Premium
Practical media work and the curriculum of the future
Author(s) -
Watling Rob
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
the curriculum journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.843
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1469-3704
pISSN - 0958-5176
DOI - 10.1080/09585170122296
Subject(s) - curriculum , judgement , context (archaeology) , autonomy , action (physics) , work (physics) , sociology , process (computing) , engineering ethics , epistemology , pedagogy , computer science , political science , law , engineering , mechanical engineering , paleontology , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , biology , operating system
This article considers the current range of contexts and pretexts for practical media work, principally in England. I argue that the current educational context in England requires us to broaden, rather than restrict the role that practical work is given in the curriculum. In particular I argue that practical media work has too often been associated with critical reflection (the ability to read between the lines of media texts) and critical authority (the ability to adopt the formal discourses of appreciation and judgement). It does this at the expense of critical autonomy (the ability to work with others to develop new, sustainable arguments) and critical action (the process of testing and refining these positions by applying them in real social settings). I argue that such a role is compatible with the development of pedagogies relevant to a ‘curriculum for the future’ (Young, 1998) which aims, among other things, to reconceptualize learning as a social, rather than an individual process.