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This controversial book challenges half a century of conventional wisdom. ´The Progressive Education Fallacy in Developing Countries: In Favour of Formalism´ argues that progressive teacher education and curriculum reforms in developing countries are wrong in principle and widespread failures in practice. Rather, formalistic pedagogy is appropriate in many cultures. The book is essential reading for academics, aid and educational professionals, and overseas education students.

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This book provides a provocative but carefully argued addition to the theory and practice of education in developing countries. The book provides an ethical and empirical justification for support of formalistic teaching in primary and secondary schools in developing countries. It also refutes the application of progressive education principles to curriculum and pre- and in-service teacher education in such contexts. The central focus of this book is the formalistic teaching prevalent in the classrooms of many developing countries. Formalistic (´teacher-centred´, ´traditional´, ´didactic´, ´pedagogic´) teaching is appropriate in the many countries with revelatory epistemologies, unpopular and old-fashioned though these methods may seem in some western, especially Anglophone, ones. Formalism has been the object of many failed progressive curriculum and teacher education reforms in developing countries for some 50 years.

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FOREWORD.- References.- PREFACE.- References.- Educational Bibliography.- SECTION 1: OLD CONJECTURES. - CHAPTER 1: THE PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION FALLACY.- CHAPTER 2: FORMALISM IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. - CHAPTER 3: STAGES OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT?.- CHAPTER 4: TEACHER RESISTANCE TO CHANGE.- CHAPTER 5 CLASSROOM TEACHING AND SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS.- SECTION 2: REFUTATIONS.- CHAPTER 6 FORMALISTIC SCHOOLING SYSTEM IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA.- CHAPTER 7: FAILURE OF PROGRESSIVE REFORMS IN PNG.- CHAPTER 8: CULTURAL CONTINUITIES AND FORMALISM IN PNG.- CHAPTER 9: FORMALISTIC TRADITIONS IN CHINA.- SECTION 3: NEW CONJECTURES. - CHAPTER 10: EDUCATION IN CULTURAL CONTEXTS.- CHAPTER 11: GROUNDED EDUCATIONAL CHOICES.- CHAPTER 12: IN FAVOUR OF FORMALISM.- INDEX.

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"Gerard Guthrie makes a significant , if challenging and controversial, contribution to the international literature on education and development"

Michael Crossley, University of Bristol, UK

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Dr Gerard Guthrie is an educationalist with 40 years experience. His career has had two main parts. As an academic, he has been a staff member of four universities in Australia and Papua New Guinea, including as Foundation Professsor of Education at the University of Goroka. As an Australian governmental aid official, he held management positions involving training, corporate management, aid delivery in China and Africa, and rural development. He has also worked as a consultant for AusAID and the World Bank in Asia, Africa and the South Pacific. Dr Guthrie has a wide background in development and practice and in social science research, which he has applied primarily to education in developing countries, particularly teaching and teacher education.

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