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Global reproduction and transformation of science education

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Abstract

Neoliberalism has spread globally and operates hegemonically in many fields, including science education. I use historical auto/ethnography to examine global referents that have mediated the production of contemporary science education to explore how the roles of teachers and learners are related to macrostructures such as neoliberalism and derivative sensibilities, including standards, competition, and accountability systems, that mediate enacted curricula. I investigate these referents in relation to science education in two geographically and temporally discrete contexts Western Australia in the 1960s and 1970s and more recently in an inner city high school in the US. In so doing I problematize some of the taken for granted aspects of science education, including holding teachers responsible for establishing and maintaining control over students, emphasizing competition between individuals and between collectives such as schools, school districts and countries, and holding teachers and school leaders accountable for student achievement.

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Notes

  1. SLCs can be regarded as schools within a school. The coordinator of a SLC is like the principal of a small school.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Urban Education, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 365 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10016-4309, USA

    Kenneth Tobin

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  1. Kenneth Tobin
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Correspondence to Kenneth Tobin.

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Tobin, K. Global reproduction and transformation of science education. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 6, 127–142 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-010-9293-3

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