Steven Jones (University of Manchester, UK), Steven J. Courtney (University of Manchester, UK) and Helen M. Gunter (University of Manchester, UK)
What is the problem? How does the chapter support your thinking about the problem?
The problem addressed by this chapter involves the relationship between marketisation and genetics in education. We draw attention to a specific danger inherent to education systems that regard learning not as a public good but as a commodity to be traded: that of DNA being used to determine one’s place in – and one’s rights to – education. We consider the challenges that genetics-informed policies and cultures raise for education leaders, and we think about how leaders might deal with discourses that position genetics as a ‘solution’ to education challenges. This requires educational leaders to locate leading and leadership in professional knowledge that is about and for research. There is a need to understand the research and evidence base for change, and for professionals to contribute to that through taking a critical approach.
What are other ways to think about this? Where can I go next to follow these up?
Genetics in general
Below are some titles which allow us to understand how the science of genetics is sometimes misrepresented in ways that give credence to ideological views of the world that are dangerous or discredited:
Ball, P. (2018) Who do we think we are? Prospect. November 2018 59-61.
Dorling, D. (2015) G is for Genes. International Journal of Epidemiology. 44 (1), 374-378.
Meloni, M. (2019) Impressionable Biologies. New York, NY: Routledge.
Richardson, K. (2017) Genes, Brains, and Human Potential. New York: Columbia University Press.
Rose, S., Lewontin, R.C. and Kamin, L.J. (1984) Not In Our Genes. London: Penguin.
Bodies, segregation and inequality
Below are some titles which challenge the way bodies are conceptualized, described, categorized, and hence given status or marginalized:
Fine, C. (2010) Delusions of Gender. London: Icon Books.
Green, F. and Kynaston, D. (2019) Engines of Privilege. London: Bloomsbury.
Rivers, C. and Barnett, R.C. (2011) The truth about girls and boys: challenging toxic stereotypes about our children. New York, NY: Colombia University Press.
Rothstein, R. (2017) The Color of Law. New York, NY: Liveright Publishing Corporation.
Rutherford, A. (2020) How to argue with a racist. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Saini, A. (2019) Superior. London: 4th Estate.
Saini, A. (2017) Inferior. London: 4th Estate.
Stock, K. (2021) Material Girls. London: Little, Brown Book Group. (published: 06/05/2021)
Genetics and bodies in education
Below are some titles which allow us to understand how genetic-informed research and the conceptualisation of bodies impacts specifically on education:
Chitty, C. (2007) Eugenics, Race and Intelligence in Education. London: Continuum.
Chitty, C. (2013) The educational legacy of Francis Galton. History of Education 42 (3), 350-364.
Gillborn, D. (2016) Softly, softly: genetics, intelligence and th(2018) New biological rationalities in education. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. 39 (2), 159-168.
Youdell, D. (2016) A biosocial education future? Research in Education 96 (1), 52-61.
Youdell, D. and Lindley, M.R. (2019) Biosocial Education. Abingdon: Routledge.
Leadership in a genetics-informed education policy context
We draw attention here to studies that focus on education as common good rather than an exchangeable commodity, and we consider how leadership can best respond to challenges raised by genetics-informed interventions:
Chapter 2.Critical perspectives in and approaches to educational leadership in England
Chapter 9. Gunter, H.M. and Grimaldi, E. Leading and managing in educational organizations.
Gunter H.M, and Courtney S.J. (2020) A new public educative leadership? Management in Education. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/0892020620942506
Gulson K.N., and Webb P.T. (2017) Emerging Biological Rationalities for Policy: (Molecular) Biopolitics and the New Authorities in Education. In: Parker S., Gulson K., Gale T. (eds) Policy and Inequality in Education. Education Policy & Social Inequality, vol 1. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4039-9_3
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