EDUCATION FOR THE GOOD SOCIETY - Support

preserve division and privilege and to narrowthe purposes and functions of education.This contest is much more explicit under theConservative-led Coalition than it was underNew Labour and, in many ways, the challengeshould be welcomed. But it is much more thana struggle for policy; it involves the longer-termtransformation of popular common sense. Herethe task is enormous because neo-liberal ideashave become deeply embedded in cultures andinstitutions, and the Left has not really learnedimportant lessons from wider successful politicalcampaigning (see Chapter 11, ‘Retaking thehigh ground’, by Martin Yarnit). Nevertheless,neo-liberal ideas and policies are also vulnerable,not least because of the looming economic crisisof education and because they cannot adequatelyspeak to the world in which we live and to whichwe aspire.Precisely because this is a battle of ideas,practices and structures, the journey of educationtowards the Good Society will involve confrontingdemanding issues. The greatest difficulty mayarise from the very strength of this new andexpansive vision – its utopianism – and thesense of distance from where we find ourselvespresently. The Good Society concept has to beseen as a general moral guide and compass thathelps us steer through the rapids of difficult deliberationin order to make mature and balanceddecisions. These are just a few of the challengesnow faced by the Labour Party and the widerprogressive movement:• How can individual choice and freedom becombined with the common good? Peoplelike choice, but choice-based systems tendto lead to division. The challenge may be tocreate strong frameworks (organisational andcurricular) within which effective and moreequitable choices can be made. Indeed, howdo we humanise and the system to permit andencourage participation but at the same timestay true to universalist principles?• What needs to be taught and learned in orderto create the basis for wider change? This is along-standing debate, which has resurfacedagain under the Coalition. Can traditionalor difficult subjects, referred to as ‘powerfulknowledge’, be the basis of a curriculum forall, or should low achievers (often studentsfrom working-class backgrounds) experiencea more practical and motivational curriculum?The challenge is to combine both, but this iseasier said than done.• How do we resolve the tension between theeveryday need to learn to earn alongsidethe priority of education being the meansby which we learn to co-operate rather thancompete? How do we protect and extend asocial form of education and its institutionswithin a society that itself its being steadilycommercialised and individualised?• How should policy be made? Both NewLabour and now the Coalition have treatededucation as a political object – what EwartKeep referred to as the ‘playing with thebiggest train set in the world’. 18 Should we beproposing that education decision-makingbe made less political by devolving powersto commissions that include a wide range ofsocial partners and aim to provide a sense ofcontinuity and solidity? And linked to this,how can respect for achievements of the pastbe part of the mission to create a new type ofeducation and society? See Chapter 12 for anelaboration of this argument.To succeed in this contested world, transformativestrategies for education will have to work intandem with wider change in the economy andsociety so that new ideas can be seen to workin practice, becoming embedded in new structuresand cultures and thus become part of anew common sense. These are just some of thechallenges to which we commit ourselves as wecontinue to strive to build the Good Society withand through education.18 Ewart Keep, ‘State control ofthe English VET system: playingwith the biggest trainset in theworld’, Journal of VocationalEducation and Training, 58(1), 2006,pp.47–64.Education for the good society | 13