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Questions and Answers
What is the primary goal of educators according to the Conservative orientation to education?
What is the primary focus of the sociology of education?
What characterizes the classroom pedagogical practice of the Liberal orientation?
According to Tait, what is the main purpose of modern schooling and social governance?
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What is the primary focus of the Critical orientation to education?
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What is the term used to describe the process of governing the population through relays like the school?
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What type of assessment is commonly used in the Liberal orientation?
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What was the main criticism of teachers and the education system during the 'Education Wars'?
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How are students viewed in the Conservative orientation?
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What is the threefold process described by Tait in relation to mass schooling?
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Study Notes
Sociology of Education
- Education involves socio-cultural contexts that impact what is taught, by whom, how, and why, and whether it is accepted or resisted.
- Mass schooling and governance are closely linked.
Three Myths of Modern Schooling and Social Governance
- Myth 1: Society was always a collection of individuals, but modern governance created a population with categorizations and individual differences.
- Myth 2: Schools are primarily about education, not regulation, but liberal forms of governance use schools to regulate the population.
- Myth 3: The structure of the school isn't crucial to the education process, but mass schools are examples of disciplinary societies with surveillance, regulation, and behavior management.
Education Wars
- Media and politicians accused teachers of being "lefties/Marxists/post-modernists" and claimed that teaching critical thinking and diverse perspectives led to "poor standards".
- Researchers and teachers disputed this, arguing for more reforms and criticizing the push "back to conservatism" and basic skills.
- Newspapers fueled critical vs. neo-conservative debates.
Four Orientations to Education
Conservative Orientation
- Education should prepare students for work, transmitting dominant values/beliefs/practices.
- Goal of educators: to maintain social stability and protect the dominant order.
- Students: seen as blank slates.
- Classroom pedagogical practice: characterized by teacher authority, student passivity, and unproblematic transmission of authorized knowledge.
- Strategies: direct rules, punishments, lectures, rote memorization, and copying classic canons.
Liberal Orientation
- Education should develop the potential of individuals for daily life, competitiveness, and informed personal choice.
- Goal of educators: to promote and reward individual choice and excellence.
- Students: seen as decision-making individuals engaged in personal development.
- Classroom pedagogical practice: characterized by teacher leadership, student inquiry, and emphasis on understanding.
- Strategies: choice theory, democratic rule, values clarification, individualism, and group work.
Critical Orientation
- Education should create a better society (under feminist, environmentalist, etc.).
- Goal of educators: to facilitate student involvement in co-creating a more just and peaceful world.
- Students: seen as citizens who can question society's values and take action.
- Classroom pedagogical practice: characterized by democratic relations between teachers and students, collaboration, and ideological critique.
- Strategies: rights or care-based rules, critical thinking, and collaborative problem-solving.
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Description
Explore the socio-cultural contexts that shape education, including the myths of modern schooling and social governance. Learn how mass schooling and governance impact what is taught, how, and why.
