Reflecting on Teacher’s Authority through Hannah Arendt’s “The Crisis in Education”

Child-centered education has become pervasive due to its emphasis on freedom, which is highly valued in modern society. This progressive approach has brought an inquiry into the teacher’s authority which is viewed as traditional and irrelevant for students today. This essay aims to step back and to explore the concept of the teacher’s ‘authority’ more deeply through Hannah Arendt’s writing entitled “The Crisis in Education”. It begins by analyzing what Arendt means by the ‘crisis’ in education, particularly in the American context. Then, by departing from the progressive interpretation, I re-examine the concept of ‘authority’ and its relation to ‘freedom’, based on ancient Greek and Roman understandings. Drawing on these analyses, Arendt asserts that teachers play a significant role because they prepare students to love and care for the world (amor mundi). Nevertheless, I argue that a teacher’s authority must also include attention to the private realm that continues impacting students’ learning at schools. Only in this way are students genuinely prepared for their responsibility as political agents in our society.
 Abstrak
 Pendidikan yang berpusat pada anak menjadi kian populer karena sangat menekankan kebebasan, sesuatu yang sedemikian dijunjung tinggi oleh masyarakat modern. Pendekatan progresif ini membuat otoritas guru lantas dipertanyakan, karena dianggap terlalu tradisional dan tidak relevan lagi. Artikel ini ingin menelusuri konsep ‘otoritas’ guru secara lebih mendalam melalui tulisan filsuf Hannah Arendt yang berjudul “The Crisis in Education”. Pertama, akan diselidiki makna ‘krisis’ dalam konteks Pendidikan di USA. Kedua, sedikit menyimpang dari tafsiran progresif dan dengan menimba inspirasi dari pemahaman Yunani dan Romawi kuno, artikel ini hendak menilai kembali makna ‘otoritas’ dan relasinya dengan ‘kebebasan’. Ketiga, berdasarkan analisis makna ‘otoritas’ tersebut, Arendt menegaskan bahwa guru memainkan peran krusial karena merekalah yang menyiapkan siswa untuk mencintai dan peduli kepada dunia sekitarnya (amor mundi). Penulis berpendapat lebih lanjut bahwa otoritas guru harus memperhatikan dimensi privat yang sangat memengaruhi proses pembelajaran siswa di sekolah. Hanya dengan demikian siswa dapat sungguh siap untuk kemudian memikul tanggung jawab sebagai aktor-aktor politis dalam masyarakat.
 Kata-kata kunci: otoritas, kebebasan, pendidikan-berpusat-pada-anak, dimensi privat, dimensi politis, amor mund

Voice, empowerment and youth-produced films about 'gangs'

This article explores the dissonance between the expansive discourses imagined by the advocates for youth media as helping foster ‘empowerment’ and ‘voice', versus the more circumscribed realities of participatory media production. I focus on a two-part case study – considering both a film-making project for ‘at risk’ young people in South London and the English national government funder that provided the resources for the young people to take part. This case study allows for an exploration of the political economy of youth media, and the relationship between youth media funding and how and why young people in my research often chose to make films about ‘gangs', a striking topic of concern across 11 youth media case study sites. I use this empirical example as a means to analyse how ‘empowerment’ in youth media projects, understood as both critical media literacy and youth voice, moves from abstract discourse to on-the-ground practic

Educational research that has an impact: 'Be realistic, demand the impossible'

This AARE Presidential Address examines what it means to be an educational researcher in the current Australian, and global, political climate. The presentation draws heavily on the work of Levitas (Utopia as Method 2013). The address, using her notions of Utopia as archaeology, as ontology and as architecture, suggests that in the process of promoting a more socially just agenda there is no alternative but to look for alternative ways of doing educational research and being an educational researcher. It concludes by suggesting that associations such as AARE provide opportunities to envisage what academic life could look like for educational researchers in a ‘Realistic Utopia’—one in which they are realistic and demand the impossible

‘Capturing the magic': grassroots perspectives on evaluating open youth work

Youth work’s informal and youth-centred nature raises challenges for evaluation, challenges that are intensified by the growing dominance of measurement, market values and surveillance in the context of the neoliberal restructuring of youth services. This article builds on Griffiths’ (2012, Why Joy in Education Is an Issue for Socially Just Policies. Journal of Education Policy 27 (5): 655–670) philosophical argument for valuing the intrinsic contribution of education, thus conceptualising evaluation as encompassing more than measuring outcomes. It reports the findings of a three-year qualitative study in eight open youth work settings in England that investigated the perspectives of 143 young people, youth workers and policy makers on evaluation in youth work. While young people and youth workers had often participated in evaluations they found meaningful, some approaches to impact measurement were experienced as too formal, intrusive, insensitive and burdensome. The article argues that evaluation and accountability processes must be practice-informed, youth-centred, and anti-oppressive. It recommends the participatory and collaborative development of diverse methods and approaches to evaluation that ‘capture the magic’ of youth work while enabling further reflection and development of practice

The Role of Informal Conversations in Generating Data, and the Ethical and Methodological Issues They Raise

Arguing that the role of informal conversations in qualitative social and educational research methodologies is contested but also relatively neglected, in this article we set out how the method has influenced our research approaches and practice. We use an example of a conversation between one of us and a participant to highlight their nuanced and specific nature, and to raise and interrogate a number of ethical and methodological issues that emerge. We view informal conversations as opportunities to add "context" and "authenticity" to data and argue that they can unlock otherwise missed opportunities to expand and enrich data. We also consider the role of ethical boards and ethical guidelines, and the practical effects and consequences these have for researchers when they use informal conversations during their fieldwork

The Role of Informal Conversations in Generating Data, and the Ethical and Methodological Issues

Ausgehend von dem Argument, dass die Rolle informeller Gespräche in qualitativen Methoden der Sozial- und Bildungsforschung umstritten, aber auch relativ vernachlässigt ist, stellen wir in diesem Artikel dar, wie diese Gespräche unsere Forschungsansätze und -praxis beeinflusst haben. Wir verwenden ein Beispiel aus einer eigenen Studie, um ihre nuancierte und spezifische Natur hervorzuheben und eine Reihe von sich ergebenden ethischen und methodischen Fragen aufzuwerfen und zu hinterfragen. Wir betrachten informelle Gespräche als Möglichkeit, Daten mit "Kontext" und "Authentizität" zu versehen und andernfalls verpasste Möglichkeiten zur Erweiterung und Anreicherung von Daten zu erschließen. Wir berücksichtigen auch die Rolle von Ethikkommissionen und Ethikrichtlinien sowie die praktischen Auswirkungen und Konsequenzen, die diese für Forscher_innen haben, wenn sie während ihrer Feldarbeit informelle Gespräche führen.Arguing that the role of informal conversations in qualitative social and educational research methodologies is contested but also relatively neglected, in this article we set out how the method has influenced our research approaches and practice. We use an example of a conversation between one of us and a participant to highlight their nuanced and specific nature, and to raise and interrogate a number of ethical and methodological issues that emerge. We view informal conversations as opportunities to add "context" and "authenticity" to data and argue that they can unlock otherwise missed opportunities to expand and enrich data. We also consider the role of ethical boards and ethical guidelines, and the practical effects and consequences these have for researchers when they use informal conversations during their fieldwork

Education in the midst of Greece's socio-economic crisis. Is there room for new stories, another way of thinking and a notion of hope?

The current social and economic situation in Greece has contributed to the generation of an increasingly complex society, uncertainty among Greek people, and a sense of the unpredictability of the future. However, it has also revealed new tendencies and possibilities in society. We may succeed in becoming aware of these new tendencies and possibilities if we manage to sidestep the negative implications of the crisis, and try to find room for new stories, another way of thinking, and a notion of hope. It can be argued that the education system is well placed to offer both this new way of thinking and a notion of hope. Despite the vast number of studies that focus on the current crisis in Greece, little is known about the role of teachers and education in addressing some of the devastating consequences of the socio-economic crisis in Greece. My thesis, based on a series of qualitative interviews conducted in October 2014, gives sixteen teachers the opportunity to reflect on their experiences of the impact of the crisis on Greek society and education, and the possibilities for the future. My study concentrates on understanding what is happening now: How did Greek society get to this place? Where does it seem to be going? What might Greek people want to do about this? What role should education play in preparing young people for such a social, cultural and economic transition? What is education and what is its purpose? My study also explores ways through which we can build on the strengths of the present education system in order to create a system better suited to facing the current major societal changes and challenging circumstances. Thus, it goes beyond the limits of an empirical analytic study to explore how things might be different. In doing so, the thesis rejects a stance of despair and instead seeks to articulate a possibility of hope. In periods of great transition, threat and possibility, all of which affect the lives of young people, education systems must develop robust and urgent responses, and prepare students to think more critically and creatively about the future. Through my study, I attempt to convey a positive message, to help educators understand the issues of teaching and learning and the purpose of education itself, and to encourage the generation of practical and hopeful strategies for an alternative and better future

Music therapy in psychiatry/mental health

Nygaard Pedersen offer some perspectives from primarily my personal experiences in clinical practice in mental health with different patient populations spanning 20 years, primarily people suffering from personality disturbances, schizophrenia and depression. These perspectives are illustrated through a case study. Music therapy is a flourishing and vitalising offer in the mental health system