Some criminal (if not yet criminalised) misapplications of “science”, logic, and power

Professor John Raven’s latest paper published last month is well worth reading:

Some criminal (if not yet criminalised) misapplications of “science”, logic, and power, illustrated from the field of early childhood education

From pages 5/6:

“How does it come about that concern with human dignity and well-being has been so widely corrupted into mandatory requirements to do certain things regardless of what the individual in question might choose to do? How does it come about that a right to education has been corrupted into a mandatory requirement to attend school, however unsatisfactory that schooling may be? How does it come about that a right to a happy home life has been corrupted into a duty for parents to conform to a long list of bureaucratic specifications enforced by state-appointed guardians?”

“The process thus results in research which may be said to have been “designed” to get results which support government perceptions and policies rather than the kinds of open-ended research which might offer a basis for alternative policies. Although the results of such research are presented as contributing to evidence-based policy, they are thus best characterised as contributing to policy-based evidence”

See also Gap? What Gap?

Websites for reference: 
Eye on Society
Professor John Raven

 

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