The document provides information about an upcoming course on contemporary and critical studies, including its structure and aims. It outlines the session topics, such as the purpose of education, assessment, and technology. It also discusses critical thinking, forms of knowledge, conceptions of criticality, and expectations for academic writing and reading at the master's level. The course aims to help students think critically about education and develop theoretical and analytical skills through exploring current issues.

1. Contemporary
and Critical Studies
Paul Hopkins and Andy Holmes
Room LT29, Wilberforce
p.hopkins@hull.ac.uk
a.g.holmes@hull.ac.ukSession 1: September 21st, 2020

3. This evening
17:00 - 17:20
Reflections / Observations on the key paper /
introductions
17:20 - 18:30
Presentation on the course, aims, ideas and
assignments
18:30 - 18:45 Coffee / Comfort Break
18:45 - 19:30 Group activities / Micro-Presentations / Discussion
19:30 - 19:50 Synopsis and questions
80

4. https://padlet.com/p_hopkins/CCI_20
21

6. Aims
• To introduce the course and the
assignments
• To introduce the nature of critical
thinking and critical issues
• To introduce the idea of writing and
reading at M level

7. Introduction: The Course
What are your questions
about the module?

8. Go to www.menti.com
and use the shared code

9. Adjective: Having or showing very great skill or proficiency.
Verb: 1. Acquire complete knowledge or skill in (a subject, technique, or art).
2. Gain control of; overcome
Noun: A skilled practitioner of a particular art of study

12. To help you to consider the complexity of education
in a systematic way, providing you with a general
foundation for your specialist postgraduate study. It
will introduce you to current issues in education both
locally and globally, so that you can develop a
greater understanding of some of those issues,
exploring them further in your more specialist
modules.

13. To help you to consider the complexity of education
in a systematic way, providing you with a general
foundation for your specialist postgraduate study. It
will introduce you to current issues in education
both locally and globally, so that you can develop a
greater understanding of some of those issues,
exploring them further in your more specialist
modules.

15. Objectives of the course
• to explore the nature of education with opportunities for
more in-depth study in areas of personal interest;
• develop theoretical, methodological and analytical skills, to
critique current theories and ideas of education;
• enable reflective learning to consolidate, synthesise and
refine your knowledge, understanding, and research
• discuss education (curriculum, pedagogy, assessment)
and its wider social, cultural and political contexts,
including the role of education in tackling (and/or
reproducing) inequalities

16. Learning Outcomes
1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of
educational theories and theorists;
2. Develop an argument with respect to educational value
and to conduct these discussions in an effective
manner;
3. Analyse, synthesise and critically evaluate the nature
of education drawing upon different disciplines,
theories, socio-economic and political issues;
4. Reflect critically upon and present your own
understanding and application of a key aspect of
education studies.

17. Critical Issues
Introduction: The Course

19. Critical
decision, choice, discernment,
evidence, judgement

24. Oxford English Dictionary
(a) a detailed analysis and assessment
of something, especially a literary,
philosophical, or political theory.
(b) evaluate (a theory or practice) in a
detailed and analytical way.

33. Reflection Point 1
Go to www.menti.com
and use the shared code

34. What process of
criticality would you
want to bring to
bear on the
following
statements?

35. “30% of children
leave primary
school unable to
read or write”
Nick Gibb, Minister for Schools,
England
“Wearing a school
uniform is essential
for discipline and
achievement in
schools”
Micheal Wilmshaw, Ex-Head Ofsted

36. “you cannot solve
education’s problems
until you solve
society’s problems”
Pasi Salhberg, Ex-Minister for
Education, Finland
“Class is more than
money. Class is also
about knowledge”
bell hooks - US Academic

37. “Don’t tell them how to do it.
Show them how to do it and
not say a word. If you tell them
they will watch your lips move.
If you show them they will want
to do it themselves”
Maria Montessori - early years
education pioneer
“Cognitive load theory
is the single most
important thing for
teachers to know”
Dylan Wiliam - US academic

41. Forms of Knowledge

42. Types of Knowledge I - where does it come from?
1. A Priori: “from before” depends upon what a person
can derive from the world without needing to
experience it also known as reasoning. A degree of
knowledge is needed for a priori knowledge to take
place.
https://blog.udemy.com/types-of-knowledge/
Philosophically A priori knowledge is superior to a posteriori
2. A Posteriori: “from what comes after” knowledge
gained from having an experience (using the senses
[enhanced] and using inductive reasoning to gain
knowledge. This is also sometimes called empirical
knowledge. Can be falsified.
logic: A cod is a fish, all
fish live in the sea, so all
cod live in the sea.
language: all bachelors
are unmarried.
observation: It is currently
raining outside my house.
argument: an asteroid impact
causes climate issues leading
to species extinction.

43. Types of Knowledge II (Polanyi, 1966) - how is it ‘stored’?
https://blog.udemy.com/types-of-knowledge/
Explicit = easy to transfer. Tacit = difficult to transfer.
3. Explicit: Knowledge that is recorded and communicated
via media - it is our libraries and databases - all
domains have their explicit knowledge; explicit
knowledge can be easily transferred from one to
another.
4. Tacit: Knowledge that acquired via experience - the
ability to play a musical instrument cannot be learned
via explicit knowledge.

44. Types of Knowledge III - how is it used?
https://blog.udemy.com/types-of-knowledge/
5. Declarative: knowledge of something, as opposed to
knowledge of how to do something. e.g. that J is the 10th
letter of the alphabet, the equation ax2 + bx + c = 0. They
key idea is that you know something is true (for a given
definition of truth)
6. Procedural: Knowledge that can be used, knowledge of
how to do something - ride a bike, for example. We may
not be able to explain how we do it. This procedural
knowledge often sits within copyright of patent. This is
also sometimes called a skill.

45. Types of Knowledge IV - an evolutionary perspective
An example is the difference between speaking (BPK) and writing (BSK)
Geary, D. C. (2008). An evolutionary informed education science. Educational Psychologist, 43, 179-195
7. Biological Primary: knowledge that we have evolved to
acquire - Acquiring biologically primary knowledge is
usually unconscious, effortless and rapid – even when
the knowledge to be learnt is complex.
8. Biological Secondary: knowledge that is the product of
our cultural inheritance - acquiring biologically
secondary knowledge is conscious, effortful and slow –
with complex material severely impeding a learner’s
ability to acquire knowledge.

46. Reflection Point 2
Go to www.menti.com
and use the shared code

47. Conceptions of criticality
i) critical dogmatism
ii) transcendental critique
iii) deconstruction

49. Often associated with KantSOURCE: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendental-arguments

50. Deconstruction is philosopher Jacques Derrida's critique of the
relationship between text and meaning. Derrida's approach consists in
conducting readings of texts with an ear to what runs counter to the
structural unity or intended sense of a particular text. The purpose is to
expose that the object of language, and that which any text is founded
upon, is irreducibly complex, unstable, or impossible. Throughout his
readings, Derrida hoped to show deconstruction at work, i.e., the ways
that this is originally complexity—which by definition cannot ever be
completely known—works its structuring and destructuring effects.

51. I can’t help but dream of the kind of criticism
that would try not to judge but to bring an
oeuvre, a book, a sentence, an idea to life; it
would light fires, watch grass grow, listen to
the wind, and catch the sea foam in the breeze
and scatter it. It would multiply not
judgements but signs of existence; it would
summon them, drag them from their sleep,
Foucault 1997

52. Reflection Point 3
Go to www.menti.com
and use the shared code

53. Hello
Hi
Over
here!
Me
too

54. Writing at M level some thoughts

55. “
”
Reading for pleasure Academic Reading
You can choose what you are going to read.
You are given something to read or an area of reading is
recommend and you have found materials in this area.
It’s up to you what kinds of text you choose and why you
choose them - and the ‘quality’
The things that you are going to read have to be of ‘good’
quality from trusted or approved sources.
You don’t have to think about what you are choosing if
you do not want to
You have to analyse, evaluate, compare and reflect on the
value of the sources you are reading and think about what it
is possible to say about them.
You can choose to read when and where you like.
You will often have to read for the purposes of producing
particular types of knowledge, in particular ways, for
particular audiences.
You could choose to read the same kind of things day in
and day out (and reread the same things)
You will have to be able to work with a range of different
sources in order to produce particular types of knowledge.

57. How to write critically
Academic Phrasebook Manchester
http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/being-critical/

58. The structure of the course
and the assignments

59. S1 (21 Sept) - Introduction (PH)
S2 (28 Sept) - Purpose of Education (PH)
S3 (5 Oct) - Assessment (AH)
S4 (12 Oct) -Technology (PH)
S5 (19 Oct) - Curriculum
S6 (w/o 26 Oct) - Drop-in Tutorials [HT]
S7 (2 Nov) - Class, Bias and Privilege (PH)
S8 (9 Nov) - Positionality & Practice (AH/PH)
S9 (16 Nov) - Plagiarism (AH)
S10 (23 Nov) - Evidence & “What Works” (PH)
S11 (30 Nov/1Dec) - Drop-in Tutorials [Optional]

60. The Sessions (structure)
17:30 - 18:45 Presentation on the themes of the week - lecture and Qs
18:45 - 19:00 Drink / Comfort Break
19:30 - 19:50 Synopsis and core thoughts (possible presentation by group)
17:00 - 17:30 Reflections / Observations on the key readings - discussion
19:00 - 19:30 Discussion in small groups (to be arranged this week)
Pre-Reading 1-3 papers [should take about an hour]
Before
Session

61. How will you be assessed?
Part B - Video
[3000 words equivalent]
Part A - Critical Blog
[~3000 words]

62. How will you be assessed?
Part A - Critical Blog
The blog will be a series critical reflections
on three of the papers you are asked to read
for the pre-reading. Each of these will be
assessed and comments will be made by
one of your tutors before the next one is
submitted.

63. Keeping a blog …
You can choose
your own blog tool.

64. The Blogging - Feedback - Responding Cycle
Blog #1
Choose one of
the papers from
Weeks 1-3
Feedback #1
Feedback on
your work will
come from one
of the tutors
Blog #2
Taking on board
the feedback
from Blog #1 in
writing Blog #2
Submission is a short reflection (500 words) and links to the blog entry -
December 18th (14:00)

65. Part B: Video
Make a narrated presentation
(with ‘slides’), [<= 10 mins]
Make a short film [<= 10
mins].

66. The Video constituent parts
Part #1
An overview of
a key person.
Part #2
A critical
exposition of
their key
idea(s).
Part #3
Key proponents
and critics.
Submission is the completed video by December 11th (14:00)

67. CURRICULUM INCLUSION POWER
TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP PLAY
KNOWLEDGE ASSESSMENT TESTING
CHILDHOOD TRANSITION CLASS
PURPOSE PEDAGOGY ????

68. Example #1 - Inclusion Pathway
Part #3
Explorations of the
criticisms of cultural
capitals (e.g. on
groups of
simplicity) on its
focus on certain
capitals (high
capital) or on
determinism.
Part #2
A critical analysis of
the ideas of cultural
capital and the
notion of habitus:
the physical
embodiment of
cultural capital, to
the deeply ingrained
habits, skills, and
dispositions that we
possess due to our
life experiences.
Part #1
A critical analysis
of Pierre Bourdieu
and his position in
educational history
and his place in the
framework of ideas.

69. Part #3
The empirical
limitations of
digital native
theory and White
and Le Cornu’s
idea of Visitors and
Residents.
Part #2
A exploration of the
idea of ‘digital
natives’ and ‘digital
literacy’ and what
this means.
Part #1
An critical
exploration of the
work of Marc
Prensky and the
nature of
technology in
educational
thinking.
Example #2 - Technology Pathway

70. Remember …
Rooted in
the wider
literature
A critical
exploration of the
issues
i.e.
- truth claims
- methodology
- argument
- empirical claims
- wider criticisms
- gaps in research
A
structured
argument

71. Exploring and Sharing …

72. Go to www.menti.com
and use the shared code

73. Rooted in the literature
A well constructed argument
A critical exploration
truth claims methodology argument
data
empirical claimsgaps