Ideology, Discourse, and School Reform

(Hardback)

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Leonardo introduces an integrated theory of ideology that examines its necessary, negative, and positive functions. A three-dimensional theory highlights the concept of ideology during the reform process and links it to domination. Through an ideological critique of reform language, the book provides insights into domination and ways to counteract it. The movement for educational change lacks a concerted engagement with ideology with respect to school reform. Ideology is a central, structuring concept in education, especially regarding the intractable problem of domination. Race, class, and gender inequalities have become dilemmas that plague many students' chances for academic success, let alone the good life. In addition to constructing ideology as a form of distortion, the book considers it as a necessary mechanism for teachers as they make meaning of their daily experiences as well as a positive force for teachers who combat relations of domination. This work introduces an integrated theory of ideology that examines its necessary, negative, and positive functions. A three-dimensional theory highlights the concept of ideology during the reform process and links it to educational and social inequality. This work looks at the rhetoric of education reform and ways to counteract it so that the goal of educational equality will be possible for all.

Reviews

"Provides us with a sophisticated theory of ideology--a three-dimensional account that considers ideology as a symbolic system, as distortion, and as a utopia. This in itself is a major contribution to our understanding. Leonardo goes further to use his theory in the context of school renewal to understand relations of domination. Ideology, Discourse and School Reform is an important book that advances our understanding of how participants in educational change use discourses to construct their own meanings of school reform. In this way it analyses ideology at work. Leonardo's book is a scholarly book that will enlighten its readers to the central importance of language and discourse in education. Ideology critique is not dead!"-Michael A. Peters Research Professor, University of Glasgow
"Zeus Leonardo has emerged as one of the leading voices on the left of a new generation of critical scholars. His recent book, a lively and innovative exploration of ideology as language in practice, forcefully challenges the ontology of power within the dominant culture of educational criticism. Revealing how the language of educational reform is a form of ideological production, Leonardo establishes a new basis for advancing a critical philosophy of praxis. This book will make a significant contribution to the critical literature on school reform."-Peter McLaren Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
"Zeus Leonardo makes a striking argument related to contemporary policy discourses about reform in education. Reform, he maintains is a discourse not about educational change but about its obverse--containment, particularly the containment of society's poor, and minorities. Leonardo writes about difficult issues with wonderful lucidity and sophistication."-Cameron McCarthy Research Professor & University Scholar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"Zues Leonardo has written a complex, critically informative, and challenging text that not only is of value to the individual reader concerned with the problematic state of the majority or our nation's schools but also surely of great worth to students in courses in education both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as the book can be accessed and read from a multiplicity of depths and perspectives....I highly recommend the book as a text for courses on school reform educational discourse, and educational issues in general....Leonardo's astute analysis of the ongoing exchanges between participants in the Inquiry sessions providees critical insight into the ideological underpinnings of educational practices and discourse....[t]he insights are of value to all who are interested in changing schools, no matter the context. Countering injustice necessitates acquiring a discourse of critique and possibility. Inquiry is a step in the right direction, as is reading Zeus Leonardo's excellent book."-American Journal of Education
Recommended. Graduate and research collections.-Choice
Zues Leonardo has written a complex, critically informative, and challenging text that not only is of value to the individual reader concerned with the problematic state of the majority or our nation's schools but also surely of great worth to students in courses in education both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as the book can be accessed and read from a multiplicity of depths and perspectives....I highly recommend the book as a text for courses on school reform educational discourse, and educational issues in general....Leonardo's astute analysis of the ongoing exchanges between participants in the Inquiry sessions providees critical insight into the ideological underpinnings of educational practices and discourse....[t]he insights are of value to all who are interested in changing schools, no matter the context. Countering injustice necessitates acquiring a discourse of critique and possibility. Inquiry is a step in the right direction, as is reading Zeus Leonardo's excellent book.-American Journal of Education
Recommended. Graduate and research collections.Choice
"Recommended. Graduate and research collections."-Choice

Author Bio

ZEUS LEONARDO is currently Assistant Professor of Education at California State University, Long Beach.