Education and the State
Education and the State refers to the relationship between government and the education system. It encompasses the state's role in funding, regulating, and shaping educational policies and practices. This interaction has significant implications for the quality, accessibility, and equity of education within a society.
7 Key excerpts on "Education and the State"
eBook - ePubThe Sociology of Education
An Introduction
- Ivor Morrish(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Chapter 5 The State, Politics and Education A. The Role of the State in Education 'Order is the first requirement of the diverse, specialized, interdependent activity of modern man, and this order the state alone can maintain' (1). It is obvious that whether we are considering a primitive group or a complex, sophisticated society we are vitally concerned with the problem of order. In a simple society power may reside in the person of a tribal chief or in a group of headmen; in a highly developed society it may reside in what is referred to as 'the state'. In broad, general terms, a state is an association of people, a specific organization of society which is responsible for performing political functions, and which possesses the ultimate power of coercion and sanction. In their introductory work, Society, Maclver and Page go on to emphasize not merely the importance of order within the micro-society, but also the necessity of order within the macro-society of the world, that is, the necessity of some form of international order. Without such 'state' order and regulation it is impossible for a society to make any concerted effort at progress. This applies equally within the realm of education, to which no state can be indifferent since, as Durkheim emphasizes, education is basically and essentially a social function (2). Yet, despite his insistence that everything which in any way pertains to education 'must in some degree be submitted to [the state's] influence' (3), Durkheim was very liberal in his views about the existence of schools other than those for which the state was directly responsible. The state must, in the interests of the public, allow other schools to be opened, but in so doing must not remain aloof from what is going on in them. On the contrary,' argues Durkheim, 'the education given in them must remain under its control' (4)...
eBook - ePubStates, Markets and Education
The Rise and Limits of the Education State
- A. Weymann(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
...It is seen as normal to implement, screen, and evaluate the utilization of education in order to ascertain whether goals can be achieved in the fields of economic prosperity, political power, and social integration. The state’s maintenance, governance, and supervision of education had an increasingly strong effect on the structure and development of life course opportunities and on the rationale of individuals’ life course decision making in a growing share of the populace (Hammerstein and Herrmann, 2005; Weymann, 2003a; 2003b; 2010b). The consolidated nation-state and education In the nineteenth century, nation-building was a liberating force, breaking the power of feudalism, regionalism, and religion, and benefiting large national economies and central administrations. Certainly, the nation-state also nurtured nationalism, ethnosymbolism, and political messianism as secular religions and ideologies (Anderson, 1991; Gellner, 1983; Green, 2001; 2013; Hechter, 2000; Hobsbawm, 1991; Kocka, 2001; Kunovich, 2009; Lenger, 2003; Smith, 1998; 2003; Tilly, 1995). Nevertheless, society was increasingly based on the universal rights of citizenship, a national economy, inclusive communication, and a national education curriculum. The education state played a key role not only in terms of human capital investment in times of industrialization, but also in terms of democratization and social policy (Berg, 1991; Berg and Herrmann, 1991; Carr and Hartnett, 1996; Kennedy, 1997; Swaan, 1988, pp.52–117). The inclusion of the lower classes in primary and lower secondary education became a prime tool of the developing democratic state and an instrument of its welfare regime and social policy. Increasingly, education was perceived as a social right. By the end of the nineteenth century, education had become a social right of the constitutional state, a basis for democratic self-determination, and a means of providing wealth and security...
eBook - ePubEducation and State Formation
Europe, East Asia and the USA
- A. Green(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
...It helped to construct the very subjectivities of citizenship, justifying the ways of the state to the people and the duties of the people to the state. It sought to create each person as a universal subject but it did so differentially according to class and gender. It formed the responsible citizen, the diligent worker, the willing tax-payer, the reliable juror, the conscientious parent, the dutiful wife, the patriotic soldier and the dependable or deferential voter. If, as Corrigan and Sayer maintain, state formation is… cultural revolution’, then education was clearly at the heart of this process. 3 These are some of the more general relations between the construction of education systems and the process broadly referred to as state formation. But how can we theorize more precisely the relationship between Education and the State during this period and what is the relationship between the state and the other levels of the social formation? Can education be seen unproblematically as part of the state apparatus and, if so, what is the relation between education and the social classes whose power is expressed in the state? A number of difficult problems arise here which have been partly anticipated in the earlier discussions. These concern generally the way in which different levels of the social formation are articulated one with another and what relations of determinacy can be said to operate between them. We have already seen the disjunctions that are apparent between the economic sphere and the forms in which education developed in different countries. Further, we have seen that the control of education does not correspond inevitably with those classes which are dominant in production at any given time. It would seem that the articulation of this particular part of the state with the economic and class relations which underpin the state are complex and specific to particular social formations...
eBook - ePubThe Right to Learn
Alternatives for a Learning Society
- Ken Brown(Author)
- 2002(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...3 Why educate? Society, the individual and education If we narrow the scope of education, we narrow our operative conception of civilization, and we impoverish the meaning of participation in civilized community. (Scheffler, 1973, p. 60) In the course of its relatively brief history, universal state-maintained education has come to occupy a secure position in western democracies—in fact, such a secure position that its purposes are taken for granted by large sections of the public and the popular media. Controversy, of which there is a great deal, is usually about the effective achievement of goals which are taken as self-evidently beneficial, or which it might seem frivolous for the average citizen to dispute. Ironically, educational debate on both sides of the Atlantic seems to have focused popular attention on the idea of ‘effectiveness’ to the neglect of a more fundamental question: ‘for what?’ Many academic authors have deplored this widespread aversion to philosophical questions about the purposes of education. In the United States, Israel Scheffler has argued for many years that a primary aim of a democratic society must be to cultivate the rational faculties of its young people rather than to treat education ‘as an instrument for the implementation of designated social values, taken as ultimate’ (ibid., pp. 134–5). Knowledge accumulates in unpredictable ways and its practical consequences are unforeseeable. Assessment of the effectiveness of an education in ‘shaping concrete results’ is irrelevant to the democratic ideal of an open and dynamic society, the laws, principles and moral standards of which are constantly subject to the critical scrutiny of its citizens. More recently Harvey Siegel has condemned the widespread and ‘stultifying misconception’ that ‘deep philosophical questions concerning values and the aims of education are somehow off-limits’ (Siegel, 1988, p. ix)...
eBook - ePubThe Management of Educational Institutions
Theory, Research and Consultancy
- H. L. Gray(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Much of the research effort focused upon the classroom and learning processes concerning which political science had few insights to offer. But significant amounts of monies went to studies of policy development and implementation, educational finance, and optimal administrative arrangements where the skills of the political scientists were likely to be more relevant. And educational practitioners and scholars, journalists, and others also contributed to the mounting literature on the politics of education. The politics of education was too important to leave only to political scientists (or for that matter, to educators!). Politics of Education: Definitions Every school administrator develops an operational definition of the politics of education, and many scholars find it necessary to establish working definitions of the politics of education as a field of study. Scholars, however, have not arrived at consensus as to what is or should be encompassed by the study of ‘politics of education’. Both the words ‘politics’ and ‘education’ are somewhat nebulous, and in their broader interpretations encompass a vast assortment of activities. Scribner and Englert (1977) 1 have dealt with interpretations of politics. They point out that, in an earlier era, politics was applied largely to the activities of formal government, but that in later years the term ‘politics’ came to include many other related concepts. The trouble was that as the concepts proliferated, the politics of education became more and more inclusive...
eBook - ePubTeaching and Learning
Pedagogy, Curriculum and Culture
- Alex Moore(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...(See Bernstein 2000: in particular, his account of the four ‘pedagogic identities’ in and through which public policy attempts – not necessarily with success – to control and manipulate schools and students.) The Historic Purposes of State Education (1): The Enlightenment and the Development of the Individual Citizen If we begin with the arguments in favour of state education, we may find little evidence to support the view that there is a ‘hidden’ or ‘unofficial official’ agenda behind the introduction, perpetuation and style of formal, universal state education, most of these arguments being characterised by the same rhetoric as more recent statements of education policy summarised in Figure 2.1. For the Victorian poet, philosopher and would-be reformer Matthew Arnold, for example, the significant qualities of education were therapeutic and social : its central purpose was to soothe and ennoble the savage beast through the power of exposure to ‘high culture’ and ‘reason’, in order to produce happier individuals in a less strife-torn society (Arnold 1909, 1932). To borrow expressions from subsequent government documentation, public education was aimed at producing the ‘happier child’ enjoying the ‘better start to life’ and enriching ‘the inheritance of the country whose citizens they are’ (Government White Paper 1943); it was concerned with the ‘spiritual, moral, mental and physical development of the community’ (Education Act 1944), in which were produced ‘rounded’, ‘balanced’ and ‘qualified’ children with ‘a respect for people and property’, contributing to the nation’s ‘future work-force and the foundation for the economic development and competitiveness of this country’ (DES White Paper 1992, pp. 1, 7). Such claims for, and perceived purposes of, formal, organised education are often located within what is sometimes called the Enlightenment tradition (Carr 1995)...
eBook - ePubAdvanced Educational Foundations for Teachers
The History, Philosophy, and Culture of Schooling
- Donald K. Sharpes(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...In my effort, I have synthesized its various disciplines and ideas into a theme by answering and unifying two rather straight-forward questions: Why have some ideas persisted in education and others have not, and who has benefitted from education? I have no illusions that I will actually answer these questions fully, only that I will identify for you a constellation of factors that will make it possible to draw reasonable conclusions about the ideas, figures, and features that significantly shaped education as we know it today. Chapter 1 also explores the relevance of social sciences in their varied meanings to education, and how knowledge of the broad patterns of understanding that they provide can promote professional teacher knowledge, as well as encourage a variety of improved instructional practices. We will begin with an exploration of teacher knowledge and teaching acts. We will then elaborate on the proposed theme that considers the two questions posed earlier, followed by an exploration of the relevance of the social sciences in education, and then finally conclude with a model for instructional practice and a teaching guide that can also be used as a guide for reading the text. Teacher Knowledge and Teaching Acts Educational foundation experiences for the teacher candidate usually begin with an introduction to formal schooling and study of a selection of topics: why people become teachers, the definition of schooling, the demographics of the teaching profession, and the current topical issues concerning schools, like vouchers and charter institutions. This book not only acknowledges these subjects, but also explores in great detail the intellectual foundation and the advanced professional knowledge necessary for teacher education. Much of the curriculum content, including school organization, and methods of instruction have been derived from the long history, philosophy, and culture of education...
