Howard Gibson

What Creativity Isn't: The Presumptions of Instrumental and Individual Justifications for Creativity in Education

ABSTRACT:  Creativity is a popular but heterogeneous word in educational parlance these days. By looking at a selection of recent discourses that refer to creativity to sustain their positions, the paper suggests that two key themes emerge, both with questionable assumptions. Romantic individualists would return us to a naïve bygone age of authentic self-expression, while politicians and economists would use the term instrumentally by binding it to the future needs of the workforce without questioning substantive issues. Cultural theories of creativity indicate pathways out.

Threats to the Inclusive Movement.

Anthony Feiler, senior lecturer in special needs, and Howard Gibson, senior lecturer in language and literature (both at Bath Spa University College),suggest that within the field of special educational needs the movement towards inclusion is endangered. Four key threats are explored: the lack of precisionin definitions of inclusion; the lack of research evidence; the tendency for some children to experience what is termed ‘internal exclusion’ inschools; and the continuing inclination to label children (as an example of labelling the media’s presentation of the term dyslexia is examined). Theauthors argue that if inclusion is to take hold in schools more attention needs to be paid to these threats.

Ideology, Instrumentality and Economics Education: on the Secretion of Values within Philanthropy, Financial Capability and Enterprise Education in English Schools

In England state provision for economics education in schools has been negligible. Except for a marginal number of students opting to study economics at secondary level, the subject has been largely limited to implicit lessons in philanthropy through liberal activities such as fundraising for charity and the like. Now, however, New Labour has countered this neglect by adding Personal Financial Capability and Enterprise and Entrepreneurial Education to the statute book. This paper takes issue with both the implicit and explicit curriculum for economics education in an attempt to uncover its assumptions and critique underlying policy.

Management, skills and creativity: the purpose and value of instrumental reasoning in education discourse

Reason is a heterogeneous word with many meanings and functions. Instrumental reasoning is the ‘useful but blind’ variant that, for Horkheimer, presupposes ‘the adequacy of procedures for purposes more or less taken for granted and supposedly self-explanatory’. The paper argues that the root of instrumental reasoning is to be found in Hume and Weber and suggests that the problems associated with portraying reason as ‘inert’ or ‘formal’ underpin many areas of education policy today. A scrutiny of discourses on managerialism, skills and creativity suggests that they are not only bound by instrumental reasoning but tied to unacknowledged purposes associated with what Marcuse called ‘capitalist rationality’. The paper concludes by reflecting upon Habermas’ notion of substantive reasoning that offers education a way forward.

Home–school agreements: explaining the growth of ‘juridification’ and contractualism in schools

Since 1998 all maintained schools, academies and city technology colleges in England and Wales have been required to publish a home–school agreement. This documents the school’s responsibilities and the obligations of parents, and itemises the behaviour expected of pupils. Most of the parties sign it, from as young as four, although there is no legal obligation to do so. Interview evidence would suggest, however, that the agreement is not only asymmetrically constructed but can be read as part of a broader and worrying shift in cultural practice that augments law-based or ‘juridified’ forms of social management. It also suffers from deficits more commonly associated with contract theory insofar as it makes similar assumptions about human nature that misjudge and undervalue the qualities of moral obligation and trust. The paper argues that this creates problems for schools functionally dependent upon social integration through shared values and consensus formation.

Between the state and the individual: ‘Big Society’ communitarianism and English Conservative rhetoric:

During his quest for leadership of the English Conservative Party, David Cameron declared his intention to turn Britain into a Big Society. In May 2010, having gained office as Prime Minister, he unveiled a string of policies to bring his vision to fruition. After five years, however, talk of the Big Society has withered in public debate such that today only the press refer to it, and then as a policy in decline. This article argues that as an attempt to revitalise citizenship and local communities, and deal with the apparent ills of state centralism and liberal atomism, it was destined to fail. This is because it coincided, intentionally some have said, with an austerity crisis that made talk of the Big Society politically feasible; left Big Capitalism, the cause of austerity, untouched; was seemingly reticent to divert power to localities; under-theorised the nature and complexity of modern communities; and was an attempt at depoliticisation by diverting risk to bodies such as charities and schools.

A Critique of the ‘Chronological/non‐chronological Distinction in the National Curriculum for English

In this article we first examine the history of the ‘chronological/non‐chronological’ distinction, then look in more detail at the way it has been absorbed into the National Curriculum for English. We note that others have had problems with the distinction, reconsider it in relation to alternative theoretical work on narrative and discourse, and end by summarising our position.

The inclusion of pseudowords within the year one phonics ‘Screening Check’ in English primary schools

The paper highlights problems surrounding the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check that has accompanied the legislative framework for synthetic phonics in English primary schools. It investigates the inclusion of pseudowords and raises questions regarding their generation and categorization, the rationale for their inclusion and the assumption that the early ability to read pseudowords is associated with later success in reading. It draws upon evidence from comparative European orthographic studies employing pseudowords that have implications for the way English pupils learn to read.

Tuning in, turning on and dropping out: an investigation into the reasons for non-completion of adult foreign language courses in colleges of FE

Students who dropped out of foreign language courses in further education were interviewed to ascertain why they had chosen to leave prematurely. Most cited a variety of reasons for noncompletion, ranging from initial information about their course, the teaching methods and the managerial skills of the tutor, their confidence and prior knowledge of the target language and grammar, through to seemingly mundane issues such as homework and break times. The paper concludes with ten recommendations.

Picturebooks, pedagogy and philosophy

by Joanna Haynes and Karin Murris, New York and London, Routledge, 2012, 269 pp., £80 (hdbk), ISBN 978-0-415-88080-0 Picturebooks, pedagogy and philosophy is a recent addition to the Routledge Rese...