Knowledge, Values and Educational Policy: A Critical Perspective

Knowledge, Values and Educational Policy focuses on what schools are for and what should be taught in them, how learning is possible across boundaries, and issues of diversity and equity. Policies and practices relating to schools are also considered.

Within this volume, internationally renowned contributors address a number of fundamental questions designed to take the reader to the heart of current debates around curriculum, knowledge transfer, equity and social justice, and system reform, such as:



What are schools and what are they for?


What knowledge should schools teach?


How are learners different from each other and how are groups of learners different from one another, in terms of social class, gender, ethnicity, and disability?


What influence does educational policy have on improving schools?


What influence does research have on our understanding of education and schooling?


To encourage reflection, many of the chapters also include questions for debate and a guide to further reading.

Read alongside its companion volume, Educational Theories, Cultures and Learning, readers will be encouraged to consider and think about on some of the key issues facing education and educationists today.

Harry Daniels is Professor of Education: Culture and Pedagogy, Head of the Learning as Cultural and Social Practice Research Programme, and Director of the Centre for Sociocultural and Activity Theory Research at the University of Bath, UK.

Hugh Lauder is Professor of Education and Political Economy, and Head of the Policy and Management Research Group, at the University of Bath, UK.
Jill Porter is Senior Lecturer in Research Methods and Special Education at the University of Bath, UK.

Introduction
HARRY DANIELS, HUGH LAUDER AND JILL PORTER


Section 1 Knowledge for teaching and learning

Introduction to section 1
HUGH LAUDER

1.1 What are schools for?
MICHAEL YOUNG

1.2 The school curriculum, theories of reproduction and necessary knowledge
ROY NASH

1.3 The influence of constructivism on teaching and learning in classrooms
ANNEMARIE PALINCSAR AND SARAH SCOTT

1.4 The double move in teaching – Developmental learning
MARIANE HEDEGAARD



Section 2 Learning across boundaries

Introduction to section 2
HARRY DANIELS

2.1 Transfer of Knowledge between Education and Workplace Settings
MICHAEL ERAUT

2.2 Learning in and for Multiagency Working
PAUL WARMINGTON

2.3 Expansive learning in and for work
HANNA TOIVIANEN AND YRJÖ ENGESTRÖM


Section 3 Diversity and equity

Introduction to section 3
JILL PORTER

3.1 Cultural ways of learning
KRIS GUTIERREZ AND BARBARA ROGOFF

3.2 Equity and Social Justice Discourses in Education
NAZ RASSOOL


3.3 Gender theory and research in education
JO-ANNE DILLABOUGH

3.4 Symptoms, categories, and the process of invoking labels
ROGER SÄLJÖ AND EVA HORNE

3.5 Inclusive pedagogy
LANI FLORIAN AND RUTH KERSHNER

3.6 Disability: a complex interaction
TOM SHAKESPEARE


Section 4 Policy and governance

Introduction to section 4
HUGH LAUDER

4.1 Realising the Potential of System Reform
DAVID HOPKINS

4.2 Using Assessment in Education Reform: Policy, Practice and Future Possibilities
HARRY TORRANCE

4.3 Why do some policies not work in schools?
VIVIANNE ROBINSON


4.4 School as Imagined Community in Discursive Space: a perspective on the school effectiveness debate
ANDREW STABLES



Section 5 Deploying theory

Introduction to section 5
HARRY DANIELS

5.1 How do secondary school subject departments contribute to the learning of beginning teachers?
ALASTER DOUGLAS

5.2 Developing pedagogy for doctors-as-teachers: the role of Activity Theory
CLARE MORRIS

5.3 Teacher/researcher: an unsustainable identity
SARAH O’FLYNN

5.4 Using theory in social research: reflections on a doctoral study
MARIA BALARIN