Description:
This volume highlights the importance of recognizing opposing conceptualizations of education--some more educationally productive than others-- and their core values, approaches to student learning, strengths and weaknesses, and justification. The authors analyze and critique what Jane Roland Martin has referred to as 'the deep structure of educational thought', and seek improved educational policy and practice with particular reference to curriculum and pedagogy. It features a comparative analysis of competing discourses including autocratic control, limited personal development, and praxis.
Review Quotes:
"It is our avocation to become more self-actualized, reflective and human as persons in the world. The Mulcahy family has shown us a way this is possible for our schools, curriculum, teachers and students." - Jim McKernan, East Carolina University, USA
"A book that focuses on pedagogy and the purposes of education in a way that explores important issues of privatization, literacy, liberal education, progressive and critical pedagogies, in historical and contemporary contexts. All this is brilliantly investigated as it pertains to discourses of control, knowledge and understanding, and praxis. A wise book, accessible, and very timely." - Ronnie Casella, Associate Dean and Professor, SUNY Cortland