Summary
Contents
About the SeriesThe SAGE Key Concepts series provides students with accessible and authoritative knowledge of the essential topics in a variety of disciplines. Cross-referenced throughout, the format encourages critical evaluation through understanding. Written by experienced and respected academics, the books are indispensable study aids and guides to comprehension.Key Concepts in Education provides students with over 100 essential themes, topics and expressions that Education students are likely to encounter, both during their courses and beyond in professional practice. Co-authored to draw on experiences of working within academia, local authorities and the classroom, the entries provide:a definition of the concepta description of the historical and practical contextan explanation of how the concept is appliedan evaluation of the concepthelpful references and suggested further readingThis book will be essential reading for students of Education, and an invaluable reference tool for their professional careers. About the AuthorsFred Inglis is Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies, University of Sheffield. Lesley Aers is a senior member of a local authority school improvement service and an Ofsted inspector. Both authors are former schoolteachers.
Autonomy
Autonomy
Even if the word itself is not used, the concept is high on the list of the qualities which an education hopes to bestow upon its pupils. Autonomy translates into its two Greek components as ‘the self’ plus ‘the law’, and is counterposed to heteronomy which comes from ‘others’ plus ‘law’. In other words, autonomy is that quality shown by someone who is self-possessed, self-controlled, self-propelling, self-reliant, all of them properties of a free individual as we hope they will emerge from our schools.
Once we start free-associating in this way, it is an easy matter to group beside autonomy other such values as responsibility, alongside the special emphasis given to the adjective ‘personal’ in our ethics (as in personal choice or personal values). This ...