Science, Critique and Administration: The Debate between the Critical Theorists and the Materialist Pragmatists

Abstract

Dr Trevor Maddock works at the Department of Education at the University of Adelaide. In this paper he considers the debate between the critical theorists as represented by Richard Bates and materialist pragmatists as presented by Gabriele Lakomski as a contemporary manifestation of one dimension of the ongoing dispute over the appropriate depiction of the character of administration in education. In this context, the discussion focuses in particular upon the merits of some of the central ideas of Habermasian critical theory as potential linchpins for an understanding of the study and practice of educational administration.