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Community and Learning for the New Economy

Adkins, Barbara A. and Grant, Eryn L. and Summerville, Jenny A. and Barnett, Karen R. and Buys, Laurie (2003) Community and Learning for the New Economy. In Bradley, Rebecca and Lyddon, Jeff and Buys, Laurie, Eds. Proceedings Social Change in the 21st Century, Centre for Social Change Research, Queensland University of Technology.

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Abstract

The New Basics reform of the Queensland Education sector has identified its central goal as enhanced student outcomes for ‘New Times’. Research on this reform (Adkins et al, forthcoming) has identified the role of communities as an important factor in schools’ capacity to deliver this outcome. This paper provides a foundation for research into issues regarding the role of community for school reform oriented to the needs of students in the New Economy. Its central purpose is to critique extant theory in order to generate questions about how themes in education reform discourse may be re-contextualised in the context of school practice. First, it reviews the role of ‘community’ in discourses on the Knowledge Economy and ‘New Times’. Second, it examines the way ‘community’ is conceptualised in the context of Education Queensland’s New Basics reform. Third, the paper will consider some "paradoxes" that may arise when this new conceptualisation of ‘community’ is applied in the practical implementation of education reform.

Item Type:Conference Paper
RM Number:2004001761
Status:Published
Subjects:370000 Studies in Human Society > 370100 Sociology > 370107 Social Change
420000 Language and Culture > 420300 Cultural Studies > 420399 Cultural Studies not elsewhere classified
330000 Education > 330100 Education Studies > 330103 Sociology of Education
ID Code:91
Deposited By:Bradley, Rebecca
Deposited On:21 December 2004
Copyright Owner:Copyright 2003 (The authors)