Making Sense of Mass Education (2^nd Ed.)

Making Sense of Mass Education provides an engaging and accessible analysis of traditional issues associated with mass education. The book challenges preconceptions about social class, gender and ethnicity discrimination; highlights the interplay between technology, media, popular culture and schooling; and inspects the relevance of ethics and philosophy in the modern classroom. This new edition has been comprehensively updated to provide current information regarding literature, statistics and legal policies, and significantly expands on the previous edition's structure of derailing traditional myths about education as a point of discussion. It also features two new chapters on Big Data and Globalisation and what they mean for the Australian classroom. Written for students, practising teachers and academics alike, Making Sense of Mass Education summarises the current educational landscape in Australia and looks at fundamental issues in society as they relate to education.

Introduction; Part I. Re-assessing the Three Pillars: Modern and Postmodern Sociologies of Education: 1. Social class; 2. Gender; 3. Race/ethnicity; Part II. The Foundations of an Alternative Approach: Education and Governance: 4. Governance; 5. Subjectivity; 6. Pre-adulthood; 7. Big data; Part III. Cultural Contexts of Contemporary Education: 8. The media; 9. Popular culture; 10. Technology; 11. Globalisation; Part IV. Philosophy and Mass Education: 12. Philosophy; 13. Ethics and the law; 14. Truth and postcolonialism; Conclusion.

Gordon Tait is Associate Professor in the School of Cultural and Professional Learning at the Queensland University of Technology.