Download Free A Liberal Vocationalism Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online A Liberal Vocationalism and write the review.

Aims to rescue a usable interpretation of the vocational theory in higher education by describing the historical and policy frameworks of the debate.
Contentious debates over the benefits—or drawbacks—of a liberal education are as old as America itself. From Benjamin Franklin to the Internet pundits, critics of higher education have attacked its irrelevance and elitism—often calling for more vocational instruction. Thomas Jefferson, by contrast, believed that nurturing a student’s capacity for lifelong learning was useful for science and commerce while also being essential for democracy. In this provocative contribution to the disputes, university president Michael S. Roth focuses on important moments and seminal thinkers in America’s long-running argument over vocational vs. liberal education. Conflicting streams of thought flow through American intellectual history: W. E. B. DuBois’s humanistic principles of pedagogy for newly emancipated slaves developed in opposition to Booker T. Washington’s educational utilitarianism, for example. Jane Addams’s emphasis on the cultivation of empathy and John Dewey’s calls for education as civic engagement were rejected as impractical by those who aimed to train students for particular economic tasks. Roth explores these arguments (and more), considers the state of higher education today, and concludes with a stirring plea for the kind of education that has, since the founding of the nation, cultivated individual freedom, promulgated civic virtue, and instilled hope for the future.
"Marvin Lazerson’s new book is exactly what is needed: a readable, cogent explanation of how the U.S. can have the best system of higher education in the world, but also a system that seems to be coming apart at the seams.” —Susan Fuhrman, President Teachers College, Columbia University, President of the National Academy of Education "In prose remarkable for its clarity and analysis remarkable for its fair-mindedness, this volume delivers a penetrating, nuanced account of American universities in the twenty-first century. Blessedly without rant or cant, the book tackles topics that range from the rise of the managerial class to the failed attempts to reform practice in the classroom. It’s a smart provocation—a must-read for anyone who cares about where our universities are heading.” —David L. Kirp, Professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and author of Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education "Professor Lazerson gives an insightful account of American higher education based on years of study and first-hand experience. He discusses both the problems and the accomplishment of our universities with equal care and thus, succeeds in providing a useful and illuminating analysis.” —Derek Bok, Harvard University, President-emeritus "Marvin Lazerson’s magnificent book is not only comprehensive, but it is written from an all-embracing point of view: seeing higher education in America as an expression of the American Dream. This book should be on the reading list of all who want to understand America’s actions, role and image in the world today, with and equal emphasis on their successes and the discontents they create.” —Yehuda Elkana, Rector and President-emeritus, Central European University
What happens to the liberal arts and science education when universities attempt to sell it as a form of job training? In Lowering Higher Education, a follow-up to their provocative 2007 book Ivory Tower Blues, James E. Côté and Anton L. Allahar explore the subverted 'idea of the university' and the forces that have set adrift the mission of these institutions. Côté and Allahar connect the corporatization of universities to a range of contentious issues within higher education, from lowered standards and inflated grades to the overall decline of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences instruction. Lowering Higher Education points to a fundamental disconnect between policymakers, who may rarely set foot in contemporary classrooms, and the teachers who must implement their educational policies—which the authors argue are poorly informed—on a daily basis. Côté and Allahar expose stakeholder misconceptions surrounding the current culture of academic disengagement and supposed power of new technologies to motivate students. While outlining what makes the status quo dysfunctional, Lowering Higher Education also offers recommendations that have the potential to reinvigorate liberal education.
Originally published in 1992, this book presents an alternative view of adult education. The author moves the analysis from the usual focus in adult education literature on skills and skill deficits, and concentrates instead on the educational potential of work itself. By linking issues of gender and the developing world, an alternative concept of work and productivity is formulated, serving as the basis for new approaches and paradigms in adult education. The book draws on two decades of studying critical social, political and economic, educational and feminist theory and examines the link between the international and sexual division of labour, and at the relationship between work, nature and technology.
This book provides an integrated treatment of the relationship between political economy and vocational education at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Approaching the subject from a philosophical perspective the author engages with debates about* the work-related aims of education * the moral and spiritual significance of work * the concep
Vocational education is central to the plans of policy makers around the world; it underpins the development of the poorest economies, and the continued competitiveness of the richest. Technical and Vocational Education and Training debates the key issues:* How far can the same principles be applied to vocational learning in universities, colleges, schools and the workplace?* Do the needs of learners and the needs of the economy always coincide? Should teachers focus on the delivery of skills or the development of cultures?* What will determine whether what is learnt corresponds to what is taught?* Who are the stakeholders in vocational learning, and can they all be satisfied at once?* What does it really mean to say that vocational provision is a kind of investment?Drawing on contemporary, internationally-significant case studies in water education, management education and education for sustainable development along with UNESCO's International Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, Gough provides a challenging discussion.
Vocational education and training (VET) can be difficult to define since it is set in a turbulent and volatile environment marked by national and regional specificities. It can be delivered at different levels and by a variety of providers, including community colleges, colleges of further education, polytechnics and universities, as well as, importantly, private providers. This collection reflects the shifting and often messy conceptualisations of VET. On one level VET can be associated with the education and training of craft/skilled workers, or of those who are being prepared for a particular occupational destiny and specific position in the labour market. In this instance, notions of skill, knowledge and dispositions are significant. On another level, it can raise questions over power and class formation, in addition to the way in which these are mediated or intersect with race and gender. Moreover, there are important political questions addressing the significance of VET in furthering social cohesion and economic regeneration in times of austerity when neoliberalism is hegemonic. The chapters in this book are not all of a piece, but each in its turn raises important questions about VET, its relationship to the economy, as well as its global setting. This book was originally published as a special issue of Globalisation, Societies and Education.
The aim of this book is to track the historical elements of change in educational policy formation and implementation in relation to the specifics of responses to change, the possibilities of change, and attempts to achieve it. Chapter 1 assess whether the future is in past historical change or is simply illuminated by it. The notion of an explicit relationship between history and policy analysis is expounded in chapter 2. The answer for successful policy making in British higher education is looked for in chapter 3. Chapter 4 describes versions of accountability in public sectors of higher education. Chapter 5 delineates the decline in the reputation of British higher education from the mid-1960s to the 1980s. Chapter 6 places vocationalism in the context of further education, describing its intentions and outcomes. Chapter 7 contains a history of periods in British education from 1780 until now. Chapter 8 examines the American zeal for change in education as a historical process beginning in the 1980s. Chapter 9 describes the plight of socially disadvantaged children in school from 1920-80. Chapter 10 reinforces the general thrust of the book as a concern for using "historical policy analysis" as a point of entry into considerations for educational change. Notes at the end of each chapter and an index are provided. (EJS)
Vocational education can either reinforce or challenge dominant ideology: students can learn to accept and fit into a workplace, or to change it. How we understand the links between knowledge and work will significantly affect our ability to make important political and strategic decisions about education in general and about vocational education in particular. The old questions about education--who controls education? whose interests are served by the education system?--assume new urgency in an era of global restructuring. The contributors to Rethinking Vocationalism examine these questions from a variety of enlightening perspectives. An Our Schools/Our Selves book.