Full Description
Public education in Australia faces challenges as never before. While politicians and media pundits agonise over the latest NAPLAN results, lamenting falling standards, teachers are leaving the profession in record numbers, disillusioned with the pressures of their working environment and the lack of trust in their work by policy makers. What is the answer? How should Australian education change to better meet the needs of students, teachers and our complex, rapidly changing society?In this important new book Emeritus Professor Alan Reid argues that it is time for a new narrative in Australian education policy and practice. He states that for too long education has been dominated by a standardization discourse with its origins in neoliberalism and an emphasis on education as a private commodity rather than as a public good. He presents detailed research to show that the standardization approach, particularly its market-oriented emphasis on high stakes testing, competition between schools and uniformity has, over the past 30 years of its dominance of the policy agenda, made the work of schools more difficult and failed to address the challenges of the future. The book offers instead a new vision of education that is futures-focused and prizes flexibility, adaptability, collaboration, and agility. Its policy features include student-centered teaching approaches, integrated and project-based learning, inquiry, formative assessment and teacher autonomy. The book uses a case study of the fourth industrial revolution to model the features of this approach, including new directions for curriculum, pedagogy, and school and system cultures. Importantly it shows how educators must be brought back to center stage in educational policy making.This ground-breaking work offers a positive vision for the future based on a recognition of the value of education as a builder of strong and adaptable communities."At the heart of the book is a penetrating critique of neoliberalism and the damaging effects it is having on education and society. It draws on historical insight, sociological curiosity and case studies to illuminate the shortcomings of existing policy settings ... It should be essential reading for policy makers, educators, parents, and anyone interested in the current state of Australian education.'Professor Barry Down, School of Education, Murdoch University.
Contents
INTRODUCTIONPART ONE: The current state of Australian education policy, and why it must change 1. Neoliberalism comes to Australian education2. The damaging effects of current education policy directionsPART TWO: What are the problems?3. Taking the public out of public education4. Standardised testing and its problems: A case study of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)5. Evidence-based policy: The use and abuse of research6. Outside influences on education policyPART THREE: Changing the educational narrative7. The perils of ignoring the purposes of education 8. Towards a process for thinking about futures for Australian education9. Using the process: A case study of the fourth industrial revolutionPART FOUR: New policy directions for Australian education10. New curriculum directions11. New pedagogical directions12. New directions in system-wide and school-based culturesEPILOGUE: Towards a new narrative for Australian educationGLOSSARYACKNOWLEDGEMENTSREFERENCES
