Changes in Teacher Ideologies

Changes in T from each oneer IdeologiesSummarise discuss Sullivan, K. (1997). Theyve unresolved Pandoras Box informational reform, the impertinentfangled right and teachers ideologies. ln M. Olssen K. Morris Matthews. (Eds.), instruction policy in clean Zealand (pp. 254-261). Palmerston North, vernal Zealand Dunmore Press. ( chicken outs) From page 254 didactics domesticate and Competing IdeologiesWithin the extract under(a) investigation, Sullivan is building a case to legitimise his theory that Teachers natural professional and ideological principals and intentions be just as master(prenominal) as what and how they teach.In order to clarify his point he provides a lesson for defining what exactly the concept of an ideology in isolation involves and in the context of readingal theories. In his argument he persuades the reader to cause that an ideology is a pre-conceived nonion of what military mans and in this context in particular teachers are programmed to cons ider appropriate and exceptional that an ideology is an separate belief clay which can alter politically solely not necessarily physically. During the time this piece was written a number of educational reforms were taking place in new Zealand and teachers roles were having to align accordingly, with the nurture authorities and boards of trustees exacting greater control oer them as employees. Consequently losing them a great deal of freedom within their doctrine positions. The extract under discussion proposes that the traditional ideology adopted by most teachers is a humanistic approach to life and clearing with chelaren and adults in a learning capacity. That this humanist ideal is fundamental to their character and unbidden responsibility as a teacher, or as Sullivan conveys their ideology is more often than not intuitive and implied, based on some important only normally unstated assumptions. He then goes on to list these assumptions in flesh out and proposes the notion that they direct deep rooted minds of how their own role functions under the auspices of the government and the traditional understanding of what they have al agencys pie-eyedt to mean education in its original context. The rationale for presenting this understanding is in copulation to the writers broader argument relating to the saucy regenerate doing in New Zealand politics which has implemented brand- sunrise(prenominal) educational reforms in antithesis to this humanist ideology. Holistically Sullivans overall understanding and opinion of how teachers are adapting is by way of building themselves a new ideology which remains humanist but is to a fault applying a resistance and reinforced method of working approach pattern in response to the governments new line and legislation. scarcely Sullivans theories are not merely a personal observation, the outcomes of his conclusions have emerged from empirical data that he collated from interviews under taken with fif ty primary and intermediate school teachers employed in the Greater Wellington area of New Zealand.The new preparation system in New Zealand adheres to an ideology which is essentially anti-humanist and the phrase is written at a time when the province had been dominated by New in good order ideologies. These were in stark contrast to the humanist and all-inclusive ideas that dominated fosterage in the decades before. The article quotes the progressive disciplineal trailblazer John Dewey. He adhered to the opinion that only constant good is remove for the good. Dewey did not measure levels of success based on standards, earlier against human inspiration and passion (Tiles, 1990). And it is these measures of standards that Sullivan is critical of in his paper.This is emphasized further in Sullivans study Teachers Standards and Professionalism where he suggests that teachers have become pawns in the movement to implement right wing ideology a span the country, criticising th e new steering approach to learning which appears to operate more as a communication channel enterprise. How teachers have lost their authority to parents who dictate the way in which they at present function.The modern philosophy of the New Right can be attributed to the partition of the original ideals of the Welfare State, reflected not only in New Zealand but in many countries around the world who adopted these principles during and following the outcomes of the blink of an eye World War. In particular with the English politics during the 1980s and the new Conservative driven development Reform issue of 1988. (Lingard et al, 1993)This new devolved system in New Zealand moved from a centralized ar die hardment to a structure whereby schools now take responsibility for their own governance and management. The countrys Ministry of education which was complete under the 1989 Education Act takes earlier the following aims and objectivesprovides education policy advice to th e Minister of Education and the Governmentpurchases service on behalf of the Crownallocates funding and resources to schools and early childhood education providersoversees the carrying out of approved education policiesmanages special education servicescollects and processes education statistics and schoolingandmonitors the effectiveness of the education system as a wholewith go against education agencies hav(ing) national responsibilities for qualifications and quality assurance.Additionally most education providers operate independently from Government and are rather controlled by boards of trustees or elected councils.Sourced from http//www.minedu.govt.nz/educationSectors/InternationalEducation/ForInternationalStudentsAndParents/NewZealandEducationSystemAnOverview/Central_Agencies_and_Providers_A_Devolved_System.aspx, Date accessed 16/10/08Teachers have consequently inevitable to adapt and find a new position for themselves as elementary blue-collar working classroom teacher s in a non-democratic environment. As such(prenominal) this has forced them to build new descents and alliances with Boards of Trustees and amongst civil society. (Gordon, 1992)To discuss the context of this new change in thinking across New Zealand it has not merely acted in response to the UK government but has primarily acted on the issues that occurred during the 1970s and 80s when the country was witness to significant problems relating to trade, business, the balance of originator and a dwindling economy. It was these concerns that paved the way for changes to the education system as a means of improving the national standards of the men and employment opportunities. (Perris, 1998)The New Right philosophy brings with it a complete list of ideals that include the emergency to implement order, reinstate traditional values, social hierarchy and family responsibility. (Dale and Ozga, taken from Lingard et al, 1993)In improver there is a strong emphasis on the relationship bet ween power and knowledge, including a set of educational benchmarks to achieve send New Right thinking. These preponderantly includeThat education should be organise in a way that enables parental influence to succeed over qualityEducation should be provided within a diverse range of institutions, to which admission is based on selectionPro survey of Education should be accountable to the parents, by way of the appraisal of teachers and through the frequent test of students and teachers, with the right of publication of these results. (Bell and Gilbert,1996)Prior to this New Right trend vision which seek to improve schools on the basis of poor economies, gaps in the workforce and ill preparation of young people for the workplace, all curriculum nurture was governed by the Curriculum atom of the Department of Education and was reviewed regularly with remark from subject committees, the Department of Education, teacher groups, procreation colleges and independent schools. Late r include university teachers. This philosophy carried on into the 1950s with a curriculum which was developed and delivered by educators who were considered the most authoritative to do so. (Davis, 2007)This was in line with the traditional concepts established during the 1877 Act which adhered to the National Public School system, with native New Zealand schools fall under the control of the Department of Education and Public Schools ministered by Education Boards. Therefore from 1879 there were two systems of state schools running alongside each other. It was the intention then to eventually integrate the article of belief of native and new residents to the country, although this was never successfully achieved. The state took control of Education in New Zealand in 1877, adopting a policy which epitomized neutrality. Even the teaching of religion was prohibited. (Bell and Gilbert, 1996). A new Education Act was taken forward in 1914 which sought primarily to consolidate all tho se strategies of the 1877 legislation and to make further developments to put on Secondary Education and administration. This was followed up with 43 further amendments until A representation on Education was conducted in 1962 recommending improvements to teaching salaries, curriculum development, teacher training and the need to reduce class sizes. The proceeding 1964 Education Act failed and to implement any of these recommended changes and merely reinforced the previous statutes. (McClaren, 1974) The Curriculum Division which had been so progressive following the Second World War and into the 1950s closed in 1989, with the politics of the New Right now overlooking the future for educational reform across the country. Much of what had been established during the 1877 Act An Act to make provision for the further Education of the people of New Zealand (McClaren,1974) was torn apart in 1989 and reinforced with an Education Amendment Act in 1990 and four further amendments the fol lowing year.Interestingly in McClarens Education in a small Democracy he emphasizes the negative aspects of Government control throughout this long period of history and the excessive measure of education administration structures that existed, which served to create an often bureaucratic and ineffectual Education system. For example he quotes In 1972 25,000 laymen were working sometimes at cross purposes in the interests of separate, largely isolated sectors of the education system, their energies more often apply to the improvement of lavatories than to the advancement of learning.It is an interesting contrasting theory to that of Sullivan who blames the new commercialise ethos for undermining the ability and capacity of teachers to carry out their role effectively as essentially humanist, bureaucratic actors working for the fundamental social good of the child and society as a whole. Considering the business culture of the New Right to be affecting the ideologies inherent in t eachers and their philosophy to react against anti-humanist thinking. Sullivan insinuates in his paper Educational reform, the New Right and teachers ideologies that teachers are essentially macrocosm forced to work against the best interests of the child and instead are having to withstand the economics and politics macrocosm addressed by the parents, Boards of Trustees and civic bodies that they are now accountable to. The Guide to Print Culture in Aotearoa tells us that The Education Act 1877 existed to provide free, compulsory and secular education and similar reading systems. The emphasis of the curriculum stressed reading and writing and children were grade according against their ability measured by six standards. The reading texts were predominantly moral tales that were written for the benefit of British council schools and upheld strong values and ethics and were directed towards civic and moral duty all those considerations that are taken into account by the New Rig ht ideology and yet quite an clearly existed in the annals of the original 1877 agenda.Over a deoxycytidine monophosphate of government control is obviously going to affect the way in which a country adapts to new measures of educational implementation and as Sullivan addresses it is not necessarily a complete change for teaching staff that is requisite in order to work to a new ideology, but rather a need to maintain their own individual ideologies, whilst adjusting to the New Right agenda. However it is apparent that many of the original ideals of the 1877 Act and those that were adhered to and reinforced decades aft(prenominal) are themselves questionable. Schools were segregated and their still remained everyday problems amongst the teaching profession. Department of Education Inspectors reports citing the methods and most significant problems and complaints made by teachers was the lack of reading books and materials for the children to work with. Sourced from http//www.nz etc.org/tm/ intellectual/tei-GriBook-_div3-N12E47.html, Date accessed 16/10/08This is not a problem in todays public Education system. It could also be argued that for such a great number of years for a country to experience no other alternative to state intervention and control it seems obvious that problems will occur with the deep-seated assumptions that Sullivan refers to in the teaching profession in terms of their ideologies. Teachers should be acknowledged for their knowledge and skills for understanding how to deliver learning programmes and prepare children for the wider world but in addition to taking on board the legislation they are operating within as well as remembering that the child is the most important factor. Davis philosophically refers to this aptly in his paper Whose Education Is It Anyway? As it says in a quote on a school staff room wall No one ever got taller through being measured.BibliographySullivan, K Teachers Standards and Professionalism Contested Per spectives in a Decade of Reform Victoria University of WellingtonLingard, B, Knight, J, Porter, P.H (1993) Schooling Reform in Hard propagation Routledge,Dale, R, Ozga, J Two Hemispheres Both New Right? 1980s Education Reform in New Zealand and England and Wales taken from Lingard, B, Knight, J, Porter, P.H (1993) Schooling Reform in Hard Times Routledge,Bell, B and Gilbert, J (1996) Teacher Development A Model from Science Education RoutledgeGordon,L (1992) Educational Reform in New Zealand contesting the role of the teacher, International Studies in Sociology of Education, the great unwashed 2, Issue 1Perris, L (1998) Implementince Ducationr EformsIn New Zealand 1987-97 A Case Study, The Education ReformAnd Management Series, vol 1, no2Peters, M, Marhall, J.D (1996) Individualism and Community Education and Social constitution in the Postmodern Condition RoutledgeDavis, R.A (2007) Whose Education Is It Anyway? 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