Abstract
This essay responds to Jill Williams and Sara Tolbert (2021) and discusses the similarities and differences in curriculum, classroom, teaching and standards between Arizona, USA, and Victoria, Australia. Williams and Tolbert relate a good news story in a state of neoliberal educational despair. This essay argues that, from a relatively well supported Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education perspective in Victoria, the marginalised story they tell is to be envied. This argument draws attention to curriculum deficiencies, teacher qualifications and testing regimes as sources for concern.
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Acknowledgement
This article was written on the unceded lands of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nations; I respectfully acknowledge their Elders, past, present and emerging and what they have taught us about this land and sea.
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This review essay addresses issues raised in Jill Williams and Sara Tolbert’s paper entitled: “They have a lot more freedom than they know: science education as a space for radical openness” (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-020-10016-6).
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Gough, A. Margin envy: looking at science education in Arizona from a STEM-ed state. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 16, 403–418 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-021-10057-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-021-10057-5