Education, globalisation and the ‘voice of knowledge’

Abstract

This paper argues that underlying the links being made between the need for educational change in responding to the knowledge economy is an evacuation of the content of curricula and a misplaced emphasis on ‘genericism’ and experience. As an alternative the paper draws on ideas from Durkheim, Vygotsky and Bernstein to make the case for the ‘differentiation of knowledge’ and in particular the differentiation between school and everyday knowledge as a principle for a future curriculum.

Keywords:

• globalisation
• de‐differentiation of knowledge in education
• Durkheim
• Vygotsky
• Bernstein

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Suzy Harris (Roehampton University) for her helpful comments on an earlier draft.

Notes

1. As in the case I recently came across of a lawyer whose new post was Head of Knowledge.

2. My account draws on Christopher Norris’ (2000, 2005) excellent accounts of Bachelard’s ideas.

3. I am grateful to Professor Alison Wolf (Kings College, University of London) for pointing out to me the important role of Public Service Agreements and their potential influence on what counts as successful learning in school.

4. I mention Norway for two reasons; one is that I have recently visited two Norwegian universities and the other because Norway has often been celebrated by English researchers as representing a model of strong educational policy‐making (Payne 2002). My point is not to disagree with Payne but to suggest that this ‘emptying of knowledge content’ under the guise of promoting knowledge can be found even in a country as little prone to ‘marketising’ and ‘individualising’ tendencies as Norway.

5. Of course, knowledge is about power and ‘the powerful’ will always try to define what counts as knowledge. However, it is not only about power; some types of knowledge are more reliable than others and we cannot afford to forget either aspect.

6. It is what I and I imagine most teachers (and parents) want their students/children to acquire at school that they will be unlikely to be able to acquire at home.

7. One of the most successful programmes of vocational education in England (in terms of progression both to employment and to higher education and professional level programmes) is that developed by the Association of Accountancy Technicians (AAT). A major reason for this is the key role played by the professional association of Chartered Accountants (The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) with which the AAT is associated.

8. A much more detailed account of Bachelard’s epistemological theory is given by Mary Tiles (1984) and by Christina Chimisso (2001) who locates her account in the context of Bachelard’s work as a whole.

9. Althusser’s failed attempt to apply Bachelard’s proposals to Marxism as a theory of capitalism and his use of Bachelard’s idea of an ‘epistemological break’ are an illustration of the difficulties.

10. George Canguilhem, who succeeded Bachelard at the Sorbonne, developed an influential historical epistemology with a focus on biology. However, I have not considered his work in this paper.

11. I have only referred to two of Bernstein’s many publications here.

12. Bernstein was the originator of the concept of ‘recontextualisation’; however, he was more concerned with its role in the structuring of pedagogic discourse than as a way of conceptualising pedagogy.