This study examined the tides of educational thought of New Zealand teachers from the 1920s-1990s, taking information from a study of the educational life histories of 150 teachers and former teachers ages 21-98. Using case studies, the paper discusses the impact of student-centered learning ideas in secondary schools from the 1950s-1980s. (SM)

The academic study of Education (as a social, historical, and theoretical phenomenon) is complicated by the fact of our immersion in it. This paper combines Said's idea of "contrapuntal reading" with Bourdieu's notion of reflexivity to explore what happens when students on an Education course directly confront the fact of their everyday…