Session Information
13 SES 07, Educational Technology
Long Paper Session
Contribution
The broad question is: who benefits and who loses from the ways in which teaching and learning are organised? I explore to what extent teachers and students are engaged in critical reflection, the voicing of views, the formation of judgements, the making of decisions and the undertaking of action. How can the interests of elites be challenged by democratic forms of organisation? I explore these questions in the context of the implications of the pedagogies of surveillance and the counter-pedagogies of radical democracy alongside a philosophic commitment co-operative values and practice in education and their realisation in schools. I do this by contrasting the approaches of Lippman, - particularly his book on the ‘phantom public’ and his book on the principles of the good society - with the approach of Dewey. These contrasting approaches will be further developed in relation to contemporary theorists of radical democracy: in particular Rancière, Laclau, and Balibar and McCormick’s re-reading of Machiavelli.
In practical terms, teachers have had to respond to an increasing naturalization of surveillance in the mundane work of schools. However, it is argued, this naturalization can be countered by drawing upon the emergent development of the co-operative education movement in the UK - currently 700 schools with 1000 legally formed co-operative trusts and academics expected by 2015 - that make explicit their commitment to democratic processes and practices in the governance of schools. Consequently, it is important to subject the practical realisation of these schools to philosophical critique. Given that the schools expressly adhere to the co-operative principles of democracy, freedom, equality and equity this paper will draw upon the conceptual frameworks employed in the debates surrounding radical democracy, in particular the ‘logic of equality’ (Laclau), égaliberté (Balibar) and the empty place of power (Lefort).
Drawing upon radical democratic theories it is the objective of this paper to argue that critical to developing effective pedagogies of radical democracy and cooperation is the formation of a ‘public space’ of discussion and debate about courses of action. This will be illustrated through research drawn from a co-operative school and its use of information technologies. Although the intentions are to improve standards of learning, the hidden curriculum implicit in the use of the technologies can lead to ‘supersurveillance’. Teachers I argue have a critical role in the deconstruction of the naturalization of supersurveillance.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
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