Educational Futures: Dominant and Contesting Visions (Book Info, 2005)

Authored by Ivana Milojević
Routledge, London and New York
August 2005

“There is no doubt that this is a valuable contribution to knowledge. It is substantive, original, painstakingly researched and wide-ranging book that covers a number of very broad areas. It is, however, well structured and a pleasure to read. It is clearly and convincingly written, with an enviable lightness of touch. The ideas it contains should be considered in depth and then acted upon by educators across the board.”
Professor Richard Slaughter, Director of Foresight International, Brisbane and former World Futures Studies Federation President.

“It is original and groundbreaking [and] will certainly be of interest to academics, students and the general reader. Not only does Milojevic make a significant contribution to the fields of education and futures studies, she also does feminist and postcolonial theory a great service by exposing the western and male bias reflected in our dominant visions of the future. Most importantly, she shifts from critique to construct by charting those horizons that come into view as we begin to consider the possibility of gender equitable and culturally inclusive futures.”
Dr Julie Matthews, The University of the Sunshine Coast.

“This is a most interesting and multifaceted investigation into the key discourses, hegemonic and alternative, that underpin a range of possible futures for education. It makes highly original contribution to the field of futures studies and to knowledge in a number of allied fields.”
Professor  David Hicks, Centre for Global and Futures Education, Bath Spa University, UK.

EDUCATIONAL FUTURES provides an overview and analysis of current tensions, debates and key issues within OECD nations, particularly Australia, the USA, Canada, Aotearoa/New Zealand and the UK, with regard to where education is and should be going. Using a broad historical analysis, this book investigates ideas and vision about the future that are increasingly evoked to support arguments about the imminent demise of the dominant ‘modern’ educational model.

The text focuses on neither prediction nor prescription; rather the goal is an analysis of the ways in which the notion of the future circulates in contemporary discourse. Five specific discourses are explored:

1 Globalization
2 New information and communications technologies
3 Feminist
4 Indigenous
5 Spiritual

The book demonstrates the connections between particular approaches to time, visions of the future, and educational visions and practices. The author asserts that every approach to educational change is inherently based on an underlying image of the future.

This fascinating exploration of futures education will be of interest to academics and students of Futures Education, members of futures organizations and academics interested in educational change throughout the world.
~
Table of Contents
List of figures ix
List of tables x
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction 1 (14)

PART I Historical futures discourses in education 15 (46)
1. Future, time and education: contexts and connections 17 (13)
2. Using time and the future to colonize and educate the other 30 (15)
3. Turn of the spiral: alternative histories 45 (16)

PART II Destabilizing dominant narratives 61 (66)
4. The colonization of the future 63 (10)
5. Visions I: globalization 73 (15)
6. Visions II: cyberia; the information age 88 (20)
7. Contextualizing global dreams and nightmares 108 (19)

PART III Searching for social and educational alternatives 127 (92)
8. Visions III: feminist alternatives 131 (29)
9. Visions IV: indigenous alternatives 160 (28)
10. Visions V: spiritual alternatives 188 (31)
PART IV Towards educational eutopias and heterotopias 219 (39)
11. Postmodern visions, costs and multi-temporalities 221 (24)
12. Epistemic change and the transformation of education 245 (13)
Notes 258 (5)
Bibliography 263 (26)
Index 289

Purchase via Routledge or Amazon