Suchergebnisse

This chapter sets out an analysis of the assumptions underlying the new educational settlement (Grace, 1990). In particular, it analyses the patriarchal nature of the "world view" and practices of that settlement guiding model, that is a free market and its endorsement of what I have termed the concept of rational market man. The intellectual paucity of neo-liberalism free market ideologies and possessive individualism which have guided and legitimated educational change are starkly revealed when a gender analysis is applied to them. This chapter examines a few of the multitude of different "realities" through which women live out their lives in a gendered and unequal society. Such realities are closely related to educational provision and yet they can never be taken account of (and never resourced) in educational policy and planning as long as the hegemony of market models is retained.

Four years ago when I began as an Assistant Lecturer teaching a paper called Women and Education at Massey University, the concerns of an emerging "sociology of women's education in Aotearoa" seemed more immediate and clearer than they do now. Now, as we realise the full magnitude of Labour's betrayal which National has exacerbated in their quest for the "decent society", the project for the sociology of women's education seems more urgent, confused and contradictory than ever. Many of the earlier struggles have been overcome, while many continue. Now there is a need to understand and challenge current educational policy initiatives and their implications for girls and women, within the context of the massive challenges to the hegemony of social democratic liberalism. These challenges have meant that the disjunctions between theory, policy and practices have widened rather than contracted.

In recent years a significant amount of the literature in the field of librarianship has focused on providing greater access to library facilities to clients with disabilities. There has been constructive debate about accessible buildings, ergonomic design of library facilities, and assistive technologies; but, what of individual people with disabilities who wish to work in libraries? Does the concern for accessibility extend to their employment in the library workplace? What is happening in Irish academic libraries to accommodate them in their employment and achieve equality of opportunities?

Education Policy provides an international perspective on education policy, and of the role and function of education in the global economy. It covers the major topics of central significance in education and the sociology of education. At the same time it maintains a unique position in respect to globalization, education and the nation state