Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book gives a brief background to the educational theory-practice debate in order to show that the problems with liberalism were inherent in the way in which it was interpreted by certain educational philosophers in the 60s, namely that it was interpreted in an empiricist way. It argues that this interpretation became entrenched within the institutional arrangements for theorizing about education and that this entrenchment has not been disturbed very much to date. The book adapts Jurgen Habermas's notion of an 'ideal consensus' in order to explain how theorizing can be something other than a pragmatic response to immediate problems. It concludes that attempts to show how the objectivism of market-managerialism might be challenged. The book suggests that it is helpful to distinguish between a (theoretical) search for coherence across a wide range of endeavours and a more limited (practical) search.