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This thesis considers the extent to which the hegemonic, socially and economically hierarchical principles of private enterprise were channelled through school-business links. School-business links take many forms, and the one I have highlighted is a neo-vocationalist programme which was aimed at rendering low-achieving senior secondary students 'employable'. In the process, the importance of private enterprise as generators of wealth is emphasised, while that of labour is overlooked. That is, the interests of employers are paramount in the programme, while those of the students are marginalised. In my discussion and conclusion, I find that the programme can be seen to be exploitative, because the rhetoric that legitimates it obscures the ways in which the interests of unequal social classes are met in an hierarchically differential fashion.

This thesis reports on research conducted with Technical and Further Education (TAFE) teachers from Queensland and Western Australia. The research is located atthe intersection where teachers’ identities met the discourse of new vocationalism. Scholars have highlighted the tensions that this discourse has produced in therelationships between TAFE and its teachers, and noted that TAFE teachers are pressured to change their subjectivities to reflect themselves more effectively asworkers in an educational market focused on economic imperatives. This is often in contrast to these teachers’ personal notions of themselves as liberal educators, with afocus on lifelong learning, personal transformation, collaborative relationships and social responsibility. This research was driven by the possibility that the concept of ‘critical spirit’ might provide a means for TAFE teachers to stand their ground in relation to the continued reshaping of the TAFE teacher terrain produced by the adoption of the new vocational discourse.This interpretative research was conceptualised by synthesising sociocultural perspectives of discourse as a reality building tool (Gee, 2005) with notions of criticalthinker dispositions referred to as critical spirit (Siegel, 1988; Oxman-Michelli, 1992). The elements of critical spirit: openmindedness, independence of mind,wholeheartedness, intellectual responsibility and respect for others (Oxman-Michelli,1992) were used as central components to the development of a coding framework forthe explication of critical spirit from TAFE teacher artefacts and in positioning critical spirit as a discourse. An examination of 12 TAFE teacher case narrative artefacts revealed that elements of critical spirit were evident. Subsequent participantcredibility checks and semi-structured interviews provided diverse data related to teacher embodiment of a critical spirit in relation to the building of certain teacher identities. In some cases participants expressed that their identities were bolstered by engaging in a critical spirit discourse, others cautioned its public embodiment, suggesting that deploying critical spirit made them more visible to surveillance and control. The major finding of this research was that an explicit engagement with acritical spirit discourse was of value to these TAFE teachers. Furthermore, this critical spirit discourse was seen to perform the work of a borderland discourse (Gee, 2005; Alsup, 2006). It afforded a means to traverse the terrain “between disparate personal and professional subjectivities” (Alsup, 2006, p. 5).The research also uncovered other discourses pertinent to participant artefacts. These were identified as a test of fortitude discourse and a community of support discourse.It was postulated that these would extend the critical spirit discourse by adding to Oxman-Michelli’s (1992) five elements of critical spirit. The findings suggested littleevidence to support this position.The significance of this research was in: (a) the production of a methodological construct for explicating particular notions of critical spirit; (b) its contribution to furthering understandings of the professional lives of TAFE teachers and their workworld; and (c) the value that a critical spirit discourse had in strengthening these TAFE teachers’ notions of themselves and their effectiveness. Its contribution tosubstantial knowledge was in its expansion of our understanding of teacher identities within the Vocational Education and Training sector in Australia.

This thesis reports on research conducted with Technical and Further Education (TAFE) teachers from Queensland and Western Australia. The research is located atthe intersection where teachers’ identities met the discourse of new vocationalism. Scholars have highlighted the tensions that this discourse has produced in therelationships between TAFE and its teachers, and noted that TAFE teachers are pressured to change their subjectivities to reflect themselves more effectively asworkers in an educational market focused on economic imperatives. This is often in contrast to these teachers’ personal notions of themselves as liberal educators, with afocus on lifelong learning, personal transformation, collaborative relationships and social responsibility. This research was driven by the possibility that the concept of ‘critical spirit’ might provide a means for TAFE teachers to stand their ground in relation to the continued reshaping of the TAFE teacher terrain produced by the adoption of the new vocational discourse.This interpretative research was conceptualised by synthesising sociocultural perspectives of discourse as a reality building tool (Gee, 2005) with notions of criticalthinker dispositions referred to as critical spirit (Siegel, 1988; Oxman-Michelli, 1992). The elements of critical spirit: openmindedness, independence of mind,wholeheartedness, intellectual responsibility and respect for others (Oxman-Michelli,1992) were used as central components to the development of a coding framework forthe explication of critical spirit from TAFE teacher artefacts and in positioning critical spirit as a discourse. An examination of 12 TAFE teacher case narrative artefacts revealed that elements of critical spirit were evident. Subsequent participantcredibility checks and semi-structured interviews provided diverse data related to teacher embodiment of a critical spirit in relation to the building of certain teacher identities. In some cases participants expressed that their identities were bolstered by engaging in a critical spirit discourse, others cautioned its public embodiment, suggesting that deploying critical spirit made them more visible to surveillance and control. The major finding of this research was that an explicit engagement with acritical spirit discourse was of value to these TAFE teachers. Furthermore, this critical spirit discourse was seen to perform the work of a borderland discourse (Gee, 2005; Alsup, 2006). It afforded a means to traverse the terrain “between disparate personal and professional subjectivities” (Alsup, 2006, p. 5).The research also uncovered other discourses pertinent to participant artefacts. These were identified as a test of fortitude discourse and a community of support discourse.It was postulated that these would extend the critical spirit discourse by adding to Oxman-Michelli’s (1992) five elements of critical spirit. The findings suggested littleevidence to support this position.The significance of this research was in: (a) the production of a methodological construct for explicating particular notions of critical spirit; (b) its contribution to furthering understandings of the professional lives of TAFE teachers and their workworld; and (c) the value that a critical spirit discourse had in strengthening these TAFE teachers’ notions of themselves and their effectiveness. Its contribution tosubstantial knowledge was in its expansion of our understanding of teacher identities within the Vocational Education and Training sector in Australia.

The aim of this study is to put forth the relationship between the transformation of the labor market and the production process and the vocational education and training in Turkey. The Study will reflect the effects of transformation on the individual and society. The research is conducted through interviews with social partners. The study touches upon the reflection of the understanding of new vocationalism adopted in line with the flexibilisation in the organization of work on the vocational and technical education in Turkey. It tries to explain how this new educational approach is shaped on the basis of the main three discourses such as lifelong learning, employability and flexibility. Consequently, the research focuses on the idea that transformation of vocational education and training in Turkey has occurred at discursive level and also based upon the prevailing opinion on the necessity of developing human resources in compliance with the needs of the economy / that the transformation process. Contrary to expectations of the new vocational education and training system, it produces individual who feel themselves anxious and uncertain about the future, fear and feel in insecure, and accordingly, experiences deprivation and social exclusion.

While the word 'critique' appeared frequently in Australian legal education texts between 1987 and 2003, the meaning and the emphasis accorded critique varied widely. Michel Foucault's ideas about the close relationship between knowledge and power provide a theoretical framework within which this inconsistency of meaning and emphasis can be described, analysed and explained. Rather than monolithic, the discipline of legal education was by 2003 a dynamic nexus of distinct and competing discourses: doctrinalism, vocationalism, corporatism, liberalism, pedagogicalism and radicalism. Each of these six discourses was simultaneously a form of knowledge and an expression of disciplinary power within the law school. As a form of knowledge, each discourse accorded critique a different meaning and a different emphasis as a consequence of a range of historical, social and political contingencies. As an expression of power, each discourse was an attempt to achieve a set of objectives including the universalisation of a particular approach to the teaching of law and the enhancement of the status of a particular role within the law school. Critique, in a variety of forms, was a strategy employed by each discourse in order to achieve these objectives and to dominate and displace competing discourses.

Rapid industrialization, breakthroughs in science and technological development have ushered in an era regarded as a technocratic age. The advent of a technocratic age has necessitated the acquisition of technologically appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes, and consequently it has become necessary to establish education systems that fulfil the demands set by technocratic age principles. Present-day education is typified by technocratic age imperatives which include meritocracy, specialization, vocationalism, professionalism and scientism. Technocratic age education is further characterized by mass education, free and compulsory education and greater bureaucratic control of education. In technocratic age education systems, entrance examinations are used to select learners for advanced education and training. It would appear that this takes place with little regard for the learner's personal worth or meeting the learner's distinctive needs. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (History of Education)

This study examines how political-economic and socio-cultural influences had impacted the institutional development of HVE in China by investigating the historical development process of HVE between 1980 and 2007, when the country was undergoing tremendous political, economic, and social transitions toward building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. With the research method of document content analysis, the study reveals causes, effects, and trends of HVE development through comparisons between HVE-related policy contents concerning major HVE institutional realities including contexts, missions, structures, access, tuition, curricula, teaching staff, graduate employment, funding and governance, and social status. Within a theoretical framework utilizing vocationalism, Confucianism, and neoinstitutionalism, analysis and discussion resulted in a number of findings. First, the development of HVE in China embodied a trend of vocationalism, which has led and is leading to higher education expansion, higher education restructuring, and a positive change of Chinese peoples views on careers. Second, in addition to its discrimination against skills/skilled workers, the mechanism of upward mobility entailed in Confucianism was another major reason causing resistance to HVE. Third, given the increasingly competitive Civil Service Examination, Chinese peoples views on careers were not synchronized to the mass higher education system that was underway in China. Fourth, while supporting HVE, vocationalism itself created problems for HVE. A new vocationalist view was needed for future HVE development. Confucianism may contribute to such a new vocationalist view drawing on humanities education and the mechanism of upward mobility, though its notion of scholar-officials was critiqued for impeding the development of HVE. Fifth, HVE students had been treated unequally in the whole process of studying in HVE from admission to participation to graduation. Sixth, from a neoinstitutionalist perspective, the development of HVE represented the process of its instutionalization, in which HVE needed to obtain legitimacy. Absence of legitimacy was the major reason causing various challenges facing the development of HVE. Seventh, the development of HVE indicated institutional isomorphic changes in Chinese higher education. Eighth, biased policy causing stratification of Chinese higher education was another major factor leading to various challenges facing HVE. / Adult Education

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Rapid industrialization, breakthroughs in science and technological development have ushered in an era regarded as a technocratic age. The advent of a technocratic age has necessitated the acquisition of technologically appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes, and consequently it has become necessary to establish education systems that fulfil the demands set by technocratic age principles. Present-day education is typified by technocratic age imperatives which include meritocracy, specialization, vocationalism, professionalism and scientism. Technocratic age education is further characterized by mass education, free and compulsory education and greater bureaucratic control of education. In technocratic age education systems, entrance examinations are used to select learners for advanced education and training. It would appear that this takes place with little regard for the learner's personal worth or meeting the learner's distinctive needs. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (History of Education)