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INTRODUCTION
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common theme that often underlies youth policy is the
notion of “futurity”. This means the valuing
of young people for what they will become rather than
the person they are now. Instead of viewing young people
as legitimate and valuable members of society now, policy
often considers young people as “citizens in training”.
Like the hungry caterpillar, students are fed “knowledge”
in order to blossom into future valuable and active members
of society. |
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This
view can frustrate young people who strive to be involved
in the policy-making process.
The
sorts of policies that governments and schools make are ingrained
in the aims and values that those bodies have. For example,
one educational writer David Labaree states that there are
three major aims/goals of education. Each of these goals is
dictated by certain values, which are in opposition to one
another. Policy decisions made within your school depend on
which of these values your school aligns itself with.
The
three goals of education are as follows:
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Democratic equality: views education as a means to prepare
students to become active citizens
and tries to overcome disadvantages in society.
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Social efficiency: gears education towards preparing students
to fit into a niche in the workforce. In other words, education
for the economy.
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Social mobility: aims to equip individual students to better
their position in society.
However,
each of these goals talks about you, the student, in relation
to society rather than valuing you as a student.
Schools
and other educational bodies have choices about how they treat
you. These choices determine how you can be involved in policy-making.
For example, some bodies might see you as their ‘client’
or ‘consumer’ and consult with you to find out
how to offer better services to you (but ultimately, they
make the decisions). Other bodies might want to involve some
students, or ‘tomorrow’s leader’s’,
in training and decision-making. Other bodies again might,
however, recognise that we’re ALL citizens who have
the right to be involved in decision-making, and then build
that into their everyday educational processes.
Values
in policy-making
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