Sociology of Education: Mass Schooling and Governance

Sociology of Education

• Education is influenced by socio-cultural contexts, which impact what is taught, by whom, how, and why, and whether it is accepted or resisted.

Mass Schooling and Governance

• According to Tait (2012, 2016, 2018), there are three myths surrounding modern schooling and social governance:
• Myth 1: Society was always a collection of individuals, but modern governance has led to the creation of populations with characteristics and categories, allowing for identity-based interventions and regulations.
• Myth 2: Schools are primarily about education, not regulation, but liberal governance has sought to regulate populations through institutions like schools.
• Myth 3: The structure of the school is not important to the education process, but mass schooling is an example of a disciplinary society based on surveillance, regulation of space and time, and management of behavior, involving individuation, differentiation, and normalization.

The Education Wars

• The Education Wars refer to the debates between politicians, researchers, and teachers on the role of education, critical thinking, and diverse perspectives.
• Politicians accused teachers of being "lefties/Marxists/post-modernists" and claimed that teaching critical thinking led to "poor standards" (Lewis & Salusinszky, 2006).
• Researchers and teachers disputed this, arguing for more reforms and against a "back to conservatism" approach (Apple, 2005).
• Newspapers fueled the debates, with some calling for a return to basic skills and others advocating for more critical thinking and diverse perspectives.

Staffroom Debates

• Some teachers struggle to understand critical thinking and its application in the classroom.
• Staffroom tensions arise from differing opinions on what and how to teach.
• Debates center on whether to teach classic texts and how to approach historical events, such as the 1788 Australian settlement, as discovery or genocide.
• The national curriculum is also a topic of debate, with some calling for more diversity and inclusivity.