Making Sense of Mass Education

Making Sense of Mass Education provides a contemporary analysis of the ideas and issues that have traditionally dominated education research, challenging outdated preconceptions with fundamental theory and discussion. It takes a demythologising approach in assessing these issues and their relevance to schooling and education in Australia.

This text examines the cultural context of education and the influence of external media and new technologies, and highlights the many forms of discrimination in education, including social class, race and gender. It looks at alternative approaches to education, including the repercussions of gathering data to measure school performance, and considers the intersection of ethics and philosophy in classroom teaching.

The fourth edition expands on these issues with three new chapters: on sexuality, children's rights, and neoliberalism and the marketisation of education. Each chapter challenges and breaks down common myths surrounding these topics, encouraging pre-service teachers to think critically and reflect on their own beliefs.

About the Authors

Gordon Tait, Queensland University of Technology
Gordon Tait is a Professor of Education at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. He researches and teaches in the areas of the sociology and philosophy of education, ethics, legal decision-making, and qualitative research methods.

Nerida Spina, Queensland University of Technology
Nerida Spina researches and teaches at the Queensland University of Technology. Her research interests include educators' work, social justice, equity, education policy and the sociology of numbers. She has a particular interest in using institutional ethnographic research. Her research explores the everyday work of school leaders teachers and pre-service teachers, and the impact of policy on their practices and lives. In examining educators' work, she explores those practices that make a difference to the lives and long-term trajectories of young people and communities, as well as what gets in the way.

Jenna Gillett-Swan, Queensland University of Technology
Jenna Gillett-Swan is a researcher and Associate Professor at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Her work aims to understand and address inequity and threats to wellbeing in students' and teachers' educational experiences through participatory rights-based approaches to educational transformation and school improvement. She works with students, teachers, and leaders across primary, secondary and tertiary education contexts. Jenna is also the co-leader for the Voice and Wellbeing Research Program within the Centre for Inclusive Education.

Peter O'Brien, Queensland University of Technology
Peter O'Brien teaches and researches at the Queensland University of Technology. His research draws on studies of governmentality to explore the exercise of power and freedom in educational policy and practice in contemporary neoliberal polities.