‘Neither new nor alien to progressive thinking’: interpreting the convergence of radical education and the new vocationalism in Australia

Abstract

This paper identifies, depicts and sets out to interpret the common ground between the Australian radical education movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s and the present pre‐occupation with competency‐based reform in school education, the ‘new vocationalism’. The paper contends that both of these developments should be understood as historically novel, Janus‐faced radical movements. The helpfulness of the political‐economic concept of settlement for dealing with the nature and consequences of this congruence is explored. It is argued that the Janus‐faced radicalism of both movements locates them at the interface of modernity and postmodernity, and a particular interpretive response based on this perspective is proposed.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Eileen Sedunary

Eileen Sedunary is a lecturer in the Faculty of Education, the University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia. Her teaching and research interests are critical policy studies, contemporary curriculum practices and the recent history of education.