Education for an ethical imagination

In response to the question, 'Education for what?', this article argues the case for an ethical imagination. It begins by illustrating different approaches to ethics - Greek antiquity, Kant s categorical imperative, Levinas's interhuman ethic of care, and Foucauldian genealogy. On the basis ofthis, it suggests that ethics may be understood as a disposition of continual questioning and adjusting of thought and action in relation to notions of human good and how to be and act in relation to others. It then briefly considers education as an ethical activity, and sets out three interrelated axes for an ethics of engagement in education: intellectual rigour, civility and care. Using examples ofcitizenship and statelessness in Australia, it argues that building an ethical imagination is a valuable goal for education.

Desperately seeking the global subject: international education, citizenship and cosmopolitanism

This article takes the case of international education and Australian state schools to argue that the economic, political and cultural changes associated with globalisation do not automatically give rise to globally oriented and supra-territorial forms of subjectivity. The tendency of educational institutions such as schools to privilege narrowly instrumental cultural capital perpetuates and sustains normative national, cultural and ethnic identities. In the absence of concerted efforts on the part of educational institutions to sponsor new forms of global subjectivity, flows and exchanges like those that constitute international education are more likely to produce a neo-liberal variant of global subjectivity.

Fighting, anger, frustration and tears: Matthew's story of hegemonic masculinity

This paper draws on Matthew's story to illustrate the conflicting discourses of being a boy and being a student. Matthew is 12 years old and in Grade Six, his final year at Banrock Primary ( a K- 6 Australian State School). School is far from a happy place for Matthew - his tearful accounts of his combative relationships with his peers and his teacher highlight his emotional distress. The paper's analytic focus draws attention to some of the ways Matthew's harmful storylines of hegemonic masculinity are made possible through, in particular, his teacher's gendered philosophies and her strategies of individualism and control. In this regard, Matthew's story provides insight into the potentially counterproductive realities of teacher practice in relation to addressing issues of masculinity within the school environment. Against this backdrop, the paper stresses the importance of teachers drawing on a sound research-based framework of gender knowledges that can illuminate how masculinities are constructed, regulated and, indeed, transformed through the power relations of everyday social practice, including teacher practice.