Essay Question 1 - Describe how contempory social and cultural circumstances shape education today.

Question 1

Introduction to Essay Question 1 – Describe how contemporary social and cultural circumstances shape education today.

Answer 1

In todays society there has been a shift towards postmodernism and postmodern values. “The changes in our political, social, economic, technological and knowledge structures are developing at a rate never seen before” (Smith, Brennan, McFadden, Mitchell & Munns pg. 3). This has caused many social and cultural changes to our society which comes under the three structural changes a reconfigured state, globalisation and the new economy.
Social and cultural circumstances.

Question 2

Explain a refigured state

Answer 2

• Neoliberalism – Economic liberalization, free trade and reduction in government spending and promotion of private industries.
• Economic rationalism imposed upon social, cultural, and political institutions.
• Redefining of the purpose and role of social, cultural and political institutions according to market logic.
• Prioritization of economic outcomes.(Cullen, 2014)
• Neo-conservatism – Shift in the role of the state from one of offering support to one of monitoring and ensuring compliance (VIT)
• Rise in national bodies – AITSAL/TESQUA, national standards, national curriculum, national testing. (Cullen, 2014)

Question 3

Explain Globalisation

Answer 3

• Appadurai (1990) notion of scapes:
• Financescapes – The rise of global and capitol exchange eg the ford model
• Ethnoscapes – Refers to those people in constant motion. E.g migrants, refugees, guest workers, tourists who affect the politics of nations to an unprecedented degree.
• Technoscapes – refer to the development and spread of technology through different national boundaries. Eg from sending mail to email
• Mediascapes – refers to the rise in media production and distribution. E.g newspaper, radio, TV and film.
• Ideoscapes – the flow if ideas. borrowing/mirroring of ideas from other countries to justify changes in education generally and teacher education in particular e.g. Pisa results, Literacy programs, Teach for Australia and OECD

Question 4

Explain The New Economy

Answer 4

• Knowledge economy - the new relationships between production, innovation, high tech skills and learning
New public management: The need to have a better trained and more efficient and productive workforce
• These factors have impacted on education today, which has become a commercial entity which is driven by profit where services are ‘bought’ and ‘sold’ (Cullen, 2014).
• The push for teacher to continuously be educated eg professional development days
• Investment in teacher education can increase the academic performance of students, reduce the need for remedial programs and mitigate the negative social and economic consequences of education under-achievement. (Hartsuyker, 1997, p. vii)
• There is a decline in demand of employees in industries such as the industrial, labour and production industries. The result or consequence of this emergence of a complex knowledge-based labour market means that schools and their practices must change. This is the reason we find education moving up the political agenda, as government policies are starting to recognise the education revolution.
• Lingard (2000, p. 96) suggests that “there is move from the social democratic framing of education, linked to social goals and economic nationalism to a focus more on the economic benefits of education to nations and individuals in the context of a globalized economy”
• As such education is now being reconstructed/adapted in response to and in support of post-modern structural changes (Cullen, 2014)
• We are seeking the collapse of education s a welfare state, as a democratic ideal, as a means for self-actualization, as a means to obtain knowledge and search for the truth (Cullen, 2014)
• As teachers we need to recognise that these changes are “occurring in every sphere of our private and public lives and is our responsibility to educate 21st Century learners to develop the use of knowledge in complex environments embodying the community, home and work” (Smith, Brennan, McFadden, Mitchell & Munns, 2009, pg. 4).