Wigs, disguises and child's play: solidarity in teacher education

Abstract

It is generally acknowledged that much contemporary education takes place within a dominant audit culture, in which accountability becomes a powerful driver of educational practices. In this culture both pupils and teachers risk being configured as a means to an assessment and target-driven end: pupils are schooled within a particular paradigm of education. The article discusses some ethical issues raised by such schooling, particularly the tensions arising for teachers, and by implication, teacher educators who prepare and support teachers for work in situations where vocational aims and beliefs may be in in conflict with instrumentalist aims. The article offers De Certeau's concept of 'la perruque' to suggest an opening to playful engagement for human ends in education, as a way of contending with and managing the tensions generated. I use the concept to recover a concept of solidarity for teacher educators and teachers to enable ethical teaching in difficult times.

Cooperativismo escolar en la educación básica en México:

“…Desde su surgimiento, la escuela ha sido un medio de integración del individuo a la sociedad, una vía de trasmisión no solo de conocimientos y valores, también de actitudes que el tipo de sociedad en la que nos desenvolvemos exige (Torres-Santomé, 2017;Delgado Egido y Contreras Felipe, 2009). Los profesores rara vez cuestionan que el objetivo predominante de la educación tendría que ser la educación como iniciación en "actividades que valen la pena" moralmente defendibles y no la empleabilidad (Heilbronn, 2013). En la escuela se premian y castigan comportamientos y hábitos, esto impacta de manera drástica las formas de ser y hacer de los niños y adolescentes (Rivero, 2013), se condiciona el comportamiento para generar una integración a la sociedad, especialmente al mercado laboral (Ojeda y Cabaluz, 2011).…”

Does Action Research Have a Future? A Reply to Higgins

“…The statutory national curriculum takes a principled stand on the value of inclusion, stating that ‘teachers should aim to give every pupil the opportunity to experience success in learning and to achieve as high a standard as possible’ (DfE, ). However, the drive to achieve high ranking in league tables often entails tightly prescribed teaching practices (Crocco and Costigan, ; Korthagen, ), which may militate against the principle of inclusion (Heilbronn, ).…”