Reclaiming Knowledge: Social Theory, Curriculum And Education Policy

Reclaiming Knowledge reasserts the importance of a strong view of knowledge for a robust sociology of knowledge, for analysing and formulating curricula, and for a responsible approach to education policy.

A recurring theme of the book is that constructivism, as a broad anti-epistemological movement, has taken a perfectly reasonable set of theses about the social constitution of knowledge, and radicalised it into a set of sceptical claims about reality itself. This has had pernicious effects upon the formulation of policy, the practice of education and the conduct of government.

Divided into three sections, the first section provides a general introduction to the notion of knowledge as a dynamic set of social interpretations which converge or diverge under certain conditions. The second section considers the issue of economic globalisation, and asks whether there are special requirements for thought and knowledge in such a world. Section three considers the emergence of new forms of thinking about curriculum and pedagogy, and the possibilities and limits of these forms of thinking. Section four does the same for policy formulation and analysis. The central question underlying each investigation is: how, in a world of uncertainty and challenge, do we develop a responsible knowledge practice?

This is a stimulating and thought-provoking account.

Sociologies of Knowledge examines knowledge and educational policy in a changing political, economical and social environment. As the nature and role of knowledge in education is changing, so therefore is the way in which we study it; furthermore, how knowledge is produced, transmitted, and used is being submerged beneath a clamor of voices calling for "useful," practical knowledge for education. A sociology of knowledge is key to understanding why these calls arise and so how best to think of moral, productive knowledge in a plural, clamorous world.