Abstracts
Abstract
In recent decades, the pursuit of excellence, broadly defined as high educational achievement, has shaped the education systems and the research agendas of many countries across the world. Schools have been encouraged to provide a world-class quality education, with an emphasis on outstanding performance for some students, alongside a general improvement of outcomes for all. Educational excellence is however a very debated ideal. Given the complexities of defining ‘excellence,’ questions arise about its precise meaning in relation to achievement but also, and importantly, about its significance for education. This paper examines excellence as an ideal for education policy and the reasons for pursuing it. It suggests that educational excellence ought to be conceived in ways that are conducive to a general aim of well-being for all, in various abilities that lead to valuable pursuits, with due consideration of the importance of high achievement in relation to individuals’ specific aptitudes.
Appendices
Bibliography
- Academies Commission (2013). Unleashing greatness: Getting the best from an academised system. The Report of the Academies Commission. RSA/Pearson
- Allen, D. (2016). Education and equality. The University of Chicago Press.
- Biesta, G.J.J. (2020). Perfect education, but not for everyone: On society’s need for inequality and the rise of surrogate education. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 1, 8–14.
- Brighouse, H. (2010). Educational equality and school reform. In G. Haydon (Ed.), Educational equality (15-70). Continuum.
- Brighouse, H., Ladd, H., Loeb, S., and Swift, A. (2018). Educational goods. Values, evidence, and decision making. University of Chicago Press.
- Cooper, D. (1980). Illusions of equality. Routledge and Kegan Paul.
- D’Agnese, V. (2017). Reclaiming education in the age of PISA. Challenging OECD’s educational order. Routledge.
- DfEE (2007). Excellence in Schools. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
- DfEE (1997). Excellence for all children: Meeting special educational needs. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
- DfEE (1999). Excellence in cities. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
- DfE (2016). Educational excellence everywhere. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
- Duru-Bellatt, M. and Mingat, A. (2011) Measuring excellence and equity in education. Conceptual and methodological issues. In Van den Branden, K. Avermaet, P. and Van Houtte, M. (Eds.), Equity and excellence in education. (pp. 21-38). Routledge.
- Duke, D. (1985). What is the nature of educational excellence and should we try to measure it? Phi Delta Kappa International, 66(10), 671-681.
- Fishkin, J. (2016) Bottlenecks. A new theory of equal opportunity. Oxford University Press.
- Gardner, J. (1961). Can we be equal and excellent too? Harper & Row.
- Gillies, D. (2007). Excellence and education: Rhetoric and reality. Education, Knowledge & Economy, 1(1), 19-35.
- Gillies, D. (2008) Quality and equality: The mask of discursive conflation in education policy texts. Journal of Education Policy, 23(6), 685–699
- Guskey, TR. (2013). Defining student achievement. In J. Hattie & Anderman, E.M. (eds.), International Guide to Student Achievement. Routledge
- Hurka, T. (1993). Perfectionism. Oxford University Press.
- Merry. M.S. (2004) Educational Justice and the Gifted. Theory and Research in Education, 6(1), 47–70. ISSN 1477-8785 DOI: 10.1177/1477878507086730
- Nussbaum, (2009). Education for profit, education for freedom. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ861161.pdf
- Nozick, R. (2001). Anarchy, state and utopia. Wiley-Blackwell. (Original Work Published 1976).
- OECD, (2012). PISA 2012 results: Excellence through equity. Giving every student the chance to succeed. Vol 2. OECD Publishing.
- OECD, (2015). PISA 2015 results: Excellence and equity in education. OECD Publishing.
- OECD, (2019). PISA 2018 Results. What Students Know and Can Do. Vol I. OECD Publishing
- Oxford Dictionary of Etymology (1966). Oxford University Press.
- Satz, D. (2007). Equality, adequacy, and education for citizenship. Ethics, 117(4), 623–648.
- Scanlon, T. M. (2018). Why does inequality matter? Oxford University Press.
- Sypnowich, C. (2017). Equality renewed: Justice, flourishing and the egalitarian ideal. Routledge.
- Strauss, J. (2020, February 27). Katherine Johnson: Pioneering NASA mathematician. Space.https://www.space.com/katherine-johnson.html
- Strike, K. A. (1985). Is there a conflict between equity and excellence? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 7(4), pp. 409–416.
- Swift, A. and Stemplowska, S. (2012). Ideal and nonideal theory. In D. Estlund (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of political philosophy (pp. 373-390). Oxford University Press.
- Taylor, P. (2020). Ofqual and the algorithm. London Review of Books, 42(17). https://www-lrb-co-uk.roe.idm.oclc.org/the-paper/v42/n17/paul-taylor/short-cuts (Accessed Sept 2020)
- OECD and Pisa tests are damaging education worldwide – academics. (2014, May 6). The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/oecd-pisa-tests-damaging-education-academics
- Van den Branden, K., Avermaet, P.V., Van Houtte, M. (Eds.). (2011). Equity and excellence in education: Towards maximum learning opportunities for all students. Routledge.
- Winstanley, C. (2006). Inequity in equity. Tackling the excellence-equity conundrum. In C. Smith (Ed.), Including the gifted and talented. Making inclusion work for more gifted and able learners (pp. 21–39). Routledge.
- Urban, W., Jennings, L., and Wagoner, J. (2014). American education: A history. (5th Edition). Routledge.
- U.S. National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1983). A nation at risk. Washington, U.S. Department of Education.
- U.S. Department of Education. (2020). White House Initiative on Educational excellence for African Americans. US Department for Education. https://sites.ed.gov/whieeaa/
- U.S. Department for Education. (2015). White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. US Department for Education, http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/list/hispanic-initiative/index.html