Knowledge at the Crossroads?

There is much discussion about what needs to change in education institutions in the 21st century, but less attention given to how core disciplinary studies should be considered within that context. This book is based on a major 4-year research study of history and physics in the changing environment of schools and universities in Australia. Are these forms of knowledge still valuable for students? Are they complementary to, or at odds with the concerns about '21st century skills', interdisciplinary and collaborative research teams, employability and 'learner-centred' education? How do those who work in these fields see changes in their disciplines and in their work environment? And what are the similarities and differences between the experiences of teachers and academics in physics and those in history? The book draws on interviews with 115 school teachers and university academics to provide new perspectives on two important issues. Firstly, how, for the purposes of today's schools and universities, can we adequately understand knowledge and knowledge building over time? Secondly, what has been productive and what has been counter-productive in recent efforts to steer and manage the changes in Australia?

Introduction.- Chapter 1 Researching the changing world of education.- Part I: Re-thinking and reform of education today - Foundations and debates.- Chapter 2 Knowledge and education in the 21st century.- Chapter 3 History and physics as disciplines.- Chapter 4 New public management and the changing governance of universities.- Chapter 5 The changing agendas and governance of the school curriculum.- Part II Schools.- Chapter 6 Australian 'history wars': The contested purpose of history in the curriculum.- Chapter 7 The physics curriculum: What is the 'discipline' that needs to be nurtured?.- Chapter 8 Inward and outward facing knowledge: Curriculum purposes and slippages.- Part III Universities.- Chapter 9 'What does your discipline look like and how does it matter?' Historians and physicists talk.- Chapter 10 Disciplines and interdisciplinarity.- Chapter 11 Performance measurement and management.- Part IV: Knowledge, disciplinarity and the future.- Chapter 12 Regulation and governancein Australia: Implications for knowledge work.- Chapter 13 Genericism and specialisation: An ongoing problematic for schools and universities.- Chapter 14 Knowledge, disciplines, identities and the structuring of education.