The silent ascendancy of a therapeutic ethos across the education system and into the workplace demands a book that serves as a wake up call to everyone. Kathryn Ecclestone and Dennis Hayes' controversial and compelling book uses a wealth of examples across the education system, from primary schools to university, and the workplace to show how therapeutic education is turning children, young people and adults into anxious and self-preoccupied individuals rather than aspiring, optimistic and resilient learners who want to know everything about the world.The chapters address a variety of thought-provoking themes, including: how therapeutic ideas from popular culture dominate social thought and social policies and offer a diminished view of human potential; how schools undermine parental confidence and authority by fostering dependence and compulsory participation in therapeutic activities based on disclosing emotions to others; how higher education has adopted therapeutic forms of teacher training because many academics have lost faith in the pursuit of knowledge; and, how such developments are propelled by a deluge of political initiatives in areas such as emotional literacy, emotional well-being and the 'soft outcomes' of learning. "The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education" is eye-opening reading for every teacher, student teacher and parent who retains any belief in the power of knowledge to transform people's lives. Its insistent call for a serious public debate about the emotional state of education should also be at the forefront of the minds of every agent of change in society...from parent to policy maker.
| ISBN | 0415397014 | | Pages | 200 | | ISBN13 | 9780415397018
(What's this?) | | Volumes | 1 | | Publisher | Taylor & Francis Ltd | | Weight (grammes) | 318 | | Imprint | Routledge | | Published in | London | | Format | Paperback | | Height (mm) | 234 | | Publication date | 27 Jun 2008 | | Width (mm) | 156 | | Library of Congress | 2007050914 | | Spine width (mm) | 15 | | DEWEY | 370.15 | | Academic level | Professional / Scholarly, Postgraduate | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | |
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| 1 | | In an emotional state | | 1 |
| 2 | | The therapeutic primary school | | 24 |
| 3 | | The therapeutic secondary school | | 46 |
| 4 | | The therapeutic further education college | | 65 |
| 5 | | The therapeutic university | | 86 |
| 6 | | The therapeutic workplace | | 105 |
| 7 | | Explaining the emotional state | | 122 |
| 8 | | The therapeutic turn in education: a response to our critics | | 145 |
| | | Bibliography | | 165 |
| | | Index | | 176 |
Lets get rid of the curriculum of the self!
Clearly, it took a lot of courage to write a book like this when one reads through it and can imagine what fellow tutors might feel who do not necessarily share your own point of view in the educational world.
So what is this therapeutic education?-
Therapy was once regarded as a cure or treatment for people who were disturbed or troubled or mentally ill.
The authors show a political evolution from ideas about conferring esteem on a vulnerable public to the more active promotion of the means to be happy, and they summarise how their arguments have led to a new role for education.
For me, this book then became a critique of what the New Labour government has done to the UK with its policies embracing therapy in all its guises since 1997. I agree with most of what Ecclestone & Hayes have written, having viewed the effects of therapeutic education directly in further education colleges and at university (chapters 4 and 5) as a teacher in recent years and as Counsel in the courts.
Many readers of this book will know that it is no secret that much of what we teach today does not meet the requirements of our society and, frankly, much of the blame can be laid at the feet of this therapeutic education experiment which has failed with serious consequences for society. That is the strength of this book.
I liked the best bit of the conclusion when they say that therapeutic education is social engineering of the feeble, passive subject on an unprecedented scale.
The final problem to consider, then, is what have we produced here with the learners? The presumption is that most learners are damaged in some way- it is rubbish to make such sweeping generalisations on damage which the therapeutic educator has done to turn education upside down.
The balance needs to be redressed - the saddest thing of all is we produce people who cannot read and write properly, but have a dangerously high ego which is of no value to employers, or ultimately to society which could become broken if remedial action is not taken soon.
Watching the news, I reflected on the effects of this experiment with the incidents of violence on the streets, serious challenging behaviour, and, that by changing the subject what is actually damaged is society itself because that subject has been changed. However, it is not too late, to revert to established techniques which returns therapy to its rightful place.
I very much hope, after 2010, with our next newish baby boom, that the education balance can be redressed and we get away from the dominance of popular culture on social thought to expand and not diminish human potential and put therapy policy in the limitation box where it belongs. We should be very grateful, and thank Professors Ecclestone and Hayes for having the guts to stand up and be counted on this issue- more power to them!
Phillip Taylor MBE, Ri -
PHILLIP TAYLOR MBE, Barrister-at-Law
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