Full Description
This book provides a distinctive perspective on some of the ways in which performativity, as an expression of neoliberal and managerialist thinking, 'works' in specific policy contexts. It pays particular attention to higher education and considers how the logic of performativity reconfigures our sense of what it means to engage in worthwhile research, what it means to be 'well', and, ultimately, what it means to be human.
Philosophy of education, conceived not just as a domain of scholarly activity but as a way of life, rubs against the grain of performativity. In a performance-driven world, efficiency, measurability and predictability are all important. A philosophical life in education is often unpredictable, uncertain and 'inefficient'; it creates a kind of intellectual restlessness that can never be fully satisfied.
Performativity, Politics and Education: From Policy to Philosophy suggests that the current obsession with productivity, performance and prosperity is misguided. It argues that policies and practices underpinned by the principle of performativity are dehumanising and offers an alternative approach: an orientation to education grounded in a philosophy of hope and underpinned by a commitment to collegiality, constructive critique and ongoing dialogue.
Contents
Notes on Original Publications
Introduction: From Policy to Philosophy: Education in the Era of
Performativity
1 Performativity, Big Data and Higher Education: The Death of the Professor?
1 Introduction
2 Knowledge, Performativity and the Death of the Professor
3 Higher Education in the Age of Big Data
4 Conclusion
2 Academic Dystopia: Knowledge, Efficiency and Intellectual Life
1 Introduction
2 Knowledge, Efffijiciency and Performativity
3 Performance-Based Research Funding in New Zealand
4 Lyotard, Tertiary Education and the PBRF
5 Conclusion: A Dystopian Future for the Academy?
3 Higher Education, Impact and the Internet: Publishing, Politics and Performativity
1 Introduction
2 Scholarly Publishing in the Age of the Internet
3 Peer Review, Performativity and Impact
4 Concluding Remarks
4 Problematising Productivity: Neoliberalism, Wellbeing and Education
1 Introduction
2 The Productivity Commission's Report: Context and Content
3 A Critique
4 Conclusion
5 'It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times ...': Philosophy of Education in the Contemporary World
1 Introduction
2 Shifting Sands: The Evolution of PESA
3 Philosophy of Education as a Way of Life
4 Conclusion
6 A Philosophy of Hope: Pedagogy, Politics and Humanisation
1 Introduction
2 Paulo Freire: Philosophy, Pedagogy, Practice
3 Critical, Engaged Teaching: Ira Shor and bell hooks
4 Conclusion: A Philosophy of Hope
7 Philosophy of Education as a Way of Life: A Case Study
1 Introduction
2 Schooling and Uuniversity Experiences
3 Academic Life
4 Conclusion
References
Index
