure and in some ways improve their access to schools with a predominantly middle class mix under the zoning policies introduced in 2000.

text: Education’s ‘inconvenient truth’: Part two- The middle classes have too many friends in education This is the second part of an article about how schooling, long geared to the concerns and interests of the middle classes, remains so, and is becoming increasingly so in some ways. In Part One, published in the last issue, I drew a parallel with Al Gore’s well-known film about climate change to argue for middle class advantage as education’s ‘inconvenient truth’. This is because while it is now pretty clear that education policies of recent decades have benefited the middle classes rather than the poor, there is at various points public, practitioner and policy denial of the problem. This denial reflects the self-interest of the middle classes and those who serve them. I focussed in Part One on the likely advantages provided by predominantly middle class school settings and how the middle classes have long targeted such schools for their children. This problem continues: indeed Part One showed how the New Zealand middle classes have been able to secure and in some ways improve their access to schools with a predominantly middle class mix under the zoning policies introduced in 2000.

year: 2008

title: Preface to the special section "Michael A. Peters and Educational Leadership"

authors: Peters, Michael A.

abstract: I started writing a Preface that became a study in a genre that is defined as the novel of educational self-formation together with the various other kinds of literature that this genre – the Bildungsroman – generated that focused on the question of self-transformation. It was evident that the Bildungsroman developed as a genre in the air of German idealism and in relation to the same philosophical concerns that informed the Humboldtian university. The specific form of the novel of educational self-formation was primarily a story of ethical self-constitution. Both and genre and the institution seemed to belong to the same universe. Today in many parts of the neoliberal world this ideal and sentiment – this vision of education – seems hopelessly quaint and out of place. Philosophy is no longer the centre of the institution and the humanities are rapidly shrinking. Subjects like theology and philology have mostly disappeared; the study of literature holds its ground but often given way to media or creative studies focused on web design. The professional schools like engineering, law, medicine and teaching seem to be doing well but the big winners in the current environment are business, technology and science even after the global financial crash.

text: Preface to the special section "Michael A. Peters and Educational Leadership" I started writing a Preface that became a study in a genre that is defined as the novel of educational self-formation together with the various other kinds of literature that this genre – the Bildungsroman – generated that focused on the question of self-transformation. It was evident that the Bildungsroman developed as a genre in the air of German idealism and in relation to the same philosophical concerns that informed the Humboldtian university. The specific form of the novel of educational self-formation was primarily a story of ethical self-constitution. Both and genre and the institution seemed to belong to the same universe. Today in many parts of the neoliberal world this ideal and sentiment – this vision of education – seems hopelessly quaint and out of place. Philosophy is no longer the centre of the institution and the humanities are rapidly shrinking. Subjects like theology and philology have mostly disappeared; the study of literature holds its ground but often given way to media or creative studies focused on web design. The professional schools like engineering, law, medicine and teaching seem to be doing well but the big winners in the current environment are business, technology and science even after the global financial crash.

year: 2015

title: Self-decolonisation in Aotearoa: Pushing through programmatic Pākehā paralysis

authors: Weijers, Dan M.

abstract: Te reo, tīkanga, mātauranga, te Ao, and kaupapa Māori are finally seeing a resurgence in Aotearoa. This revitalisation is occurring in the tertiary education sector, but staff and skill deficits are holding back many academic disciplines. This chapter documents the challenges facing a traditionally colonial tertiary programme—philosophy— attempting to de-colonise itself. The overlapping nature of the challenges can make decolonising appear to be so difficult that some programmes may feel paralysed. This chapter argues that the importance of decolonisation requires that programmes push through any paralysis they may be experiencing by prioritising decolonisation above other goals.

text: Self-decolonisation in Aotearoa: Pushing through programmatic Pākehā paralysis Te reo, tīkanga, mātauranga, te Ao, and kaupapa Māori are finally seeing a resurgence in Aotearoa. This revitalisation is occurring in the tertiary education sector, but staff and skill deficits are holding back many academic disciplines. This chapter documents the challenges facing a traditionally colonial tertiary programme—philosophy— attempting to de-colonise itself. The overlapping nature of the challenges can make decolonising appear to be so difficult that some programmes may feel paralysed. This chapter argues that the importance of decolonisation requires that programmes push through any paralysis they may be experiencing by prioritising decolonisation above other goals.

year: 2024