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Knowledge at the Crossroads?

Physics and History in the Changing World of Schools and Universities

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Authors:
  1. Lyn Yates

    1. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

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  2. Peter Woelert

    1. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

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  3. Victoria Millar

    1. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

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  4. Kate O'Connor

    1. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

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  • Brings together questions about policy and management and about knowledge and education in Australia

  • Shows the different demands of the school/ undergraduate/ research phases of education, as well as the trajectory between them

  • Offers a comparative perspective on physics and history today, based on over 100 interviews with those working in these fields

  • Provides new evidence of the impact of changing policy and management of schools and universities on the work of teachers and academics

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
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  2. Introduction

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. Researching the Changing World of Education

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 3-11

  3. Re-thinking and Reform of Education Today—Foundations and Debates

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13
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    2. Knowledge and Education in the 21st Century

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 15-33

    3. History and Physics as Disciplines

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 35-57

    4. New Public Management and the Changing Governance of Universities

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 59-75

    5. Changing Agendas and the Governance of the School Curriculum

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 77-92

  4. Schools

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 93-93
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    2. Australian ‘History Wars’: The Contested Purpose of History in the Curriculum

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 95-108

    3. The Physics Curriculum: What Is the ‘Discipline’ that Needs to Be Nurtured?

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 109-124

    4. Inward and Outward Facing Knowledge: Curriculum Purposes and Slippages

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 125-139

  5. Universities

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 141-141
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    2. ‘What Does Your Discipline Look Like and How Does It Matter?’ Historians and Physicists Talk

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 143-164

    3. Disciplines and Interdisciplinarity

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 165-182

    4. Performance Measurement and Management

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 183-195

  6. Knowledge, Disciplinarity and the Future

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 197-197
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    2. Regulation and Governance in Australia: Implications for Knowledge Work

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 199-209

    3. Genericism and Specialisation: An Ongoing Problematic for Schools and Universities

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 211-223

    4. Knowledge, Disciplines, Identities and the Structuring of Education

      • Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O’Connor
      Pages 225-239
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Keywords

About this book

There is much discussion about what needs to change in education institutions in the 21st century, but less attention given to how core disciplinary studies should be considered within that context. This book is based on a major 4-year research study of history and physics in the changing environment of schools and universities in Australia. Are these forms of knowledge still valuable for students? Are they complementary to, or at odds with the concerns about ‘21st century skills’, interdisciplinary and collaborative research teams, employability and ‘learner-centred’ education? How do those who work in these fields see changes in their disciplines and in their work environment? And what are the similarities and differences between the experiences of teachers and academics in physics and those in history? The book draws on interviews with 115 school teachers and university academics to provide new perspectives on two important issues. Firstly, how, for the purposes of today’s schools and universities, can we adequately understand knowledge and knowledge building over time? Secondly, what has been productive and what has been counter-productive in recent efforts to steer and manage the changes in Australia?

Reviews

“This book is concerned with forms of knowledge in relation to the role of the disciplines and school subjects and their positioning in institutions during the twenty-first century. … Knowledge at the Crossroads? is beautifully written and the scholarship is impressive and timely. It is required reading for those of us who work in the fields of history and physics in schools and universities.” (Deborah Henderson, Curriculum Perspectives, Vol. 37 (2), September, 2017)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

    Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O'Connor

About the authors

Lyn Yates is Foundation Professor of Curriculum and a former Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Melbourne. Lyn has an MA in history and M Ed and PhD in education. Her previous projects and publications include Reconstructing the Lifelong Learner (Routledge), Making Modern Lives (SUNY), Australia’s Curriculum Dilemmas (MUP), Curriculum in Today’s World (Routledge) and Women in the Scientific Research Workforce (L H Martin). Lyn is former president of the Australian Association for Research in Education; has served on the Australia Research Council; and is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Science.


Peter Woelert is a research fellow at the University of Melbourne. He has had training in philosophy (PhD, University of New South Wales, Australia) and sociology (M.A, University of Frankfurt, Germany). His current research focuses on the politics and effects of performance governance at universities and the opportunities and challenges afforded by institutional forms of university autonomy.


Victoria Millar is a lecturer in science education at Melbourne Graduate School of Education. She has previously taught physics in schools, and has lectured on tertiary teaching and learning at the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education. Victoria has an MSc in physics and her previous research projects include national studies of female participation in non-compulsory physics, and on the future of the academic workforce in Australia. Her doctoral and subsequent research has focussed on higher education, the sociology of education, disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and curriculum issues.


Kate O’Connor is a PhD student who has previously worked as a policy officer in the Australian Department of Education, and more recently on research projects and publications concerned with Australian curriculum and with education governance. Kate has degrees in history and policy studies, and she co-edited Australia’s Curriculum Dilemmas. Her PhD focuses on curriculum practice and policy in the context of online learning reforms. 

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Knowledge at the Crossroads?

  • Book Subtitle: Physics and History in the Changing World of Schools and Universities

  • Authors: Lyn Yates, Peter Woelert, Victoria Millar, Kate O'Connor

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2081-0

  • Publisher: Springer Singapore

  • eBook Packages: Education, Education (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-10-2079-7Published: 04 November 2016

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-981-10-9522-1Published: 22 April 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-981-10-2081-0Published: 26 October 2016

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 257

  • Topics: Curriculum Studies, Educational Policy and Politics, Science Education, Early Childhood Education, Higher Education

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