In Aotearoa New Zealand education has and continues to serve several purposes within our society. And what form and function schooling should serve in addressing societal needs and demands remains a hotly debated issue.
This course acts as an introduction to some of these debates, and the ways in which educational thought and research can be used to understand and critically assess contemporary issues and concerns regarding education today.
Particular attention is given to the ways in which schooling serves to reproduce and/or challenge existing patterns of inequality in society. Various "isms', including classism, racism, sexism, ableism and colonialism are interrogated in relation to educational policies and practices within the schooling system of Aotearoa-New Zealand. As part of this, scrutiny is given to how contemporary educational structures and systems have and continue to be reformed through policy-making, and through the actions of professionals working in schools. Through this course you will gain a stronger understanding of how and why education remains a matter of significant social concern, and a subject of ongoing, intense political debate.
Importantly you do not need to be training or wanting to be a teacher to take this course. Rather our focus is on situating education within the wider ideological debates which exist in our society.